#8839 NORM Not Tri: Update Help activity to clearly state that the XO's antennas should always be pointed up for the best radio reception

Zarro Boogs per Child bugtracker at laptop.org
Wed Oct 29 04:08:06 EDT 2008


#8839: Update Help activity to clearly state that the XO's antennas should always
be pointed up for the best radio reception
-------------------------------+--------------------------------------------
     Reporter:  joe            |        Owner:  isforinsects 
         Type:  enhancement    |       Status:  new          
     Priority:  normal         |    Milestone:  Not Triaged  
    Component:  help-activity  |      Version:  not specified
   Resolution:                 |     Keywords:               
  Next_action:  communicate    |   Spec_stage:  unknown      
    Blockedby:                 |     Blocking:               
Spec_reviewer:                 |     Verified:  0            
Spec_reviewed:  0              |  
-------------------------------+--------------------------------------------
Changes (by thomaswamm):

  * spec_stage:  => unknown
  * spec_reviewed:  => 0


Comment:

 More experimentation reveals that I was wrong about antennae up or down
 making no apparent difference.  Observations are confused by the extremely
 slow response of the Neighborhood view to changes in the RF environment.
 I learned that doing a powerbutton suspend/resume will provide a quick
 update of the Neighborhood view.  With this technique, I can now observe
 that with antennae up I can see more access points than with antennae
 down.

 For example, at home I can see 6 or 7 APs with my XO antennae up, but only
 4 or 5 with antennae down.  In the middle of a small suburban park, with
 antennae up I can see about 30 APs, but with antennae down only about 20
 APs.

 There remains the question of the best antennae deployment strategy to use
 in various situations.  My untested theory is that antennae down is best
 in a crowded RF environment, as long as you are able to connect.  Only put
 antennae up if you are unable to connect with them down.  The idea is to
 be nice to your neighbors, by minimizing RF noise.

 Can anyone test this theory, or comment?  I could be wrong.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/8839#comment:3>
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