Powerlink Indoor 1W Wireless 802.11 b/g/n Signal Booster/Amplifier w/5dBi Antenna Fits SMA and TNC Connectors

by Powerlink

Product Details

• Item Weight: 0.3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• ASIN: B001JHNLRM
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #50 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Networking Products > Network Transceivers
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 28, 2008

Product Description

Description: PL-2301A is an indoor solution 1W bi-directional Booster designed for 2.4GHz wireless LANs. This unit comes with an easy plug-and-play installation, which works together with an indoor Wireless Access Point to improve its operation range and performance. The unit is ideal for use with 2.4 GHz frequency hopping or direct sequence spread spectrum radio modems and 802.11b/g/n devices. The amplifiers increase range by providing transmit gain as well as low-noise receive gain. This receive gain increases the receive sensitivity of wireless LAN Access Point. Full output power of 1W is achieved with only 5 mW input into the Booster. Character: Cast Aluminum Construction Power and transmit LEDs 15dB transmit gain (adjustable) Lightning Protection High Gain, High Value, High Performance Increase range of low powered radio modems Antenna Specifications: 5dBi Antenna w/SMA Female Connector 145% Performance 150% Distance Antenna length: 191mm Connector: SMA Female Booster Specifications: Operation Range 2400-2500 MHz Operating Mode Bi-directional, half-duplex, Auto-Switching via carrier sensing Transmit Gain 15dB (Adjustable) Output Power 1W/30dBm nominal for 802.11g/54Mbps Frequency Response *+- 1dB over operation range Transmit Input Power Max. 100mW, Min 6mW Receiver Gain 15dB typical Receive Noise Figure 3.5dB typical Connector SMA receptacle (50 ohm) Power 6V DV Max. current <1A, 90-264V for AC adapter Operating Temp. *-20 to + 70C Operating Humidity Up to 95% relative humidity Distance* Up to 1500M (5000ft) depends on environment Dimension (cm) 7.8 cm (L) x 5.6 cm (W) x 2.9 cm (H) Material Die Casting Aluminum Safety Certification FCC/CE/VCCI Package Content: 1W Booster/Amplifier AC adapter (110~240V input) RG316 Cable (30cm) (Connector: RP-SMA-Male to RP-SMA-Female) SMA to TNC Adapter (SMA-Male to TNC-Female) 5dBi Antenna Manual

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This works great and is far less costly than many others (All others I've seen), November 27, 2009

By 

Christopher Hazlitt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Powerlink Indoor 1W Wireless 802.11 b/g/n Signal Booster/Amplifier w/5dBi Antenna Fits SMA and TNC Connectors (Electronics)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works on 99% of WiFi Routers, October 29, 2010

By 

Roboguy "comet" (F.L) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Powerlink Indoor 1W Wireless 802.11 b/g/n Signal Booster/Amplifier w/5dBi Antenna Fits SMA and TNC Connectors (Electronics)

Odd problem I have had with my router ( WHR-HP-G300N ) Every four hours on the dot the amp's stop working. It works fine with my other router , a linksys. This leads me to conclude that is something to do with my router so I wont take off any points for that. When it does work though it works great, my reception went from 0 bars to 3 bars. Anyhow because of this odd problem I gave it to my friend and it works fine on his router , he has no problems.

To sum it up , it works on almost all routers , except my WHR-HP-G300N.

1.0 out of 5 stars Didn't notice a signal boost, January 18, 2012

By 

W. Butler (Harrisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Powerlink Indoor 1W Wireless 802.11 b/g/n Signal Booster/Amplifier w/5dBi Antenna Fits SMA and TNC Connectors (Electronics)

This product did not effectively boost my existing wireless signal. I actually returned it due to my severe disappointment. Prior to the use of this device I walked the perimeter of my property watching for the performace of wireless signal. After installing it, I walked the perimeter again to test signal strength. There was absolutely no improvement in using this device and I do not recommend it.