Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (
More info?)
Diversity works by several methods. Some equipment meaures the signal
strength detween the two antennas and will select the higher strength.
Some equipment will look at the error rates and use whichever is
producing the lowest error rate.
Both have problems but the benefit is usually worth the expense and
limitations. Diversity should also only be used with two similar
antenna types. The antennas should also be pointed in the same
direction. It will not work very well for two high gain antennas
pointed in different directions with multiple clients.
"Not Me" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message news:<c52c4l$2oj0dq$1@ID-204939.news.uni-berlin.de>...
> "James Knott"
>
> | > What is the purpose of two antennas on an AP? Do two antennas increase
> | > the usable distance?
> |
> | APs with dual antennas, use what's called "space diversity". This works
> on
> | the principle that both are unlikely to be in a dead spot. If one antenna
> | can't receive the signal, the other likely can.
>
> Depending on how the diversity switching is accomplished in the radio itself
> the option may or may not be an advantage. Try as I might I have yet to get
> any of the providers to define how it's done in any of the hardware.