Outdoor wireless solutions

ronanp

Hi,

Sorry if this has been asked before, and I assume it has, but I can't seem to find it...

I'm trying to add a house to an existing network in a house on the same street. The existing network is ethernet (cat5e utp) and consists of a router and two hubs, all private addressing. The 2nd house is about 150-200 metres away and dragging a cable along all the neighbours rooftops is not an option :-)

The 2nd house will have one hub

I've not done much wireless before so am not really sure what sort of hardware I need to use. I assume I need a bridge of some sort and an antenna at each end. Any suggestions? Or any idea of price?

Thanks in advance,
Ronan

DirtyDog

Easy enough, here's what you need :

2 x parabolic antenna's with mounting brackets
2 x lenghts of LMR400 (there is a cheaper kind I just cant remember)
1 x G access point (I'm sure you know there is A, B and G - G is by far the better one for strenght, speed and reliabitity - I have the G-dlink and works perfectly)
1 x G network card
2 x Pigtails to connect to the card and AP.

Total should set you back less than €350, the cable is the expensive bit so make sure you get the right lenght, and be careful with the pig tails they are easily broken but cost about 30 euro each. And you'll have to try mount them....I have a guy who will do it for about 50 a house.

I have a link set up to a friend who's about 2 miles away and it works perfectly, so a neightbour 200 mts away should be no problem.

If you get stuck send me a pm and I'll give you some pointers.

ronanp

Thanks for the reply. It sounds doable anyway so theres a start!

Having trouble picturing the physical connections
Where would the access point and wireless NIC be going?
I assume "LMR400" is the cable going to the antenna?
What kind of pigtails would I need?

Thanks again

DirtyDog

check out VB nets (cant find the address at the mo) they are based in cork they can supply you everything in one go and will ship to Dublin.

The set up goes - Antenna connected to the LMR 400 cable, running to the room/office this has the pigtail connected to it then this connects to either the AP or the card (then the same in the other house) its all very neat and very little to it.

You can get an outside mounting box and get shorter cable but its much better to have this all close by so stick with the longer cable.

DirtyDog

Here's vB nets - http://www.vbnets.com - your better off talking to Peter Bellows (the owner/sales guy) who will look after you, just tell him your part of the DublinWan

Capt'n Midnight

www.dublinwan.org
www.irishwan.org/board

If you could see the windows of one house from another you could use panel antennas in the windows - no need to go outside. - In theory even the supplied antenna might would (if you open the windows) - I've heard a figure of 2dB loss for glass - but there are two windows and I don't know how to count double glazing.

DirtyDog

I've tried the panel antennas (about 8db) and they are totally useless, IMO stick with the parabolic, they might be a bit crappy looking but they do a fantastic job.

Not sure about the internal Antenna idea from Capt'n Midnight - it might be worth a shot before you go drilling the outside of the house

bminish

Originally posted by Capt'n Midnight
www.dublinwan.org
www.irishwan.org/board

If you could see the windows of one house from another you could use panel antennas in the windows - no need to go outside. - In theory even the supplied antenna might would (if you open the windows) - I've heard a figure of 2dB loss for glass - but there are two windows and I don't know how to count double glazing.

Almost all Low 'E' Glass which is commonly used in double glazing to improve thermal efficiency (eg. Pilkington K Glass etc) contains a metalized film layer (see here ) which is very efficient at blocking radio signals on UHF or above so If you find that going through the window doesn't work at all you could always try going through the roof or even the walls

In general most types of roofing are fairly transparent to microwaves so this may be the handiest place if you don't want to go outside
When trying to go through walls bear in mind that some types of plasterboard are foil backed.

My house uses low E glass and foil backed plasterboard everywhere & I can't get my mobile to work inside even though there is a full signal outside.

.Brendan

Capt'n Midnight

I beg to differ - many roof tiles are concrete and saturated with water. A guesstimate would be -18dB at home

bminish

Originally posted by Capt'n Midnight
I beg to differ - many roof tiles are concrete and saturated with water. A guesstimate would be -18dB at home

I did'nt say all types of roofing would work well! However slate isn't too bad and the thin ('fake slate') concrete ones are fine.

Persumably you are referring to the inch thick concrete ones ? -18 dB seems high even for them

.Brendan

ronanp

Thanks lads, its all been taken on board and I'll let ye know how it goes. Also been talking to a fella who's being trying to convince me that an antenna can be fashioned from a pringles tin. Most intriguing! :-)

Will happily join the dublin wan once the lan is working!

Thanks again,
Ronan

Eurorunner

pringles antenna

Capt'n Midnight

Pringles - good as an indoors antenna - try through the window !
Outdoors - it's too damp here

tetrabrick - can't find the link