Can I do this?

Read the manual and look to see if the BEFW11S4 wireless router will operate in client mode, if not then buy a USB wireless adapter.

ab8yy hath wroth:

What hardware version WRT54G router? Look on the serial number tag. Extra credit for the firmware version.

Sure you can. There's data over phone lines, power lines, and CATV coax. HomePNA, HomePlug, etc.

It takes two to tango and to do wireless. Buy an "ethernet wireless cleint bridge". See:

for a partial shopping list of likely candidates.

What hardware version BEFW11S4. v4 sucks.

Nope. They won't talk to each other. You need something that has a bridging or client mode. A wireles router that supports WDS (wireless distribution system) will also work:

Your WRT54G *MIGHT* support DD-WRT firmware, which includes WDS support:

One gotcha is that some implimentations of WDS will only work with WEP and not with WPA or WPA2 encryption. WEP is not very secure.

No 3rd party firmware for the BEFW11S4. Besides, it's 802.11b only. Find something else.

Sorry Jeff, data over unshielded cables to a radio shack is an anathema to a ham or swl (QRN).

Regards,

Michael

msg hath wroth:

I beg to differ. There's a big difference between BPL and HomePlug even though they use similar technology. Outdoor power lines are widely spaced and cannot really be considered a "twisted pair". CMRR (common mode rejection ration) sucks and the power lines radiate. The power used by the xmitters are also quite a bit higher than the home version.

However, in the home, the power lines are much closer together and are a better approximation of a twisted pair. They radiate considerably less. Note that HomePlug really does meet -52dBm/Hz FCC transmit power density limitations. That's about 50mw spread between 4-20MHz. Some models even have notch filters in the ham bands.

I've done some sniffing around various hams houses trying to find the sources of QRN (noise). In most cases, it's noisy switching power supplies (i.e. cell phone chargers), laptop chargers, plasma TV's, and computahs. Although several hams had HomePlug 1.0 systems, there was no evidence that they were causing any QRN. Incidentally, an Icom IC-756 Pro II transceiver showed the presence of HomePlug RFI on the spectrum display, but it was barely noticeable.

I've done little with HomePNA (phone line networking). MoCA and other forms of CATV networking is safe because the coax is shielded.

Some thoughts:

- Would it be best to swap the two routers and use the WRT54G as your client adapter on the distant end ? This could work - with replacement firmware, depending on the version you have.

- Or, though your cable won't reach the shack, could you get a cable and AP close enough to it to be within wireless range? You would need a wireless adapter for your shack's pc, but that's easy. There are good ones for as little as $40.

-Powerline networking, as Jeff mentioned is worth considering.

- Also, the usual advice is to try simple reflectors on the APs (and/ or client) to increase range. They can help a lot.

Steve

Err, that should "sucks more than the other versions, which also suck."

Like any of the ones listed on the dd-wrt.com website as being compatible.