Q: iPhone and iPad can't print on HP 1109W wireless printer

I am a truck driver and want to bring a printer in my truck so I can print my documents instead of having them faxed at the truck stop.

I just bought an HP 1109W printer. On the box, it says it offers Wireless Direct Printing which I understand is HP's way to connecting directly to the printer without using a wifi network and that is what I am looking for.

I brought the printer home to set it up before going on the road. Everything has been configured as per HP's instructions and when my printer is connected to my home network, it broadcasts it's own SSID and both my iPhone and my iPad can connect to it and print all my documents without problems. When I bring it into my truck, it is still broadcasting it's SSID but I cannot establish a connection with the printer. After a few seconds, I get "Cannot establish connection" type of error and I cannot print any document from my iDevices.

I brought the printer back home and sure enough, once it is connected to my home network, I can print again even though I am connected directly to the printer via it's unique SSID... If I turn my Airport Extreme off, I loose connection with my printer even though I can still see it's SSID in the wifi page of my iPhone.

I don't want to over complicate this situation but I could bring this printer back to the store tomorrow and get another model that I know works just fine but I'd rather have a laser printer like the HP 1109W than an inkjet printer like the HP Envoy 4500 that I know works just fine in a truck. It's cold here in Canada in the winter and I'm not too fond of freezing the ink cartridges to death when the truck is not is use.

If I were to get an Airport Express router, I guess I could just set it up so that the printer is connected to the Express network and be done with it. I may also try with an old Linksys router to see if it'S working also but the more goodies are involved, the more chance you get of something breaking havoc in your setup.

Any tips for this old trucker who needs a printer in his truck ?