Where can I buy a wardriving kit?

[Brandon Clement]

I'm trying to find a kit on my way from Jackson, Ms to Ne and I'm leaving today. If anyone knows of a place where I can stop in DFW, OKC, Little Rock, Ft. Smith, Memphis, St.Louis, KC or anywhere in between please let me know. I'm leaving about 1pm and can go three different ways either take I-20 to Dallas then up to OKC or I-55 to Memphis then I-40 to OKC or I-55 to St. Louis then head west to KC. All three will take about the same time so if anyone knows of a store in any of these city's that cells wifi stuff please let me know. Thanks so much!

 

[Tyler Allison]

not sure what you mean by wardriving kit but if all you need is a wifi card for your laptop you can stop at any major store. walmart, bestbuy, office depot, mejier, kmart, etc.

 

[Brandon Clement]

When I say kit, I'm referring to a good card, good omni directional mag mount antenna and any connectors I might need. I know I can find the card almost anywhere, the antenna seems to be almost impossible to find outside the internet.

 

[Jason Montano]

An omnidirectional mag mount antenna may be difficult to find outside the internet. Most "stores" that sell RF equipment like that wont even sell from their physical address. However a compromise for a mag mount antenna may be a USB external wifi card/antenna, such as:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_in...9926&pfp=BROWSE

You may even be able to attach a magnet to bottom somehow to use while driving. I have not used this product but have read of other ST members who do and thought the performance was good.

Some computer stores also sell other external omni directional antennas that are meant for use on a desk but may work for your car too.

 

[David Drummond]

I have had my eye on one of these kits for some time.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...5778165113&rd=1

I pieced together my old one, with an Orinoco card, but the little antenna connector is very flimsy and not up to the task of the rough environment of the chase vehicle (IMO) and I broke that pretty quick. What I like about this is how they modified the popular Orinoco card with a REAL antenna connection.

All that said, since I got the sprint card and wx works, the only time I have tried to use WIFI this year was when we crashed at a motel and ONE time in NW KS when we didn't have Sprint coverage.

 

[Darren Addy]

If you can DEDICATE a card to your external antenna, I'd suggest making the connection permanent and more beefily protected.

Bondo makes a cheap two part epoxy for repairing urethane parts (available at most chain auto parts stores for under $5). Use a plastic tray (like the packaging that hardware screws/bolts come in) as a mold. Cut one side so the antenna end of the wifi card can sit inside the tray.
Connect the antenna wire. (You may want to add some sort of reinforcement around the exposed wire so that it won't break inside from sharp continuous back-forth bending at the same spot.)

Mix the epoxy and put some in your mold tray. Lay the wifi/wire into the epoxy. Add another layer of epoxy over the top. Work quickly, as this stuff starts to set up in 5 min. Check back in a half hour or so. You should be able to pop it out of the tray and trim it with a utility knife or scissors. It will provide a tough protection for the antenna/wifi connection (but will stick a bit farther out the side of your pcmcia slot, depending on the size of the mold you used.

If you are terribly worried about how smooth it looks, you can sand the epoxy after it is set with 320 - 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

Darren Addy
Kearney, NE

 

[Mike Peregrine]

What you might be able to find at Best Buy/Circuit City, etc. are the home antennas that attach to your WiFi card that might boost your gain when wardriving. I started with one of these and it worked well for the most part, though the 5db gain mag mount does work better.

 

[Pat Palmer]

Check radiolabs.com. They have a 200mW card with a 7dBi mag mount antenna for $120. It's only a B instead of G, but range is what matters, not speed when mobile. For comparison, most wireless cards put out about 32mW.

 

[Chris Carlson]

I'm sure if this is exactly what you're looking for but I found this: http://shop.netstumbler.com/SearchResult.a...x?CategoryID=27.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Has anyone tried those 'super cantennas' listed on the Netstumbler store in Chris' link above? - It's claiming 12 dbi gain, but it's a directional antenna and I don't know how practical it would actually be while wardriving. Used my 5 db gain mag mount tonight to field test and make sure it was still working since I hadn't used it yet this year ... worked great sitting in the parking lot at the Best Western in St. Joe -

 

[bill mudd]

yea Im using the cantenna and its a little fussy aiming it, plus you look like you are aiming a cannon at someones building - I think the omni directional is better even if the gain is lower -

 

[mrobinett]

Heres the guy I got my setup from:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

Not bad for $60. I have had zero problems with it, even got a signal in may from across the street from a restaurant in Childress, TX when others had to pull up to the building!

 

[Tomas Capolongo]

Another 'vote' for Radiolabs

I bought a Kit from them a while back
this is what I got
http://radiolabs.com/products/wireless/net...ireless-kit.php

The wire that connects the antenna to the card is not really long though.