{http://www.dse.co.nz/isroot/dse/images/products/XH6825.JPG http://www.dse.co.nz/isroot/dse/images/products/XH6825~LGE.JPG DSE New Zealand XH6825 500mW 2.4GHz Bidirectional Amplifier}

A little while back there was a heads-up and ensuing discussion on the Melbourne Wireless mailing list about a 500mW 802.11b/g amplifier that Dick Smith New Zealand sells.  Well I bought one.  This is the item in question:
(http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/406579bb02b2526c273fc0a87f990748/Product/View/XH6825 
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/406579bb02b2526c273fc0a87f990748/Product/View/XH6825)

I ordered it in early February and received a customer code from the website but no email confirmation.  After a month I just assumed that the order didn't go through.  Then on 10th March it arrived.  The invoice is interesting as it appears I haven't been charged NZ GST on the item, even though the "tax code" says that I have.  I paid NZ$264 for it, which is AUS$240.  I also bought a 7dBi magnetic mount antenna (which I now strongly suspect to be a 5dBi antenna) for NZ$40.89 and postage was NZ$25.11.  The grand total was AUS$298 charged to my credit card.

The Amp has a [RPSMAConnector RP-SMA] connector on the antenna side and a [SMAConnector standard-SMA] connector on the radio side.  Included is a SMA-to-RP-SMA RG-316 [Pigtail pigtail] so you can plug the amp into your AP.  The Amp runs on a 6V DC supply - don't know what the current draw is though.  The manual claims a 17dB increase in transmit gain and a 10dB increase in receive gain.  Interestingly, the Longreach 1 watt amp claims a 15dB increase in transmit gain and a 16.5 increase in receive gain.  Refer to [PowerAndGainToDecibels].

I've been putting the amp through it's paces, and have compared it to my (http://www.interway.com.au Longreach) 1 watt amp.

I have a (http://www.superpass.com Superpass) 8dBi omni on top of a 13 metre mast at my node - [NodeGMR Node GMR].  It was connected to a [SVECWLAP SVEC] AP inside my house, and I used to have the Longreach amp inline - in locally powered mode.  I shelled into [NodeGES Node GES] and ran [Wavemon].  He has a 13.5 metre mast with a 25dB conifer on it pointed at me.  We run on Channel 4.

Here are the Figures from Node GES

||   || ||  SVEC/No Amp  || ||  SVEC/Longreach  || ||  SVEC/DSE-NZ  ||
|| Link Quality   || ||   54/92 || || 80/92 || || 78/92 ||
|| Signal Level (dBm)   || ||   -66 || || -53 || || -55 ||
|| Noise Level (dBm)   || ||   -100 || || -100 || || -100 ||
|| Signal-Noise Ratio (dB)   || ||   +34 || || +47 || || +45 ||

I now use a Minitar as my AP, here are the figures with the DSE Amp inline:

|| Link Quality   || || 78/92 ||
|| Signal Level (dBm)   || || -53 (dips into -52) ||
|| Noise Level (dBm)   || || -100 ||
|| Signal-Noise Ratio (dB)   || || +47 (dips into +48) ||

As a control I also ran my laptop in my office with an Enterasys card (using the internal antenna) and ran (http://www.knoppix-std.org Knoppix STD) on it.  Here are the Wavemon figures:

||   || ||  SVEC/No Amp  || ||  SVEC/Longreach  || ||  SVEC/DSE-NZ  ||
|| Link Quality   || ||   20/92 || || 28/92 || || 27/92 ||
|| Signal Level (dBm)   || ||   -75 || || -65 || || -66 ||
|| Noise Level (dBm)   || ||   -93 || || -92 || || -91 ||
|| Signal-Noise Ratio (dB)   || ||   +15 || || +27 || || +25 ||

These figures from my office are a bit rubbery because I was sitting right next to the laptop and there was a lot of fluctuation.  I did stare at the screen for a long time however and wrote down the most stable figures.

I don't have a [SMAConnector SMA]-to-[NConnector N-type] [Pigtail pigtail] yet so I can't plug the amp into any of my cards.  So I have yet to run wavemon on an interface that actually has the amp plugged into it.  I plan on doing so soon so I can get a good idea of the noise figure of the DSE amp.

Any other suggestions for testing? -- [DanFlett] 170304

Update: 03/09/2006  On the subject of these Dick Smith Amps. 
I (another mw member), bought one an amp that looks (and its specs) are exactly as the dse one.
There obtainable for around $130-$160 from citytechnology.com.au and have a brand name of micro-beam