|
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Today was day one of the trials. Motor only, just to get familiar with
the new prop setup, and see what we could break. Nothing really broke, other than the forward bilge pump switch stuck "on" and the aft bilge pump switch wouldn't turn on, and some anomalies in the instruments (no speed on either unit, flaky until it settled down on the new depth gauge), there seems to be a bit of harmonic vibration in the shaft (putting my hand on it feels a bump on the opposite sides, and depending on the speed, it's different points on the clock) and the dripless packing system isn't, yet. However the point of this was to report on the wifi setup's first real challenge. I got the bridge up on the mast (the end of the Dec06 gallery in the refit section for any who are interested - http://justpickone.org/skip/gallery/...c06&start=115), and the line to it for the POE and data run through the mast (have yet to decide where to put it and some other downstairs gear, so it's currently just sitting in the Vee with the ethernet strung on the sole from the mast). The signal is so strong up there that it latches on to a pay site, something I was afraid would happen (the bridge, in open mode, vs a stated target SSID, goes to the strongest site). No amount of fiddling in the way I'd become accustomed, which is to just type the URL of the bridge in my browser, bringing up the setup pages, would do anything other than bring a signup page to the pay site. I grumbled but the other sites we had been using were a bit less than stellar, so we gave it a 30 day trial, by which time we fervently hope to be gone. Initially it was great. Good download and upload, no problem logging in, great VoIP, and so on. However, lately, I've not been able to address it through the access point and router which were in between my wifi laptop, and the bridge. Happily, however, before that failure, which happened as I went from inverter power on return to the dock, to shore power (where it had been functioning for the last many months), while we were anchored, and rocking and rolling in the swells, a few miles out in Tampa Bay, I picked up the phone and called Lydia's Mom in England and my Dad in New Hampshire, both over the Vonage system which is connected to the bridge (seeing its data stream as an IP feed). So, assuming I can figure out what's going on with a system which previously, for months, worked very effortlessly, but now is a real pain, and actually currently won't work at all other than as a wired-to-my-computer bridge, internet only for me, no phone, no other computers on wifi (because it somehow won't pass data through either of them), it has proven my expectation: I expect that I'll be able to see many stations from which to choose as we cruise, as many as 3-4 miles from shore. If those stations are broadband as I've been led to believe is usually the case, we'll have internet and my home number in most ports and anchorages in populated areas. Now if I can only sort out what's going on to make it not as simple (and for that matter, not functional in other than a very simple way) as it's been for the last many months. We'll probably put up some sails tomorrow; if I can get this working before then, that will be another test. That is, as one respondent on one list pointed out, a high gain antenna gets its strength by flattening the donut of the radiated signal. Our rocking and rolling wasn't enough to be trouble today; that far out, the donut disk gets pretty broad, I imagine - but I don't know about when we're heeled a bit... Stay tuned (so to speak)... L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery! Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog "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 |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
I've got a 250 ma client bridge connected to a WIFI antenna mounted on my
radar arch, about 11 feet above the waterline. The client bridge is in a stern lazarette connected just eight cable feet from the antenna. An Ethernet cable connects it back to the nav table in the main salon. Since the client bridge had a 120 VAC to 12 VDC power supply I just power it directly from the ship's battery power. I spent the summer in Maine and the reception was absolutely remarkable. Several times like in Smith Cove, Castine, Maine I had hi-speed data and VoIP in the middle of nowhere. I still cannot figure out where I was receiving it from. I could see The Maine Maritime Academy's WIFI network from Smith Cove and their closest transmitter was two miles away.. Even in Tenants Harbor, ME we had uninterrupted internet and VOIP. Many times in larger cities I had to look for a "Free" WIFI site since BEACON WIFI and several other commercial ventures had the strongest signals. It is pretty quick to get a selective SSID so working around the commercial folks was pretty easy. I also have KVH DirecTV/Hughes satellite on board. Take care. Cap'n Ric S/V Sezaneh 2003 Beneteau 473 |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Cap'n Ric wrote: I've got a 250 ma client bridge connected to a WIFI antenna mounted on my radar arch, about 11 feet above the waterline. The client bridge is in a stern lazarette connected just eight cable feet from the antenna. An Ethernet cable connects it back to the nav table in the main salon. Since the client bridge had a 120 VAC to 12 VDC power supply I just power it directly from the ship's battery power. Ric, what is your bridge make and model? We got great reception on our first sail today, when Lydia got a phone call even further out than the original post. However, I'm not at all happy with the Senao unit and would consider an upgrade if I could get it in the same space; 250mw would improve our already good reach a bit, but the ability to select around the commercial sites which want to hijack and redirect the signal is a real PITA not to have... Thanks... L8R Skip, with the electronics installer coming tomorrow Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery! Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog "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 |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On 21 Dec 2006 21:51:45 -0800, "Skip - Working on the boat"
wrote: Ric, what is your bridge make and model? We got great reception on our first sail today, when Lydia got a phone call even further out than the original post. However, I'm not at all happy with the Senao unit and would consider an upgrade if I could get it in the same space; 250mw would improve our already good reach a bit, but the ability to select around the commercial sites which want to hijack and redirect the signal is a real PITA not to have... Skip, which Senao client/bridge are you using? I was looking at the specs of the NOC-3220-EXT recently and it sounded interesting but I have not tried it yet. To solve your "hijack" problem you need client software that will allow you to select an access point by MAC address in addition to SSID. Some will do that but I dont't know about the Senao. You can download the data sheet and manual he http://static.zoovy.com/merchant/pnt..._03202006_.pdf http://static.zoovy.com/merchant/pnt...0_20060314.pdf |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
I apologize for my lack of geeky-ness, but what is this device and
