🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm a U.C. Berkeley student who lives a quarter
of a mile from two campus buildings that contain
802.11b access points (Warren Hall and Koshland
Hall). I have line of sight.

(You can see a description of the service at...
  http://airbears.berkeley.edu
Access points are listed at the bottom of that page.)

Even though Airbears was not intended to be
accessed from off campus, I'd like to try to
arrange access for my home desktop.

I think that I'd need a directional antenna such as this...
  http://www.dlink.com/products/DigitalHome/Wireless/11b/ant24_1801
...and a home wireless access point like this one...
  http://www.dlink.com/products/wireless/dwl900ap
...along with an SMA cable (to connect my antenna
to my access point), an Ethernet card, and an
Ethernet cable.

I have some questions:

1) Does my plan seem likely to work? Am I too
far away? Are the campus transmitters (intended
for use within a building or even within a
single room) likely to be transmitting with
enough power to reach my apartment?

2) Would the hardware items above make sense?
Is there a better or cheaper way to do this?
(But I'm not inclined to build my own antenna,
as much as I admire those who do.)
Perhaps a better brand?

3) How long can the SMA cable be? I'd like to
run a 50-foot cable so that I could mount the
antenna on the roof, but I'm concerned about
signal loss.

4) Which store in the Bay Area is likely to
carry the antenna and WAP? BestBuy and CompUSA
carry basic D-Link stuff, but the antenna
is not a mass-market item. My best guess would
be Fry's. Can you suggest any other stores?
(I know that I could easily buy them online.)

Thanks in advance.

Mark
Berkeley, California




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