Jeff Liebermann - since you seem to be the one in the know

As a full-time RVer, my experience is that you're right: More often than not, coverage often does not cover the entire park with a strong signal. I solve the problem with a Hawking adapter, either the HWU54D or HWU8DD.

Thank you Dave, I have considered both of those. However, I was hoping to have one setup I could use on both Laptops, this arrangement would require Two such setup one for each Laptop. Also if I could get the network access from a remote bridge/AP then we both could connect at the same time and we could also have a local LAN in the RV, allowing file and printer sharing. Thank you for the input and keep it coming I will consider all input.

Danny Kile

OK. Until you hear from Jeff, here's an appoach:

You want wireless inside your RV for two pcs, so you want an access point (AP) inside the metal box.

Your current router will do that nicely.

You want a client/bridge that will work well outside the metal box to connect with the site's network: For that, the best is probably to have seperate client/bridge/router-ish guy outside.

A second one of the same Buffalo routers or perhaps the High Power version (HP) which is a bit more...powerful.

The high-power one should be the outside radio/client.

Then you run an ethernet cable from the outside one's LAN port to the inside router's WAN port for your local network.

If you want to further increase your connection capability, you get a directional antenna or better yet, one of those panel antenna boxes that has/is a directional antenna and the router goes inside for weather protection.

You put that on some sort of pole/swivel mount that you set up/telescope when you arrive and aim appropriately.

To get fancy, you have a power outlet and an ethernet jack in a weatherproof box that you plug into when you pull out (or telescope up) your router/client box upon arrival.

Voila! you got it all.

Of course you will have to learn enough to handle the various setups, but that's quite do-able. With the Buffalos you could also do aftermarket firmware, but it's probably not needed. They already have a "bridge mode" switch on them.

Steve

"seaweedsteve" hath wroth:

Jeff is out of it for a day or so. Kidney stone. Ouch.

Danny Kile hath wroth:

Fast answers:

The last two installs I did used motorized spotlight mounted on a small pedestal and with a 14dBi panel antenna hung over the top and fastened to the back of the light. When moving, it was just pivoted down until horizontal. I'll see if I can find some photos. These Go-Light's are available at most marine dealers, but I bought them on eBay for about $100.

The big headache was running the coax cable. I just punched a hole through the roof and left a huge 3ft service loop. Ugly, but I didn't want to butcher the spotlight too much.

More when I recover...

Hi, Really? Go to a health food store. Buy a product called Chanca Piedra (stone breaker in Latin coming from Amazon jungle) Take this two capsules 3 times a day with Marshmallow capsules. You'll know it works in about 3 days. I know it from others experience. My hobby after retirement is a Chartered Herbalist.

I missed earlier that you are already running DD-WRT.

Of course, instead of installing the 2nd router outside, you could just run a short low-loss cable from it to an exterior directional antenna. The motorized light mount does look cool.

Here's the inexpensive panel antenna that we are using:

Cheers, Steve

Hope you get to feeling better real soon.

Danny,

"Danny Kile" | >

| >> OK. Until you hear from Jeff, | >

| > Jeff is out of it for a day or so. Kidney stone. Ouch. | >

| | Hope you get to feeling better real soon.

If Jeff is reading this ask your doc if DOXAZOSIN would be approprate for the your stone.

This newsgroup ought to be moderated so we don't have to be subjected to this OT **CRAP**.

Hi, One of valuable contributor is sick and caring people showing concern. Even if it's OT, is it such a CRAP(in your book)? Name me a 100% OT free NG.

"johnny"

| > | Hope you get to feeling better real soon. | >

| > If Jeff is reading this ask your doc if DOXAZOSIN would be approprate for | > the your stone. | | This newsgroup ought to be moderated so we don't have to be subjected to | this OT **CRAP**.

In the event you are ever in pain/need remind me to post to your alt.micor-give-a-sh|t newsgroup.

here's how I self-moderate.

johnny hath wroth:

Fine. You're hired. You get to spend your evenings reading the newsgroup, negotiating with clueless users, decoding email addresses, begging others to help you with the moderation duties, and deal with usenet ISP's that don't approve of your censorship policies. You also get to deal with any spam the leaks through. I've done this in the past and believe me, it's lots of work and huge time burn. Never again.

If you need instructions on how to establish a moderated alt newsgroup, read about using the newsgroup command, and configurting the news server. Since your ISP is apparently Earthlink, I wish you lots of luck just finding someone that has even heard of usenet or moderation.

