Linksys wireless-g router Wrt54GL advise

hOPE THIS POST WILL GUIDE YOU

http://www.wirelessforums.org/alt-internet-wireless/need-external-antenna-wrt54gl-39665.html

The links in that post are not active. I am in the UK also.

when I click opens fine for me

Okay well thanks for googling wrt54gl antenna.
I know a lot of people do this, How do I address the issue of the router having two antennas? Do I need two external antennas?

Not sure wat DRT-WRT software is but it can be done with DD-WRT v 24.

You need to go through the steps of installing the micro/mini version of DD-WRT into the WRT54GL:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT54GL

Then you will set up the WRT54GL as a repeater bridge:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Repeater_Bridge

My wrt54gl has 2 antennas.

I know how to set this up but thanks for that guide that should be useful.
I am more interested in the antennas.

Sorry--i didn't read the question thoroughly--i am using the stock antennas & get an extra 100 feet through a few walls

I am looking for a range of 0.2 - 1+ Mile

Range is based on line of sight pure and simple. No booster can help you there. The higher you get the antenna the better, the more directional the receiver the better. DDWRT can double the output, the default is 75mw and the max is 200-250mw. Boosting your signal in the config like this will likely mean you will need to heatsink your broadcom chip and or get a fan inside there. I have old cisco switch blades hanging around and I removed the heatsink on those chips, they have a conductive adheasive that allows me to move them into the linksys with ease.
A booster may be able to go to 500mw, but I think that is the maximum allowed by regulations. It still comes down to line of sight. We had a customer place a 200mw wifi device (water proof version from Aruba) on top of their building (with permission) on a mast, and with a directional antenna and line of sight we could get the signal 3 miles away and have "good" strength too. But no obstructions (few trees, mostly other building) and having the device 100ft up was the key.
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448
We used a "pringle" can antenna on the receiving side to get the signal from a public park 3 miles away at ground level. Outside the building we could get a good .5 mile with no obstructions and no special antenna, but in the building on the first 6 floors (out of 8) we got nothing unless we went to a window and it wasn't usable.
-rich

Almost all Linksys and Cisco wireless devices that have removable antennae use "RP-TNC" connectors. That is also called "reverse polarity TNC."

Here are a couple places I've used for antenna purchases:
http://www.wifi-link.com/product.php?class1_id=1&class2_id=50
That starts you on their Omni antennae, but they make many other styles too.

http://www.l-com.com/category.aspx?id=2073
That starts you on their 2.4GHz antenna, and the Omni style are the second from the top on the left.

Which style and gain you use would depend on the particular application.

Note that the higher you go in gain, the more-critical is the aiming between them. That's because it's the same amount of signal, it's just squeeze into a tighter wedge so it spreads farther. If you think of the signal as a fixed amount of bread dough, an antenna with 3 or 4 dBi of gain would have a radiation pattern like a doughnut, while if it has, say, 12 or 15 dBi of gain it would be squeezed down more like a crepe (still the same amount of dough/signal, so it would spread out further).

e.g. Compare the radiation gain patterns at the bottom of these pages:

4 dBi - http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=22263
8 dBi - http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=22273
15 dBi - http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=22365

'Horizontal' shows the shape of the pattern when looking straight down at the tip of the antenna; the 'Vertical' pattern shows a cross-section of the pattern looking at it from the side of the antenna with the tip pointing up (at the 90 degree mark on the chart).

The wedge of signal on the 15 dBi antenna is only an 8 degree arc, so any antennae that want to 'talk' to it would need to be in that wedge (+/- 4 degrees from the center). To help visualize that, from earth the moon takes up about 1 degree of the sky... so if it was a 1-degree wedge of signal from a high-gain antenna, and all your eye (high-gain antenna) could 'see' was a 1 degree arc, too, looking +/- 0.5 degree in any direction from it's center you would not 'see' it (would not receive its signal) at all.

I appreciate the advise! There are two antennas on the router and with the custom firmware you can specify what antenna is TX and RX however I don't think you can set it to use only one antenna so how do I address this? Do I need two antennas ? Also is this 100% a RP-TNC

If I was to plug this (2.4GHz OMNI 15dBi Antenna)
http://uk.wifi-link.com/product.php?action=product&class1_id=1&class2_id=50&class3_id=164&product_id=19

into this (Gain Booster)
http://uk.wifi-link.com/product.php?action=product&class1_id=13&class2_id=392&class3_id=393&product_id=939

and then into my router what would be the performance / outcome?

Also I am very unsure when it comes to having two antennas as above.

It all depends on your environment/surrondings/building materials. You can't predict how well the signal will work without understanding or knowing where the WAP is going. If the signal isn't good enough you might consider getting another WAP and using it as a repeater/bridge.
A WAP (signal) in a warehouse will be have differently than in your house.
-rich

This is being used as a repeated and it needs the greatest omni range it can get as it will be used for other purposes such as a hot spot

Thanks for that.. However hypothetically what power would that have and what range? Out of curiosity.

The radio frequencies being used for wifi don't penetrate/pass-thru objects all that well... What is your envornment? A football stadium with a WAP at the top will get great range, a WAP in an office building may only cover a few hundred square feet.. WIFI works best in the clear open areas, as high as you can reasonably get the antenna. All we can do is guess how well it will cover, but we don't know what environment to "guess" at...
-rich

A 3 story building by the window out into the great open. Given the 2 links above and router?

If they will have a building on one side of them, you should probably use panel antennae instead, which won't send half their signal into the side of the building. Same 'dough=signal' principle applies, but the panel antenna folds the dough over (effectively doubling the signal) to spread it on just one side (a 'sector' antenna squeezes it down narrower but out even further).

e.g.
20 dBi + potential equalizer + 9m N to RP-TNC male LLC400 cable - http://uk.wifi-link.com/product.php?action=product&product_id=1502

16 dBi + potential equalizer + 9m N to RP-TNC male LLC400 cable - http://uk.wifi-link.com/product.php?action=product&product_id=1487

They have other lengths of pigtails in those kits, also.

Data sheets attached, below.
20dBi-Panel-DataSheet-1502-downl.pdf
16dBi-Panel-DataSheet-1482-downl.pdf

Thanks