Antennas, again, sorta (WiFi connerctiviy afloat)
 

Well, my attempts at obtaining shoreside communications via one powered-up
point up the mast to this point are stymied (covered in prior posts on the
subject, never resolved). Seems AP (access points, what talks to my
computer) and Bridges (what talks to shore) don't play well together.

My original expectation was to be able to take a single radio, power it, up
the mast, and have it talk to my laptop below, and any hotspot I could get
into, ashore. Such was not to be. Or, at least, not with my configuration
thus far.

Again, the objective is to enhance my strength of communication with shore
hot spots, gateways, APs or whatever else you might want to call them.
Picture you sitting in Starbucks. No problem, right? Now, sit in the boat,
a mile away. How do you get your computer to talk to Starbucks, now??

Assuming it's possible to make enough signal transfer with high-gain antenna
and amplified bridge, how can I talk to that bridge, on the top of the mast,
wirelessly, from below? Is there some single-piece (my prior attempts
included 2 Senao 2611 DB3 deluxe, one each configured AP and Bridge,
connected with XO cable, but they prompted conflicts regardless of how they
were configured) unit which can be put in a weatherproof housing, and have
one or two antennas outside for strength of signal (presuming antennae in
the box would be useless)???

Thanks for any who may know better fora (such as antenna sites?) to place
this query.

A recovering-from-surgery bitch: Please don't hijack this thread with
discussions of ground planes, theory and esoterica. Please address the
ability to achieve the above, only, at least until I can use the computer in
"normal" ways and deal with all the effluvia which sometimes creeps in.

Thanks.

L8R

Skip, rehabbing (well, waiting to rehab!) as fast as I can so I can resume
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

Skip,

Since you are going to need power at the top of your mast anyway, why
not run ethernet cable up there and use Power Over Ethernet (POE)
technology to provide power and signal path in one cable? I saw a unit
advertised the other day which was set up to do exactly that:

http://www.sputnik.com/products/aps/ap250.html

If you do a google search for things like... POE wifi bridge etc., you
will find other options and products with similar capabilities.

Based on my own experience, power is important. I'm using a long range
USB adapter (Netgear RangeMax), about 20 feet above water. It can
frequently hear remote access points over a mile away but can not
connect with them due to low output power. I routinely connect to
outdoor APs over 1/2 mile away however if they have a decent antenna.

Hi...

I'm aware of POE - but I want to avoid connection to my computer - wifi,
after all, isn't cat5 - and, for the length of the run involved, cat5 would
have a great voltage drop, so I was going to directly power it, as needed,
with the appropriate guage (marine) line.

However, taking my laptop off to the beach, or to another boat, would prompt
an unreasonably long cord :{))

As it is, I use an active cable extension for USB to connect my inside
desktop-designed Hawking directional antenna which works satisfactorily
aboard, on the hard. It won't suffice at anchor, let alone swinging,
however...

L8R

Skip

--
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

wrote in message
oups.com...
Skip,

Since you are going to need power at the top of your mast anyway, why
not run ethernet cable up there and use Power Over Ethernet (POE)
technology to provide power and signal path in one cable? I saw a unit
advertised the other day which was set up to do exactly that:

http://www.sputnik.com/products/aps/ap250.html

If you do a google search for things like... POE wifi bridge etc., you
will find other options and products with similar capabilities.

Based on my own experience, power is important. I'm using a long range
USB adapter (Netgear RangeMax), about 20 feet above water. It can
frequently hear remote access points over a mile away but can not
connect with them due to low output power. I routinely connect to
outdoor APs over 1/2 mile away however if they have a decent antenna.

Skip Gundlach wrote:
Well, my attempts at obtaining shoreside communications via one powered-up
point up the mast to this point are stymied...

google for wifi antenna and pringle's potato chip cans
I kid you not. I've lost the link now but there is a site out there
that documents how these guys made antennae out of pringles cans that
would pick up a node up to 5 miles away IIRC.

Skip Gundlach wrote:
Well, my attempts at obtaining shoreside communications via one powered-up
point up the mast to this point are stymied

meh
did it for you
here's one link
http://www.binarywolf.com/249/

cheers

Hi,

There are boosters available:

http://www.80211.net/products/sb24/

One of these connected to a router might do it.

If you do a search on 'pringles antenna forum' it might lead you to
people who know how to do what you want.

cheers,
Pete.

