WiFi antennas

[Bill Roosa]

Or for a 10db gain omni try this
http://www.lincomatic.com/wireless/collinear.html

That's 3.33 times the power received over a no gain antenna for something like $10
More importantly that is $90 of beer when you don't have to buy a $100 commercial product!!!!

 

[alexco38]

Check out this bad boy Engenius EOC1650 AP/bridge. You can pull in 30km and re-connect to all your onboard wifi devices. It is outdoor grade water and weather proof. The beauty is only need to feed power up the mast. No Usb cable. Only problem is 24v dc which means either use ac on shore or find a inverter.

You can encrypt the downlink side so you are protected to a certain degree.
You can get it from Tigerdirect

 

[Sumner]

... The beauty is only need to feed power up the mast. No Usb cable. Only problem is 24v dc which means either use ac on shore or find a inverter..

If you are talking about putting power into the radio on the ethernet cable (POE) you can get a DC to DC inverter. I use one for our long distance WiFi.

The Bullet will operate on 12 volts for some cable length, probaby more than anyone will have on a boat, but will operate on 24 volts for much longer runs. I'm using a 9-35 DC in and 18 volt DC out converter that we got for about $40. Probably overkill but it doesn't use much electricity itself and is easy to use. Run 12 volts to it and plug the Ethernet cable from the router into one side and the cable to the radio into the other side and it injects the 18 volts into the cable to run the radio.

There is more on it and where I bought it here....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor-navigation/WiFi-1.html

You can also buy other POE's cheaper that just make it easier to inject the 12 volts you have into the Ethernet cable, but that don't increase the voltage, or you can break the cable apart and do it that way,

Sum

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[capta]

wifi antenna

I can now answer my own question; yes the wifi antennas do work!
At anchor in Fort de France, Martinique, I turned on the computer to connect w/ family & friends after 4 days w/o communication (Oh, the horrors of cruising) and could receive only 4 internet connections, none strong enough for a good connection. I took the new antenna up & tied it to the mizzen sail above the boom & voila; 40 connections! Honestly 40! Of course not many were unsecured, but enough to have a good solid internet connection aboard the boat, down below, which we've never had in FdF before. Yea, no more lugging the computer ashore.
Several days later, after sailing across the bay to Point du Bout for the BEST bread in the Caribbean, we connected to an open connection at a hotel. Again GREAT signal.
Returning to FdF, we could actually receive the hotel's signal, 2.5 miles away (on the gps); for real! Not well enough to connect, but it was on the list.
All this with the antenna 6 feet off the deck and we'll be up 40+ feet when we get it mounted aloft on the mizzen.
Now in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia & the antenna works even better; blazing fast!
I found many wifi antennas on the net & chose the "BadBoy" Xtreme after a 20 minute conversation with them on the phone. Super fast delivery, too. Not a sales pitch, just fact.
Good luck & I hope this helps any of you who have the same questions I had.

 

[kenn]

Thanks for the update capta. Sounds like a good choice.

Just recently I was involved in a project that required an outdoor wifi link. The client had chosen the Ubiquiti PicoStation 2 HP, which has up to 1 W of transmit power for about $100. It's similar in format to the Badboy (weatherproof), and can run on 12V POE. Has anyone tried a PicoStation on their boat?

Also, for giggles I bought one of these cheapie USB wifi adaptors, to use on my laptop while testing the PicoStns. It also alleges 1W of output power, and as a connection device, I found it close to the PicoStation in terms of reach. It's not weatherproof and I found I had to solder the antenna connector socket barrels on the main board (they kept twisting out) but for $20.... not a bad first try if you need to improve on standard wifi range.

 

[kenn]

Can any of you explain to me the advantage of having a wifi transceiver that can throttle or adjust it's output power? I have an Alfa 2000mw transceiver and I believe that it is capable of transmitting at reduced output, but I don't know why I would want to do so.

The others have given you good technical info about this. Here's some legal info - many jurisdictions (including US and Canada) put limits on the transmit power an unlicenced device can put out on the 2.4G band. Can't say I've ever heard of this being actively enforced, however if your power output is causing anyone else grief and the FCC gets notified... it could be a nuisance.

Ideal choice is to use just enough power for a reliable connection.