Can I run two 802.11b radios (or two cards) in the same box I want to put two radios (or two cards) in one unit. If I set them to operate on different channels, couldn I run two entirely separate wireless networks within range of one another?
Here’s the short answer: No. Unless you have a huge budget, lots of very smart people and a degree in RF engineering, no you can’t. The key thing is that radio is an analog business, not a digital one. Notably, there is basically no such thing as a radio which will transmit or receive \*only\* on the channel it is tuned to. There’s always some weak emission on other channels, and always some reception of strong signals on them. If the radios are well apart, you typically get away with this. But cut the distance by a factor of 100 — say, radios which used to be 20m apart in adjacent buildings are now on opposite ends of a Soekris box, 20cm apart — and you raise the strength of mutual interference by a factor of 10,000. That’s enough to turn minor and tolerable interference, the sort of thing 802.11whatever is designed for, into an unworkable mess. Even a factor of 10 in distance — going from radios at opposite ends of a desk to radios on the same Soekris box — is a factor of 100 in
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- Can I run two 802.11b radios (or two cards) in the same box I want to put two radios (or two cards) in one unit. If I set them to operate on different channels, couldn I run two entirely separate wireless networks within range of one another?
- I want to put two radios (or two cards) in one unit. If I set them to operate on different channels, couldn I run two entirely separate wireless networks within range of one another?
- Can I run multiple configuration (files) for different radios or modes?
