OK, got the external WiFi antenna. Now I want to hook it into the Linksys wireless box we have on the boat now.

So what goes between the antenna and the Linksys box?

capt.bill11 wrote in
:

So what goes between the antenna and the Linksys box?



Use LMR-400 cable. Get Radiolabs to make you a custom cable up to 40'
long.
http://www.radiolabs.com/products/cables/cable.php
The connectors for the various Linksys products are shown on their
webpages. Make sure you leave an extra foot on both ends so you're not
sorry!

No, RG-58 left over from your VHF radio pullout won't work on 2400 Mhz.
Put that out of your mind....


Larry
--
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on who's for dinner.
Liberty is when the sheep has his own gun.

Thanks Larry.

But the antenna came with the correct end fitting to hook to the Linksys box. But what I'm not sure about is whether by just hooking the WiFi antenna to one of the two antenna posts on the Linksys box I should then start picking up local WiFi sites?

Or do I need something that the antenna plugs into first then that "box" gets plugged into the eithernet in port on the Linksys box?

Because right now the WiFi antenna is hooked to the and we are in sight of a local hot spot but can not get to the internet via the Linksys box.
But we can if we sit on deck with just the WiFi cards in the laptops.
For what it's worth it's a WRT54GS Linksys box.

"No, RG-58 left over from your VHF radio pullout won't work on 2400 Mhz.
Put that out of your mind...."

It never was. :-)

So what goes between the antenna and the Linksys box?

As little cable as possible.

Use LMR-400 cable. Get Radiolabs to make you a custom cable up to 40'
long.

Do not make this cable very long. DO NOT run it down an entire mast. The
dB loss will be greater than you want for WiFi. It's better to use an
enclosure that lets you keep the WiFi gear as close to the antenna as
possible. No, amplifiers will not work as effectively (at least not without
using VERY expensive ones).

-Bill Kearney

Bill Kearney wrote:
So what goes between the antenna and the Linksys box?

As little cable as possible.

Use LMR-400 cable. Get Radiolabs to make you a custom cable up to 40'
long.

Do not make this cable very long. DO NOT run it down an entire mast. The
dB loss will be greater than you want for WiFi. It's better to use an
enclosure that lets you keep the WiFi gear as close to the antenna as
possible. No, amplifiers will not work as effectively (at least not without
using VERY expensive ones).

Neither one of these guys is completely right. Not yet. Look at the
specs here for the various LMR coaxial cables and decide which one best
meets your needs for your install:

http://timesmicrowave.com/content/pdf/lmr/184-185.pdf

I've used all LMR 100A, 200, 240, 300, and 400 in various combinations
and places and been happy with them all. Note that the names of the
various types of LMR coaxial cable is approximately the outside diameter
of the coax in hundredths of an inch (example, LMR-400 = .405" O.D.).

The most important factor can be the quality of the connectors and their
installation on the coax. The if the stripping and trimming is not done
right, connectors not fitted right carefully sealed, the signal losses
will increase remarkably.

Having the cable made is a good idea if you don't have the tools to do
it yourself.

I've done numerous 802.11B/G with coax runs of 50-100 feet of LMR-400
and added another 5 to 30 feet of LMR-200 or 240 to that to get through
walls, floors, and have some flexibility at the back of a PC.

There is one error in the brochure above, the minimum bending radius for
LMR-240 should read .75 feet (a 9 inch radius bend), not .75" (inches)
as listed.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)

capt.bill11 wrote:

Larry Wrote:

capt.bill11 wrote in
:
-
So what goes between the antenna and the Linksys box?

-

Use LMR-400 cable. Get Radiolabs to make you a custom cable up to 40'

long.
http://www.radiolabs.com/products/cables/cable.php
The connectors for the various Linksys products are shown on their
webpages. Make sure you leave an extra foot on both ends so you're not

sorry!

No, RG-58 left over from your VHF radio pullout won't work on 2400 Mhz.

Put that out of your mind....


Larry
--
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on who's for dinner.
Liberty is when the sheep has his own gun.



Thanks Larry.

But the antenna came with the correct end fitting to hook to the
Linksys box. But what I'm not sure about is whether by just hooking
the WiFi antenna to one of the two antenna posts on the Linksys box I
should then start picking up local WiFi sites?

Is there a piece of cable in between the connectors?

Do you have coax needed for the run or are you just trying to test it?

