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I've always been fond of HyperLink stuff. I'm not affiliated with them. Linksys uses standard connectors, so any 2.4ghz antenna or amp with the correct connector will work ('N' type last I checked, been a while). Easy enough to google up pictures of different antenna connectors so you get the right one.

10 years ago you might have had to improvise, but today you can get cheap high quality antennas and amplifiers that is a lot better than a USB dongle in an old satellite dish.

My favorite source is http://www.hyperlinktech.com/
and you can do your link analysis here:
http://cgi.gbppr.org/wireless.main.cgi

If you really need big distances, you can use an old 12' sattelite dish, but otherwise stick to the formula above. It will save you a lot of time and trouble.

I have reliable links over 10km with 10mW running at 50Mb/s

If you gave a little more info. If you have line of sight then its no problem at all just buy 2 routers that can be flashed to DD-WRT. (I suggest the Asus WL-500G Premium or the Linksys WRT54GL I own both and they both work like a charm just make sure you buy the right connector Asus: rp-SMC/linksys: rp-TNC)

After you figure that out go to http://www.hyperlinktech.com/familylist.aspx?id=146 or where ever you want to get an Antenna.

my guess is your going to want to grab the 24db one seeing as how the 30 jumps quite a bit in price. after that mount them both with line of sight connect everything up and you should be good to go. If you don't have line of sight then its going to depend on whats in the way if its possible at all.

Just wait until they open your closet and find that those 24 dbi dish antennas, a bunch of Ubiquit SR9 cards, some Ubiquit XR2 cards, a bunch of soekris boards, and a 32 WATT amplifier (yes, I said 32 Watts.

"Officer, I assure you, I have NO IDEA how my laptop connected to my neighbors lan...honest, that spectrum diagram poster, that spectrometer, that wi-spy stick, and this Ubiquiti t-shirt are all my roomates!" /haha //runs home to apartment and hides gear.

I stand corrected, the figures for mine (a V635) are the same. Anyone else thinking of looking this up might want to use this handy dBm to Watts chart.

>I've seen far too many installations where people don't install one these http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/hgln_cat5-2.php on their externally mounted wired equipment.

Physics says 3 inches of ANYTHING won't block a direct lightning strike that travelled through miles of air. However, as the mythbusters did show, that amount of metal (and larger) is about at the point where it might attract lightning that strikes nearby.

Now, an indirect lightning strike it might block, perhaps; Although I wouldn't care much about the reliability of the link if the equipment on the one side has melted.

If you're going to run a cable outside, and you get to choose the type of cable, why aren't you running fiber? For the distances ethernet is good to, it's more expensive, sure, but it's not a bank account crusher in any way that matters.

Here in the sunbelt I mount all of our outside wireless equipment in containers with solar fans. One benefit of an outside camera being wireless is network isolation from lighting strikes. I've seen far too many installations where people don't install one these http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/hgln_cat5-2.php on their externally mounted wired equipment.

Unless your parents live in a copper mesh manufacturing facility there is no reason that an access point wouldn't cover their floor. Did you buy the AP at a flea market? Did you place it inside of the microwave? MY GOD MAN WHAT IS THE PROBLEM!?

i suppose that you could always combine one of these with one of these and use the combo to cook burritos...

mmmm, burritos!

Unless your parents live in a copper mesh manufacturing facility there is no reason that an access point wouldn't cover their floor. Did you buy the AP at a flea market? Did you place it inside of the microwave? MY GOD MAN WHAT IS THE PROBLEM!?

i suppose that you could always combine one of these with one of these and use the combo to cook burritos...

mmmm, burritos!

oh shit eh ... I just took some information I was reading on the internet ... thanks !! I could of made a big mistake im not very good with wireless and all that stuff ive just kinda got intrested in it ... someone somewhere told me 1w @ 20somedb is legal ... good thing I looked further into it (which I would have when I bought the antenna). I don't need to goto jail for nuking everything.

