Customer Reviews

Hawking HiGain Directional Antenna, indoor/outdoor, 14dBi HAO14SDP

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I live on a 40-acre property with three buildings, and we wanted all three to be able to share one network. We tried all kinds of setups, but the third building never had a reliable connection. So I ordered two of these, and put one up in the office where my computers are. The signal now reaches the farthest building and beyond, and their signal strength went from fair/poor/not even working to excellent! We didn't even need to set up the second antenna. I'm very pleased with this product!

I have this setup on my network over a distance of about 1/2 mile at both ends. I ended up adding an amplifier on both ends du to the unique situation I have here. These are running 24/7 and I have had no problems connecting between the two, even in high winds I still stay connected.

Highly recommend if you want to set up a wireless link where running a cable is not feasible.

I bought two of these to extend our network from inside my main building to our shop about 150yd's away. I paired the antenna with the Hawking HAC10N 10' Outdoor cable and a HWBA54G Hawking wireless G AP/Bridge. The setup was very easy and this thing came with the adapters needed to plug directly into the back of the AP/Bridge. The only thing i needed that the package did not include were some 4" wood screws to secure the mount to the side of the building. It is so good that i can get a signal in the yard all the way to the shop. Once it hits the metal walls of the shop the wireless does not go much further. Using the second antenna and another HWBA54G as a bridge and a HAC30N 30' Outdoor cable i was able to pull the signal down into the shop. I then used a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 to get a blanket of wireless coverage inside my shop with no dead spots. I now have a full wireless setup across the yard and into the shop for less than $450 bucks. We got a quote from a company to run some cable or setup there own wireless to our shop and they wanted $8000-$10000 for it. I was not sure on the setup at first since there were some differing reviews for some of the parts that i used. Now that it is all setup i can surely say that all these components work very well together and it makes setting up wireless across a long distance very easy.

On a side note according to Hawking you can have a range of up to 2 miles when two antenna's are paired but i don't know if i would test it at that limit unless you had a wide open space with nothing to get in the way of the signal. Along with a direct line of sight from one antenna to the other. Standing outside my shop i was able to get a 3 bar signal on the wireless card from the antenna on the main building but as soon as i went in doors the signal immediately dropped to 1 bar or no signal at all. When i added the other components i was able to get a full 5 bar signal within the shop. I would recommend this product to anyone and would buy more if i need them.

I'm guessing my two antennas are about 200ft apart. One is outdoors and one is indoor. Just put it to work and I'm super excited. I ended up getting (all from Hawking): 1 HWREG1 Wireless G Range Extender on the receiving end (not sure if this was needed, but got one just in case), 2 HiGain Directional Antenna, indoor/outdoor, 14dBi HAO14SDP and 2 HAC10N 10-Feet Outdoor Antenna Cable. Ended up being a bit more expensive than I thought. Also paid $60 to a handyman to go up on the roof to install one of the antennas and drill a hole through the wall for the cable to get to the router. Just got it to work and it's working great, almost same speed as I get on the other end. I'll update this review with its performance over time.

I would highly recommend the Antenna for outdoor use. Indoor use does not work very well. The signal does not bounce as expected and does not appear to help signal strength within a residence. The unit is very directional and does not send a signal very well through normal building construction. You need to mount this unit outside to get best results.

This worked as advertised, and was very easy to install: just plug it in to a router's external antenna input. I bought two: one for the primary wifi router, and one for a guest house 500 feet away on our apple farm, with a narrow line of sight through a gap in the trees. It required the remote antenna hooked to a wifi repeater (Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender) with two antenna inputs: one for the directional, and one omnidirectional original. This had to be mounted outdoors; inside a window lost too much signal strength. So you may have to drill through your wall to run the cable. I tried it with and without the 10 ft extension cable: it worked well either way. The install was on a 1.5 Mbit DSL line, and both houses now have full speed internet throughout.

Be forewarned: it's VERY directional, and will give almost no signal behind and to the side, so you will probably need a router with a second omnidirectional antenna or a repeater to get good signal throughout your house. This despite misleading diagrams in the docs and from the clueless tech support people who insisted I wouldn't need another antenna.

We found this repeater to do the job in a country setting. Of course it is line to site so we had to trim a few limbs along the way, but for the most part the signal came through at higher levels than we first thought it would. The product has done what we required it to do. We are satisfied with this repeater.

I live in an RV and bought this antenna to attach to my repeater. WOW, what a difference. I highly recommend this antenna to anyone trying to boost WIFI signal.

Also, the box states that it works with 802.11B & G and it does! For the reviewer who stated that it doesn't work with N, it does not say that on the box, so I wouldn't assume that it would.

First off, shipping was super fast (1 day). Instillation was a snap. Signal went from non existent to 50% steady. The trick is to keep the antenna cable as short as possible to the adapter. The USB cable can be as long as U like. I actually placed my wireless adapter in a clear shampoo bottle to protect it from the elements and placed it rite next to the antenna, so as to utilize the two foot cable supplied from the manufacturer. I've tried many configurations using various devices and this one won...The bracketry lets you tilt but no pan adjustment.

The direction you orient this is very sensitive. Just a slight amount one way or the other can make the difference. I recommend using a wifi strength tuning program like one of these to help.

[...]