Subj : Works here but not th
To   : Ky Moffet
From : Barry Martin
Date : Sat Aug 28 2021 16:00:00


Hi Ky!

Sort of a follow-up to the previous on (in this packet)....



 KM> https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=wireless+network+us
 KM> b&_sacat=1756
 KM> 3&_sop=15
 KM> Some with external antennas, which might be helpful.

External antennae can be positioned (rotated) to better receive the
signal.  Did have a thought: any problems with the weight on the USB 
port?  Thinking mechanical droop causing stress on the connection.  



And from earlier: "And I should look up to see what position
the four antennae on my access point should be."  Not really an 'access 
point'; they call it a 'router', which is more what I think of as the 
first device in the chain, (I'm starting to like the semi-vague 
'gateway' term Qwest/CenturyLink used when I had DSL here!)
 
Anyway, didn't see anything when scanning through the various manuals; 
nothing easily found on the Linksys site either.  Finally found a 
reference to a video where it said to rotate the two rear antennae 
outward 45ø for a multistory building.  That increase the signal 
strength to the MythTV RPi4 I referred to a percent; angling the front 
antennae 45ø added another percent.  Not all that significant but a very
slight improvement.  Probably doesn't help the Pi is tucked behind the 
TV so the televsion probably provides a bit of shielding if not RF 
noise.

Did not experiment with the original Pi which 'refused' to connect and 
stated this thread: minimal signal increase per the MythTV Pi doesn't 
hold much promise, plus the whole reason for that Pi was monitoring the 
backyard and currently the camera I have doesn't work with low light 
conditions (0.1 Lux, either need 0.01Lux and/or IR added).



 KM> I've had better luck with the very cheapest ones, and with
 KM> 802.11n rather than with 802.11ac -- the latter will hog the
 KM> entire connection for internet, but don't seem to have quite the
 KM> speed or the range on the local network. Still, might be try
 KM> whatever is cheap and handy...                        
 
Did some reading:
       802.11ac     uses the 5 GHz band
       802.11n      uses the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands
             
       Higher band is faster
       Lower band has greater distance
       
       Lower band is also more crowded
       
So yes, seems the 'n' is the better choice as has more options, 
especially if travelling and some places with public WiFi (or even when 
visiting friends) may not have updated their hardware and only offering 
the 2.4 GHz band.  Here the RPi is connecting to my personal network but
if I take the laptop somewhere bioth bands seems to be the better 
choice.
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