Thanks very much :) but im in canada ... northern ontario .. as long as I don't fuck with anything I bet you I could get away with blasting the shit outa it. I know some people with CB's and 250w boots (the legal limit is what 10w or somthing silly). I really don't want to tho the most I want to do is a large wifi AP and maybe a link with a friend (so it would be completely legal).

seriously tho ... thanks :) im just starting with this stuff and am trying to learn the networking and how to setup my wrt to do all this stuff. I am probably going to go with a directional antenna Prolly somthing along this line. I know I could use a pringles can yada yada but I want somthing that looks kind of nice. Esp if it's going to be mounted high up on my house. I'll go with 2x of them for about a 1km Line of sight link to my friends house. The WRT54Gs's radio can do 251mW (yeah it'd be too noisey) but aparently 89mW is the "magic" number they say. So at 19db I don't think I would melt anything esp being so directional it probably wouldn't bother anyone eh ? (by melting I mean fucking with other peoples networks) that's all im worried about ... I don't care about power levels as long as I don't break every wifi network/2.4GHz device around me.

Out of sight out of mind right :)

Thanks

I will contribute 20 km to this network. I have a free wifi zone about 2km radius around my house, and two 24db antennas that connects to nearby users upto 10km away.

You can find me in San jose, CA.

Maybe sombody can carry me to google in Mountain View?

What you need and where to get it:

Link analysis for free:
http://www.ecommwireless.com/cgi-local/wireless.ma in.cgi

Single antenna AP: Dlink DWL-2100AP

Good low cost antennas and accessories: http://hyperlinktech.com/
(Dlink connector is called RP-SMA)

Times Microwave will ship you a free sample of 20' of LMR-400 with connectors (DIY)

Suggestions:
1. Dont use "Cantennas".
2. Yagi is better than parabolic
3. Use spark arrestors when you go outdoor
4. Use 2.4GHz splitters and hook up more antennas to one AP.
5. Use filters when co-locating APs

Applications:
Asterisk: Free phones for the neighbourhood
VLC media player: Everybody shares their movies

Will not really need that big of a neighbourhood before you dont even need to connect to the net or the phone sevice or TV!

They will be comeing out with a Power over Ethernet version.
Probably why they are offering the current versions with 10% off.
(I like the wireless)
http://www.picotux.com/ordere.html

"Power over Ethernet will be available soon."
http://www.picotux.com/producte.html

PoE, IEEE802.3af, Active Ethernet
  http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/what_is_poe.php

Check this site: http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/1.13_custom_cable s.php

You can get a short adapter cable with a connector that fits your internal card (probably U.FL) and runs to a N or RP bulkhead you can install somewhere in your laptop if you can find the space. I think the Kensington lock slot should have enough empty space behind it, you should be able to drill a hole. Now you have a connector for you laptop antenna, at this point check the same site I linked above; they have portable external antenna options.

The problems are obvious, and you've already identified them.

But it's no different from anything else on today's Internet - there's single points of failure all over the place which can affect thousands of people at once.

Likewise, the power grid sure doesn't seem very grid-like when I'm waiting through a blackout.

*shrug*

The problems with range and penetration are not unique to 802.11, but exist with all unlicensed radio equipment, and are a function of a combination of physics and regulation.

Lower frequencies tend to penetrate solid materials better, but tend to suffer limited speed in practical use and are all gobbled up with commercial, public safety, and TV use. Higher frequencies tend to be more available, and are more easily absorbed and reflected by solid materials, but tend to have higher speeds in practical use.

In the US, there's very strict limits on spectrum usage and output power in the unlicensed ISM bands. Manufacturers don't make higher-powered equipment, because legally nobody (except for some amateur operators) would be able to use it.

That said, there's an obvious answer to the range and penetration thing. You just do the same thing you'd do if you wanted better TV reception: Buy a bigger antenna.

This isn't rocket science. Radio, at the level that you and I have to care about, hasn't changed a whole lot since the invention of the tuner.

You should check out these antennas from HyperLink Technologies. For outdoor applications these should work very well for you.

