Hey guys, Brand new.. out of the package me

ok .. im sorta new to programming ... but not really ANyways.. i'll get to the point
I heard that last year there were two beacons of IR Emitters. My question is, How far can the IR receiver aquire a signal from? and how do u set up a IR receiver>??
I had computer engineering last year but they didnt have that unit (even tho they had the parts

) If you could help me out that be great
