Improved WiFi Reception for your Vessel

http://www.fantasia35.com/wifi.htm

"
Go from being able to receive one access point with high packet loss
to receiving more than 20 solid high signal strength access points."

"The problem with most WiFi receivers is that their interface to your
computer is either pcmcia or usb. In both cases there is a severe
limitation to the height of your antenna. Here is a solution which
uses a Netgear WGE101 802.11g 54 mbps WiFi bridge. This product has
Ethernet out allowing the device with antenna to be elevated up to 300
feet! In this application the pcb from the WiFi bridge was installed
into a water proof nema enclosure and hoisted it up to within 3 feet
of the top of the mast. "

(Mic) wrote in :

Improved WiFi Reception for your Vessel

http://www.fantasia35.com/wifi.htm


What nonsense. Put a REPEATER up on your mast!

http://www.netgate.com/product_info....products_id=37

This "bridge" is a point-to-point and point-to-multipoint repeater that
will interconnect your wireless anything, even a PDA to whatever nodes are
in range. Running 200mw, not 20 or 30, and having a high gain antenna
like:
http://www.netgate.com/product_info....1a3c64a239 85
f22511e27e375e1b4d74
its range is to the radio horizon, not 100 feet like your laptop.
http://www.netgate.com/product_revie...reviews_id =4
&osCsid=1a3c64a23985f22511e27e375e1b4d74
(this one is higher gain, yet.

Low milliwatt standard 802.11 cards don't put out enough power to go beyond
the neighbor's house(boat?). These 200mw units do!

$144 for the unit + the outdoor box at the bottom, some cables and a $50
antenna. Cheap! Mount the box under where the shrouds meet the mainmast
and put the antenna up on top by the Windex. Then just feed it 12V...It's
plug 'n Pray.

If you leave its access open, everyone on your dock can use its repeater
function as it supports hundred of simultaneous users...(c;

--
Larry

This jerk called my cellphone and was nasty.
Continental Warranty -- MCG Enterprises -- Mepco-
24955 Pacific Coast HWY Suite C303
Malibu California 90265
888-244-0925
Fax: 310-456-8844
Email:
Read about them he
http://www.ripoffreport.com/view.asp...3&view=printer

Well, sorta...

I'm in the process of trying to prove that it can be done. So far I'm
not succeeding.

Because I don't want to be connected by a cable (sorta defeats the
purpose of wireless), I'm trying to do it all up the mast.

Unfortunately, a bridge, even the high powered Engenius Senao 2611
Deluxe 200mw AP/Bridge (choose which you want), can't both talk to my
computer and some hot spot. It needs an AP (Access Point) to talk to
it so that my computer can find it.

Yes, I could run a Cat5 up the mast, and plug it into my computer, and,
it's even available off the shelf, with an N antenna connector coming
out of the NEMA enclosure (they put the unit in and provide the
appropriate pigtail). Buy the appropriate high-gain omni antenna,
connect it and run the cat5 as Larry describes, and you're in business,
even using POE (power over ethernet) as an option if you like.

However, for whatever reason, the same unit, used as an AP, connected
directly with a crossover cable, won't play nice, and generates IP
conflicts regardless of what I have done to eliminate that (months of
many-hour days, plus many hours of telco comms with the rep
notwithstanding).

I sorely wish that a bridge, up the mast, with its high powered
antenna, was all I needed. I've benched that here on the boat, and,
sure enough, it won't talk to anyone. Make it an AP, and it talks to
my computer just fine - but won't talk to anyone else (find a hotspot),
not being a bridge - but I *could* let others find me, as it's an AP.

FWIW, I am familiar with the Fantasia35.com site, and the particular
boat, as it was one of the ones we considered as a class - but couldn't
squeeze me into the aft berth. The particular boat is an extremely nice
example of the type, and what he's done for his installation is
seriously cool - but it's a fixed computer, not what we'll have.

So, I can't, much to my regret, yet, comment on the feasibility of
having a totally up-the-mast solution to our wifi quest. If the rep
can work out the compatibility issues, I have no doubt it will work.