Skip,

Take another look at the product link that I posted. It supposedly has
two transmitters and a "Bridge Repeater" mode which may do what you
want. PoE cable length should not be a problem because all of the
commercially available products that I've seen sense voltage drop
automatically and compensate accordingly.

Ignore the Pringle can antenna recommendations. As you probably know
directional antennas are unsatisfactory for anchored boats because of
swinging.

Don't ignore the can!

These things work, and if you're only swinging to a tidal change while
at anchore, you'll only need to turn it frice (once, twice, thrice,
frice)

I have a Cantenna from this source -
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hughpep/ - He sells the whole setup,
including the wireless PC card with external jack. Then you download
Netstumbler - ( http://www.netstumbler.com ) and use that software to
find the strongest signals.

Easy.

and have used it with good success. It's especially good when anchored
off and looking for an AP to get email/weather, etc...

Works for me.

Mike.

Hi, and thanks for the note, left below.

I'd already discounted the cantennas as being very directional, and besides,
not very marine friendly (I don't figure they'd do well in a salt
atmosphere), having looked at that as my short-term solution before going
with the Hawking and the active cable.

I looked at the site, and as it's 48V, didn't pursue it very far. Also see
that it only talks to the same brand, one of the shortcomings identified in
my current setup (but supposedly avoided by choosing the components we did).
I was not able to determine (without some research, which I'll pursue this
week) whether it's already set up, with the addition of two antennas
(presumed incoming and outgoing, else, why two?), for plug and play on their
system (that is, I' have one of their cards in my laptop, and the shore site
is using one of their APs). Regardless, that particular one won't work, cuz
I have neither that card nor any AP likely, as I'll be surfing someone's
home unit, most likely.

However, thanks again for the link. If I try using the right search words
(what that's defined to be) but can get an omni vs uni station setup, I'll
be in business. I'd have preferred it didn't cost 400, but, in the end,
that's what I have in my non-working setup, now...

L8R

Skip, rehabbing (well, waiting to rehab) as fast as I can 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

wrote in message
oups.com...
Skip,

Take another look at the product link that I posted. It supposedly has
two transmitters and a "Bridge Repeater" mode which may do what you
want. PoE cable length should not be a problem because all of the
commercially available products that I've seen sense voltage drop
automatically and compensate accordingly.

Ignore the Pringle can antenna recommendations. As you probably know
directional antennas are unsatisfactory for anchored boats because of
swinging.

As a computer guy I'll tell you to have a look at hawking antenna's BUT I
don't think that what you are trying to do is possible. Normally when you
try and do a long distance with high gain antenna's you need a high gain
antenna at both locations, you also get into using omni or unidirectional
antenna's. Even with line of sight and a unidirectional antenna anything
over a few Kms is getting crazy. SORRY




"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
...
Well, my attempts at obtaining shoreside communications via one powered-up
point up the mast to this point are stymied (covered in prior posts on the
subject, never resolved). Seems AP (access points, what talks to my
computer) and Bridges (what talks to shore) don't play well together.

My original expectation was to be able to take a single radio, power it,
up
the mast, and have it talk to my laptop below, and any hotspot I could get
into, ashore. Such was not to be. Or, at least, not with my configuration
thus far.

Again, the objective is to enhance my strength of communication with shore
hot spots, gateways, APs or whatever else you might want to call them.
Picture you sitting in Starbucks. No problem, right? Now, sit in the
boat,
a mile away. How do you get your computer to talk to Starbucks, now??

Assuming it's possible to make enough signal transfer with high-gain
antenna
and amplified bridge, how can I talk to that bridge, on the top of the
mast,
wirelessly, from below? Is there some single-piece (my prior attempts
included 2 Senao 2611 DB3 deluxe, one each configured AP and Bridge,
connected with XO cable, but they prompted conflicts regardless of how
they
were configured) unit which can be put in a weatherproof housing, and have
one or two antennas outside for strength of signal (presuming antennae in
the box would be useless)???

Thanks for any who may know better fora (such as antenna sites?) to place
this query.

A recovering-from-surgery bitch: Please don't hijack this thread with
discussions of ground planes, theory and esoterica. Please address the
ability to achieve the above, only, at least until I can use the computer
in
"normal" ways and deal with all the effluvia which sometimes creeps in.

Thanks.

L8R

Skip, rehabbing (well, waiting to rehab!) as fast as I can so I can resume
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