where do I get one? We've used directional and non-directional wi-fi antennas in the past, and while they seem to improve our reception over just using the antenna in our laptop, it's not an order-of-magnitude improvement -- and it sounds as if your improvement is way more than that! I thought a bridge was for working the other way, from hardwired bb connection to wi-fi. But from what you say, it's like having an incredibly sensitive antenna for your wi-fi connection. This is something I want to have! Thanks, Rob S/V Akka Lanzarote, Canary Islands Cap'n Ric wrote: I've got a 250 ma client bridge connected to a WIFI antenna mounted on my radar arch, about 11 feet above the waterline. The client bridge is in a stern lazarette connected just eight cable feet from the antenna. An Ethernet cable connects it back to the nav table in the main salon. Since the client bridge had a 120 VAC to 12 VDC power supply I just power it directly from the ship's battery power. I spent the summer in Maine and the reception was absolutely remarkable. Several times like in Smith Cove, Castine, Maine I had hi-speed data and VoIP in the middle of nowhere. I still cannot figure out where I was receiving it from. I could see The Maine Maritime Academy's WIFI network from Smith Cove and their closest transmitter was two miles away.. Even in Tenants Harbor, ME we had uninterrupted internet and VOIP. Many times in larger cities I had to look for a "Free" WIFI site since BEACON WIFI and several other commercial ventures had the strongest signals. It is pretty quick to get a selective SSID so working around the commercial folks was pretty easy. I also have KVH DirecTV/Hughes satellite on board. Take care. Cap'n Ric S/V Sezaneh 2003 Beneteau 473 |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Skip,
Did you build your own antenna? I didn't understand that from the post. Depending on the height of the antenna from the surface of the water, you'll get different a different emission pattern ("donut"). If you really want long range, you can build yourself a directional antenna. I don't know anything about wifi antennas and the way that signal is polarized, but you could use either 2 dipoles or a Yagi sort of setup, minus the parasitic directors. A two-dipole directional setup requires two identical antennas, parallel and next to each other, emitting in phase, and seperated by 1/2 wavelength (about 6.25cm in the case of wifi, unless I'm mistaken about the freq). The emission will near zero in the plane of the two dipoles, and maximum in the plane perpenticular to that. With a Yagi sort of setup, you just need a passive (isolated) reflector 1/4 wavelength from the emitting antenna, parallel to it. There'll be nearly no signal behind the reflector in the antenna/reflector plane, and maximum signal in front of the antenna in the antenna/reflector plane. The reflector is just a conductive rod approximately the same length as your antenna. For the exact geometry of the reflector, you'd have to search on the internet. With a directional setup like that, if you were at anchor somewhere you could turn your antenna until you got maximum reception. You'd add greatly to your range. Maybe someone manufactures directional wifi antennas, though they'd likely be priced out of this world. -Max Camirand Skip Gundlach wrote: Today was day one of the trials. Motor only, just to get familiar with the new prop setup, and see what we could break. Nothing really broke, other than the forward bilge pump switch stuck "on" and the aft bilge pump switch wouldn't turn on, and some anomalies in the instruments (no speed on either unit, flaky until it settled down on the new depth gauge), there seems to be a bit of harmonic vibration in the shaft (putting my hand on it feels a bump on the opposite sides, and depending on the speed, it's different points on the clock) and the dripless packing system isn't, yet. However the point of this was to report on the wifi setup's first real challenge. I got the bridge up on the mast (the end of the Dec06 gallery in the refit section for any who are interested - http://justpickone.org/skip/gallery/...c06&start=115), and the line to it for the POE and data run through the mast (have yet to decide where to put it and some other downstairs gear, so it's currently just sitting in the Vee with the ethernet strung on the sole from the mast). The signal is so strong up there that it latches on to a pay site, something I was afraid would happen (the bridge, in open mode, vs a stated target SSID, goes to the strongest site). No amount of fiddling in the way I'd become accustomed, which is to just type the URL of the bridge in my browser, bringing up the setup pages, would do anything other than bring a signup page to the pay site. I grumbled but the other sites we had been using were a bit less than stellar, so we gave it a 30 day trial, by which time we fervently hope to be gone. Initially it was great. Good download and upload, no problem logging in, great VoIP, and so on. However, lately, I've not been able to address it through the access point and router which were in between my wifi laptop, and the bridge. Happily, however, before that failure, which happened as I went from inverter power on return to the dock, to shore power (where it had been functioning for the last many months), while we were anchored, and rocking and rolling in the swells, a few miles out in Tampa Bay, I picked up the phone and called Lydia's Mom in England and my Dad in New Hampshire, both over the Vonage system which is connected to the bridge (seeing its data stream as an IP feed). So, assuming I can figure out what's going on with a system which previously, for months, worked very effortlessly, but now is a real pain, and actually currently won't work at all other than as a wired-to-my-computer bridge, internet only for me, no phone, no other computers on wifi (because it somehow won't pass data through either of them), it has proven my expectation: I expect that I'll be able to see many stations from which to choose as we cruise, as many as 3-4 miles from shore. If those stations are broadband as I've been led to believe is usually the case, we'll have internet and my home number in most ports and anchorages in populated areas. Now if I can only sort out what's going on to make it not as simple (and for that matter, not functional in other than a very simple way) as it's been for the last many months. We'll probably put up some sails tomorrow; if I can get this working before then, that will be another test. That is, as one respondent on one list pointed out, a high gain antenna gets its strength by flattening the donut of the radiated signal. Our rocking and rolling wasn't enough to be trouble today; that far out, the donut disk gets pretty broad, I imagine - but I don't know about when we're heeled a bit... Stay tuned (so to speak)... L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery! Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog "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 |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Oops, I think I misunderstood the original post. Sorry group. -Max Camirand |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On 22 Dec 2006 11:16:02 -0800, "Akka" wrote:
I apologize for my lack of geeky-ness, but what is this device and where do I get one? We've used directional and non-directional wi-fi antennas in the past, and while they seem to improve our reception over just using the antenna in our laptop, it's not an order-of-magnitude improvement -- and it sounds as if your improvement is way more than that! You can buy omni-directional antennas with relatively high gain - 9 to 15 db depending on model. Mounted at a decent height of 20 to 50 ft, you can extend your range from a decent access point out to 2 or 3 miles, sometimes more. In order to avoid feed line losses between the antenna and the wifi client/bridge, Skip has chosen to mount his bridge at the top of the mast close to the antenna, and power the bridge via the ethernet cable - Power Over Ethernet, aka, POE. http://wlanparts.com/ |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Skip,
I have a Senao 2611CB3. It is 802.11B only. I have a NCB-3220 on order. It is 400mw and 802.11G. It also supports WPA. Cap'n Ric |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
