I have the scars to prove it.
Sigh. Like I said, there are no simple installs.
Looks ok to me. Nothing much to complain about here. Well, don't forget to use anti-seize grease on the threaded pipe mast.
Looks like someone built up the wall with battens, wallboard, and floor tiles glued to the wallboard. What are the wall tiles made from? I think I can see why the stud finder didn't work. The studs are too far away.
I understand and agree.
Home Depot didn't have anything between 100 feet (which was too short) and 500 feet (which is probably three times what I need).
Here's a picture of the box of cable that I bought:
- $75 cat5e 24AWG solid core indoor/outdoor "tan"
-
Here are 6 pictures of the current (abomination) setup:
Where do most of you buy about 250 feet of cat5e cable? ( Here is a picture of what I bought for $75 + San Jose tax)
Yes. But.
My new WISP is asking me to put the first device (UBNT M2) in 'bridge' mode so that it would be on my WISP provider's subnet (Santa Cruz Mountains).
My portable Skype phone works - but sometimes on outgoing calls (which is the only way I use it) it only hears one end of the conversation. Could 'that' be related to the double NAT?
and leave the NAT to the WRT54G.
I understand the suggestion. In effect, I think both the NAT & the DHCP will be removed when/if I follow my WISP's recent (yesterday) suggestion to configure the Ubuntu Bullet M2 in "bridge" mode and change the IP address to be on his subnet.
One reason I may have to add "a" pigtail is that the planar antenna N connector is in the CENTERLINE of the antenna (which seems to me to be the dumbest place to be!).
The problem with the centerline is that the mast is in that same centerline! So, you can't have any mast ABOVE the antenna.
Here is a picture I took tonight of what I mean:
You can see the bullet-shaped white Ubiquiti M2 screwed directly into the back of the 19 dBi planar antenna, tilted slightly upward.
In the future, if I want to add a TV antenna, I'd have to move the bullet M2 out of the centerline anyway. So, at that point, I'll need "a" patch cord anyway.
Your discussion on the signal losses in that pigtail are interesting!
This is a picture of what I bought from "Home Despot" for $75 + tax:
That makes sense because that was the "right way(tm)" to wire the game room; if I were to wire the garage, then it makes sense to be similar to the game room in concept (i.e., a 'dead wire' run from the office to the garage).
I have no problem running two cables - so - I won't consider doubling up anymore. I have three times more cat5e cable than I need anyway. And, these pictures of the crawl space show I have plenty of room.
I just need to drill a bigger hole! :)
Picture of crawl space view up into the floor of the office
Picture of crawl space view over to the game room (far end of house):
Oh oh ...
I had already bought this tester at the same time as the cable (but I can return it as I haven't opened it yet): $80 + tax at Home Depot Klein Tools "VDV Scout Pro Tester Kit, VDV501-809
That would sure be a lot of breakers.
I vaguely remember (which makes it likely I'm wrong) that there is an issue regarding running different phases in the same box unless it really is 220.
You've probably seen large homes where they use multiple breaker boxes. I assuming there is a price point where the second box saves enough wire that it is worth the effort.
Is this the Airlink 101 stuff that Fry's practically gives away?
My head is about to explode like that episode on Star Trek with Harry Mud. Norman coordinate. Or maybe Nomad being confused about Kirk being the creator.
I don't install enough wired system to be good at it. I get it working, lose all knowledge, then relearn everything when someone begs me to hook up a router.
I have the modem address at 192.168.1.254. The router is at
192.168.123.1. Hell if I recall why I had to set them up as totally different networks, other than I had conflict otherwise. The modem is an 2wire used commonly on AT&T bought off of Craigslist. My ISP sold me some POS that would lock up. [Asking for a new modem got me a new POS that was worse than the first, plus a year's lock in.] Say what you want about 2wire gear, it never locks up for me. It also detected the double NAT, bitched at me, turned off it's firewall and DMZed to my router. I was both dissed and pleased at the same time. The thought of having to make it all work again is what I suppose keeps me from replacing the flaky Linksys router.
Taking all the advice into account (much appreciated!) ...
How does this proposed diagram look?
Understood.
Given the diagram referenced above, how do these numbers look?