The proper cable is quite affordable. Most of the cost is in the N connectors. For example see Hyperlink Tech cable assemblies.

As you should know the FCC considers the spectrum used by 802.11 devices as UNLICENSED. I'm glad that 802.11 has some requirements so that vendors who make devices to that spec can interoperate, but that's a whole different ballgame. If I have my 802.11a/b/g card running and get stomped on because of a cordless phone, or a microwave, the FCC doesn't care - it's unlicensed. Moreover, they like this, and look to promote it: "While our rules have been successful in encouraging innovation, we need to review them to eliminate unnecessary impediments to new technology." (that's a quote from this FCC presentation: FCCpowerpoint). In other words, if there are any other boundaries people are coming across in the unlicensed spectrum, they want to remove any regulations so that more innovation can occur.

As a counter point of where the FCC does incur its wrath, one need not look far (though this is diverging from the discussion about vendors licensing firmware binaries, you seem really confused, so I'll make this excruciatingly pablumized). Licensed spectrum is a whole different ball of wax, the FCC went and raided a local pirate radio station in Santa Cruz with a bunch of federal agents not too long ago, who were operating a LPFM station (37W for what it's worth, paltry compared to my 300W microwave oven, or even lightbulb usage). RAIDED. Armed, dragging hippies out of bed at GUNPOINT because they were running an FM radio station. Guess what is never going to happen in the unlicensed spectrum (802.11 space) because some hippie is using it? Ok, I'll let you answer that yourself, but while Atheros, TI, Intel, whomever might have a hissy fit, it won't be the FCC. I can understand why people in IEEE 802.11, and the chipset vendors might want things closed up so that people don't go making non-compliant devices, or firing 802.11 framing over different wavelengths. That would make things like spendy frequency convertors harder to sell, and if you had a bunch of easily made 802.11 jammers written in software, just think of the pain in the ass that would be (e.g. Mike Shiffman's unreleased, but demo'd at core02 "omerta" tool developed with libradiate. Oh, btw - Mike didn't need any funky firmware hacking to write omerta, it turns out there are many easier ways to break 802.11 without resorting to mucking with individual vendor hardware implementations, who would have thought? Oh, real security experts two years ago.

You need to stop deceiving yourself or maybe you need to stop believing other supposed experts' lies. There's no SDR, firmware binary, or driver HAL binary that could be tweaked to a level of hardware that the FCC might really be concerned about when it comes to unlicensed spectrum.

This smart AC also explains things well, and doesn't seem confused about differences between FCC regulations and IEEE committee protocol requirements or vendor agendas as you do. Perhaps you need to get out more.

As you should know the FCC considers the spectrum used by 802.11 devices as UNLICENSED. I'm glad that 802.11 has some requirements so that vendors who make devices to that spec can interoperate, but that's a whole different ballgame. If I have my 802.11a/b/g card running and get stomped on because of a cordless phone, or a microwave, the FCC doesn't care - it's unlicensed. Moreover, they like this, and look to promote it: "While our rules have been successful in encouraging innovation, we need to review them to eliminate unnecessary impediments to new technology." (that's a quote from this FCC presentation: FCCpowerpoint). In other words, if there are any other boundaries people are coming across in the unlicensed spectrum, they want to remove any regulations so that more innovation can occur.

