This page refers to the wireless network cards sold by http://www.netgate.com/
Frequently Asked Questions for the Netgate (Senao) wireless network cards...
Who wrote this Q&A?
By default, do the ultra long range cards run at full (200mw)
power?
Do the 2 antenna jacks on the 'NL-2511CD PLUS EXT2' have any sort
of diversity options?
Why does my card have no graphics on one side?
I have a Mac Titanium IBook (TiBook) and the wireless card coverage
sucks. What can I do?
If I start with the kit that uses the 13 db patch antenna, can
I add the directional antenna using the second antenna connection on the wireless
card later?
Can the patch antenna be painted?
On the external antenna cards, is there is a 'main' and 'aux'
antenna on the external cards?
I'm having trouble getting my TiBook configured. Can you help?
Your internal antenna cards antenna are not removable?
Do you know if Netgate/Prism is going to sell any 802.11G products
when the standard is finished?
What are the differences with version 1.7.4 of the firmware?
What pigtale would I use to connect my linksys 802.11 bridge
with one of your antennas?
Why do your AP's only have one antenna? Does this hurt their
ability to reduce multipath interference?
Why did my card swallow the end of my pigtale?
What are the benefits of having high power 802.11b devices?
What are the benefits of having high gain 802.11b antennas?
How do I connect my Atheros based 802.11G card to an AP that
uses Open Authentication?
Who wrote this Q&A?
Answer:
I am a netgate customer, and I wrote this Q&A because I was very happy with the products I received from netgate, as well as the support they gave me with my products after the fact. It is hard to find good support these days. I wasn't having any problems, but I had a few questions about the product. I sent them my questions, expecting an answer something like that a sales representative would give: "I don't know, I just sell these cards". What I received was a very detailed explanation to my questions. I have posted some of there answers on this page in the hopes that I could help in some way.
I just bought a 200mW PCMCIA card with external antenna mounts. I was reading on your site, and the spec says it can run at 100mw or 200 mw. Which does it run at by default, and how do I change what it is running at? Is it in the windows driver? If so, is the change permanent so that when I boot into unix it will still remain running at my last selection?
Answer:
By default, the NL-2511 CD PLUS and 2511 CD PLUS EXT2 cards both run at a nominal 200mW (actually 22.5dBm) tx power.
I don't know of any way to adjust the tx power under Windows. I don't think the driver supports the requisite control structure(s).
Under linux, the "wireless extensions" provide a way to set the tx power. There is a user-level program for linux, typically included in a "wireless tools" package, named "iwconfig" Usage is: iwconfig [interface] tx power <value> Where [interface] (no brackets) is wlan0 or eth1, or whatever the interface is named. The documentation for <value> (no angle brackets) is as follows:
For cards supporting multiple transmit powers, set the transmit power in dBm. If W is the power in Watt, the power in dBm is P = 30 + 10.log(W). If the value is postfixed by mW, it will be automatically converted to dBm. In addition, on and off enable and disable the radio, and auto and fixed enable and disable power
control (if those features are available).
Examples :
iwconfig eth0 txpower 15
iwconfig eth0 txpower 30mW
iwconfig eth0 txpower auto
iwconfig eth0 txpower off
Similar things should exist (or can be written) for FreeBSD/NetBSD/etc.
When you have 2 antennas plugged in (to a NL-2511CD PLUS EXT2), does the card do anything with the diversity between the antennas to help reduce multipath fading? I know the similar 2 connector cisco card does enable diversity for transmit and receive.
Answer:
I *think* the Cisco is the only card that enables diversity for both transmit and receive. I'll ask Jim to comment if I'm wrong here
Why does my card have no graphics on one side? The picture on the website
shows an EnGenius graphic.
Answer:
The 2511 CD PLUS EXT2 and 2511 CD PLUS are both 200mW cards, but they come
with three different "graphics" on it:
SL - Senao Label
EL - EnGenius Label
NL - No Label
We have received all three versions in the past, so there is no telling what
may arrive prior to shipment.
I have a Mac Titanium IBook (TiBook) and the wireless card coverage sucks. What can I do?
Answer:
Do you have an Airport base station as well? Probably the first thing to do is to put a different antenna on your base station. See these URLs:
http://www.wwc.edu/~frohro/Airport/Airport.html
http://www.vonwentzel.net/ABS/
Then if you still want a higher power card with your TiBook get one of these:
http://www.netgate.com/EL2511.html
This worked great in our TiBook, but other people have reported seeing no difference. You need to be sure to turn off the integrated card to make sure you're using this external card.
If I start with the kit that uses the 13 db patch antenna, can I add the directional antenna using the second antenna connection on the wireless card later?
Answer:
Yes, but be aware that the Prism2.5 chipset only supports switched receive diversity. This means the antennas should be about the same gain, in the same alignment (pointing the same direction) and be mounted in the same polarity.
I'm curious about your 8 & 13 dBi Patch Antenna. I have a fussy client,
so I need to ask if it can be painted.
Answer:
Yes, the Poynting antennas were designed so they can be painted. Don't glop it on thick, as that may lead to a slight loss in sensitivity if you paint over it a bunch of times (.5 to 1dBi).
On the external antenna cards, is there is a 'main' and 'aux' antenna on the external cards?
