Has anyone come up with a way to improve reception of the Nokia 770, sometimes I can see connections, but the signal is too weak. Is there anything I can do like the pringle can on desktop computer wireless receiver?

Too weak?!!
Mine's really strong. It's way stronger than my $2000 Vaio Laptop!!

Ravi

Still, given the nature of the 770 I'd love to have the option of connecting a pigtail to it. In the city buildings play hell with signals and lots of times I'll get a single bar.

I have a tiny laptop, "toshiba libretto 100CT" 166Pentium with 32MB RAM. I have a proxim rangelan 802.11b card running to a 2watt WIFI AMP and out to an omni antenna. I have another cisco card plugged into the laptop also. The cisco card acts as a access point, and hands out dhcp addresses. Once connected to the laptop, I have a script I run that either connects to the strongest access point, or lists all access points it sees, the a SSID can be passed as a ARG and it connects to that specific AP. Once connected to am AP it uses IPTABLES to IP Masquerade the traffic, thus allowing the 770 to connect to an access point it could not reach.


Obiously this is not a practical solution, and the AMP will cost upward $500. My left over toys from my war driving days !! They come in handy now and again.

I think what you are seeing is that the wifi reciever on the 770 is *very* sensitive so you see all sorts of AP out there but the transmitter power on the 770 is in the normal to good range so you end up not being able to connect to some of the more distant ones.

So it is more of a perception issue. If you compare the distance that the 770 can successfully connect to an AP with most laptops, you will find that the 770 compares quite favourable to the average laptop.

There could be a hack that will boost your 770's transmit power to more properly match its recieve sensitivity but that might make it illegal to operate in your country due to certain regulations ... so wifi equipment manufacturers tend to guard and control that info closely.

I think your analysis is correct. Nokia is a communications company, so no real surprise that the radio portions of the 770 are really top notch. I was blown away a week or so ago as I sat on the plane and browsed using Tampa Airport free Wi-Fi before they shut the door. There will not be any messing with the transmitter, as you point out those portions are tightly controlled.

Suffice it to say that if you are within the fringe of the parameters dictated by the standard, you will get good Wi-Fi. Many laptops cannot make that claim even with their heftier batteries and antenna real estate.

best free wifi spot ever?

malibu's shoreline wireless

The signals from this " malibu's shoreline wireless " is nothing compared to the free Wireless signals the I get from the Wireless Router of the Korean Family that lives downstairs. I get free Wi-Fi on my Desktop, on my POS Laptop, on my new Dell Laptop and finally on my Nokia 770....and that too, all at the same time.

I read in an Amateur Radio magazine several years ago of a method to improve both transmit and receive for VHF and UHF handhelds. With these frequencies, the higher the antenna, the better the coverage.

The article mentioned that if you had access to the feed line of an external antenna of the frequency range needed, you could mount a rubber duck (the small flexible handheld antenna) to the end of the feed line where it would normally attach to the radio. Then hold the handheld's rubber duck close to that other rubber duck. Both transmit and receive would be improved because it is passively using the external antenna.

Before you ask why not just connect the handheld directly to the feed line, of course that would be best, but maybe you don't want to have to connect and disconnect the handheld each time to use it elsewhere.

You could utilize this approach with the 770 and a Cantenna by attaching the removable antenna from a wireless PC card to the feed line of the Cantenna and placing the antenna near the body of the 770.

The idea is basically the way a through-the-glass cell phone antenna works. No modifications to the 770.

Disclaimer: I've never tried this myself so I have no idea whether it will work or not.

here are a ffew ways to improve reception. its good to know 1/4wsvelength is about 31 mm and that the antenna is in the top right corner.
1 place the antenna and unit at the focal point of a parabolic wok and point
2 use the antenna as a driving unit in a yagi antenna. Ellements can be wires taped on a piece of cardboard. they are about 1/2 wavelength long and 1/4 wavelength apart there is a reflecter 1/4 wavlength on the backside and also about 1/2 wavelength long. Again point.
3 use the alluminum case that comes with the nokia 770 as a ground plate. hold iit 1/4 wavelength behind the unit. or just use your hand. point the screen side to the access point.
check out the improved reception with wireless tools (iwlist wlan0 scan)