Here is a useful item I have on Granny's Yacht. Whatever you decide upon, an omni-directional aerial is useful.
Digital Yacht WL510 Hi-Power WIFI Access System
" The new WL510 allows boat owners to connect to wi-fi hot spots so that their on board PC’s or equipment can connect to the internet. With internet connectivity on board you can download the latest weather or chart updates as well as having a mobile office on board. Most harbours and ports have either free or subscription based services available.
The system has a compact, DC powered below deck mounted 500mW booster/modem and external, hi-gain (6dBd/8.15dBi/12dBm) antenna with 10m (33ft) low loss LMR400 coax interconnect cable. The antenna measures 0.9m (2.95ft) and can be supplied with desk, mast and industry standard 1” x 14TPI mountings. The modem connects to an on board PC through a regular USB connection with a plug ‘n’ play driver disk supplied for Windows XP and Vista operating systems. It supports 802.11b/g protocols as well as WEP and WPA encryption. The software will show a list of hot spots available and indicate if they are security enabled and their signal strength allowing you to select the most appropriate choice.
Even if your system already has wi-fi access, this can be disabled and you can take advantage of the superior range (and speed) that this system will offer.
Wi-Fi range depends on many local factors but Digital Yacht have seen ranges of up to 3-6 miles with this low cost system. In general, using an internal wi-fi adaptor typically found on a notebook, you’ll be lucky to find the signal at the end of the dock so if you plan to access the internet whilst on board the WL500 could be the solution for you.
* The WL500 has not been tested with all LINUX distributions but all of the latest Debian based distributions should include these drivers
Key Features:
Ideal solution for permanent installation and new builds
Simple Plug and Play USB connection
500mW wifi modem and high gain (12dBm) omni-directional antenna
Industry standard 1 x 14 TPI thread mount
Supplied with 10m of low loss LMR400 coax cable
Supplied with 2m USB cable - can be extended with optional 5m USB Active Extender
External Modem requires connection to boats 12v DC supply
Windows XP/Vista/7 compatible
Mac OS X and LINUX* compatible "
I hope this is helpful
Granny
