Airport Extreme Card antenna extender???

Hi, I'm new here, but I've been lurking for a little while and I do have one question that maybe y'all can answer...

My iMac G5 17inch has an Airport Extreme Card installed and I'm logging on to my wife's PC-based Linksys router's signal here at home and I usually get around 2 bars of signal strength coming in to the Mac.

The problem is that there's a huge brick chimney stack between my desktop iMac and her Linksys router and, no, I can't move either the iMac or the router, either. So, I was wondering if I can't crack open the iMac and plug a really, really long antenna wire into the Airport Extreme Card that's in there and run it along the baseboard into the next room where it would be in a line-of-sight to the router.

So, my question is... is this a viable answer to the problem? In other words, will simply adding more antenna wire to the Airport Extreme Card increase and improve the signal or is there more to it than that? And, if the answer to that is yes, then what kind of wire and with what kind of plug will it need? Is the existing antenna inside the iMac a single wire or a pair and what kind of connector does it have? Should I connect a new, longer antenna directly to the card or attach it to the end of the existing antenna that's already in there?

Or, rather than doing this the home-made way, does anyone make a commercial antenna extender for the iMac that I can buy somewhere?

Thanks in advance,
Durer

I think your best solution would be to get either this or this for your Linksys router, but look at some reveiws on other website to see, if that is the right product for you. I think opening up the iMac and modifying it might become more troublesome down the road.

ok tthis i have never tired but in theory it will work..

Turn computer off.
Take the bottom plate off to where the airport card was installed( http://macs.about.com/gi/dynamic/of...docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=26237 ffor pics )
where the antena that plugs into the aiport card snaps in there is a visible peice of metal take any old wire and wrap it of what ever u feel it the right way to make it stay on there ( this wire can be metal copper as long as it would conduct eletricty it shall work...) and then take it and put the bottom back on and then move this wire to where you want it...

Disclamer i have never attemted this... Do it at you own risk
also this project can be neat only if u make it neat...

If you fell like doing this Please tell us the end results.

sry if this dosnt work
i will try it out with my cube in just a second.

Also i would NOT "permantly" place the wires together ( ex. soldering...)
doing this may void you warnty

xthisIsRomanceX, that won't work. A 2.4GHz antenna is not like a TV Antenna.

dshomer. Running an antenna cable 15-20 feet long is not a good idea. The amount of signal attenuation you would suffer from would negate a good chunk of the advantage.

iWhat's suggestion of a WRE54G is a good one. Put it in the location where you wanted to put your antenna. Alternatively you could get a Renasis BA24j (R-TNC) (Go to amplifiers.) But that might be overkill for what you want. The WRE54G is the better solution, but if not practical due to layout the Renasis should get the job done.

thank you for correcting me i didnt even think about it being 2.4 ghz...

Thanks!!!

Hi,

Thanks for all the responses, and thanks especially for the lead on that Linksys WRE54G "repeater" station! I'd never heard of it and I think it'll be exactly what I need, so I think I'll get one right away.

I still do have one more question though... Kokopelli wrote: "A 2.4GHz antenna is not like a TV Antenna" and I'm just wondering, why? I mean, in both cases you're pulling radio waves out of the air with a piece of wire, so why wouldn't more wire be better?

Anyway, thanks again for all the help, you guys are the best!...

See ya,
Durer