Jeff, any suggestions on this project

A friend of mine wants to have high speed internet access at her place on
the top of a rural hill in Vermont. She has had the satellite internet geeks
in to look at the situation but there is not a clear path because of some
beautiful large maple trees that no one would want to cut down. They talked
about getting the antenna to a clear area but they said that the run was too
far for the signal.

I thought of the possibility of building a small "dog house" down in the
field and placing the satellite antenna on it and then either running cat 5
cable to the house or setting up a directional wireless net to the house. I
figure that it would run 2-3 K $ to do this with a power cable to the dog
house etc.

Any suggestions as to equipment for a project like this and do you have any
technical contacts in northern Vermont.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Ansley Sawyer

"Ansley W. Sawyer" <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>A friend of mine wants to have high speed internet access at her place on
>the top of a rural hill in Vermont. She has had the satellite internet geeks
>in to look at the situation but there is not a clear path because of some
>beautiful large maple trees that no one would want to cut down. They talked
>about getting the antenna to a clear area but they said that the run was too
>far for the signal.

I think they mean running coax cable from the remote satellite dish to
the RF modem. It might be possible up to about 500ft with lower loss
coax. For example, instead of using the typical dual RG-6/u, use 1/2"
or larger CATV coax or Heliax. See list of approved cables at:
<http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/1149870~06a2b5af6f8517eae98458d2a0bcc93f/HNS%20IFL.pdf>

Before I grind any numbers, how about you supplying the cable run
length? Also, is the proposed location visible from the house?

>I thought of the possibility of building a small "dog house" down in the
>field and placing the satellite antenna on it and then either running cat 5
>cable to the house or setting up a directional wireless net to the house. I
>figure that it would run 2-3 K $ to do this with a power cable to the dog
>house etc.

Yes, that will work. I saw a phone of such a system. However, you
don't really want the dog house unless you want better snow
protection. It wouldn't be much of a stable platform for the big
heavy (and poorly balanced) dish anyway. Hint: Don't put it in the
middle of a field.

Instead, dig a hole in the ground, insert big heavy pipe (dia
unknown), and fill with concrete. Mount antenna on top. Get an
outdoor fiberglass or aluminium box to store the
receiver/modem/router. Mount the box on the side of the pipe. Mount
it high enough off the ground to keep the kids out. The local
aesthetics committee may have something to say about the appearance,
so be prepared to paint or camouflage the installation.

Power is going to be a problem, especially in winter where the modem
box will need to be heated to prevent condensation problems. Solutions
vary depending (again) upon the wire run length, which you didn't
provide.

>Any suggestions as to equipment for a project like this and do you have any
>technical contacts in northern Vermont.

Sure, lots of suggestions. However, I need to know what you have
available to work with, how far in cable feet/meters, and whether
you're going to use HughesNet, WildBlue, or one of the Candian birds.
I don't know anyone that does this in Vermont.

Incidentally, I think this question might be more appropriate for the
various satellite internet newsgroups as the wireless component is
both un-necessary and a fairly trivial part of the project.

I recall seeing a photo of such a remote satellite internet
installation somewhere on the web. It was solar powered with a
wireless link back to the main house which was on the wrong side of a
hill. I've tried to find it again and failed. I recall reading about
how the plastic indoor plants used to camouflage the dish froze and
crumbled in the winter. Oops.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff,

Thank you for taking the time to think about this. I will get back to you if
I get any more info.

Cheers

Ansley Sawyer

On Aug 11, 10:12 am, "Ansley W. Sawyer" <ansl...@me.acadia.net> wrote:
> A friend of mine wants to have high speed internet access at her place on
> the top of a rural hill in Vermont. She has had the satellite internet geeks
> in to look at the situation but there is not a clear path because of some
> beautiful large maple trees that no one would want to cut down. They talked
> about getting the antenna to a clear area but they said that the run was too
> far for the signal.
>
> I thought of the possibility of building a small "dog house" down in the
> field and placing the satellite antenna on it and then either running cat 5
> cable to the house or setting up a directional wireless net to the house. I
> figure that it would run 2-3 K $ to do this with a power cable to the dog
> house etc.

