My new WiFi adapter for the boat arrived yesterday and I am very
impressed with the early test results. It is a high power USB adapter
with provision for an external antenna, and not particularly
expensive:

http://wlanparts.com/product/NUB-362EXT

I'm using it with an 8.5 db omnidirectional antenna mounted about 25
feet above the water and fed with 30 feet of low loss coax.

The drivers installed very quickly and cleanly, and the client
software allows scanning and selection for all available access
points.

It is very significantly better than my previous best, which was a USB
Rangemax adapter mounted about 20 feet above the water.

Thanks to Glenn Ashmore who pointed out this unit in a previous post.

Thanks, Wayne.

Can you please tell us where you got the antenna, coax, and connector?
Also, do you have any idea how far this setup is working?




Wayne.B wrote:
My new WiFi adapter for the boat arrived yesterday and I am very
impressed with the early test results. It is a high power USB adapter
with provision for an external antenna, and not particularly
expensive:

http://wlanparts.com/product/NUB-362EXT

I'm using it with an 8.5 db omnidirectional antenna mounted about 25
feet above the water and fed with 30 feet of low loss coax.

The drivers installed very quickly and cleanly, and the client
software allows scanning and selection for all available access
points.

It is very significantly better than my previous best, which was a USB
Rangemax adapter mounted about 20 feet above the water.

Thanks to Glenn Ashmore who pointed out this unit in a previous post.

On 23 Jul 2006 06:49:11 -0700, "navnut" wrote:

Can you please tell us where you got the antenna, coax, and connector?
Also, do you have any idea how far this setup is working?

Yes, I got the antenna and coax at CompUSA:

http://tinyurl.com/s6vkg

and

http://tinyurl.com/owcvz

You will also need an adapter to go from an SMA connector to type N
coax, also available at CompUSA among others.

On 23 Jul 2006 06:49:11 -0700, "navnut" wrote:

Also, do you have any idea how far this setup is working?

Not yet but my old unit would easily do 1/2 mile going to a decent
(outdoor) access point over water. Based on my early testing I'd be
surprised if this one doesn't exceed that by 3x or 4x, possibly more.
I'm hitting low power, indoor access points at least 300 yards away.

On 27 Jul 2006 12:15:00 -0700, "Queeg" wrote:

I bought the USB WiFi NUB-362. I am about to order the Hawking
Omni-Directional 9dBi outdoor antenna kit.

I assumed that the Omni-Directional antenna would be mounted on my
boat, cabled to the USB WiFi NUB-362. But in reading the description,
it appears that the Omni-Directional antenna emits, and does not
receive. Will it work with the USB WiFi NUB-362 to receive?

The antenna will both transmit and receive, no problem.

I assume you got the NUB-362EXT? You need the EXT model to attach an
external antenna.

I assume you got the NUB-362EXT? You need the EXT model to attach an
external antenna.


Hello Wayne,

Yes, I ordered the EXT. Will send a report in a month when the new
boat is launched.

Thanks for the help.

Gary

Nice thing about it is that it is about half the size of a pack of
cigarettes so you can tuck it away close to the antenna and eliminate a lot
of coax loss.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Queeg" wrote in message
oups.com...

I assume you got the NUB-362EXT? You need the EXT model to attach an
external antenna.


Hello Wayne,

Yes, I ordered the EXT. Will send a report in a month when the new
boat is launched.

Thanks for the help.

Gary

On 27 Jul 2006 12:15:00 -0700, "Queeg" wrote:

A second use will be to receive from my home wi-fi access point when at
the marina 1/4 mile from my house. Do I need to use one of these
antennas to emit from home, and one to receive on the boat?

If you are line-of-sight with your house with no obstructions, you
might be OK but I doubt it. Best bet is to use an external antenna
with a high power access point at your house also.