Johnny, I'm working on a suitable expletive for the occassion. In the meantime, please choose from one of these:

to describe approximately what I think of your one line brainless comment. However, I don't consider you to be hopeless. Kindly refrain from posting anything that you would not consider worth reading, and you'll be fine.

For those that care... Three days of pure hell. I'm stable for now, but the rock hasn't passed. I'll shortly be putting myself into the hands of the medical profession which will surely perform the requisite blood letting of my bank account. I'm currently taking something similar to Doxazosin called Terazosin. I take it for enlarged prostate and high blood pressure. It will relieve the pressure on the sphincter muscle controlling the bladder, but that's not where the rock seems to be stuck. Enough OT medical (for now).

Jeff, I see here you are active in the group. Hope you are feeling better. Since you never responded to my original post due to being out of it I was wondering if when you get the time, you could give me your input on this matter?

Thank you for your time in this matter.

Danny Kile,

Danny Kile hath wroth:

Yeah. Passed the rock last night. What a relief. Still a bit drugged which might explain some of my recent incoherent ramblings. Also managed to catch a cold or flu but that's a minor problem compared to a kidney stone.

Sure and sorry, I forgot. In a few minutes...

I didn't see the original post so I didn't know you were ill. From the threads that I did read it seemed, IMHO, like a lot of nonsense comments were being made. It was not my intent to show disrespect for someone that is/was ill. Please accept my apology.

Jeff, a reply from another message to keep this on the same topic.

I guess what I am looking for would really apply to any setup not just RV'ing. I need to get access to a remote HotSpot location, that maybe out of reach for the laptop, to My RV put that could be to anywhere not just from an RV. Do I need Client, Client Bridge and a remotely located antenna. Maybe the first router out side in some enclosure then come out of its LAN port to another router which is in the RV providing access to two Laptops and a wireless printer. Would that second router be setup as an AP or as a Router?

Thank you for any response to this.

Danny Kile,

Danny Kile hath wroth:

It's really a mechanical problem, not an electronic problem. Do you want the antenna/radio to be outstide? Is it permanently mounted on the roof? Do you plan to use it while moving? How big an antenna do you really need? Omni or directional? If omni, use a telescoping pole? What happens when other projecting junk on the roof get in the way of the line of sight? Lots of mechanical questions, none of which I can answer for you.

Well, the system could be anything from a simple antenna connection with a power splitter for each computer, to an elaborate two radio client to access point system, with lots of configurations in between. Having to run two computers (simultaneously, wired or wireless?) adds considerable complexity. I'll try to cover a few but you need to roughly decide what you want. I'm going to assume that there is some type of external antenna on the roof and let you deal with the mechanical issues.

1. Antenna extension and splitter. Install antenna on roof. Run heavy LMR-400 coax to power splitter. Run smaller LMR-240 coax between splitter and two computers. Attach to laptops with coax pigtails.
2. Rooftop client. Install antenna and client radio on roof. Client radio should have a "site survey" mode to facilitate finding the access point. Avoid those that require that you know the MAC address of the access point. PoE via CAT5 from the radio into the RV at an ethernet switch. Both radios plug in via CAT5 cable. See:

for a list of candidates. Make sure that it has a "client mode", "game adapter mode", or "wireless ethernet client bridge" mode. Not everything on the list will work.

1. Rooftop repeater. Install antenna on roof. Repeater can be on roof or inside. Program repeater to point to access point. Connect to repeater via wireless from both computers. This sounds like it's the simplest, but also has the most problems. Repeaters chop the maximum bandwidth in half. They have compatibility issues and will not work with every access point. If your inside wireless radios can also see the access point, then there will be contention issues. Too many options on how to configure the outside/inside antennas to list.
2. Rooftop client and inside access point. Rooftop client radio, CAT5 to an access point inside the RV. Both computers connect to access point via wireless. Must be on different channel than rooftop client radio and have different SSID. As you move to different access points, you'll probably find yourself constantly changing the channel of the AP in order to prevent interfering with the client radio. Kinda clumsy to use.

There are lots of combinations, permutations, and mutations of these plans that can be implemented. If you're not sure which one is appropriate, then just drill two holes in the roof. One for LMR-240 or a type-N connector RF feed through. The other for CAT5 for data, power, and control. Add a tapped mounting plate for whatever you suspect the antenna might need. Then, experiment with different antennas, mounts, and configurations. Start with something really simple, like an 8dBi omni antenna plugged into the N-connector. It may turn out that a simple external antenna and pigtail is all you need.