Because this issue pops up with some frequency I wanted to post a
compendium of what I have found to be successful. This is now the 3rd
revision of my system and it has been flawlessly operational for a
couple months.

The components of the system a

Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 Router

DD-WRT Version 23 service pack 2

Auto AP

8 dB outdoor omni antnenna TEW-AO080


The heart of this system is the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54. This as a Broadcom
chip based Router/Access Point. Like the similarly-chipped Linksys
routers, it can be flashed with third party firmware to convert it
into a bridge suitable for tapping into whatever WiFi networks you may
find available. They are relatively cheap at about $50.

The main advantages to this piece of hardware are size and power. The
board is only 5" x 5" and is ideally suited to being repackaged into a
weather-tight housing and used at the top of a mast. My housing is a
custom-made bottom-opening stainless housing fabricated from 2" x 6" x
0.120" rectangular tubing. It is sturdy enough to allow mounting of a
20" antenna directly to the housing. The whole arrangement is powered
by POE. A small disadvantage of this system over a Linkys-based system
is that it runs on 5V instead of 12V. I just put a resistor in line
and run it off house power.

I mentioned that the second advantage is power. There is an onboard
200 mW amp in the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54. Granted, bridges don't really
need transmit amps as much as they need clean and sensitive Rx
circuits, but it does seem to help in some instances.

If you have never had any experience with DD-WRT, you are in for a
treat. This open source freeware project gives you full access to all
the hardware capabilities of your router/bridge. First off, without
this firmware, an off-the-shelf router CAN NOT act as a bridge. This
firmware also shows you detailed signal specs for every access point
available to you, you can change the power output of the signal
amplifier, and you have ROOT LEVEL ACCESS!!. Yes, these inexpensive
little boxes are actually full fledged mini computers with 16 mb of
memory. They have web servers so that you can use a GUI-based
configuration page, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. You can
also load in your own software to run. For the mariner, the best add-
on software is Auto AP.

Auto AP is a script that polls all the available access points every
30 seconds. It determines which one has the best signal and connects
to that one. You can also exclude certain access points in case they
require a subscription (like the one run by the marina). You can also
give preference to access points that you prefer when they are
available (such as the one that is backed up by a T1 line).

The power that is available in a $50 router is staggering if you are
geeky enough to get the firmware flashed. It is not as easy to flash
this router as it is flashing the Linksys, but it is well worth it.
The Wiki tutorials are well written and provide all the information
necessary. They are linked below.

Success with systems of this nature presume some knowledge of Unix/
Linux, TCP/IP, and base level geekiness/ hardware hacking. If all of
this is intimidating, maybe you have a 14 year old nephew who can help
you out. Just print out this page and show it around.

I won't help you with any problems you may have setting up a system
like this, but I am open to hearing any criticism you may have of my
approach or methods for improvement. Ideally there needs to be a Wiki
set up for this issue as it of near universal interest to liveaboards
and Caribbean cruisers. Does anyone know of a likely host? (Maybe
sailnet.com, setsail.com, ssca.org)


Router:
http://www.buffalo-technology.com/pr...?productid=124

Antenna:
http://www.trendnet.com/store/prodde...&tree=Wireless

Flashing with DD-WRT:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php...and_WZR-RS-G54

Note:
The firmwa dd-wrt.v23_mini_generic.bin mentioned in the tutorial
has never worked for me, I have had success using dd-
wrt.v23_generic.bin instead.

Setting up the Bridge:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_Bridge

Installing and using Auto AP:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Autoap

David Braun
S/V Nausicaa