[RFI] Rural Technology

[Pete Smith]

At 04:13 PM 9/7/2004, Dave Bernstein wrote:

>Excellent article; thanks Pete!
>
>In a recent PC week column, John Dvorak briefly discussed the use of 802.11
>equipment for long-distance connectivity. Dvorak said that most consumer
>802.11b transmitters run 33 mw, mentioned that SMC's 200mw PCMCIA card
>claims a half-mile range with "no special antenna", and asserted that the
>FCC permits up to 1W.
>
>I wonder what sort of range one could achieve with 1W and a tower-mounted
>omnidirectional antenna.
>
>(Yes, I know part-97 allows hams to run higher power, but this would
>preclude commercial applications).
>

I believe that the rural wireless provider that Chairman Powell of the FCC 
recently visited in Leesburg, VA is using 802.11 transmitters mounted on 
towers, and perhaps small dishes on the receiving end, to distribute 
broadband over quite a large area on the eastern slope of the Blue 
Ridge.  I took the well-publicized visit to be a sign that Powell was 
trying to back away from hitching his broadband-for-the-masses wagon too 
tightly to BPL.  We also have at least one wireless provider who turns up 
fairly regularly on this reflector.


73, Pete N4ZR
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