Roadie question to Ron and others

[Pierre]

I thought that Ron Doran would be a good guess to get an answer on this one. Not many realize how much knowledge he has on PCs and related hardware.

So here it goes.

Last night I was chatting with a friend and we recall how one of my Laptop has an incredible range with wireless PCMCIA network cards.

This card was swap to 3 different lappys and 4 different cards where installed on the laptop. It was in an hotel room and it was repeated in at least 3 different hotels.

This laptop has a range double the distance than any other tested and with any cards.

We stand in the car outside the hotel and with any cards I get 100% reception. Any card in other laptops barely get a signal.

So why is this?

It does this with two old Dell Latitude and one thing that pops to mind is that anything we insert in them has a tenancy to be hotter than normal. Its like that wether running on batteries or AC.

For instance, the cards when removed where feeling a lot hotter than when they are installed in other laptops.

Could the voltage regulator be a bit too high? If so would it increase the range?

Just a funny thing that make me curious.

And have any of you observed that any wireless card has a lot better range than any built-in wirelesslaptops?

 

[Lancie1]

Pierre,

If the voltage to the wireless card was higher, generally that could mean more power. Power = Volts X Amps. Warm air is also a better conductor, hence an easier path for transmissions.

I suspect the main cause is that it has a bigger battery, more metal, thus a larger effective antenna area.

 

[Pierre]

...I suspect the main cause is that it has a bigger battery, more metal, thus a larger effective antenna area.

Bigger batterie = better signal !

But your statement is exact, all other laptop have batteries from 25 to 50% smaller.

Those 2 laptops (Dell Latitude) have huge batterie packs.

 

[BryanG]

Hi Pierre

Have had some experience with Radios and 'ground plane' can have a huge effect on transmission/reception distances see Wikipedia for more of an explanation and the external article 'What is a ground plane'.

Regards

Bryan

 

[keithkyll]

The heat is from the RF Output (Transmit) transistor. Either it's on for a longer period of time (more data being transmitted), or it's running at a higher power(higher supply voltage). The data rate is the same, so it must be more voltage. If the transistor has a higher voltage, it will transmit more power, but I'm at a loss to explain why this is happening.
Batteries have internal resistance called ESR. A larger battery will have lower ESR, making a higher net voltage available. That's my guess, but I'm not sure if the battery is part of the circuit during AC operation.
I too am interested in Ron's response.

 

[elevmike]

Pierre,

What make and model Wireless card is it? I'd like to get one.

In my office I pick up 4 or 5 other signals. Our signal is usually 2 or 3 down on the list, (broadcast strength). What's funny is there's nothing else within ~400 yards but empty lots & abandon buildings. Go figure??

 

[Contr_Conn]

Few years ago I tried many different PCMCIA wireless cards and found only on that works great:
Dell True Mobile 1150 that is rebadged Orinoco Gold card.
Still using it.
With Orinoco drives it works even better!