Wifi repeater for marina hotspots

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Nickcf

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Can anyone recommend a good repeater so that I can access marina wifi on my laptop more reliably. I can't use an external aerial as my laptop has built in wifi. The problem seems to be with the transmit power from the laptop. Using it outside does improve things slightly but makes reading the screen much more difficult in daylight.

What I think i need is a repeater sited on board that will accept a dynamic IP address from the hotspot and then let me connect my laptop to the repeater via the laptop wifi. I'd rather avoid a Lan based repeater as that involves running cables which isn't practical usually. can access local power source for the repeater though (12 or 220v) on the flybridge.

Anyone any experiences of good hardware that works with most marina hotspots (in UK/europe)?

thnks
 
on the list of dog's bits for Wifi, this has to be at the top of the antennae list.

The Repeatit from Wifi Spark.

http://sparkwebshop.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_RepeatIT_15.html



Excellent bit of weatherproof kit, very good support, and reliable. It increases the range enormously, and you can pick up stations for as far as you can see horizontally.

EDIT. Beaten to it.
I must read the whole post
I must read the whole post
I must ...
 
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Re the posting by Sea, that's the one I've got (Reapeatit) and the price is better than I paid. For me it gives sufficient boost even in when it's in the cabin, but I'm only looking for 100 yards or so. Of course the higher the better as far as range is concerned.
 
Thanks for info. Does the unit need to be connected to the laptop usb port to work or can it get its usb power from a local power supply?
 
just plugs into the USB port.

Comes with a clamp device if you want to fit it outside with the laptop inside. Longer than 5m you will need a powered USB lead, though.
 
Reading Nick's initial post, I think he is looking for a vessel based repeater/extender that both wirelessly connects, boosts and extends the wifi coverage between the hotspot & his laptop, without the need for physical wires connected between the PC & the extender device.

I have been looking for such a device, & have yet to find one.
 
BrendanS said:
I might be misinterpreting, but there are literally dozens of repeaters/range extenders on the market that are wireless (apart from power supply)

eg http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopSearch.asp?CategoryID=259
only 3, but representative of what is available, and you can put external aerials on them
Click to expand...


More than likely my inept description. Basically a better description would be a wireless antenna system that can extend the wireless capabilities of a laptop without physically connecting to it via cables.

My belief is that the extender in your link would have to be configured to tie in with a network, as part of a system that wouldn't be expected to connect with many different hotspots - i.e it's normal habitat would be as part of a extender of a modem/router connected to a DSL line.
 
I am installing a wireless access point as we speak. I have tried it at home and it works well.

Basically, I have a large 15dbi antenna mounted outside connected to an Edimax Wireless Access Point which can be configured as a universal repeater. To connect or show available wireless networks requires me to open my internet browser, connect to the AP, do a "site survey" and connect using whatever password required. I do not have alot of experience with doing this but have got it working with my home network ok - have yet to try it in the field.
 
poltergeist said:
More than likely my inept description. Basically a better description would be a wireless antenna system that can extend the wireless capabilities of a laptop without physically connecting to it via cables.

My belief is that the extender in your link would have to be configured to tie in with a network, as part of a system that wouldn't be expected to connect with many different hotspots - i.e it's normal habitat would be as part of a extender of a modem/router connected to a DSL line.
Click to expand...

Not really an issue, as you simply do a setup when you arrive, as though you are installing from scratch. If you really don't want that hassle, then use a universal or blind repeater.

You can buy these, or create your own system. RV owners in the US are very clued up on these things, and have written lots about doing it. Here are two links I picked at random, so not necessarily the best, but will illustrate how to go about it.

http://www.nyetech.com/services/rv-wireless-repeater.htm

which uses info from here
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Universal_Wireless_Repeater
 
Nickcf said:
Can anyone recommend a good repeater so that I can access marina wifi on my laptop more reliably. I can't use an external aerial as my laptop has built in wifi.
Click to expand...

I dont understand why you cant use an external aerial? Most of us have laptops with built in wifi, and we use external aerials/adapters plugged into a USB port, which work fine.

Sometimes you have to disable the internal wifi aerial, which you may have to do using software in windows, or you may have a switch on the laptop which turns it on and off.

