Something that should be avoided: hanging the base staion onto a
vertical surface with Apple's bracket. This reduced receive level by 10
dB for me!
I suppose the problem lies in the polarization of the electromagnetic
waves, which would in that case be different, hence non-aligned, and
greatly reduce receive levels. I'll have to open up the base station and
see in what position they mounted the antenna ;-)
Correct. Antennas should point vaguely in the same general direction,
as the signal radiates perpendicular to that. Not that this system is
likely to do this, but exact vertical/horizontal mismatch can have as
much as 40dB of loss. Also, higher is not better here (unless you're
trying to cover a warehouse rather than a living space). Try to keep
everything vaguely on the same level. For example, if the base station
is on top of a tall bookshelf and the laptop on an nearby coffee table,
you might see 10dB of loss if the antennas are acting like vertical
dipoles (e.g. a single rabbit ear) and you're in a large open space
(e.g. your walls don't make very good reflectors). In reality, RF is
more complicated than that, but keeping the antennas vertical should
help. Good luck/73s.
-- Tovar
