[svlug] Wireless?

[Jeffrey B. Siegal]

Karen Shaeffer wrote:
> These are products that are limited to transmitting distances of a about
> 50 feet or less. The antennas have no directivity and they operate in the
> unlicensed ISM bands, which restrict radiation power to <= 1mw.

Not necessarily.  

This site talks about using directional antennas with Apple's AirPort
cards and hubs (802.11b devices made by Lucent I think) and achiving
ranges of up to 57km!  The site claims that antennas below 24db gain are
permissible under FCC regulations:
http://www.macintouch.com/airportantenna.html  

Information about Lucent's outdoor 802.11b products is available here:
http://www.wavelan.com/products/productdetail.html?id=31 

This site similarly suggests that only the 24db antenna requires FCC
licensing.

Lucent reports similar multi-kilometer distances here:
http://www.wavelan.com/products/OUTDOOR/Ranges.htm