You can order them at http://www.wlansolution.com/ although I'm sure there
are many other places. Cap'n Ric |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Hi, Ric, and Group, and answering another question about what gear I
have at the same time: Cap'n Ric wrote: You can order them at http://www.wlansolution.com/ although I'm sure there are many other places. Cap'n Ric In fact, that is where I ordered my gear. I can't recommend them unless you are totally familiar with networking protocols and whatever else may be needed to make your setup work, as, despite being a nice fellow, Basil won't help you set it up - he'll only direct you to the Senao website for firmware upgrades, and if you ask him to configure something which will do what I'm trying to do, he'll send you the same stuff I got, which patently doesn't work without some intervention from other gear - and when it doesn't work, won't take it back. (That's an extremely long story, very technical for any but the techies, and not the point of this discussion, so I'll not put it here.) It is extraordinarily far from plug and play, and many network experts, even a user with exactly the same setup as I was trying to make happen, were unsuccessful in getting our setup to work as it was sold to me. At that, even with the router in between (the solution to the IP conflicts which were making the other not work), now, there's something messed up with the Pay service (which hijacked my signal, redirecting to their site, because, now, with the bridge and antenna high up, it saw that as the best and locked on to it, as distinct shortcoming of this particular unit, of which, more, anon) because I'm back to having to put it directly into a configured NIC to set it, then transfer it to a DHCP NIC to surf and connect. It will no longer talk to the Vonage router, which means, of course, no phone, and also no AP for wifi connectivity (defined as no wires between the computer and the outside world), the point(s) of this entire exercise. Now, before the folks in aiw get all exercised, I admitted long ago that I don't even know enough to ask the right questions, let alone have the answers, so I'm sure there's something I'm overlooking out of ignorance. I'd love to be shown my error, but, again, it's an awfully long story, and not the point of this post. So, I'll say that it used to work very well. That it doesn't, any more, is just another problem which I'll eventually overcome, I expect -but I certainly hope that it doesn't take as long as it did to get it set up the first time. I was thrilled, especially after having spent literally more than a year to get it to even talk to the outside world, let alone have it work miles out in the Bay. I have two Senao 2611CB3 Plus Deluxe, configurable to either AP or Bridge. I have an 8.5dBi omni stick from Hypertech, just down the street from wlansolutions, as Basil walked over to get it when putting this together, and a 5.5 duck for the AP. I originally was going to have it all in one box up the mast, one power supply, but as they would absolutely not talk together when joined by a crossover, and the solution turned out to be a router in between, I abandoned that, as seen in the pictures, and put only the bridge aloft. I configure the bridge to a blank SSID, which makes it look for the strongest signal. That's ok, but in this case, that caused it to redirect to their signin page. Otherwise, were that not the case, I could then go into the configuration page and specify which of the available ones, even those not shown, perhaps from a hidden SSID, or one I know to be available at less strength than the first (and limited to) 8 shown, such as I did before the pay site hijacked the signal. Were I to do it again I most certainly would not do that setup. There are other pairs which will do the job more effectively, and not require a router in between. However, as VoIP is a very critical component of our connectivity, the Vonage router works out (the current unpleasantness aside). Thus the question about your bridge; a slight increase in power would be nice, and a point and click selection would be even nicer, particularly if I can avoid redirection in which I'm now embroiled. Hope that was responsive to the couple of questions answered :{)) L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery! Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog "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." |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Skip Gundlach wrote:
I configure the bridge to a blank SSID, which makes it look for the strongest signal. That's ok, but in this case, that caused it to redirect to their signin page. Otherwise, were that not the case, I could then go into the configuration page and specify which of the available ones, even those not shown, perhaps from a hidden SSID, or one I know to be available at less strength than the first (and limited to) 8 shown, such as I did before the pay site hijacked the signal. If your browser home page requires *any* DNS access to get to it, you will get redirected to the signin page on most commercial wireless ISPs. Similarly, if the router has got the DNS server address from the ISP via DHCP, and your bridge has a 'friendly' name for its configuration page rather than a dotted IP address, you will end up at the signin page again :-( Set your home page to blank then try accessing the bridge by its ip address rather than by name. The url should be of the form http://nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn/ fill in the correct numbers for your setup. If that works for you, BOOKMARK the location in that format or maybe set it as your home page. -- Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED) ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk [at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL: 'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed, All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy. |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Check out Inscape Data Corp
http://www.inscapedata.com/AB54.htm 12 volt, weather protected bridge with optional antennas. Ansley Sawyer SV Pacem |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Hi, Ian, and group(s),
Ian Malcolm wrote: Skip Gundlach wrote: I configure the bridge to a blank SSID, which makes it look for the strongest signal. That's ok, but in this case, that caused it to redirect to their signin page. Otherwise, were that not the case, I could then go into the configuration page and specify which of the available ones, even those not shown, perhaps from a hidden SSID, or one I know to be available at less strength than the first (and limited to) 8 shown, such as I did before the pay site hijacked the signal. If your browser home page requires *any* DNS access to get to it, you will get redirected to the signin page on most commercial wireless ISPs. Similarly, if the router has got the DNS server address from the ISP via DHCP, and your bridge has a 'friendly' name for its configuration page rather than a dotted IP address, you will end up at the signin page again :-( Set your home page to blank then try accessing the bridge by its ip address rather than by name. The url should be of the form http://nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn/ fill in the correct numbers for your setup. If that works for you, BOOKMARK the location in that format or maybe set it as your home page. Would that it did - My reaction comes from merely typing in the URL (the way I usually reach the bridge to configure it) in nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn format, whereupon the pay site(s? - I've not been in an area with more than one at the moment, though the readout shows many presumed pay sites as well, some of which have more strength, but not as good a communications level)) redirects to their signin page. The bridge has no