Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a wonderful little amplifier at a price much less than any other 2.4 GHz 1 watt output Wi-Fi RF amplifier I've been able to find anywhere, unless you order direct from China. I would recommend this amplifier to anyone. Thirteen milliwatts input power drives (5 to 13 mW input) this amplifier to a full 1 watt output and also has a receive pre-amplifier built into the same unit. The box also includes a small AC power supply cube for 120 VAC (converted to DC to power the amplifier) and has a coaxial RF jumper for the input too, good deal! I attached the included antenna directly to the output connector, this antenna has the proper reverse polarity connector to screw directly on to the output of the amplifier and a elbow swivel built into its base.
If you have a 2.4 GHz Linksys wireless router which uses two antennas you might want to consider buying two of these amplifiers; one for each antenna, if my assumption is correct that one antenna is for transmit and the other for receive but I have not been able to confirm this yet. If this is the case and you buy two of them (which is not necessary) one will be receive only and the other the transmit amplifier. Again, you don't need to do this, just that if you did buy two of these due to the internal receive preamplifier you would have 10 dB gain on receive as well as the 5 dB antenna which added together is 15 dB of receive level gain. Also, you would then have two identical antennas which both have good gain so over all, I don't think that is a bad way to go but look to Note 4, below, to see a even better way of doing this using just one amplifier.
If you decide to be more economically reasonable and buy just one amplifier for your Linksys wireless router you will need to have a reverse polarity male TNC adapter (male shell, female center pin, or rather, socket) to normal female SMA output. The RP TNC to normal female SMA adapter(s) is needed so you can hook up the Linksys routers RF connector(s) to the amplifier(s) using the included coaxial jumper(s) which comes with each of these RF amplifiers. Of course, two RP TNC adapters are needed if buying two amplifiers.
The amplifier has a green LED which lights up when it is transmitting. If you buy just one RF amplifier and its green LED does not light when hooked up to one of the Linksys coaxial RF connectors move the amplifier to the other one to see if it will light up then. If the green LED does not light up (when the router is transmitting! It doesn't always transmit!) you are probably on the receive side, if my assumption is correct one is TX and one is RX.
Note 1: Reverse polarity is simply that the center pin is reversed from normal, where there is normally a male pin there will be a female and vice versa. On this amplifier the input connector is a normal female SMA but the output RF connector which without close inspection appears to be a female SMA connector has a male pin coming out of the center.
Note 2: This amplifier appears to auto sense when it has input drive to switch into transmit mode otherwise it is a receive preamplifier. If you have a wireless router which uses a single antenna for both receive and transmit and has from 5 to 13 milliwatts of output this amplifier will work for both receive as well as transmit.
Note 3: I've seen this amplifier advertised elsewhere together with a Alfa high power output USB wireless modem which is a good deal but do not be confused over how they are used! Do NOT connect the output of the Alfa wireless modem through a coaxial jumper to the input of this amplifier! The 500 mW RF output of the Alfa wireless modem is far too much power to directly drive this amplifier and if hard connected to the amplifier through a piece of coax can blow out the input turning it into a paper weight and useless. The combination of the Alfa wireless modem and this amplifier is intended so that they are used on opposite ends; the amplifier for the wireless router and the Alfa modem for the remote PC or notebook computer.
Note 4: Instead of buying two of the amplifiers for a Linksys wireless router or if just buying one for any other wireless system, in either case, for the best distance coverage the thing to do would be to buy just one for your router and then buy a Alfa USB modem to use with your PC or notebook computer. The Alfa external USB wireless modem has an incredible 500 milliwatts of output power and with that kind of transmit power you don't need extra receive gain pre-amplification. That would be the best situation. Also, the Alfa Ultra includes a extra high gain mag mount antenna so you would have the best of both worlds; a high RF output wireless router and a high RF output wireless Wi-Fi computer and without the need for the amplifier to constantly (although incredibly quickly) switch between transmit and receive.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Argtek Indoor 1W Wireless 802.11 b/g/n Signal Booster/Amplifier w/5dBi Antenna Fits SMA and TNC Connectors
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