If he is going more or less point to point over a quarter mile it would be
best to use a highly directional antenna on his home access point.
Something like a cantenna will have a cone shaped pattern that can be aimed
at the marina. A booster like a Hawking HSB2 set to 200mw on the access
point would help even more. Just keep in mind that 2.4Ghz is very line of
sight. Trees, buildings or anything in the way will trash the signal.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On 27 Jul 2006 12:15:00 -0700, "Queeg" wrote:

A second use will be to receive from my home wi-fi access point when at
the marina 1/4 mile from my house. Do I need to use one of these
antennas to emit from home, and one to receive on the boat?

If you are line-of-sight with your house with no obstructions, you
might be OK but I doubt it. Best bet is to use an external antenna
with a high power access point at your house also.

"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in message
news:1unyg.1370$ok5.80@dukeread01...
Nice thing about it is that it is about half the size of a pack of
cigarettes so you can tuck it away close to the antenna and eliminate a
lot of coax loss.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com



Hi, Glenn, and group, - leaving the others below for context:

I'm about to return full time, with Lydia, to the boat. She's finally
signed on to the merits of my spending the time to achieve wifi
connectivity, so that will be one of the things which is on our to-do list
before we head out, instead of relegated to the back of the bus.

However, my goal has been to be able to do this wirelessly. That is, not
running antenna cable or ethernet from my computer to the top of the mast.
To be able to use the laptop (and presumably anyone else who could see the
signal do so as well, a benefit to other cruisers if I can make my system
work, which I've so far failed to do), unconnected

Has anyone succeeded in that? That is, whatever and however it's done, you
sit with your laptop wherever you like, fire up your configuration tool
(WZC, or some other vendor's, like my Hawking external antenna/adapter came
with, e.g.), and click on the site you want to try?

Alternatively, and the reason for this post/reply, I came to this party
late, having been fully occupied with departure from land, so don't know
what we're talking about WRT ciggie pax and how they're powered, etc.

My other gear, with which I've been wrestling for more than a year,
supposedly works, based on other users' experience, to the degree that, once
set up per location, and said setup done wirelessly by configuring the wifi
nic to the same net sets as the gear, you and anyone else who can see the
signal can use it to surf the SSID you've associated. That setup routine's a
pain in the neck but better than being tethered. However, I've yet to make
it happen successfully. I either can't interrogate them wirelessly, or I
get IP conflicts in DHCP, or both, and many knowledgeable folks, including
successful users of similar setups (not on a sailboat, but otherwise
electronically identical), have tried to assist me in the resolution, to no
avail.

OTOH, if I want to use my Vonage unit (the thing which outputs the POTS
signal to the rj11 output, a benefit to being able to wander with handset in
hand vs tied to the unit or some other output point) I need an ethernet
connection, anyway, so perhaps having a router or something similar in the
boat, with its associated wifi, rj45 and POTS outputs, will be required
anyway.

So, this is really several questions: Has anyone had successful achievement
of my target (suggested to be no, as otherwise why all the wired
solutions?)?; what means of achieving my target but allowing wires (coax
runs are not in my vocabulary due to the loss experienced)?; and, a new one
suggested in other threads by Glenn, elsewhere - if I don't need height, but
have this antenna farm already on the stern, with power available there, on
the arch about 13' or so off the water, would I be well served to put my
something up there, lessening the weight-aloft issues, should there be any,
instead of atop the mast?

The problem I have had all along with anything other than mast-top has been
interference. The mast, the various other antennae, the backstay, the wind
generator, and perhaps other things, would all be in the line of sight of
this antenna from time to time if I put it there. OTOH, with my 8.5dBi omni
stick on the top of the mast, with a slight downtilt (what I bought in the
other gear), I'd be over most of the other interference, and at the
distances involved, would have a pattern which painted a great deal of the
shore vertical space, allowing me to see homes looking out over the water,
my presumed likely source of signals I'd use.

So, putting all my begs in one ask-it, any help for the truly clueless (I
thought I had a clue, but if I ever did, I have learned that it jumped ship
somewhere along the way)?

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at http://justpickone.org/skip/gallery/

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

"Queeg" wrote in message
oups.com...

I assume you got the NUB-362EXT? You need the EXT model to attach an
external antenna.


Hello Wayne,

Yes, I ordered the EXT. Will send a report in a month when the new
boat is launched.

Thanks for the help.

Gary