name - there's not a place to name it, even. In AP format, I could name the AP if I wanted, as well as the SSID. However, the bridge is notable only from its MAC address. Setting my home page to a blank (no characters on the line) has no effect - and in any case, unless I were to click the home icon, other than at startup, the home page would not appear. So, I'm looking into (don't really know where to look - one of the cites in this thread looks promising but I have to say that I'm so gun shy about Senao that I'd want to see one working before I went through anything remotely like what I have with wlansolutions) some other bridge which would see all available without selecting one for me, and let me push a radio button rather than have to type in the actual name. In this area, at least, while not so in my particular location at the moment, there are many instances of duplicate SSID names. The one I have (from the wlansolutions website "Multi-Client Bridge/Access Point Module Prism 2.5 High Power (200mW) 2611 CB3 PLUS MD" - the module, not enclosed version - 200, not 250mw, though Ric has the same product name unit - perhaps in the desktop version - on his boat) requires typing in the SSID - which, if there are more than one of the same name, makes for pot luck in selection. If, as should be possible, the scan shows two of the same name, a given MAC should show, and if that one is selected, that should be the one for the bridge to associate. So, perhaps better covered in a different thread, are there any other suggestions for client bridge replacement candidates - ones which would allow me to click my bookmark/favorite/whatever to reach the configuration page, and point and click on the desired connection point - but also *not* connect to any until asked, regardless of strength?? BTW, at least at the moment, the link Ansley provided stalls and goes nowhere when attempting any info other than the home page... -- Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED) Thanks for all the dialogue. I'm passing it along to various other non-subscribers to see if there's a solution visible. L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery! Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog "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." |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Skip - Working on the boat wrote:
Hi, Ian, and group(s), Ian Malcolm wrote: Skip Gundlach wrote: I configure the bridge to a blank SSID, which makes it look for the strongest signal. That's ok, but in this case, that caused it to redirect to their signin page. Otherwise, were that not the case, I could then go into the configuration page and specify which of the available ones, even those not shown, perhaps from a hidden SSID, or one I know to be available at less strength than the first (and limited to) 8 shown, such as I did before the pay site hijacked the signal. If your browser home page requires *any* DNS access to get to it, you will get redirected to the signin page on most commercial wireless ISPs. Similarly, if the router has got the DNS server address from the ISP via DHCP, and your bridge has a 'friendly' name for its configuration page rather than a dotted IP address, you will end up at the signin page again :-( Set your home page to blank then try accessing the bridge by its ip address rather than by name. The url should be of the form http://nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn/ fill in the correct numbers for your setup. Would that it did - My reaction comes from merely typing in the URL (the way I usually reach the bridge to configure it) in nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn format, whereupon the pay site(s? - I've not been in an area with more than one at the moment, though the readout shows many presumed pay sites as well, some of which have more strength, but not as good a communications level)) redirects to their signin page. If no DNS lookup is being done, there should be absolutely NO oppertunity for a redirect. Its possible that the router you have put in between your LAN and the bridge is causing this behaviour. You *might* need to set up a static route. Another possibility is you have one of the many varieties of 'search assistant' or internet 'booster' malware on your PC that is trying to reach its homepage and is therefore triggering the wireless ISP login redirect. A full scan with a number of different spyware and virus scanners is probably a good idea at this point. Do you ever get this redirection when trying to access the Router config page? If you are goint to take this to a new thread I suggest dropping r.b.b and *possibly* r.b.c due to the extremely technical content and tenuous connection with boating. You may also want to ask about this issue on the LOCAL newsgroups (they are NOT part of USENET) at GRC. N.B. web access is currently read only so to ask a question there, you will need to configure a newsreader. You probably want the group grc.techtalk. Start by reading http://www.grc.com/discussions.htm . . . -- Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED) ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk [at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL: 'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed, All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy. |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:17:24 +0000, Ian Malcolm
wrote: If you are goint to take this to a new thread I suggest dropping r.b.b and *possibly* r.b.c due to the extremely technical content and tenuous connection with boating. I disagree with that advice. There are *many* of us doing serious cruising and looking for ways to enhance our internet WiFi connectivity. Skip is well into the advanced course with what he is trying to do, and I for one follow his networking adventures with great interest. I think your recommendation to try and connect without the Vonage router is a good suggestion towards isolating the problem. |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
So, perhaps better covered in a different thread, are there any other
suggestions for client bridge replacement candidates - ones which would allow me to click my bookmark/favorite/whatever to reach the configuration page, and point and click on the desired connection point - but also *not* connect to any until asked, regardless of strength?? You've been told this info before, several times. You're trying to use gear that plainly does not do what you want. Stop trying. Use gear that's known to do what you're after. It's trivial, get a pair of WRT54G routers, use one as a link to the shore. Use the other as a on-boat access point, wired to the first one. Done. Then it's just a trivial matter to browse to the shore linking device, picking the on-shore SSID desired and you're done. |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:46:55 -0500, "Bill Kearney"
wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote: It's trivial, get a pair of WRT54G routers, use one as a link to the shore. Use the other as a on-boat access point, wired to the first one. Done. Then it's just a trivial matter to browse to the shore linking device, picking the on-shore SSID desired and you're done. I'm sure that the WRT54Gs work fine in your configuration, but: - I don't believe they are weather proof. - I'm pretty sure they are not high power ( 50 mw ) - Do no directly support Power Over Ethernet (POE) So although they can potentially do the job, they are not exactly ideal for mounting up the mast in an extended range application. |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Wayne,
Have you looked at the Inscape Data Corp CB54E? I am considering it for the top of my mast. Tell me what you think. Ansley Sawyer SV Pacem |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
- I don't believe they are weather proof.