At any rate, you need to configure the Linksys box a little. Use a
network cable and connect you PC's network connector to one of the
network ports (not the WLAN or Wideband connector) on the Linksys
whatever it is.

Start a browser and enter address http://192.168.1.1/ (or maybe
http://192.168.100.1/, it should be in your manual).

Then leave the user name blank and enter the password "admin" (lower
case, leave the quote marks off).

That should take you to Setup on the Linksys. Somewhere in there will
be an option to use either one or both of the antennas. It may be under
Advanced Wireless Antenna Selection. You need to tell it which
antenna (right or left) you want to use and save that setting.

I recommend you leave the the standard "rubber ducky" antenna on the
connector you do not turn on. That will keep that side from "running
open" if the whatever it is resets itself to defaults.

If the new antenna is far enough away from the rubber ducky you may
later even find having both antennas on useful. It might be that it
will work better inside the boat or in one area of the boat or another.
On the other hand, it may do some strange things at the antenna.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

You might look at the specs for the Linksys box as the ads say it's a router - Access Point for WIFI. You're trying to connect one AP to another and they won't do it unless one changes personality. You really want a WET 54G to connect to the marina AP.

Um... I think something is missing here....

The OP has a combination Router / Access point (WRT54GS). Good box,
but it is designed to broadcast a wire based Internet connection INTO
WiFi. And I think the OP is trying to use it to access an existing
remote WiFi...

If this is true, the short answer is: You got the wrong box. You
need something that will act as a 'WiFi receiver' or Wireless Client
(WET54G, or the Dlink DWL2100Ap running in Client Mode).

Put your antenna on one of these and it will 'receive' the remote WiFi
and present it on an Ethernet cable. You can then plug this into the
Ethernet port on your laptop and get longer range then using the built
in WiFi card.

Once you have established connection to a remote WiFi, it is possible
to plug this into the WAN port on your WRT54GS and then have in effect
a WiFi 'repeater' on your boat. You can then have your laptop just
connect over YOUR WiFi network you have set up using the WRT54GS.

I have used this setup a few times on Viking Star, but once it is all
set up and attached to a remote WiFi, I have not found a way to get
back into the Wireless Client (I am using a DWL2100AP) without
disconnecting the Ethernet cable from the WRT54GS and plugging it back
into the Laptop. One needs to do this in order to be able to select
which remote WiFi network to have the Wireless Client connect to.
However, once it is configured and working, it is really nice to have
a reliable WiFi based network on your own boat :-)

I hope this helps.

-al-






On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:36:55 +0000, capt.bill11
wrote:


OK, got the external WiFi antenna. Now I want to hook it into the
Linksys wireless box we have on the boat now.

So what goes between the antenna and the Linksys box?

If this is true, the short answer is: You got the wrong box.

No, if he's got a WRT54GS he can load the dd-wrt firmware on it and use it
as a client just fine. I know, that's exactly what I've got in my boat.

Once you have established connection to a remote WiFi, it is possible
to plug this into the WAN port on your WRT54GS and then have in effect
a WiFi 'repeater' on your boat. You can then have your laptop just
connect over YOUR WiFi network you have set up using the WRT54GS.

Yes, if you want to have both a link to shore and a wifi network wirelessly
on the boat you'll definitely need two boxes. One can't act as both. One
can "supposedly" use some wifi devices as bridges or repeaters but that cuts
the bandwidth in half (can't do both at once) and in my experience it's
generally unreliable.

I have used this setup a few times on Viking Star, but once it is all
set up and attached to a remote WiFi, I have not found a way to get
back into the Wireless Client (I am using a DWL2100AP) without
disconnecting the Ethernet cable from the WRT54GS and plugging it back
into the Laptop. One needs to do this in order to be able to select
which remote WiFi network to have the Wireless Client connect to.
However, once it is configured and working, it is really nice to have
a reliable WiFi based network on your own boat :-)

I do it all the time without disconnecting anything. The on-boat network is
always on the same wifi SSID; conveniently called "boat" on our vessel. So
the laptops aboard always stay connected to the same network. I just surf
to the shore-link device, also always on a fixed IP address as part of the
"boat" network, and use that to pick an on-shore SSID. Works well.

-Bill Kearney

You might look at the specs for the Linksys box as the ads say it's a
router - Access Point for WIFI. You're trying to connect one AP to
another and they won't do it unless one changes personality. You really
want a WET 54G to connect to the marina AP.

You can load the dd-wrt firmware on it and use it for quite a bit more than
what the factory firmware offers.