(having said that... it would be good to have something which receives the wifi from the marina, or wherever, and which then wirelessly routes it around the boat, with some kind of password protection).
 
markdj said:
I am installing a wireless access point as we speak. I have tried it at home and it works well.

Basically, I have a large 15dbi antenna mounted outside connected to an Edimax Wireless Access Point which can be configured as a universal repeater.

http://www.faculty-x.net/15dbi-omni-outdoor.htm

To connect or show available wireless networks requires me to open my internet browser, connect to the AP, do a "site survey" and connect using whatever password required. I do not have alot of experience with doing this but have got it working with my home network ok - have yet to try it in the field.
Click to expand...

Well, it's taken a while to get the aerial mount sorted and I didn't finish the wireless finally until today.

First up was the aerial. It's a 15dB omnidirectional Wifi aerial which doesn't have a standard marine type screw fit.

To solve this problem I got a local engineering firm to turn an old 2 inch stainless steel shaft I had lying around into a short 5 inch piece with a central hole which was then tapped to the same thread as a standard marine ratchet mount thread. This would form the base.

On the outside of this turned block, I got a stainless steel welder to cut a 10 inch length of 2" diameter tubing lengthways. Then this was welded to either side of the turned and threaded cylinder. This gives just the right gap so that the aerial can be clamped into place between each half.

Total cost for turning, tube length, and welding was £40.

Here's a photo of the mount.



To go from this to the Wireless Access Point, I used quite heavy, very low loss coaxial cable.



This Access Point is connected to a 24volt PC running Windows 7 with an Asus Intel Atom/Nvidia Ion chipset which gives full HD video playback. The output from the PC is split (so far just to 2 screens) the TV and the 19inch widescreen monitor used for the chart plotter. A multiplexer is used to bring all the nmea data in from gps/ais/ and wind data. All runs to the Software on board software.



To setup the access point, first I had to set the PC to a fixed ip address, connect to the AP setup menu i.e. 192.168.2.1 then I changed the access point access ip address to 192.168.2.99 - this prevents any issues connecting to routers that have their own ip as .2.1.

Now I connected to the new address for the AP, did a site survey, selected a wifi point in range, connected, set the security of the AP to the same as the wifi point and saved teh changes to the router. That's it. The AP is setup as an "access point", not as a repeater or anything else.

For accessing new wifi points I simply connect to the AP, do a site survey and connect to a wifi point setting the security password if required. I have a shortcut on the desktop now so that I can quickly access the site survey menu.

I can't be sure of the range yet as the boat isn't in the water but hope to test out the range soon. Certainly it is already better than my laptop's built-in aerial and is picking up loads of wifi networks.

photo283medium.jpg

Do you like the shine on the radar arch? Did it a couple of weeks ago.

Hope this is of use to some people.
 
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Nice one, great info.

I'm getting a 3G Wi-Fi Router for my own boat with an external antenna, meaning i'll be able to pick up a 3G signal on almost all of my cruising ground (inland). The 3G will always be connected, and when I want to go online i'll just connect to the local Wi-Fi network which the 3G Router creates.

So basicly Laptop => 3G Router (Wireless) => Internet

The beauty about this is I can share the connection with friends for a fee of 1 beer :) I'll obviously disable streaming etc. as i'm on a bandwidth cap, but it'll be a handy resource (As if the first 'resource' we created wasn't good enough! www.corribcharts.com )
 
Yeah, we have a 3G router as well and I'm beginning to see the advantages of it in areas where there is no free wifi.

What aerial did you get for the 3G? is it omnidirectional?

We have a yagi aerial mounted at the boat shed which we plug into the 3G dongle (E160G) which gives a faster connection, the yagi is up a telegraph pole but I was wondering about a 3G one for the boat.
 
Richard10002 said:
I dont understand why you cant use an external aerial? Most of us have laptops with built in wifi, and we use external aerials/adapters plugged into a USB port, which work fine.

Sometimes you have to disable the internal wifi aerial, which you may have to do using software in windows, or you may have a switch on the laptop which turns it on and off.

(having said that... it would be good to have something which receives the wifi from the marina, or wherever, and which then wirelessly routes it around the boat, with some kind of password protection).
Click to expand...

As Richards says, easiest and by far the cheapest is to buy a high gain external aerial and turn off/disable the on board aerial
 
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