Weatherproof and not working is not a solution. There are any number of ways to put something into a box. But to that end, I put my WRT54G in the radar arch last spring. As of winter it's shown no signs whatsoever of corrosion. - I'm pretty sure they are not high power ( 50 mw ) You are incorrect. It's adjustable. But high-power does not mean better functionality. This is a very common misconception. - Do no directly support Power Over Ethernet (POE) Again, if it doesn't work, what's the point. POE isn't all it's cracked up to be if you're not using effective gauge wire. Wire that's too thin will cause voltage drop. So although they can potentially do the job, they are not exactly ideal for mounting up the mast in an extended range application. If you want it to work then building a box or running wire is a trivial fix. |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 07:54:26 -0500, "Ansley W. Sawyer"
wrote: Have you looked at the Inscape Data Corp CB54E? I am considering it for the top of my mast. I looked at the specs and it seems interesting but I have not yet tried one or heard of any first hand reports. The key with all of these ethernet units is the quality of the internal firmware which performs the network scan function and allows you to select/configure an access point. It is especially important that you can select by MAC address in addition to SSID because there are a lot of duplicate SSIDs in some harbors. |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:02:10 -0500, "Bill Kearney"
wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote: WRT54G Bill, does the firmware in the WRT54G allow selection of an access point by MAC address in addition to SSID? |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
"Wayne.B" wrote in message
... On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:02:10 -0500, "Bill Kearney" wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote: WRT54G Bill, does the firmware in the WRT54G allow selection of an access point by MAC address in addition to SSID? The Wireless Mac Filter section of the router has the following options: Prevent PCs listed from accessing the wireless. Permit only PCs listed to access the wireless network. And, it gives you the ability to edit the MAC filter list. Here's the text of the help screen... The Wireless MAC Filters feature allows you to control which wireless-equipped PCs may or may not communicate with the Router's depending on their MAC addresses. To disable the Wireless MAC Filters feature, keep the default setting, Disable. To set up a filter, click Enable, and follow these instructions: 1. If you want to block specific wireless-equipped PCs from communicating with the Router, then keep the default setting, Prevent PCs listed from accessing the wireless network. If you want to allow specific wireless-equipped PCs to communicate with the Router, then click the radio button next to Permit only PCs listed to access the wireless network. 2. Click the Edit MAC Filter List button. Enter the appropriate MAC addresses into the MAC fields. Note: For each MAC field, the MAC address should be entered in this format: xxxxxxxxxxxx (the x's represent the actual characters of the MAC address). 3. Click the Save Settings button to save your changes. Click the Cancel Changes button to cancel your unsaved changes. Click the Close button to return to the Advanced Wireless screen without saving changes. Not sure if that answered your question. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 12:51:17 -0800, "Capt. JG"
wrote: Not sure if that answered your question. Does the same functionality apply in "bridge" mode as opposed to "access point" mode? Most of the MAC filter logic that I've seen is to keep unwanted guests out of your wireless network. The issue here is how to keep your bridge from associating with unwanted access points. |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
"Wayne.B" wrote in message
... On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 12:51:17 -0800, "Capt. JG" wrote: Not sure if that answered your question. Does the same functionality apply in "bridge" mode as opposed to "access point" mode? Most of the MAC filter logic that I've seen is to keep unwanted guests out of your wireless network. The issue here is how to keep your bridge from associating with unwanted access points. I don't know.. you could try looking for this on the web. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
In article ,
"Capt. JG" wrote: "Wayne.B" wrote in message ... On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:02:10 -0500, "Bill Kearney" wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote: WRT54G Bill, does the firmware in the WRT54G allow selection of an access point by MAC address in addition to SSID? The Wireless Mac Filter section of the router has the following options: Prevent PCs listed from accessing the wireless. Permit only PCs listed to access the wireless network. And, it gives you the ability to edit the MAC filter list. Here's the text of the help screen... The Wireless MAC Filters feature allows you to control which wireless-equipped PCs may or may not communicate with the Router's depending on their MAC addresses. To disable the Wireless MAC Filters feature, keep the default setting, Disable. To set up a filter, click Enable, and follow these instructions: 1. If you want to block specific wireless-equipped PCs from communicating with the Router, then keep the default setting, Prevent PCs listed from accessing the wireless network. If you want to allow specific wireless-equipped PCs to communicate with the Router, then click the radio button next to Permit only PCs listed to access the wireless network. 2. Click the Edit MAC Filter List button. Enter the appropriate MAC addresses into the MAC fields. Note: For each MAC field, the MAC address should be entered in this format: xxxxxxxxxxxx (the x's represent the actual characters of the MAC address). 3. Click the Save Settings button to save your changes. Click the Cancel Changes button to cancel your unsaved changes. Click the Close button to return to the Advanced Wireless screen without saving changes. Not sure if that answered your question. But all these settings are on the LAN/Wireless side of the Router, NOT the WAN side of the Router which is the side that needs to communicate with the WiFi Access Point out in the WOLRD....... When using this router as a BRIDGE, to bring WiFi onboard...... |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Going back to the original question, Skip said:
"No amount of fiddling in the way I'd become accustomed, which is to just type the URL of the bridge in my browser, bringing up the setup pages, would do anything other than bring a signup page to the pay site. I grumbled but the other sites we had been using were a bit less than stellar..." Do you mean to say that when you type in the "URL" [192.168.1.100 or something like that] of the bridge into your web browser, you get the paysite signup page rather than the bridge's setup page?? If so, you're going to have to climb back up and push a reset button. Or do you mean that you Did get into the bridge's setup pages, but cannot figure out how to deny the offending paysite provider? tom =-== p.s. Nice pics! Tampa at christmas time? p.p.s. I saw: 8 cranes abuilding; 7 gulls awinging; 6 slips aempty; 5...bosun's chair;safetyharness;halyardend;snapshackle Rings 4 stainless bolts; 3 copcars; 2 waterways; and a partridge in a pear tree. [video and imagination enhancing devices required for the last] |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
You wrote in news:You-42B0C5.10130229122006