As a counter point of where the FCC does incur its wrath, one need not look far (though this is diverging from the discussion about vendors licensing firmware binaries, you seem really confused, so I'll make this excruciatingly pablumized). Licensed spectrum is a whole different ball of wax, the FCC went and raided a local pirate radio station in Santa Cruz with a bunch of federal agents not too long ago, who were operating a LPFM station (37W for what it's worth, paltry compared to my 300W microwave oven, or even lightbulb usage). RAIDED. Armed, dragging hippies out of bed at GUNPOINT because they were running an FM radio station. Guess what is never going to happen in the unlicensed spectrum (802.11 space) because some hippie is using it? Ok, I'll let you answer that yourself, but while Atheros, TI, Intel, whomever might have a hissy fit, it won't be the FCC. I can understand why people in IEEE 802.11, and the chipset vendors might want things closed up so that people don't go making non-compliant devices, or firing 802.11 framing over different wavelengths. That would make things like spendy frequency convertors harder to sell, and if you had a bunch of easily made 802.11 jammers written in software, just think of the pain in the ass that would be (e.g. Mike Shiffman's unreleased, but demo'd at core02 "omerta" tool developed with libradiate. Oh, btw - Mike didn't need any funky firmware hacking to write omerta, it turns out there are many easier ways to break 802.11 without resorting to mucking with individual vendor hardware implementations, who would have thought? Oh, real security experts two years ago.

You need to stop deceiving yourself or maybe you need to stop believing other supposed experts' lies. There's no SDR, firmware binary, or driver HAL binary that could be tweaked to a level of hardware that the FCC might really be concerned about when it comes to unlicensed spectrum.

This smart AC also explains things well, and doesn't seem confused about differences between FCC regulations and IEEE committee protocol requirements or vendor agendas as you do. Perhaps you need to get out more.

A cheaper alternative to the Sokeris is the WRAP by PC Engines. The cheapest one goes for $140 with a 266MHz CPU. For an additional $15 they come with a real neat case. They only use 3 to 5 Watt and support POE. They don't come with an IDE interface though, so if you want to read and write, you will have to invest into a Microdrive. My WRAP is running OpenBSD off a 32MB CF card, working as a router and has been running like a charm.

Get one of these.

Also, to those confused about how antenna gain works. The gain is measured in comparison to the output of an isotropic radiator, basically something that puts out the same signal strength in all directions. So that means that any unamped antenna with a gain higher than 1dBi is directional in some sense, because the total radiated power is still the same. So-called omnidirectional antennas really are only omnidirectional in the horizontal plane, if you go up or down their signal strength drops off rapidly.

Try looking at hyperlink, superpass, and netnimble for comparison.

-jim

Hyperlinktech has a nice selection of wireless gear, amps, antennas, spliters, etc. They seem like there pricing is high but the quality of the product is good.

Um, doesn't a 1D Christmas tree look just like all the other 1D shapes: a line? I would describe this as more like a double-sided saw. And since Yagis are so regularly encased in a tube, I think I'd just say they look like this.

Get a magnetic mount antenna from HyperLink Tech.

Alternatively you might consider getting one of their pole mounted 12dbi omni antennas, it might not be that noticeable if you place it on the side of your vehicle, perhaps near the bumper.

Energy is conserved; you are not going to get a stronger signal across one part of the sphere without taking signal away from some other part. Beam width is always traded off against gain. Indeed, beamwidth is a pretty good function of gain.

I suspect that it's simply a patch antenna. For the size and weight, it's hard to beat the gain of a patch antenna.

Here is an example for 802.11b of which the author notes, "What's nice about the patch antenna over the "cantenna" is its broad beamwidth. The cantenna has to be pointed very precisely at the AP to get anything at that range, but the patch can be tilted several degrees and still get a signal." The Spirit's antenna was estimated to be 2 degrees off aim at the initial connect attempt, but they said they should still get good data at up to 4 degrees off, and beyond that they would still get carrier.

While the frequency is different, you'll find that these people sell patch antennas which compare favorably in signal strength with their parabolic antennas, but with a wider beam spread.

But we all know they're simply using the technology they've been using for years to practice mind control on us.

-Adam

I think the reason many components use different voltages is mainly because they can. I doubt that the fact that USB only provides a given voltage poses unsolvable problems. The PSU is real power guzzler anyway, compared to the power used by the cooling, the CPU, the graphic card and the disks, the power requirements of most peripherals are probably negligible.

If you think about it, it is funny: the digital hub is also turning into a power hub.

