I'm being asked some questions about the effect of chicken wire in old houses. Does it block the wifi signal?
We know that old houses are hard on wireless, vs. new drywall-style houses. But I always felt it was more the plaster and wood density and water-content of the walls than the chicken wire in the walls absorbing and/or reflecting the signal. My half-baked notes on the matter.............. Most of the problems I've seen with old houses seems more likely due to the plaster and sheer density of the building material than specifically chicken wire. For the wire to be a strong reflector, and so to block the Wi-Fi signal, it will need to be a specific length between the gaps in the wire mesh. For example, a parabolic grid antenna spaces the wires about 15 mm apart for optimal reflection of the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signal. I think chicken wire is made with larger gaps than that, so the signal will mostly pass right through it. My feeling is that the water content in the plaster and wood in the wall is blocking the signal. But I haven't done, or seen any tests of this theory as compared to modern drywall. As I understand it, the wire mesh would need to be in certain fractions of the wavelength to make a good reflector. It's not so much that the wave can't "fit" through the mesh as the mesh material actually absorbing and/or reflecting the signal - where each component of the mesh acts as individual antennas. So, I think the mesh would need to be 1 full wavelength, or 3/4 or 1/2 or 1/4 wavelength to be quite good at blocking the signal. Which would mean the mesh would interfere best at around 4.8, 3.6, 2.4, and 1.2 inches (for Wi-Fi Channels 1-11). Anything in between those would not be as effective at blocking the signal. What do you SOCALWUGgies think about it? -Mike -- Mike Outmesguine Connectedness: www.twitter.com/mikeout www.facebook.com/mikeout www.linkedin.com/in/mikeout www.wifi-toys.com www.transstellar.com SMS "mike" to 50500 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SOCALWUG" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SOCALWUG SOCALWUG website: http://www.socalwug.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