@netnews.worldnet.att.net: But all these settings are on the LAN/Wireless side of the Router, NOT the WAN side of the Router which is the side that needs to communicate with the WiFi Access Point out in the WOLRD....... When using this router as a BRIDGE, to bring WiFi onboard...... Skip's situation must have been in my head at Best Buy tonight. I was looking through the 802.11N new toys and there sat one of those Linksys WRE54G ver 3-US "Range Expanders" I found interesting. If I'm disappointed, I can take it back within 30 days, so no loss. My interest is to extend the range of my Netgear SPH101 Skype wifi phone when signals are marginal because the little phone has an internal antenna. I shut down my access-point-in-a-plastic-bucket 50' up the tree in my yard so only the Netgear router in the house will be online. I plugged the little Range Extender into a drop cord I leave in my yard and sat it atop my car with its little plastic antenna sticking up. The quick instructions tell you to press the Auto-Configure button on the side for 5 seconds which sets it to looking for an unsecured AP to connect to. The power light blinks red/blue until it find one, and turns blue when it connects itself and has a live link. Another blue light, Activity, is solid on until data flows through the box, then it winks off for packets so you can tell data's going through the repeater. It took about 5 seconds to logon to my unprotected W4CSC main router, a Netgear MIMO G box. The two lights were blue. Before I turned it on, I noted on my little Netgear wifi Skype phone I had 32% (2 bars) of signal out by the car. After it logged on, without reconnecting to anything, I had full scale by the car! I called Skype Call Test's number and walked up the street testing the connection and range. Without the tree router outside, the range from the main router is about 50 ft outside the house. With the 50' router and this little Range Extender on top of the car, I walked up the street 8 houses to the top of the hill and Skype didn't drop until I couldn't see the car any more...line of sight, of course. The thing works! Oddly, it seems to assume the identity of the router it's repeating and the Skype phone, at least, seems to not notice when its signal has been hijacked by it. My plan is to run it on the car, tomorrow, at some marginal open hotspots to see how much better my Skype Phone will work in the marginal restaurants, a good test of its capability. The only thing I'll have to do, manually, is to plug its AC cord into the little 100W inverter in the car and manually do an Auto Configure before I leave the car for it to find new open friends to connect to in the new location. That seemed to work fine on the way home and, quite hilariously, I noted before I forced it to look again to find my home router, Tmobile SSID was on the air from it, left over from the restaurant I was fooling with it on the way home. Might be a solution for some.....but it's only +15dbm output. I don't know how you're going to Auto Configure from the bottom of a mast on a yacht. Maybe cycling its AC power off then on will make it hunt again. I'll check that, but I don't think that will work from the T-mobile it remembered on the way home.... -- http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/verichip.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriChip http://www.verichipcorp.com/ Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax. Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name... |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On Fri, 29 Dec 2006 23:25:55 -0500, Larry wrote:
I don't know how you're going to Auto Configure from the bottom of a mast on a yacht. Maybe cycling its AC power off then on will make it hunt again. I'll check that, but I don't think that will work from the T-mobile it remembered on the way home.... What is needed is way to configure via an ethernet connection (at the bottom of the mast of course). |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Wayne.B wrote in
: What is needed is way to configure via an ethernet connection (at the bottom of the mast of course). Without the wireless router at the bottom of the mast becoming too friendly with the bridge at the top of the mast...(c; -- http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/verichip.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriChip http://www.verichipcorp.com/ Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax. Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name... |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On Sat, 30 Dec 2006 09:44:37 -0500, Larry wrote:
Wayne.B wrote in : What is needed is way to configure via an ethernet connection (at the bottom of the mast of course). Without the wireless router at the bottom of the mast becoming too friendly with the bridge at the top of the mast...(c; I'm guessing that the correct sequence of events would be to disconnect the bottom router, connect a PC to the ethernet cable, configure the top bridge, acquire an access point, unplug the PC and replace with the bottom router. The bottom router could be preconfigured to use a different channel than the connected access point. |
Telephone, too (was) WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Hi, Tom, and group(s).
First, thanks for all the discussion. There have been developments, of which more anon, but to Tom's question(s), first: tlindly wrote: Going back to the original question, Skip said: "No amount of fiddling in the way I'd become accustomed, which is to just type the URL of the bridge in my browser, bringing up the setup pages, would do anything other than bring a signup page to the pay site. I grumbled but the other sites we had been using were a bit less than stellar..." Do you mean to say that when you type in the "URL" [192.168.1.100 or something like that] of the bridge into your web browser, you get the paysite signup page rather than the bridge's setup page?? If so, you're going to have to climb back up and push a reset button. Or do you mean that you Did get into the bridge's setup pages, but cannot figure out how to deny the offending paysite provider? I meant that originally, with the Vonage router acting as referee, my AP could communicate both to the outside world and enter the configuration pages of the bridge. Before that time, all attempts to have the two units directly connected failed producing IP conflicts regardless of the IPs set in the setup pages, all of which were readily available by connection to a NIC on the same IP class network. The way I was able to communicate with the bridge through the AP/router chain was to have the AP set to the same netclass as the router, which IP was not adjustable; it got the DHCP connection from the bridge and passed my URL access through. So far, so good. A nuisance to have to type in the specified SSID each time there was a change, but manageable - didn't have to take the ethernet to the computer - Vonage logged me into the internet and I could make phone calls and surf/mail on however many computers I wanted to connect to the AP, all was well with the world Once Beacon was the stronger signal (now that the bridge and antenna were atop the mast), it redirected the bridge, forcing it to show the signin page rather than allowing me to interrogate the bridge. Reset would not change that - a power-off/on cycle will return me to the basic setup, which is that without a specified SSID, it associates with the strongest signal. Unfortunately, in Beacon's case, that signal is a redirect, not either an open or encrypted site where I enter my password. Accidentally I touched the factory reset button when I was fiddling the setup in the NEMA box; I just typed in the factory URL, reset it all to what I wanted, and it came back. However, that was when we were breadboarding it, and the Beacon signal was visible (only) and not dominant. However... I've spent yet another set of hours on the phone with a Vonage rep. We wound up going through a DLink router, which solved the communication problem for a while, and now it's back to plug-and-pray, as I can interrogate the bridge just fine over a configured NIC (not DHCP but the same netclass as the bridge), set it, and put it into a DHCP NIC and make my connection (still through the redirected signup page) and surf and mail (as I'm doing with this post) but not wirelessly. As to the aiw bunch, I not only followed the given directions to the letter, I had another offline relationship with someone who had the exact same setup (Senao units in AP and