One area where I hope things will improve is local networking. I have currently on my home network a ADSL router, a switch, a localtalk bridge, those components, along my trusty laser printer are on most of the time. Each network component has its own crappy power supply that produces heat and clutter and eats up power. My hope is that Power over ethernet takes off. This would mean a single power supply that injects power on the ethernet, and all network components would draw their power off it. Now if my laptop could draw power out of the ethernet link, it would really be nice

Why bother with the Primestar dish for $50 on Ebay when you can get a real 802.11b/g antenna with 24dB gain for about $65? If memory serves, every 3dB is double, so 24dB is 2^8 or 256 times the signal strength.

Adding an external antenna to your notebook's WiFi card helps too. This one works well for me and it's not too obtrusive. The antennas on my APs were good enough for my purposes so I left them alone.

BTW, if anyone has an ORiNOCO WiFi card and is wonder why it works great under Linux but craps out periodically on WinXP SP1, this Microsoft patch is likely the culprit. If you stop the Wireless Zero Configuration service after you boot up it'll work around the problem, but it's best to not install the patch in the first place, at least until the Lucent/Agere refugees working at Proxim release new firmware/drivers that are Windows brain damage compliant.

(Hint for Proxim: release Linux drivers for your 802.11a/b/g cards and put external antenna connectors on them and I'll upgrade. Otherwise, I'm more than happy to save my money with cheap 802.11b gear.)

So, there are a couple of people who have schemes for running power over cat5. As long as you pick 2 of the 4 unused wires, this isn't really a problem. I run my phone through the blue pair on the cat5 coming into my room- means I only have one cable snaking through the hall. While marking it certainly wouldn't be a bad idea, I'd say anyone who unplugs my beer and tries to plug the cable into a laptop deserves whatever they get.

What you are looking for is a heated NEMA enclusure. Many places sell them for a variety of applications including wireless. Here is one specifically designed for wireless and with the failover heaters it can operate down to -45C.

I'm currently using the POE hardware from HyperLink. Works like a champ with my Netgear 802.11g AP.

man, why would you pay $100 for a 3.5 dBi antenna when you can get a 5 dBi antenna for $20 here? ok, so i understand cool matching looks, but there's a limit, especially when you can get so much more performance for less...

CDW

has them, finding them cheaper is your job :) I've seen them for around $100-120 from the shady gotta call them up shops.

This site has a picture and you can order them, too. they will also put on a special connector so you can actually connect to your access point. By default the antenna comes with a big N type connector that likely won't connect to your access point. I'd call up the second place, tell them what you are doing and have them make the proper cable you need, it'll save a LOT of time :)

Look, it's simple. All you need to do is take a flat directional patch antenna, like one of these [hyperlinktech.com] and put it somewhere under the eaves. Paint it the color of the house and that should be it. 8dbi is the smallest one, and that should be plenty of gain for this application. They even make 'em up to 14dbi, but they're 8.5" at that point.

If this doesn't solve the issue, I don't know what will.

If you can mount antennas behind the walls, inside the buildings, and pointing to each other, you might be able to try a 24dBi directional antenna with 1 Watt amplifiers. You can find these antennas, cables, and the adaptors to connect to Cisco or Orinoco equipment. I wouldn't use the Apple Airport or Linksys consumer grade wireless equipment... I'd try to stick with the enterprise "survive anything" grade equipment such as Cisco's Aironet 350 bridges or Orinoco's ROR-1000s.

You can see what we're doing at the University of Connecticut where we're using a combination of Cisco Aironet 350 bridges and Hyperlink Antennas and amps to connect a Research Vessel steaming around Long Island Sound. We recently went out with the American School for the Deaf.

If you have some dry pairs (unused pairs of telephone wire going from one building to the next) you could also try PairGain equipment. We use those as well at UConn... they are point to point DSL modems... last I heard, they can push 5Mbs.

If you have any questions about the wireless stuff, you can e-mail me. Good luck!