Answer:
Yes: Hold the card with the PCMCIA connector part pointing to the right, the
top of the card facing you (with the light on top), the main antenna is the
one on the bottom.
I'm having trouble getting my TiBook configured. Can you help?
Answer:
One common trick to try is to uninstall, then re-install the driver. (We had to do this, as did someone else I know.)
If the Network panel for System Preferences didn't announce new hardware, then
you need to do this.
Also check the version of MacOS you're running. There are issues with 10.1.
See: http://wirelessdriver.sourceforge.net/faq.html#install
Otherwise, have you fired up the 'WirelessConfig' utility?
Also, can you run the TroubleShooting script and review the output? http://wirelessdriver.sourceforge.net/utilities/troubleshooting.sit
Your internal antenna cards antenna are not removable?
Answer:
Correct.
Do you know if Netgate/Prism is going to sell any 802.11G products when the standard is finished? I hear it might be finished this summer or fall?
Answer:
We should have a 802.11b/a/g (draft) product in the next few weeks.
Question:
Yesterday I downloaded the new firmware you have available - 1.7.4. I installed it on all my cards, but now I can no longer associate with the card in my UNIX box running in hostap mode. The clients still work on other AP's. I realize you don't support the technical issues dealing with hostap and that sort of thing, but do you know what has changed in this firmware version since 1.5.6? I can still revert back to the old firmware version, so no big deal.
Answer
I've asked several times for the change logs for the Intersil firmware from
EnGenius. (they would not specify) All I know is some people want it to support
some advanced features with hostAP.
Sorry
I am not sure what pigtale I need to connect my linksys 802.11 bridge with one of your antennas. (n-female on antenna) I would like to put one of your 13 dbi patch antennas on my bridge.
Answer:
The 13 dBi patch we have is N-Female only, so you might need either a RP-SMA
to N-Male or RP-TNC to N-Male. Unfortunately, we don't carry either of those.
Your best bet is to figure out what type of connector you have, then
look at the following websites to see if they have what you're after in a length
you want:
http://www.teletronics.com/tii/products/cables.html
http://www.allrfcables.com/ca.htm
www.hyperlinktech.com
www.fab-corp.com
I saw your new access points. How come they only have one antenna? Does this hurt their ability to reduce multipath interference?
Answer:
On the APs, you're absolutely right about the multipath interference: I'm sure Senao made the one antenna decision based on cost. If you open up the 2611CB3 PLUS or the 2611AP3 PLUS (which of course we did because we're curious), you will find the 2511CD PLUS EXT2 card. So there is absolutely no reason why you can't add a second antenna to either one of the 2611s to enable the receive diversity in the firmware. (Of course there is no hole in the case for an additional antenna, but that's easily solved with appropriate drills and things.
When I got my equipment back home (from a field test) I noticed that the 'long range' card I got from you guys 2 weeks ago had swallowed the end of the pigtail. I cant get the end of the pigtale out of the card without crushing it with the needle nose pliers, so I have left it in there for now. Have you heard of this before? Can I get a replacement for this pigtail? I believe the card is undamaged, but the pigtail is probably ruined.
Answer:
Yes, we've been through this before... the pigtail mfg has told me if the pigtail is at all damaged and is no longer exactly round, it can get stuck and will either break off (as yours did) or pull out the female end from the card when you try to take it out (which I've also seen).
WRITERS NOTE: My pigtale was replaced without question, and I was very happy with the service. A reader should contact netgate for instructions on what to do when this sort of thing happens.
What are the benefits of having high power 802.11b devices?
Answer:
A high power output gives results that can be un intuitive. There are many situations in which a high power output will benefit the user. One needs to remember that having a high power output does not increase receive sensitivity on a device. Once you understand this concept, the rest will make sense.
The most effective use of high power cards is to have high power cards on both ends of a wireless network. This allows a very long range between 802.11 devices. I have built networks that span 1 mile without high gain antennas.
You will still see benefits of using high power devices when mixed with normal or low power devices. In my tests I have found that a high power client can stay connected to a regular power Access Point even at VERY low signal qualities (3-4 db), where as a normal 50-100mw client cannot use the signal.
WRITERS NOTE: I wrote this answer from my experience with 802.11 equipment purchased from Netgate and from courses I have taken in the area of wireless networking at Virginia Tech, not from official information provided by Netgate.
What are the benefits of having high gain 802.11b antennas?
Answer:
High gain antennas give a boost in transmit power as well as receive sensitivity. This is different from high power devices. High gain antennas and high power devices work well together to give a very long distance network. I have heard of network spanning 2-5 miles.
A huge benefit of having a high power antenna is on the client side. There are often wireless signals that are just out of reach of basic dipole antennas. A high gain patch or dish antenna will pull in those distant signals to a usable level as well as boost your transmit power so the foreign device receives your signal.
WRITERS NOTE: I wrote this answer from my experience with 802.11 equipment purchased from Netgate and from courses I have taken in the area of wireless networking at Virginia Tech, not from official information provided by Netgate.
How do I connect my Atheros based 802.11G card to an AP that uses Open Authentication?
Answer:
I could not find anywhere in the Atheros driver to specify that an AP requires OPEN authentication. It is possible to configure authentication to OPEN:
Unfortunately there is no way to specify authentication type from within a network profile. Changing the authentication type using the above steps effectively changes it for all profiles.
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