Bridge mode doing what I wanted, rather on a ski slope, than our mast-top); we could not kill the IP conflict dragon. He and another offline correspondent recommended either a switch or a router between the units. That, indeed, solved the IP problem, and I was successful in making the connectivity work. That I can - from the top of the mast, before I closed it up, just checking the setup - quote (from memory) the setup pages, and manipulate them with my totally computer illiterate wife at the keyboard below suggests I have a handle on how the unit works, despite the chiding I get in aiw. What I don't know, of course, is why it doesn't work later, after it's successfully worked - and I've very easily manipulated the setup pages - before (and in fact can still do so if connected over ethernet cable. The conclusion, in any event, is that this unit is not suited to the purpose, and more, is a "b " only vs b/g or others, which is one of the gotchas which had me going nuts initially, as my b/g enabled unit could see and communicate just fine with a station which the bridge could see but not talk to. We presume they had their network set up as 'g' only to increase connectivity or packet throughput or some other internal reason, confusing me because of the success with the adapter and failure with the bridge. So, I'm on the hunt for a plug-and-play, moderately amplified (don't want to be a bigmouth nuisance), point-and-click-to-associate (required, not go to strongest signal, also a benefit in the cases where there may be multiple iterations of the same SSID with different MAC addresses), bridge (12V, as I've already spent the bux to have the POE). tom =-== p.s. Nice pics! Tampa at christmas time? Yup - it was a real toad-strangler, as well as very high winds. We were at family south, so only got to see it on TV. Glad you like the pix. The electronics installations are nearly finished, with the radar, chartplotter and other stuff working. Pix to follow, as well as followup on the comms situation as I have something more than interim reports to communicate. The aiw and seven seas folks know that I'm more persistent than a bulldog, so we *will* solve this challenge. The internet is perfectly (well, acceptably) workable now, if I am willing to be connected to a cable, and switch between NICs to make changes - which I'm not. So, we'll have a new bridge, which will send down its static IP to the telephone switch/router. That unit will be assigned an IP by the host, and Vonage will then see the MAC of the base station to the two wireless handsets, and log me into the world. The ISP (the local AP, whether Beacon here, or something else elsewhere) signal will go on out to the AP, which will provide us boatside wifi. So, that's my current challenge. Just because there may be other interest in phone connectivity, and this thread is pretty deep, I'm also starting a new topic with this name. Informed, or experienced, or knowledgeable, or otherwise contributions to this new thread encouraged. This is the challenge: A bridge connected to an antenna atop a mast. Light amplification to get the signal back to whatever AP we're connected to ashore, whether free public or subscription access. If we're a long way out, even though we could hear them on the big antenna, we might not be able to talk to them. That bridge is powered by, and sends data down to the inside of the boat over, POE. We've proven that part of the system. That data goes to a Vonage router/switch, via the WAN port. When it sees an internet connection, the MAC is visible, so Vonage logs me in, and I'm on the same telephone number as I've had for 30 years, having taken advantage of the LNP to move it to Vonage several years ago. That gives me a dial tone at the two wireless handheld phones. That component has been proven. The above was proven, briefly, as we successfully used the phone on two successive days when we were miles out of the marina. It passes data out through the LAN port to a computer or something else. That something else is An AP which we set up to allow us to access the internet wirelessly. It's the same as having a wireless router in your home, if you were connected to the Vonage unit, and the Vonage unit were connected to your cable or DSL modem. At least one iteration of that has been proven. Whether I stick with the Senao unit is yet TBD; I'm pretty soured on them currently, and there may well be better solutions for our boatside stuff. My objective is to 1) Use plug-and-play units which require nothing other than perhaps entries of addresses to set up, and perhaps firmware upgrades and 2) not have to mess with any wires (Lydia's absolutely ballistic over visible wires; she's spiral wrapping all the engine room and any other places where any exposed wiring might be visible) once it's set up. A power cycling should be all that's needed to start over in the event of challenges, but I'll make it so I can get to the cables involved in case I have to do some direct manipulation of the various units. Once I've made the shoreside connection, the telephone is active, and I don't have to have the computer running to achieve telephony; turning on my computer and the AP should provide me internet access. (Perhaps that's objective 3, but I think that should be a given; if the Vonage unit is receiving an outside signal and is logged in, turning on the AP will be the equivalent to your turning on the computer hooked to that LAN port at home.) Thanks again to all who've contributed to the original thread, and for those looking in, I'm glad you like the pictures. I hope to make it so someone trying to do the same thing as I, later, will have a visual guide to what I did... L8R Skip, clueless in St. Pete Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery! Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog "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 p.p.s. I saw: 8 cranes abuilding; 7 gulls awinging; 6 slips aempty; 5...bosun's chair;safetyharness;halyardend;snapshackle Rings 4 stainless bolts; 3 copcars; 2 waterways; and a partridge in a pear tree. [video and imagination enhancing devices required for the last] |
Telephone, too (was) WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
ups.com: So, I'm on the hunt for a plug-and-play, moderately amplified (don't want to be a bigmouth nuisance), point-and-click-to-associate (required, not go to strongest signal, also a benefit in the cases where there may be multiple iterations of the same SSID with different MAC addresses), bridge (12V, as I've already spent the bux to have the POE). I've taken AIW out of the group list for this message......(c; Tried to call you, today, through the Linksys Mobile Repeater in my car from Denny's, but Skype said you were unavailable.... Because you got my interest up with your bridge and its problems, I read all about Linksys' little $99 WRE54G "Range Extender" completely wireless repeater. There it sat on the shelf so I bought it at Best Buy so I can take it back, easily, if it didn't "do". Denny's has a marginal open wifi signal from "default" (a Netgear? router somewhere), which I thought was coming from Denny's office, but evidently not. Signals are 10% on the Skype phone or laptop inside the metal restaurant through the windows, I suppose, now. In the parking lot, I plugged the 110VAC Linkie into a little inverter and pressed the Auto Configure button. It blinked a couple of times and went solid blue. I looked at my Skype Phone and was connected to the illusive "default" at FULL SCALE. Inside the restaurant about 200' away, it was only half scale and fully functional! You just press the button... It comes with control software so you can force it to connect to what you want and you can set that up with Ethernet direct or over the air. The software hunts it down on wireless.... Later, at the Dell kiosk inside Northwoods Mall where only one nearby hotspot is open and all others WEP protected, we plugged it in and Auto Configured and it hooked right up to the open system. All the laptops connected through it, simultaneously to "linksys", the open system, with big signals from close to them. They're gonna get one...(c; If the Vonage box will use the AP box as a WAN input through this box, might be interesting to try. You can always take it back within 30 days for refund. It's only 20mw, though and I don't see how you'd reset it at masthead. Put it in a plastic bag trailing a 115VAC dropcord and haul it up on a lanyard?? Man it sure makes the Skype phone LONG RANGE! Now, I'm forced to keep it! -- http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/verichip.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriChip http://www.verichipcorp.com/ Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax. Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name... |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Wayne.B wrote in
