Skip, like you, I know just enough to be dangerous. I use a wireless bridge
connected by a one foot cable to a d-link wireless router. These two items
sit alone hidden away in the corner (not up the mast however). The bridge
is connected to an outdoor antenna via 30' of cable and connects to the
shore-side access point and my laptop connects wirelessly to the d-link. I
could just as well wrap these two together and hoist them up the mast but
would have to power them and they are not outdoor gear. The hard thing with
this system for me is that the bridge has to be preconfigured--it can't
browse for available networks.

Forgive me if I am rambling on. I suspect you are already way beyond me,
but I'm not sure some of the other posters are.


"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
...
Starting a new thread as the old one led to dead ends.

For a précis on the background, see the thread "Antennas, again, sorta" -
but I'm trying to find an up-the-mast single-item (or single box, anyway)
which will see my wifi connection in my laptop as well as shore points.
To
emphasize the point, I don't want to have to connect either a laptop or
permanently mounted computer to a bridge (which would get the job done)
via
anything, ethernet, USB active cable, coax or otherwise. Even allowing a
wireless AP/router below would not solve the problem, as I haven't found a
pair which will talk to each other, and I don't want the complexity/extra
wiring that would entail, either, if it would (work). Some sort of
arrangement which would require proprietary eqiupment (Part A will talk to
Part B only if they're both the same manufacturer, e.g, as I can't assure
that any shoreside point would have that manufacturer) likewise isn't
satisfactory. Amplification is a good thing (i.e. 200-1000mw) but the
antennas are what most likely will get the job done, and I have that part
handled.

The problem so far has been that I can't find an AP and Bridge which will
talk to each other. Surely there's something which will work, and can
take
common DC power up the mast?

Since nobody here (or, at least, apparently so) knows of such a beast, can
anyone point me to better forums on usenet, or websites, devoted to the
subject? Perhaps some sites devoted to wardriving or the equivalent?
It's
a bit of a recursive loop, as not knowing what will actually accomplish
the
job makes looking other places for other solutions more challenging.

Thanks for suggestions on other venues...

L8R

Skip, passive rehabbing, active to start in a couple of weeks, so I can
get
back to refitting!

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain