I looked through the documentation here, as well as using the forum search and google over the whole internet to try to find an answer, but either what I want is rare enough that there's nothing out there or, more likely, I can't think of the right combination of terms to use. If anyone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

I would like to get online with my school network, which is all of 5 blocks away. With only the card in my laptop I can sometimes see it, but it's not steady enough to log on to it. I would like to plug an external powered wifi antenna into the USB port on my Asus running OpenWRT and use that as the long range link to the school network while using the built-in antennas on the Asus to provide connection throughout my apartment.

Is this something possible or feasible? If not, is there another good solution?

In using the Alfa 2 watt USB wifi with a 9db omni-directional antenna on my laptop I can see the school and get fair speed, so I know that at least technically it's possible, but I don't know if OpenWRT is built to use in such a way. Eventually I will use a directional antenna to boost the speed even more.

Thanks!