Thanks, Bill,

Bill Kearney wrote:
From that I infer that you do your surfing from the AP to the bridge.
Or, do you have to unhook the ethernet and do it by hooking it to your
NIC? Either way, do you have to make your interface the same IP
family, or can it do it over dhcp?

The shore link client is running DHCP. The in boat device is not, just as
an access point. So when a laptop connects it's getting it's IP address
through the access point from the router. This means there's nothing to do
on the laptops other than select the 'boat' SSID. I never have to connect
any wires to the laptops to handle configuring anything.

Very cool. My current setup requires direct connection to the bridge in
order to set up the shore point to which I connect. And, the NIC has to
be set to the same IP net other than the last number.

The wiring runs from the device in the arch, wired ethernet to a 5 port
switch belowdecks. The in boat device (access point) is also wired into
this. I could've just connected the two directly together but having this
switch gives me some expansion options. Actually, two other ports are
already connected to the Raymarine E-80 and Sirius weather interfaces.
Works great. At some point I'll be connected a 'permanent' PC into the boat
for engine data, logging and web cam and that'll go in the 5th remaining
port.

Gotcha - cool that you didn't need the switch (though, I'm wondering
why, if the AP has ports, you didn't just use those?). Mine crashes
without the router in between. And, I don't currently have a means of
interfacing (other than a single RS232 for the GPS) any of my
electronics to my computer, which I'd like.


I'd had the same idea - but don't know how much power they take.

I'm in a twin engined powerboat. I don't know, nor care about their power
consumption.

:{)) I don't suppose I would, either. In actuality, we probably will
try to maximize our use during wind and sun periods, where we'd
otherwise be in shunt mode due to full batteries (solar and wind).

I'm not the one to task as I've run a separate power line for each of them.
I believe it was 14 gauge wire I used to avoid voltage drop. I've no idea
what Power Over Ethernet would require but I'm sure a web search would be
enlightening.

I'd meant directly - POE uses the ethernet cable itsef, starting with
48V and stepping down to 12V at the end. The actual power consumption
I was wondering about was in the units themselves, leading to what
size direct power source wire I'd need.

Ditto - but mine has the other item in spades, where she can call her
kids and her mother, and for that matter, as she did Sunday, her twin
in Hong Kong and her sister in England, on a three-way, all over wifi.
I have yet to hook up the new Vonage router and double phone set, but I
expect it will do just fine - and it's another 12v item :{))

Yeah, the VOIP thing would certainly be interesting and should we need it
the network's there to support it. But our cell phone coverage and plans
are more than sufficient to handle our calling needs here on the Chesapeake.
Were we calling or travelling internationally we'd certainly look into it.
I've heard plenty of horror stories about Vonage and other lowball VOIP
providers. Mainly that their voice quality sucks (even with excellent
connectivity). Along with that it's easier to get rid of a venereal disease
than to unsubscribe from their services.

That's a very interesting comment(s):

My mother-in-law (England) describes our voice quality as better than
folks calling her locally. Generally speaking, I've heard no complaint
from any one I know on Vonage (perhaps a dozen or more) as their sole
provider of either home or SOHO wired (not counting the cordless ones,
of course, which still have the cord to the wall on at least one unit)
service. That number includes two of my children, who both have V
backfed into their home networks (unhook the NID, plug the RJ11 into
the jack, and now all the jacks in the home are live on Vonage) as the
only telephone service inside. My son, in particular, is very picky;
I'm sure he'd ditch it in a heartbeat if there were problems.

As to lowball poroviders, I don't know what constitutes lowball - when
Skype and other peer-peer services (such as my googletalk which I use
with my son in Ireland cuz he doesn't want to run up cell charges, his
only phone) are free, 15 (basic) or 25 a month (unlimited US, Canada,
UK, Ireland and 3 Euro countries) sounds like highball. Perhaps the
"other" (lowball providers) are an issue - but I can say from direct
experience that CS in Vonage is great; I've changed my service several
times over the course of the time I've had it. If I needed to
disconnect altogether I expect it would be instant. Certainly, it was,
when I dropped my softphone (a separate service, with its own number),
including the unused time of the month credited, once I had my bridge
setup cured. Always instantly available on the phone, change made as I
speak with them, etc.

And, FWIW, while not recently (the recent time I tried it was very
good), attempting Skype to Hong Kong was such a failure when we first
tried we gave up and called back on Vonage (both from my prior home
connection). And any of the peer-peer services, or "softphone" (like
Skype and Vonage dongles of whatever sort) adaptations, require a
computer be on, whether or not you can get away without having to be
tied via a headset or even a blootooth device. Mine just requires the
bridge and the (Vonage) router. Because the router is the base
station, my new setup doesn't even need an RJJ11 device powered up to
have two cordless phones active at the same time, a nicety when both of
us want to talk to someone at the same time :{))

Currently, I'm embroiled in two transmission issues - one in the boat,
the other in the car - so fiddling with the computer stuff is taking
backseat priority. However, I want to try your bridge, as it seems
like it would be superior to mine if I don't have to unhook to make my
shoreside connections. I'd like that a lot :{))

When you put your unit in a NEMA, how big was the box? Did you take
off the case and just do the board, or leave it on?

Thanks.

L8R

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"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."



-Bill Kearney