Traveling in Europe (need good WiFi extension for Windows)

They also make imaginative patch antennas.

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And there is no end to how you can build these. I don't know if 4NEC2 would do a good job on something like this or not. The surface finish could be important. Without too much effort, your design could be way off frequency.

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We had a hardware designer at work, who designed stuff operating at 10GHz, and everything he added to his PCB designs was an "art-work". So rather than R,L,C discrete components, there were lots of little chunks of copper plane. Filters of various sorts, were designed out of copper planes like the one in the previous picture. It kept our CAD librarian amused, adding all these weird copper drawings, so they could be placed in a layout as a "filter" element in a schematic. The library was constructed, from his collection of journal publications from universities.

Paul

Reply to
Paul
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[] My experience had previously been at my friends' in Newcastle, a fairly dense urban area; there, I found channel occupancy (using the excellent Android graphical utility) was mostly on 1, 6, and 11. I've just looked here (small cluster of homes in a rural area - put TN27 0DD into Google Maps), using WirelessNetView from
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(I don't have my 'phone on), and it's found 3 on channel 1, 6 on channel 11, and 1 each on channels 6 and 7, with none on any of the others! (Including mine, but as I'm about 3 yards unobstructed from the router ...)
Reply to
J. P. Gilliver (John)

I suspect these are a little beyond what the OP is after (-:

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What line of work are you actually in? (Electronics here, currently mostly avionics.)

Reply to
J. P. Gilliver (John)

It was a networking box (cubic meters sized, not desktop). And I was an ordinary digital designer. But the core of the box was a "physics project", and the guy working at

10GHz was doing analog gain to get enough signal to drive into the physics project at the core. So the entire project was multi-disciplinary, with the design community looking like Noahs Arc.

To give some idea, the networking box probably would have costs millions per unit, if it was ever finished. And much of it was ready (mechanical framework finished, many circuit packs finished, and so on). I know the mechanical bit was finished, because I helped lift it one day :-( But like always, there would be years of software to write. Not to imply they were behind or anything. Just that, there's a big difference between having a "gleaming car in a showroom window" versus having "just finished the engine". We were almost to the point of "getting the first smoke out of the engine". It probably would have taken two more rounds of funding, to ship one out the door. And the investors were having none of that.

The main circuit board for the project, had four times as many electrical signals inside it, as your motherboard. To give some idea of the complexity. The poor designer tasked with that design, needed around an extra four to six months to finish it, because of the mass of signals involved (many many data buses). "You can't click your mouse fast enough, to keep up". I'm surprised the guy didn't suffer hair loss :-) The CAD tools require you to write scripts to do your job, and that's just to reduce wear and tear on the mouse. You can do one whole data bus, if you write a good script for it. By scripting it, if you bumble something, it's just a script change and rerun it, to fix the issue.

It's a challenge just thinking of imaginative names for all the bus signals.

*******

Projects like that, don't come along every day. Especially in Canada (our main product now - flaming oil tanker cars). This is what we're good at now.

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We Canadians have a weird sense of humor. To illustrate this, just the other day there was an article about a diamond mine. The company digging the diamonds out of the ground, paid $226 dollars per year in mining royalties for the right to dig them out. So our government coffers are being richly rewarded for our resource-based economy. What's not to like. Why, that's enough money for around 40 Happy Meals. The profit from one diamond alone, would neatly pay the bill.

Paul

Reply to
Paul

GlowingBlueMist wrote in mj6neh$cf$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

That's very interesting that the ethernet over power line connection is by *transformer*, and not by circuit breaker panel!

Here in the states, multiple homes are often serviced over a single step- down pole transformer.

Do these ethernet over mains wifi extentions really work for all houses on a pole transformer?

Reply to
Werner Obermeier

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in s76wuMaRoxVVFwR+@soft255.demon.co.uk:

Thank you for clarifying for those not familiar with WiFi decibel measurements.

As you noted, decibels are a ratio against an agreed-upon standard, which, for antenna decibels, is a theoretical perfect antenna, while the agreed-upon standard for radio power is 1 milliWatt.

The key takeaway is that if we set up a 2.4gHz WiFi repeater to USA, we'll get four times the power with the same equipment. If we set it up for Europe, we'll not get the benefit of two additional channels.

I'm not sure if we lose any channels at 5gHz though.

I agree that, in most cases, it's not significant at all if you are getting a signal that is 20 decibels above the noise, but, when the signal is only a few decibels above the noise, antenna gain and receiver sensitivity could make all the difference.

In this case where gain is critical, the loss of two channels would be an acceptable tradeoff.

Do the European channels also differ from the USA on the 5GHz band?

Reply to
Werner Obermeier

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in T7K$ snipped-for-privacy@soft255.demon.co.uk:

I haven't checked in a while, but I used to use InSSIDer freeware on Windows all the time.

