Can I use two different antenna on a WRT54GL?

Question

I have my WRT54GL set up as a bridge.

I currently have 15db high gain omni-directional antennaand wanted to add a second directional antenna to boost my gain.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

Yep. The device only has one wLAN card in it, so it uses diversity antennas. Basically when it's listening for a signal, it uses the antenna where the signal is coming in the strongest.

It may improve the signal strength to add a second directional antenna. Note you'll lose much of the local service area if you're using it as a repeater as well. Additionally the best signal would probably be obtained from a single higher gain antenna than two lower gain antennas (but this would depend on your environment and what's in the Fresnel zone).

Many of the newer devices have just one antenna as it's cheaper, and the drop in range in a simple environment (little or no steel and concrete near the LOS) is minimal.