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I'm looking for a high-power wireless network adapter like Alfa products but more powerful. The Alfa AWUS036H is said to be the most powerful one, though its TX power is a little less than Alfa's latest wireless network adapters.

I need a wireless network adapter that has a TX power output of 3W or more and uses USB ports for connection. I'm going to use it on an omni-directional 10W antenna, and to offset the signal loss due to the length of the cable I need a powerful adapter. I don't want to use wireless amplifiers, so the adapter itself should generate the 3W or more.

I've found some 3 or 4 Watt wireless access points from brands like MikroTik but they use Ethernet cables instead of USB. They also operate as a totally different network device and they can't be controlled directly using a computer, so they have many limitations.

Adam
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    Which country are you interested in? It's likely that the Alfa is the most powerful legal wifi adapter you can find. – Mark Sep 12 '15 at 22:32
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    I'd rather not talk about its legal perspectives because there are many hardware that might be legal in one country and illegal in another. I'm just looking for hardware recommendation and will discuss legal issues later on another SE site. maybe Bolivia is a good choice, just maybe. –  Sep 13 '15 at 05:39
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    Related meta. – kenorb Sep 13 '15 at 10:48
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    This device claims to be 5.8w, but beware, It comes from China, and is probably not 5.8w. The same site (DX) also has other similar devices, and you can probably find similar things on Ebay. As others have said, it's probably not legal anywhere, so you won't find it on Amazon or similar. Be careful when buying from China.. – Jonas Czech Sep 13 '15 at 14:41
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    @JonasCz Thanks for your effort. but here is the thing. first of all this is a totally Fake product because 1. Ralink 3070 chipset does not operate at 5Watt. 2. a 58dBi directional antenna has a coverage distance of around 60 KM, not 3 KM. 3. a 5800 mW network adapter is worth higher than 30$ regardless of whatever it's made of. I really would buy this product if I knew somehow that it is real but well we all know it isn't. –  Sep 13 '15 at 17:05
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    Yep, that's true. There may also be the possibility of doing a hardware mod to an existing wifi device to increase the power, that would only be doable if you have knowlege about these things and know if it can be done (I don't). If you have signigicant signal loss in the cable, it might make sense to use a longer USB cable and a shorter RF cable to reduce losses. Also a more directional antenna, but you already seem to know all this. – Jonas Czech Sep 13 '15 at 17:36
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    @JonasCz I don't honestly know much about these things, just to solve my problems. hardware mod can't be possible with that price tag. because a standalone 4W wireless amp is about 700$, you know the rest. yea I'm already using the maximum length of 5M but the USB cable isn't waterproof, nor is the adapter so they can't be put outside. Tbh these stuff I'm looking for are great but rare. –  Sep 13 '15 at 19:26
  • Out of curiosity, wouldn't the receiving system (laptop/desktop/server) need to have an equally powerful range to be able to send requests to the network? Seems to me the better solution would be a wireless relay to boost the signal both ways. – O.M.Y. Apr 21 '18 at 11:10
  • @O.M.Y. Nope. "the receiving system" is itself the one that's gonna use the powerful Wireless network adapter. Also, both ends don't need to have the same range to reach each other, they only have to fall Into each others coverage. –  Apr 21 '18 at 15:13
  • @Conspiria - What is your definition of the difference between range and coverage? As far as I knew the effective range of a radio-type device determines the device's effective area of coverage. What you are saying ("both ends don't need to have the same range") makes no sense. If I have a mobile radio with 5 watts of power and a base station with 1 watt of power the base will be able to hear me as I move further away but after a while I will not be able to hear the base clearly (which is critical in digital data signals) and then at all. Wireless routers/bases are no different. – O.M.Y. Apr 22 '18 at 02:00
  • Put another way, range is like the radius of a circle and coverage is the area inside the circumference based on that radius. Two circles can overlap but just putting a small radius circle inside a large radius circle does not guarantee effective 2-way signal coverage unless the centers are mutually overlapped (each center point must be somewhere within the maximum radius distance of the other). – O.M.Y. Apr 22 '18 at 02:09
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    @O.M.Y. I see no point in continuing this conversation in the comments, it's not chat section. my question is pretty straightforward and only about a wireless network adapter, no talks about other equipment. If you wanna know more about this field do more research yourself . –  Apr 22 '18 at 06:19
  • Are you still needing this? If you mind sharing your setup, I've solved several TX setup dilemmas before, maybe I can find a different way to solve your problem? (e.g., I don't understand why a wireless amplifier won't work) – Alex Nov 09 '18 at 05:45

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Here's a 79W power amp available commercially to interface with any WiFi adapter, so you can pick the best available feature set without respect for power, and let the power amp provide the gain.

Licensed amateurs in the US can use up to 1,500 W PEP per Part 97 in non-spread-spectrum digital modes, so finding equipment to get more power will not be difficult if you need more than 79 W before antenna gain;; constant, of course, with the legal requirements of your non-US location. Note I am not recommending this for use in the United States, and mention this just to assure you higher power amplifiers are available if needed.

When you add a gain antenna, you can increase signal strength ('Effective Radiated Power') for any WiFi adapter.

If the WiFi connection will be point-to-point, both the router and PC could use an horizontally polarized antenna for further boost to signal strength. Since most signals in the background will be vertically polarized, using horizontal polarization for point-to-point will reduce your background noise floor, giving you an even better S/N ratio.

Those antennas need not be expensive; I've seen them made with tongue depressors and paper clips.

K7AAY
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I need a wireless network adapter that has a TX power output of 3W or more and uses USB ports for connection.

maximum output power from USB is 2.5 watts (at 5v). You can look that up.

FCC reference: https://www.air802.com/fcc-rules-and-regulations.html

max you are going to find commercially is +36dBm or at most 4 watts or EIRP, and I doubt anyone is going to make this as a USB connected device which would then need supplemental power derived from a 120VAC transformer. And I doubt you will find anything that is plug in via PCI or PCIe and having a power rating over 1 watt from the pci card from within the computer. You are looking at some connection from your computer to a wifi router that then has capability to transmit into the 1-4 watt range with various antenna types.

you also didn't mention if you are doing 2.4ghz or 5 ghz, which is important.

Licensed amateurs in the US can use up to 1,500W ....

down in the VHF band and lower, for amateur radio. Saying that like you said it is way out of context.

ron
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  • OP specified "I'm just looking for hardware recommendation and will discuss legal issues later on another SE site. maybe Bolivia is a good choice, just maybe" so the citation of FCC regs is not relevant. – K7AAY Mar 18 '20 at 18:54
  • The normal max for USB 3 is 900ma =4.5w. Also if the USB port supports PD,QC, or other charging protocol you can get 5v at 3amps and in limited conditions up to 5 amps. USB type C is 20v at 5 amps or 100w. – cybernard Jul 12 '23 at 13:43