Re: Newby...Have a few questions?

dart451 <dart451.2vgxkk@no-mx.wirelessforums.org> hath wroth:

>Hi, I have a friend that has Satellite Wildblue internet that he's
>trying to share with neighbors.

It can be done, but I'm not sure you want to do it. The outgoing
bandwidth is rather limited.

>If he can get it to work, he plans on
>increasing his bandwidth and sharing the costs. The problem is, right
>now he has a mono antenna outside that he's using to create a hotspot.

I think you mean "omni" or "omnidirectional" antenna which I'll also
guess(tm) is the stock antenna that came with the unspecified model
wireless router. Note that some of these antennas are NOT removeable
and cannot be replaced with an aftermarket antenna. It would be
helpful if you would interrogate your neighbor and disclose the exact
model number and hardware mutation.

>You have to get very close to the antenna to pick up a signal and even
>then, it's low.

What's that in feet or meters? If you have line of sight, you should
be able to get a fairly reliable connection out to about 100ft. If
you don't have line of sight, it really depends on what's in the way.

>We'd all like to share the signal but at present, it
>won't even work where I live which is approximately 300 yards away.

That's a long way for Wi-Fi with the stock antennas. You'll probably
need a directional antenna at both ends. You might want to also
disclose what you're using at your end. Numbers are a good thing.

>He
>wants to share the signal with a couple buildings very close to each
>other on his property, a neighbor that is about 100 yards south and me
>about 300 yards southwest.

Is that a 90 degree angle between the two neighbors?

>Is there a solution that could be used for
>all of us to share the signal?

Sure. I'll assume that you can attach a replacement antenna to both
ends of the link. At the wireless router, build or buy a Franklin or
sector antenna with about 120 degrees horizontal beamwidth. Something
like one of these:
<http://pe2er.nl/wifisector/>
<http://www.qsl.net/yu1aw/vhf_ant.htm>
They have lots of gain, a wide horizontal beamwidth, but very little
vertical beamwidth. Therefore this isn't going to work if the
endpoints are at different altitudes.

At the client ends, get some kind of directional antenna. Almost
anything with more than about 8dBi of gain will work. Plenty of
aftermarket antennas available but I don't want to recommend anything
specific without knowing the hardware and the topography.

Make sure you have line of sight. If you don't, it may not work. If
the linke sorta works, it may not be reliable. Do whatever it takes
to get line of sight.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

My friend presently has an outside omni antenna that is about 15' high. I don't think it's a direct line with my residence...he sits in a small depression...it might be line of site if I could look from the top of his antenna but it's on a mast and I can't do that. He's using a Buffalo router that he has hooked up to the outside antenna.