It gave you the nice color-coded graphs with channel on the x axis and decibels on the y axis, with the BSSID highlighted for the connected SSID (which is very useful for hotels and homes with WiFi extenders).

Reply to
Werner Obermeier

They can provided the outlets in question are on the same tap of the transformer or if someone installs RF bridging capacitors in either the breaker panel or on an a device that plugs into multiple tap, like an electric dryer in the USA that uses two different taps of a transformer.

Similar to DSL the wire distance between the two or more devices can also affect the signal level along with possible electrical interference.

One can actually setup a network similar to a wired one with one master unit at the feed and multiple slave units in say in individual rooms of the home. Some slave units can be had with 4 or so Ethernet ports or even a wireless access unit built in as well.

The older units tended to be a bit slow and subject to electrical interference but the newer units can do quite well and include security like the wireless has so you can block neighbors from just purchasing a compatible unit and sucking data from your feed.

I usually suggest anyone thinking of purchasing units for this that they deal with a retailer that will allow them to be returned, no questions asked, just in case you find out that there is a problem, like the two locations you want to use them are found to be not on the same transformer tap and no one wants to install RF bridging capacitors either in the breaker box or at a suitable multi-tap outlet like a USA dryer uses.

Reply to
GlowingBlueMist

Sadly, it seems to no longer be freeware:

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(There seems to be a freeware version at

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but I don't know if that site adds PUPs. I've tried installing it [XP], but it crashes for me.)

Reply to
J. P. Gilliver (John)

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in LhIZIoEYm8VVFwF$@soft255.demon.co.uk:

That's too bad because it was the best freeware bar none, for graphical identification of the network, especially when there were multiple SSID's of the exact same name (as in a hotel or a home with a wifi extender).

On Windows, I used to save *every* installer file (in the same hierarchy that I used for my installation and menus); so I'm pretty sure if I can find that DVD disc, I have the freeware version saved.

On Android, I use Infolife LLC App Backup & Restore freeware, which saves what's effectively the ZIP file onto your flash card at the time of installation. That way, you can back up your flash card to DVD disc, and you have an automatic copy of every APK installer, in case they no longer are available in freeware.

Reply to
Werner Obermeier

Werner Obermeier wrote in mj910n$iai$ snipped-for-privacy@solani.org:

I should mention that it's the same hierarchy, but not the same directories.

That is, I saved all my InSSIDer installers to: c:\software\hardware\wifi\inssider\(various versions go here)

I installed the programs into: c:\apps\hardware\wifi\inssider\(various exe and dll files go here)

I added a link (shortcut) to the menu at: Start Menu > hardware > wifi > inssider.lnk

I do realize most Windows users ... a) Don't save the installers, and, b) Don't create a separate start menu, and, c) Don't create a separate app hierarchy.

I realize this is a philosophical take on how to organize every computer you've ever used (since the tasks are always the same on all computers), but, I just wanted to clarify the statement that the installers, menus, and programs are always installed to the same hierarchy.

Reply to
Werner Obermeier

If the apartments share a wall have a hole drilled thru it and run an Ethernet cable between. Cost probably not exceed other options and can be patched if one apartment sold later.

Reply to
Zaidy036

I prefer my Bear Extender.

It works through a wall, but, unlike drilling a hole (think of the cost of a drill) it works in any room of the house, and in other places where I might want to use WiFi too.

Reply to
Steve Hayes

Steve Hayes wrote in snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I agree. Drilling a hole would work in my own home, but not in someone else's apartment just so that my kid could get net signal while on a summer visit.

Reply to
Werner Obermeier

Especially when the drill you would have to buy to do it would probably cost more than the extender gadget anyway.

Reply to
Steve Hayes

Don't most people have a drill? Even if a person doesn't already have one or more, they start at about $30 unless you can wait for a sale or you don't mind shopping at Harbor Freight. Prices start at under $20 at HF, but you can do much better if you wait for a sale. Heck, you can also buy used and probably get down around $10.

Reply to
Char Jackson

You're talking about an *electric* drill. Holes can be drilled with manually-operated drills too, which are considerably less expensive, and for someone who doesn't have to drill a lot of holes, they can be adequate.

Reply to
Ken Blake

So if you're going to visit your cousins in another country, you assume they have a drill? A masonry drill, no less, which are usually more expensive than wood drills.

Or would you carry on in your luggage just in case they didn't?

Or ask them to buy one so that YOU can use their network?

I'd bet it would weigh more than a Bear Extender, which is a lot easier to carry and less hassle to use than a drill.

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Reply to
Steve Hayes

And how long would it take you to drill through a solid brick wall with a manual drill?

Why go to all that trouble when you can simply use one of these?

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I use mine every day.

A drill I might use once every three years.

Reply to
Steve Hayes

The Home Depot has an equipment rental section. You could rent a hammer drill for a couple hours and use that.

Paul

Reply to
Paul

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