If you can mount antennas behind the walls, inside the buildings, and pointing to each other, you might be able to try a 24dBi directional antenna with 1 Watt amplifiers. You can find these antennas, cables, and the adaptors to connect to Cisco or Orinoco equipment. I wouldn't use the Apple Airport or Linksys consumer grade wireless equipment... I'd try to stick with the enterprise "survive anything" grade equipment such as Cisco's Aironet 350 bridges or Orinoco's ROR-1000s.

You can see what we're doing at the University of Connecticut where we're using a combination of Cisco Aironet 350 bridges and Hyperlink Antennas and amps to connect a Research Vessel steaming around Long Island Sound. We recently went out with the American School for the Deaf.

If you have some dry pairs (unused pairs of telephone wire going from one building to the next) you could also try PairGain equipment. We use those as well at UConn... they are point to point DSL modems... last I heard, they can push 5Mbs.

If you have any questions about the wireless stuff, you can e-mail me. Good luck!

I really think that 802.11b is the answer. Check out antennas at hyper link technologies; you can get simple stick antennae, or even better some flat patch antennae which are less intrusive. Obviously, it's prefferable that you place them on the outside of the buildings, but I think they would still work from inside as long as you use high gain ones and point them towards one another.

I really think that 802.11b is the answer. Check out antennas at hyper link technologies; you can get simple stick antennae, or even better some flat patch antennae which are less intrusive. Obviously, it's prefferable that you place them on the outside of the buildings, but I think they would still work from inside as long as you use high gain ones and point them towards one another.

Yagi antennas have great gain, are flat, and can be concealed inside furniture. Completely stealthy, compact, and cheap too. I got mine from Hyperlink.

Stick one of these on the ethernet port. http://www.smartbridges.com/products/wireless/airb ridge.php http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/avaya_converter.h tml

These guys look pretty damn good... Hyperlink Technologies

The automatic gain control on the low noise amplifier in the receive section of the card would shut down the receive path for any card inside the structure where the 100 watt omni is located. Think of when you yell into a mike and it cuts out to protect itself. So, you could provide strong signal to everyone, unless they were too close to you.

And as the article mentioned, this applies to Packet Radio, which by it's nature has a single source and a single destination. Omni directional antennas are used primarily for point to multipoint communication not point to point as is typically used for packet radio.

Also, remember the inverse square law when designing your network. Putting more power into your transmitter does less to improve communications performance at a distance than a properly designed antenna. High gain omni directional antennas are more efficient at propagating your signal than increasing your power to 100w.

For instance, a 15 dBi High Performance Omni sold here for $209.95 increases the effective radiated power by a factor of 100,000. A factor of 10 for every 3 db of gain. So, your standard 100mw transmitter would transmit less power than the 100w transmitter initially, but would fall off less with distance, surpassing the performance of a 100w transmitter on a standard antenna after the first few feet.

The other route is to use a 2.4 Ghz Klystron like this that costs in the neighborhood of $30,000 which of course can be coupled with an high gain antenna, which will not survive long at its maximum rated load.

This is not a competition of Penis sizes or "My athlon is faster than your Intel boxen" this is a game of finesse where the sharpest mind and the most efficient system dominates through signal quality, not signal quantity.

You get Mary on her 2.4 phone and the Muni Hospital complaining about you ruining ther gossip chat and emergency beeper service and you won't just loose you expensive 'leet 2.4 Ghz gear, you will do prison time for willfully jamming vital communications services, tantamount to a terrorist act, post 911.

Want to be 'leet? Implement a flat panel phased array with electronic beam steering to pinpoint your distant end receiver at gain levels limited only by the precision of the real time clock you use to gate the injection of the 0-180 and 180-360 phases of your waveform.

That would cover as many stations as you wanted, within the limits of line of sight. You could go back to college to learn the RF theory necessary to build such a device for the price of a big dumb klystron and go on to dominate the mobile gigabit bandwidth telecommunications arena. Perhaps your choice is clear.

'cept you have to compete with me, and I'm 11 years ahead of you :)

It used to be the only one was Lucent's Orinoco/EC - very expensive and not in stores.