FWIW, what I am trying to make work is two Senao 2611 deluxe units, one
each AP and Bridge, connected with a cat5 crossover cable, both powered
by 12 volts. The AP has a high-powered rubber duck, to be able to hear
me (and most likely any other boat in the harbor), and the Bridge has
an 8.5 dBi gain omnidirectional antenna from Hyperlink. Conceptually,
the AP will talk to the Bridge, which will see any hot spot (someone
else' AP, basically) in up to a few miles, and I'll talk to the AP,
which will feed me the output from the Bridge, as well as transmit back
through it, my transmissions.

Unfortunately, several hundred dollars later, all I have is a bunch of
components which won't play nice together, and because it's a custom
job (the off-the-shelf one had only one unit in the NEMA; they had to
build one from scratch with a larger enclosure, squeezing the guts of
the two units into it), it's not returnable.

Stay tuned - if I am successful in working this out, I might even start
selling them, as clearly the rep is struggling with this as much as I
am; once I've done all the hard work, cookie-cuttering it again won't
be difficult.

But for now, I continue to use my Hawking interior directional antenna
(I'm on the hard so my direction doesn't change) suspended in my
dodger, connected by an active USB to the laptop below, on which I can
browse, email in and out via smtp, and even do VOIP on my Vonage
softphone (if you'd like an invite, we'll both get a free month if you
sign on). It's all these things which is driving what has turned into
much more expensive and time consuming in its execution than I could
have imagined - we want to maintain this connectivity when we're at
anchor...

L8R

Skip, refitting as fast as I can, and about to go off for yet another
shoulder surgery at the end of the month

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 - The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"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

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
oups.com:

Well, sorta...


Skip, have you contacted the company to make sure the configuration is
correct for this purpose?

--
Larry

This jerk called my cellphone and was nasty.
Continental Warranty -- MCG Enterprises -- Mepco-
24955 Pacific Coast HWY Suite C303
Malibu California 90265
888-244-0925
Fax: 310-456-8844
Email:
Read about them he
http://www.ripoffreport.com/view.asp...3&view=printer

In article .com,
"Skip Gundlach" wrote:

However, for whatever reason, the same unit, used as an AP, connected
directly with a crossover cable, won't play nice, and generates IP
conflicts regardless of what I have done to eliminate that (months of
many-hour days, plus many hours of telco comms with the rep
notwithstanding).

turn of the DCHP server in the device.........


Me who wonders if IP networking is really as hard as
these folks make it......... NOT......

The company is in Taiwan, and their website, despite offering English
sections, defaults to Chinese about two screens into their support
section.

So, no, I have not. I did send an email to Engenius, but I presume
that's just another marketer of the same device(s) as the websites look
identical, as do other marketers of the 2611 deluxe found by googling.

L8R

Skip, refitting as fast as I can, in the daily thunderstorm in St. Pete

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 - The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"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

The DHCP is set to off. The IPs are set manually. I've tried
_different_ families (10 set, 192 set, 15 set, etc.) with hugely
unlikely addresses (150 and 160 at the end), or _the same_ families
with, again, unlikely-to-be-assigned addresses.

I can talk to either one of them via cat5, *sometimes* via wireless (a
foot away on the bench), but the moment you put them together (only
wireless access, of course, as both of their rj45 ports are occupied by
the XO cable), a conflict arises.

The rep is going to try to replicate the problem this weekend and come
up with a solution.

I'm running out of time, as I'm outta here in two weeks for my surgery,
and that will be the end of boat work for many months, at which time
we'd hoped to get here and start provisioning and proving out some of
the sea-specific installations before heading out, not continuing with
boat work.

Complicating that is Lydia's company making an offer she can't refuse
which involves her leaving the company at the end of the year - and
along with it, losing her - we're very thankful! - substantial income
in exchange for full vesting in her pension, which would have been lost
had she not stayed for another 5 years. Starting over in a commission
world in a new company, for a few months, isn't likely...

L8R

Skip, refitting as fast as I can, including, now, needing a new
windlass

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 - The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"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