- WISP provider antenna is on the next ridge, 2000 feet line of sight away
- WISP requests I set the radio to bridge mode (Santa Cruz Mountains)
- WISP asks me to set it to a given 10.0.x.y IP address
- WISP asks me to set broadband router IP (WRT54G) to 10.0.x.y+1
- I don't really understand WISP provider's suggestions - but will comply
- Cable is 500' of cat5e 4pr 24AWG Solid Tan CMR CMX Outdoor RoHS
- Antenna is 19 dBi planar with N female connector
- Radio is Ubiquiti Bullet M2 with N male connector (mounted on antenna!)
- Antenna is 13 feet off the ground on a steel pole set in concrete
- Cat5e cable is ~100 foot run (to be buried) from radio to garage
- Angled & tubed hole is planned; drip loop on outside is planned
- Extra coil of cable on inside garage wall is planned
- 15 volt Ubiquiti POE is planned to be mounted in the garage
- From garage, cat5e cable enters crawl space & up to office (~25 feet)
- Wall plate definitely on office wall (probably 3 jacks will be used)
- Jumper from wall plate to the Linksys WRT54G router input port
- Output from WRT54G goes back to another jack in the wall plate
- That jack is wired ~25 feet back down the crawl space to the game room
- At the game room, is another wall jack
- A jumper tethers the wall jack to the Wii gaming console
- Optionally, the garage is similarly tied to the third jack in the office
See proposed diagram here:
Since I added more pictures to answer questions, here's the set:
Diagram of proposed setup (based on everyone's advice!)
Entry point of the game room with box of cable proposed:
That's a GREAT idea!
I assembled the mast with water pipe so that I could disassemble it at will; but I hadn't thought about the gray anti-seize paste idea!
You are right that it's definitely floor tile (which feels like a stone of some sort) that is on top of an existing wall!
I think it's a remodel where they had left-over floor tiles so they put it on the wall (for some whacko reason).
The wall-within-a-wall actually isn't a problem since I'll just drill through the inside wall (I have a six-foot long drill bit!) to easily get to the crawl space behind it - but it 'was' a surprise to see a second wall a two-by-four's width inside of the outside wall.
Here is another picture:
Thanks for all the advice!
Previously, I posted the wrong URL to the Klein tools so here's the correction with the photos:
So, that's my next step. If that works (it didn't when I tried it earlier), then I will begin the permanent wiring (based on all your wonderful inputs).
This is a great team - special thanks to the key posters on alt.internet.wireless (Jeff, miso, clare, Char, Charlie, Stephen, krw, et al) and alt.home.repair (trader4, Oren, willshak, et al).
You guys make the USENET work in ways the web can't compete with!
No question that wired can be compromised too. But installing a tap in a wired line is IMO a big step beyond connecting to a wireless LAN. If you put up a wireless LAN with no security enabled, it can be accessed by anyone within the wireless range. Like the kid in the apartment next door. For that kid to install a tap would not only require a lot more effort, but I think in most hackers minds, actually attaching something to someone's network is something they would not do for a variety of reasons. Being a physical thing, if found, there's direct evidence of tapping, which everyone knows is a crime and more likely to get police attention. Also, while it's not true, folks have a sense that anything they can connect to wirelessly is open territory.
Why do you have to add another cable connection between the wireless router in the office and the game room? In your house wiring plan above you clearly stated that you were installing that wiring. Otherwise what you've layed out makes sense to me.
Yes!
Now we're back to confusion land again. The line isn't dead if you're using it to connect from a port on the wireless router to an X box in the game room.
24 gauge wire has a resistance of 2.6 ohms. If the eqpt at the far end is pulling 1 amp, you'd have a voltage drop of 2.6 volts, meaning your 15 volt source delivers 12.4 volts, which should still be OK. If it's powered from a typical wallwart power supply, I doubt it's anywhere near 1 amp so you should be fine. The label will tell you what the actual rating is
That's one thing you don't want to do!
Check the power supply and it's probably rated at a couple hundered milliamps at most and you have no problem to worry about.
Most of the antennas out there that are installed on a metal pole in the ground probably rely on the above. If the pole goes
4 ft into reasonable soil that's probably good enough. If you want really sound protection then a real ground rod driven into the earth and connected to the mast would be additional safety. The one thing you don't want is a metal mast on say a roof that is not earthed at all.Here's one example:
Also, looks like you may have found a reason to put a connection in the line where it enters the house.
Yep. A simple ferrite xformer between phases solves that problem.
It has nothing to do with the breaker box. As long as they are fed by the same transformer on the pole, it works.
Another method is the relatively new Z-wave 900Mhz devices. Whatever works, the idea is to avoid installing new wiring with the home alarm and monitor system. For example, this DIY store offers 3 types of alarm systems; wired, wireless, and hybrid.
