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Skip Gundlach Skip Gundlach is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 2
Default New WiFi Adapter

"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in message
news:1unyg.1370$ok5.80@dukeread01...
Nice thing about it is that it is about half the size of a pack of
cigarettes so you can tuck it away close to the antenna and eliminate a
lot of coax loss.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com



Hi, Glenn, and group, - leaving the others below for context:

I'm about to return full time, with Lydia, to the boat. She's finally
signed on to the merits of my spending the time to achieve wifi
connectivity, so that will be one of the things which is on our to-do list
before we head out, instead of relegated to the back of the bus.

However, my goal has been to be able to do this wirelessly. That is, not
running antenna cable or ethernet from my computer to the top of the mast.
To be able to use the laptop (and presumably anyone else who could see the
signal do so as well, a benefit to other cruisers if I can make my system
work, which I've so far failed to do), unconnected

Has anyone succeeded in that? That is, whatever and however it's done, you
sit with your laptop wherever you like, fire up your configuration tool
(WZC, or some other vendor's, like my Hawking external antenna/adapter came
with, e.g.), and click on the site you want to try?

Alternatively, and the reason for this post/reply, I came to this party
late, having been fully occupied with departure from land, so don't know
what we're talking about WRT ciggie pax and how they're powered, etc.

My other gear, with which I've been wrestling for more than a year,
supposedly works, based on other users' experience, to the degree that, once
set up per location, and said setup done wirelessly by configuring the wifi
nic to the same net sets as the gear, you and anyone else who can see the
signal can use it to surf the SSID you've associated. That setup routine's a
pain in the neck but better than being tethered. However, I've yet to make
it happen successfully. I either can't interrogate them wirelessly, or I
get IP conflicts in DHCP, or both, and many knowledgeable folks, including
successful users of similar setups (not on a sailboat, but otherwise
electronically identical), have tried to assist me in the resolution, to no
avail.

OTOH, if I want to use my Vonage unit (the thing which outputs the POTS
signal to the rj11 output, a benefit to being able to wander with handset in
hand vs tied to the unit or some other output point) I need an ethernet
connection, anyway, so perhaps having a router or something similar in the
boat, with its associated wifi, rj45 and POTS outputs, will be required
anyway.

So, this is really several questions: Has anyone had successful achievement
of my target (suggested to be no, as otherwise why all the wired
solutions?)?; what means of achieving my target but allowing wires (coax
runs are not in my vocabulary due to the loss experienced)?; and, a new one
suggested in other threads by Glenn, elsewhere - if I don't need height, but
have this antenna farm already on the stern, with power available there, on
the arch about 13' or so off the water, would I be well served to put my
something up there, lessening the weight-aloft issues, should there be any,
instead of atop the mast?

The problem I have had all along with anything other than mast-top has been
interference. The mast, the various other antennae, the backstay, the wind
generator, and perhaps other things, would all be in the line of sight of
this antenna from time to time if I put it there. OTOH, with my 8.5dBi omni
stick on the top of the mast, with a slight downtilt (what I bought in the
other gear), I'd be over most of the other interference, and at the
distances involved, would have a pattern which painted a great deal of the
shore vertical space, allowing me to see homes looking out over the water,
my presumed likely source of signals I'd use.

So, putting all my begs in one ask-it, any help for the truly clueless (I
thought I had a clue, but if I ever did, I have learned that it jumped ship
somewhere along the way)?

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at http://justpickone.org/skip/gallery/

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

"Queeg" wrote in message
oups.com...

I assume you got the NUB-362EXT? You need the EXT model to attach an
external antenna.



Hello Wayne,

Yes, I ordered the EXT. Will send a report in a month when the new
boat is launched.

Thanks for the help.

Gary