[AusNOG] Wifi testing gear

[Ross Wheeler]

On Sat, 15 Jul 2017, Steve Hille wrote:

> It's about AP placement to get wifi into the rooms, particularly 
> interesting to us is testing different kinds of insulation on the 
> windows of the rooms (the temperatures here get into the mid 50's in the 
> summer).

Many moons ago, I did a significant range of tests on the equipment we 
were deploying at the time, including measuring the gain and radiation 
patterns of custom-made slot antennas, feedline and connector losses, 
device output, reflection, refraction and absorbtion characteristics of a 
number of things (including metal-sputtered window films).

The primary tools of trade then were a precision Marconi RF powermeter and 
suitable heads and reference antenna, and the ability to think.

Polar plots were easy. Relative power measurements gave very useful 
attenuation figures for various materials. And it really didn't cost much.

(Add 15-20 years and the equations may have all changed of course)

R.