A loaf of bread should be eaten one slice at a time. Trying to swallow the whole loaf in one gulp doesn't work.
That's generally a good idea to:
Ummm... 2 wire doesn't make any DSL modems. They make combination DSL modem/routers.
My guess(tm) is that would be a 2701HG-B. There's a fair chance you have one with a marginal power supply. See:
It also doesn't have any way to save the setup, not remote admin, and some features disabled by AT&T.
ISP's sell what they can support.
I've seen all kinds of bizarre failures that I originally attributed to the 2wire modem/router. I eventually discovered it was the power supply.
You don't seem to have much luck buying hardware. I can sympathize, but I suspect your search for the ultimate reliable router is an exercise in futility. I haven't seen one yet that I can't kill with various activities. For a while, opening too many streams would kill off those not designed for BitTorrent. Others will blow up with too much outgoing bandwidth for file sharing. Still other would die on wireless as standards evolved and were debugged. All I can suggest is that you keep is simple. Avoid features that you'll never use. Also buy from a vendor that updates the firmware for their products that they no longer sell. That eliminates 2wire, Belkin, and possibly DLink.
At the insurance office we have 2 separate networks to each endpoint
- one for data, and one for voip. It was originally wired with 3 - the third being POTS - which we eliminated
DSL modems are AVAILABLE with a router and switch, but most telco supplied DSL modems are simple modems which provide one IP address ans signal to ONE device.
I don't have a favorite store or even brand. I buy 1000ft rolls from the local electrical supply house (Riverside Lighting) which gives me a discount in trade for some of the computah work I do for them. I also buy partially empty boxes from the local electrical contractors, also at a good price. If I want exotic CAT5e cable, I tend to buy off Craigslist and eBay. It's somewhat risky, but I've done quite well.
I don't know what you paid at Home Despot, but you can get 1000ft roll for $44 including shipping on eBay.
The catch is that I can't tell if it's super stiff, super sloppy, difficult to strip, manufacturers rejects, impossible to see color codes, or other abomination. Caveat Emptor.
Surfnet or Hilltop? Probably Hilltop because Surfnet recently went to NV2 which is only supported on Mikrotic ratios. Bridge mode is the same as disabling the router section of the UBNT M2 radio. That also means your previous description was not accurate. You do NOT have the router and NAT enabled in the radio and therefore do NOT have double NAT. You're fine and leave the radio config alone.
Note: I'm in Ben Lomond.
No. It's probably some kind of audio source problem in the computah. I have the same headache with Skype. Whenever I use a different VoIP application, but leave Skype running in the system tray, Skype gets confused and starts juggling the audio sources and outputs trying to retain ownership. In addition, every time there's a Skype update, it resets the audio settings. While I'm ranting, the last 2 revisions do not exit properly and sometimes hang my machine when I'm shutting down. In short, Skype is badly written and needs a cleanup.
My fix is to use QuickMix to save and restore the sound card settings.
I'm sure there are better and more modern programs that do the same thing, but this one works for me (on XP).
It's largely dictated by the internal arrangement of the patch antennas inside. There should be mounting holes or studs on the back of the panel antenna, which you can use to attach some manner of bracketry. It's easier to deal with the bracketry, than with the RF cables.
I can't tell about the quality of the cable from the box. What I've seen on the shelf at the local Home Despot is marginal. (Yes, I'm picky).
That will be a single run from antennna to POE adapter. I'm not thrilled with your use of indoor CAT5, but it will work for a few years (unless the critters chew up the cable). Do you have conduit in the ground?
If you want to make it somewhat UV proof, just spray it lightly with some kind of clear acrylic spray or dip such as Krylon. Note I said lightly as too much will create a cracking mess when you bend the cable.
That might be a double run if you want wired ethernet in the garage.
That will probably be a single run, with an ethernet switch in the game room.
Total is 175ft. However, I think you're underestimating the "extra" cable needed at each end for service loops and just plain getting out of the way of things. Add another 25ft. So, you need 200ft. However, since you have too much wire, running two cables where only one is needed is quite easy at this point.
I like to drill two adjacent small holes. It's easier and doesn't weaken anything. I can also scribble on the 2x4 base plate something about where the wire is going, instead of dealing with wire tags and labels.
Incidentally, whatever you use to attach the cable to the woodwork, make sure it doesn't crush or crimp the cable. There are overpriced fasteners for doing this, but I just use rounded staples, being very careful not to harpoon the cable.
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