wrote in message
...
I currently have an old analog cell phone antenna at the top of my
mast on a trawler. Do not use the antenna any longer, and would like
to use the coax to mount a WiFi antenna to run to my onboard laptop.

Won't work. The frequencies used are different. So is the wire. That and
the higher frequencies used for wifi mean any distance from the radio to the
antenna will GREATLY degrade the signal. Even with using the right cabling
you still want it VERY short.

Personally, after rigging up an antenna with the access point directly
beneath it inside the radar arch, I found it wasn't worth the hassles of
trying to find an open network all the time. That and when you're swinging
on anchor the signals tend to fade in/out often enough to make it nearly
impossible to do anything for more than a minute or two.

My solution was to get a wifi router that supports plugging in a cell phone
data card. I use a linksys WRT54G3G router and a Verizon PCMCIA card.
Works great, works every time with no fishing around for signals.

-Bill Kearney