External antenna for Digital Yacht WL510

[Tim-JS]

I've recently acquired a used WL510 unit, but without cable, mounting stand or antenna.

Does anyone know enough about antenna / cables to advise whether these are always "dumb" and so I could use different (cheaper ) brands, or is it possible that the DY branded ones will include some kind of intelligence that will be recognised by the WL510 so I'll only be able to use theirs ?

Thanks, Tim

 

[sailorbenji]

I've recently acquired a used WL510 unit, but without cable, mounting stand or antenna.

Does anyone know enough about antenna / cables to advise whether these are always "dumb" and so I could use different (cheaper ) brands, or is it possible that the DY branded ones will include some kind of intelligence that will be recognised by the WL510 so I'll only be able to use theirs ?

Thanks, Tim

We have one on board...the antenna is entirely "dumb" and connected via (I can't remember the spec) basically coax cable.

 

[Tim-JS]

Thanks, that sounds promising.

Will have a look to see if I can fins some alternate options .

Thanks again, Tim

 

[Refueler]

Manual ?

 

[Tim-JS]

Thanks for the manual , from what I can see, the key characteristics i need to find are:

• For the antenna, I need to have 2.4GHZ
• For the cable, I need to find LMR400 coax

I've scouted around for used antenna and for brands i recognise... used ones seem to be quite widely available on ebay at around a third of the price of a new "correct" DY antenna.:

• NETGEAR 9dBi ANT2409 (available on ebay eg Netgear Prosafe 802.11 2.4Ghz 9db Outdoor Omni Antenna 606449034509 | eBay)
• Ubiquiti 10dBi AMO-2G10 (available on ebay eg ubiquiti High Gain Omni AMO-2G10 | eBay)

Both are omni directional, which I think I need as i currently have an "iBoost Pro D8" directional extender and it's less than great when swinging on a mooring or at anchor .

Of course there are also cheaper unbranded antenna on ebay, but i presume using a brand that i recognise will give me a higher chance of not being disappointed ?

So for those who know about these things:

• do both of these products look like they should work with the WL510 ?
• is there anything that should lead me to choose one over the other?
• will the 9/10 dBi of these products perform (approx...) only 20% less than the 12dBi of the "correct" DY antenna, or is dBi some kind of exponential scale ?

Thanks again.