There is now a product from Buffalo Technology which does this, call the Airstation Bridge

A lot of people are using these with our ethernet MP3 player. Everybody says the Airstation works great, and it's only about $160. I can't say I've used one yet, myself.

Hyperlink Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) products provide PoE capabilities for access points, access servers, outdoor routers, and other suitable devices.

100 watts? On the link listed, that's what they say. But as far as I know, the legal limit to boost a signal in the US is 1 watt. More than that, and someone will hunt you down to shut you down. Right?

It says TRANSMIT, doesn't that mean it's not a bi-directional antenna like you need for 802.11b? Wouldn't something sold over at HyperLink Tech. be better, seeing as they are more specifically designed to be used with 802.11b?

Why all the hype on the directional antennas? I would be MUCH more interested in an omnidirectional antenna so some neighbors and I can ALL see each other, not just 1 to 1. Is it just that they are harder to make?

I myself live in a bandwidth black hole which I just happen to be in the center of. So, I actually started researching and buying gear to hook into work's T1, which is about 4.8 miles away. The gear I decided on was two Orinoco (or WaveLAN as they used to be called) cards with Linux boxes to match to keep costs down (besides, Linux makes for a great wireless router). My antennas are 24dBi gain Hyperlink parabolic grid antennas. I already have the cards working in my Linux installations and am ready to hook up the antennas soon. The only tricky part is that my path to work is slightly obscured so I'm hoping I have enough power and gain to be able to punch though. Hopefully the bandwidth gods will look favorably upon me. I've never had a high speed connect at home (and probably never will if this doesn't work :/)

One of the coolest projects I found while researching this was the HPWREN project at UCSD. Check out their pictures, it's hella cool. In a nutshell they are running a 45Mbps (802.11a) wireless backbone across the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve using mostly off-the-shelf equipment, for the purpose of hooking together the facilities strewn across it. They even have remote cameras hooked in that can be remotely controlled through the network, and other testing stations that send data back to them in realtime.
I dropped an email to the project lead and I asked him what kind of gear they used. He said they used a Western Multiplex Tsunami for their backend, Hyperlink for their antennas and WaveLAN and Cisco Aironet for their PCMCIA cards (you can now see how I constructed my parts list :)) I also asked how he got around mountains and such.
Well, in certain places they have powered relay stations. Naturally I wondered how they were powered, and he said some of them they could get electricity to, but others they actually have solar panels powering the relays. Damn. For you real hackers he mentioned there was a parts list for the solar power array somewhere on the website, but I never bothered to try and find it.

I've noticed some arguments regarding amplifying 802.11, and thought I'd help clear it up. FCC Part 15.247 governs the unlicensed ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) band, and dictates that you can amplify the signal up to 1 watt (1000mw) This gets tricky when you start using directional antennas >6dBi gain though. You may find more detailed info here..

Using 50' LMR400 cable with the 1 Watt amps, I believe, brings the power to just under the FCC spec, keeping the power within limits. Unfortunately, you can't tune the power of the Hyperlink amps. Using directional antennas, too, puts the user under different FCC rules than using omnis. A rep at Hyperlink should be able to help with the logistics. All their stuff is legal to the consumer (and they sell the higher powered stuff to the military, gov't and other countries with different regs.) Oh, and yes, since this equipment is usually much cheaper than the proprietary stuff, adjusting the ACKs is definitely a cost effective thing to do, if you're running into that problem.

Try this. Get 1 Watt amplifiers, 24dBi directional antennas, and 50' of LMR400 cabling from Hyperlink Technologies as a kit. Get two kits. Then, get two Orinoco ROR-1000 bridges and Orinoco's 802.11b gold pc cards. You should be able to stretch that distance. We are using the same equipment, but with 15dBi wide angle and omni antennas for a ship to shore connection. We get about 10-15 mi. (we're using lower gain antennas than the 24dBi directionals.) You can check it out here. If you just need a point-to-point solution, using the Hyperlink 24dBi directional / amp kit and Orinoco ROR-1000s may be the way to go.