Guide · point-to-point links
Outdoor point-to-point wireless bridge: line of sight explained.
An outdoor point-to-point wireless bridge can carry your internet a few hundred metres or several kilometres across a property, but only if the line of sight is right. Distance is rarely the limit. Obstructions are. This guide covers what line of sight really means, why the Fresnel zone matters more than people expect, when you need a mast, and how rain and weather affect a long outdoor link.
Last updated 1 July 2026 · by Alien IT Solutions
Line of sight is the whole game
An outdoor point-to-point bridge is two directional antennas aimed at each other across open air. The limit is almost never the distance. It is whether the two ends can see each other cleanly. With a clear path, a few hundred metres is easy, a few kilometres is routine, and the right gear is rated to around 15 to 20 kilometres. Put a tree, a shed or the curve of a hill in the way and even a short link struggles.
That is why the path gets surveyed before any kit is quoted. Everything else, the antennas, the mast height, the frequency, follows from what that path actually looks like.
Distance is not the enemy people think it is
The first thing most people get wrong is fixating on kilometres. They ask how far it can go, as if there is a number that decides everything. There is not. Radio at these frequencies travels fine over open ground. A clean two-kilometre shot across paddocks is far more reliable than a 300-metre link that has to fire through a row of gum trees.
So the honest answer to "how far" is: as far as you can keep the path clear. Trees are the usual killer, and living trees are worse than they look, because they hold water and the leaves grow. A link that just scrapes over a tree line in winter can drop out come spring. That is the sort of thing a survey catches and a rough guess does not.
The four things that decide a long outdoor link
Clear line of sight
The two antennas must see each other. Trees, tanks, sheds and rooflines in the path are what limit a bridge, far more than the kilometres.
A clear Fresnel zone
The signal needs the cigar-shaped zone around the straight line kept clear, not just the dead-straight beam. Objects that look below the line can still clip it.
Enough height
Where the path is blocked, a mast lifts one or both ends over the obstruction. The height comes from the survey, since a metre too low can be the difference.
Margin for weather
Heavy rain can fade a long 5 GHz link, so we design in spare signal margin and monitor each path so it rides through the weather.
The Fresnel zone, in plain English
This is the part people skip, and it is the part that catches out most do-it-yourself links. Line of sight is not enough on its own. A radio signal does not travel as a pencil-thin beam between the two antennas. It spreads out into a shape like a rugby ball, or a cigar, running the whole length of the link. That shape is the Fresnel zone, and the radio needs most of it kept clear, not just the dead-straight line between the dishes.
The practical upshot is blunt: you can stand at one end, see the other end with your own eyes, and still have a bad link. An object that sits below the straight line, a fence line, a shed roof, a rise in the paddock, can push up into that cigar shape and rob the signal. And the zone gets fatter in the middle and fatter over distance, so the longer the link, the more clearance you need at the halfway point. This is exactly why two antennas pointed roughly at each other and switched on so often disappoint. It is not the gear. It is that nobody kept the zone clear.
Height fixes most problems
When the path is blocked or the Fresnel zone gets clipped, the fix is almost always the same: get higher. Raising one or both ends on a mast lifts the link over the tree line, the shed or the rise in the ground. Height is the cheapest performance you can buy on a wireless link, because it turns a marginal path into a clean one without touching the radios at all.
The catch is you cannot eyeball the number. A metre too low and the link is flaky in bad weather. A metre too high and you have spent money on steel you did not need. That is why the mast height comes off the survey, worked back from the obstruction and the distance, not from a guess on the day.
Weather, frequency and margin
Two things carry your internet across the gap: how much signal you have and how much of it you can afford to lose. The difference between the two is your margin, and margin is what keeps a link up when conditions turn.
Heavy rain takes the edge off a link, especially at 5 GHz over a long distance. That is rain fade, and it is real. The answer is not a bigger antenna after the fact. It is designing enough spare signal in from the start so the link rides through a downpour instead of dropping in it. Frequency is part of that call too. Lower bands punch through weather and obstructions better but carry less, higher bands carry more but are fussier about a clean path. The right choice depends on the distance, the clutter and how much bandwidth you actually need, which is another reason the survey comes first.
How we design the link
We survey the path
We measure the line of sight and the Fresnel clearance between the two ends and find what, if anything, is in the way before quoting.
We size gear, height and margin
Antennas, mast heights, frequency and signal margin are chosen for the distance and the weather, so the link is built to hold, not just to switch on.
We install and monitor
Both ends are mounted, aimed and sealed for the outdoors, then monitored so a path going marginal is caught and shored up early.
Who builds it
Long Range WiFi is the point-to-point service of Alien IT Solutions, an Australian IT, networks and connectivity company with more than 18 years designing wireless links across real distance in rural Australia. For a short hop like the house to the shed, see our plain guide to a wireless bridge from shed to house. For whole-property coverage, Paddock Networks. And for the connection itself, Starlink Rural.
Questions people ask
How far can an outdoor point-to-point wireless bridge reach?
It depends almost entirely on line of sight, not raw distance. With a clear path and directional antennas, a few hundred metres is easy and a few kilometres is routine, and the right outdoor gear is rated to around 15 to 20 kilometres. What kills range is obstructions, trees, sheds and the curve of a hill, so we measure the path before promising any distance.
What is the Fresnel zone and why does it matter?
The Fresnel zone is the cigar-shaped area around the straight line between the two antennas. The radio signal needs most of that zone kept clear, not just the dead-straight line of sight, so an object that looks like it is below the beam can still cut into the link. It is why a bridge needs designing rather than just pointing two antennas roughly at each other, and the effect grows with distance.
Does an outdoor wireless bridge work in the rain?
Heavy rain can take the edge off a link, especially at 5 GHz over a long distance, which is called rain fade. We design in extra signal margin so the link rides through it, and the monitoring tells us if a particular path is getting marginal so we can shore it up before it becomes a problem.
When do I need a mast for the bridge?
When the straight path between the two ends is blocked, or when the Fresnel zone clips a tree line, a shed roof or a rise in the ground. Raising one or both ends on a mast lifts the link over the obstruction. We work out the mast height from the survey rather than guessing, because a metre too low can be the difference between a solid link and a flaky one.
Is an outdoor bridge weatherproof?
Yes. Proper outdoor units are sealed and rated to run through rain, dust, heat and sun mounted outside year-round, unlike indoor gear pushed out a window. The cabling is outdoor-rated and the entries are sealed so water cannot track in. It is built to live on a pole, not to be improvised.
Does a point-to-point bridge add a second internet bill?
No. A point-to-point bridge does not add a connection, it carries the one you already have. We take your Starlink, NBN or 4G from the building it lands in and relay it to the others. One plan, shared across the property.
Carry your internet across the property.
Tell us the two points you want linked and what is between them. We will check the line of sight and design a link that holds, no pressure.
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