: I'm guessing that the correct sequence of events would be to disconnect the bottom router, connect a PC to the ethernet cable, configure the top bridge, acquire an access point, unplug the PC and replace with the bottom router. The bottom router could be preconfigured to use a different channel than the connected access point. I'm going to take a dropcord to Lionheart, tomorrow, with a waterproof ditty bag because it might rain. I'll take the Skype Phone and this repeater and haul the repeater up the mast on a halyard trailing a 110VAC drop cord to power it. We'll see how that works. This box weighs nothing. -- http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/verichip.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriChip http://www.verichipcorp.com/ Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax. Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name... |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
On Sat, 30 Dec 2006 20:07:32 -0500, Larry wrote:
I'm going to take a dropcord to Lionheart, tomorrow, with a waterproof ditty bag because it might rain. I'll take the Skype Phone and this repeater and haul the repeater up the mast on a halyard trailing a 110VAC drop cord to power it. We'll see how that works. This box weighs nothing. It doesn't look like it has an antenna jack. That could turn it into a very useful device on my boat. |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Wayne.B wrote in
: It doesn't look like it has an antenna jack. That could turn it into a very useful device on my boat. It doesn't. The antenna is a swing up that goes from parallel with the long side of the case for mounting vertically to perpendicular to the long side for laying down on some surface. There is an ethernet port next to the antenna connector, but that's for direct control through its software, which I haven't found necessary, yet. I just push the button on the side when I get to a new location, and it finds LIVE internet on open systems. -- http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/verichip.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriChip http://www.verichipcorp.com/ Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax. Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name... |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
Hi, Ian, and group(s),
Would that it did - My reaction comes from merely typing in the URL (the way I usually reach the bridge to configure it) in nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn format, whereupon the pay site(s? - I've not been in an area with more than one at the moment, though the readout shows many presumed pay sites as well, some of which have more strength, but not as good a communications level)) redirects to their signin page. If no DNS lookup is being done, there should be absolutely NO oppertunity for a redirect. Its possible that the router you have put in between your LAN and the bridge is causing this behaviour. You *might* need to set up a static route. The Bridge has a static IP (which I set to be outside the usual use range so as to avoid IP conflicts) - and the Vonage unit IP can't be changed - but, like the Bridge, the DLink can be set to whatever I want, also static. I have used it in DHCP, though, so it will get me on the air - and that on-the-air signal is what Vonage uses to find the MAC address to connect me to the phone grid... Another possibility is you have one of the many varieties of 'search assistant' or internet 'booster' malware on your PC that is trying to reach its homepage and is therefore triggering the wireless ISP login redirect. A full scan with a number of different spyware and virus scanners is probably a good idea at this point. That's possible, but highly unlikely, as I have more than one current, up to date, tool which checks weekly, and also notifies me of any attempt to intrude (very few) or insert malware (even fewer). Full virus and malware scans are done weekly. Oversight (active scanning) is on full time. Do you ever get this redirection when trying to access the Router config page? No. My router is easily accessible through my AP, which is set to the 198.162.(whatever the router uses).xxx class Further, we are now at the point where only a direct connection (NIC) will allow any communication with the top of the mast or beyond. We briefly had connectivity to the Vonage router by going to a DLink DI-614 (ancient tech, left over from my landside home) router WAN port with the bridge, and putting the Vonage unit on one of the LAN ports. I connected to the DLink over wifi and was able to interrogate it and the Vonage unit. For whatever reasons, those abilities (vonage and bridge - I can still look at and configure the DLink) have gone away. Worse, and supportive of the thought that either the Senao is simply junk, or perhaps, also, just unsuited to the purpose, direct (over either configured NIC for setting up the bridge, or DHCP NIC for access to the internet) connection is currently the only way I can communicate. That's not acceptable to me, but it does, at least, after lots of fiddling, as the Senao unit is becoming slow to respond in the main Beacon page (there are more than one; I can connect to lesser strength ones and get a login page more readily than the close, very high [100% link, 89% signal] one which got me started down this road) I've been using, allow me to be on the air, as it's how I'm posting this... Thus, as mentioned elsewhere, I'm ready to replace it; finding a lightly amplified client bridge's - with my specification about how one connects - challenges have been described in other responses. About to take all the yard folks out for a sail today in reward for all the assistance they've rendered in the past; 85, mostly sunny, 2-3 chop, 10-15S should make for a glorious trip to nowhere (we're coming back!) :{)) L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery! Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog "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 |
WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
In article ,
Larry wrote: Wayne.B wrote in : I'm guessing that the correct sequence of events would be to disconnect the bottom router, connect a PC to the ethernet cable, configure the top bridge, acquire an access point, unplug the PC and replace with the bottom router. The bottom router could be preconfigured to use a different channel than the connected access point. I'm going to take a dropcord to Lionheart, tomorrow, with a waterproof ditty bag because it might rain. I'll take the Skype Phone and this repeater and haul the repeater up the mast on a halyard trailing a 110VAC drop cord to power it. We'll see how that works. This box weighs nothing. Hey Larry, why not take it apart, and see what the internal DC Powersupply runs at? Maybe you could adapt it to 12Vdc or some Low Voltage Dc Powered system, and while your in there, look and see it you could adapt an external antenna, or connector to the antenna port. Bruce in alaska -- add a 2 before @ |
Telephone, too (was) WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)
The conclusion, in any event, is that this unit is not suited to the
purpose This conclusion was drawn for you MONTHS AGO. You just refused to listen. |
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