On Thu, May 09, 2002 at 09:52:59AM -0500, Austad, Jay wrote:
> > 	I do actually have an 80-foot tower that I have free 
> > access to and use of. however, it's a silo on a farm in Mayer 
> > (40 mi. west of the 'Cities); so the utility of it is a bit 
> > limited at the moment. ;)
> 
> Well, the guy that runs ingenious-nets.com(or .net, forget which) told me
> that he has a 23 mile 802.11b link, using only a 24db directional on each
> end, no amplifiers.  After 23 miles, you start running into curvature of the
> earth issues, but with an antenna that is 80 feet high, you might be able to
> squeeze some more range out of it.  Plus, you can toss an amp on each end
> also.  
	I'll have to climb up to the top of it sometime; but I don't think I
have LOS (to the east) much beyond Waconia, and maybe not even that far..
(hills in that direction). to the north there's hills as well, so maybe I
could hit a tall mast in Montrose or Watertown; but I don't know. my
parents' house is about 2 miles away (far side of town... which gives you
some idea of how small Mayer is, considering that the town is a mile from
the farm), and in the winter we used to have LOS; but there's a development
of houses in the way now, so we'd have to put up a mast in the yard there
too.
	still, there's sort-of flat ground for several miles around it, so
if anyone wants to do range testing with their gear in an environment fairly
free of other wireless noise, it might be a useful spot.

Carl Soderstrom.
-- 
Network Engineer
Real-Time Enterprises
www.real-time.com