I realize that I'm rather late to the party, but I do have an answer to the original question about HF (13.56 MHz) RFID. Unfortunately, the answer is no. I've experimented with a Feig MRM102 reader, which has an output power of 1.2 watts, and a carefully designed coupling loop about 150 by 250 mm. A fairly large commercially available tag, 40 mm square, will read at 350 mm. This far from the loop, magnetic field intensity drops with the cube of the distance from the loop. So, to double the range, you'll need something like eight times the power. A larger loop might be better, but then the inductance goes up and you need more power to get back to the same current and hence field intensity. To read at one or two meters, you'll need to spend a lot of money. My guess is that the claim of a 1 to 2 meter range comes from entry/exit surveillance systems where the coupling loop is five feet high and two feet wide and there is a 5-watt reader, like the LR1002, in the base.