If they said the run was too far, are they referring to over 330 feet
(100 meters) or 100 Mbps ethernet with CAT5 cable?

CAT5e is good for

On Aug 11, 10:12 am, "Ansley W. Sawyer" <ansl...@me.acadia.net> wrote:
> A friend of mine wants to have high speed internet access at her place on
> the top of a rural hill in Vermont. She has had the satellite internet geeks
> in to look at the situation but there is not a clear path because of some
> beautiful large maple trees that no one would want to cut down. They talked
> about getting the antenna to a clear area but they said that the run was too
> far for the signal.
>
> I thought of the possibility of building a small "dog house" down in the
> field and placing the satellite antenna on it and then either running cat 5
> cable to the house or setting up a directional wireless net to the house. I
> figure that it would run 2-3 K $ to do this with a power cable to the dog
> house etc.

If they said the run was too far, are they referring to over 330 feet
(100 meters) or 100 Mbps ethernet with CAT5 cable?

CAT5e is good for just over 1,100 feet (350 meters). Now if you run 10
Mbps over CAT5, you can go even further. Or run an ethernet extender
for 2 miles at 5 Mbps speeds.

Next...power requirements. PoE is out of the question to run the
satellite electronics. Solar power will cost several thousand dollars.
Keep in mind you have to have a solar array big enough to store up to
five days of power in a short 4 hour window on a clear day.

I'd bury several hundred feet of 10 gauge 3-conductor wire (basically
a long extension cord), ground the heck out of everything and power
surge protect it all, then run a short wireless hop back to the
cottage from the dish.

"Ansley W. Sawyer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> A friend of mine wants to have high speed internet access at her place on
> the top of a rural hill in Vermont. She has had the satellite internet
geeks
> in to look at the situation but there is not a clear path because of some
> beautiful large maple trees that no one would want to cut down. They
talked
> about getting the antenna to a clear area but they said that the run was
too
> far for the signal.
>
> I thought of the possibility of building a small "dog house" down in the
> field and placing the satellite antenna on it and then either running cat
5
> cable to the house or setting up a directional wireless net to the house.
I
> figure that it would run 2-3 K $ to do this with a power cable to the dog
> house etc.

if you need to do this and have to bury the power cable - why not put some
Cat5 / co-ax down as well rather than use wireless?

remember to segregate the 2 for safety.

thin Ethernet and old 3Com kit was tested for 300m of cable, the standard
supports 185m or 600 ft.

or - anyone know how far homeplug style powerline networking will go on a
simple main feed?
>
> Any suggestions as to equipment for a project like this and do you have
any
> technical contacts in northern Vermont.
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
>
> Ansley Sawyer
>
--
Regards

(E-Mail Removed) - replace xyz with ntl

On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:12:35 -0400, "Ansley W. Sawyer"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>A friend of mine wants to have high speed internet access at her place on
>the top of a rural hill in Vermont. She has had the satellite internet geeks
>in to look at the situation but there is not a clear path because of some
>beautiful large maple trees that no one would want to cut down. They talked
>about getting the antenna to a clear area but they said that the run was too
>far for the signal.
>
>I thought of the possibility of building a small "dog house" down in the
>field and placing the satellite antenna on it and then either running cat 5
>cable to the house or setting up a directional wireless net to the house. I
>figure that it would run 2-3 K $ to do this with a power cable to the dog
>house etc.
>
>Any suggestions as to equipment for a project like this and do you have any
>technical contacts in northern Vermont.
>
>Thanks for your thoughts.
>
>Ansley Sawyer
>

I realize this is way late.. but I'm using Tranzeo 900 mhz radios to
broadcast a dsl signal over a half mile through trees here in Canada.
I'm getting about 10 MB per second dl speeds and have no issues with
it. The Tranzeo system uses POE for powering the access point that is
located at the antenna. The antenna is housed in a hard plastic shell
and the unit is fully water proof. There has been zero downtime on
these unit for us and I am most impressed with the quality. If your
nearest internet is close enough, you could get away with one
radio...otherwise you can hop them from the last dsl drop on the line.

Nick.