inside a DLink DWL-120

[Geoff Watts]

> Why is this unit interesting? Well, if you need to locate an IEEE802.11b
> device near a mast-top dish etc., this device might be just what you were
> looking for. USB is good to 5M at a time, and with hubs this can be
> extended out to 25M, so you can have your radio near your antenna (cuts
> down on cable losses), and have your router down inside the house etc.

Apparently you can push your luck a bit on USB cable lengths, and some
resellers even sell quite long USB cables over the counter.  Don't know if
performance would be a bit of a factor though - not to mention that you'd
be running an USB cable up a lightning-rod, and you'd have to run windows
on your router box :)

I wonder if the USB interface and the board can sustain more than a few
mbps .. what's USB up for? 12mbps?

I think on this site
http://www.guerrilla.net/reference/80211_mod/dwl-650_ext_antenna/index.html
There's a picture of the USB gemtek board, and a few links to the FCC
database with shots of the PCB, etc

Also, the lucent external USB adapters contain a wavelan card and the
usual antenna connector - they'd be quite nice up a mast.

g.