wirless signal strength

[Joe]

This is not an XP specific question. I'm wondering if any
of you have, or know where to get some type of wireless
network signal strength meter. I'm guessing it would be A
2 part kit one the transmitter to set near the cable
modem and the second a hand held device that can read
received signal strength in a detached home office or
other areas that are pushing the advertised range of
operation for the router. I don't want to spend 2 grand
on a full blown spectrum analyzer. That is over kill. But
plugging in a 2.4Ghz cordless phone with a walkie talkie
feature seems too inaccurate.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Joe

 

[Paul Russell]

If you have a laptop with a wireless card that can be used (to a certain
degree).

What are you trying to do? Just diagnose strength areas in your home or ...

There are some home control wireless sensors which could be used, but I am
not sure where you could get that at commodity prices.

 

[Joe]

I'm thinking about doing some home & small office
networking as a side job. They just recently made
broadband available in my area and I have been helping
several neighbors share internet, printer etc. If I was
to advertise myself as in this biz I want an educated way
to know weather a wireless system would be reliable or
should I recomend a wired network.
I could get a programable router and a wirless card for
the laptop and in addition to a software signal strength
indicator, try to communicate to the router as if to
reprogam it.
Thanks for your input.
Joe