Need to connect to a wireless network 320' away

Hi,

The house next door has a high speed cable connection. I'm looking
to try to connect to it either wirelessly or via a direct wired
ethernet. The wireless router is about 320' away from my wireless
access point at my house. My connection is very weak and sporadic at
best. There are a few trees in the path but not a lot.

I would like a solid/hassle free connection.

I've been looking at either a direct burial cat5 cable, will these
work at 320' away?

Or somehow extend the range so that I can reach 320'. I was looking
at possibly purchasing a couple of Hawking's Outdoor 14dbI directional
antennas.

Whats the most solid connection to reasonable cost solution for this
situation?

Any and all replies greatly appreciated.

On 20 Jul 2005 09:42:13 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>Hi,
>
> The house next door has a high speed cable connection. I'm looking
>to try to connect to it either wirelessly or via a direct wired
>ethernet. The wireless router is about 320' away from my wireless
>access point at my house. My connection is very weak and sporadic at
>best. There are a few trees in the path but not a lot.
>
> I would like a solid/hassle free connection.
>
> I've been looking at either a direct burial cat5 cable, will these
>work at 320' away?
>
> Or somehow extend the range so that I can reach 320'. I was looking
>at possibly purchasing a couple of Hawking's Outdoor 14dbI directional
>antennas.
>
> Whats the most solid connection to reasonable cost solution for this
>situation?
>
> Any and all replies greatly appreciated.

If you (and, presumably, the neighbor) would consider burying a wire,
could you not split the neighbor's cable connection and run coax to
your machine? That's as much a question as a suggestion.

I don't know about wireless. I can't even make my router connection
steady from 25 ft!

Avalanche wrote:
> On 20 Jul 2005 09:42:13 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>> The house next door has a high speed cable connection. I'm looking
>>to try to connect to it either wirelessly or via a direct wired
>>ethernet. The wireless router is about 320' away from my wireless
>>access point at my house. My connection is very weak and sporadic at
>>best. There are a few trees in the path but not a lot.
>>
>> I would like a solid/hassle free connection.
>>
>> I've been looking at either a direct burial cat5 cable, will these
>>work at 320' away?
>>
>> Or somehow extend the range so that I can reach 320'. I was looking
>>at possibly purchasing a couple of Hawking's Outdoor 14dbI directional
>>antennas.
>>
>> Whats the most solid connection to reasonable cost solution for this
>>situation?
>>
>> Any and all replies greatly appreciated.
>
>
> If you (and, presumably, the neighbor) would consider burying a wire,
> could you not split the neighbor's cable connection and run coax to
> your machine? That's as much a question as a suggestion.
>
> I don't know about wireless. I can't even make my router connection
> steady from 25 ft!
You probably need to address both ends of the connection. See if your
neighbor will place the WAP in a window facing you so it has no walls
obstructing it. He will probably not want to put a directional antenna
on it as it would reduce/eliminate the coverage for him. He might need
to get a better antenna/higher gain on the WAP.
On your end, suggest a directional antenna pointed at him. You could
use a commercial USB directional antenna or build your own cantenna.
See links below for more info on both:

http://members.cox.net/tulsaalstons/...Adapter%20.htm

http://members.cox.net/tulsaalstons/...%20Network.htm

Bob

I believe the maximum rated distance for un-ammplifed ethernet connection
is 384 feet..... that may have improved in recent years? I don't know, but
it does sound like running an ethernet cable to your neighbor would be do-
able. Certainly more secure and probably faster!

Others here have offered good advice for improving the wireless range.
Good luck.


Ed

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Hi,
>
> The house next door has a high speed cable connection. I'm looking
> to try to connect to it either wirelessly or via a direct wired
> ethernet.

If I were going to the effort of burying cat-5 cable, for that distance
I would bury a fiber optic cable. Over 300 feet is hard for ethernet
on Cat 5. Distance impacts delay. A delay over 8 bytes for 10/100
ethernet means a "late collision", which is really, really bad.

While you could extend the range of the wireless network using a
directional antenna, it wouldn't be as reliable as laying an armoured,
outdoor fiber optic cable. Here's a company that has 1000' for $650.
If you call Anixter or Graybar, I'm sure they have a shorter length
available for less money. They often have partial spools from customer
returns or custom lengths.

http://www.mycableshop.com/3rd_Level...cCableBulk.htm

Here's something on e-bay ... find out how long the cable is ... it
looks like it might be the right stuff. Even if it is single mode
(over kill for 300'), it might work out for you.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...Name=WDVW&rd=1

And a site about fiber optic cable in general.

http://www.techoptics.com/pages/Fibe...-%20Cable.html

On 20 Jul 2005 09:42:13 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

:> Whats the most solid connection to reasonable cost solution for this
:> situation?

Get your own cable connection?

I am running a shared ADSL connection in the neighborhood covering some 200
metres diameter with the AP being a bit offset from the centre. The AP has a
10db omni on the bargeboard of the house which provides full coverage of the
house plus the remote clients. All the clients have 10dbi antennas pointing
at the Omni.

All the antennas were homemade. The omni is made from a series of 1/4 wave
sections of brass tube and the client antennas are biquads. Total antenna
cost less than $40 for the omni and 4 clients. The clients all have USB
adaptors mounted on the antenna to reduce cable losses as USB cable is
cheaper and does not incur the same loss.

Results, rock solid connections everywhere and that is even after reducing
the power of the AP (a Dlink 604T) to 25%.

Peter

"Bob Alston" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:6gwDe.44009$4o.36298@fed1read06...
> Avalanche wrote:
> > On 20 Jul 2005 09:42:13 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Hi,
> >>
> >> The house next door has a high speed cable connection. I'm looking
> >>to try to connect to it either wirelessly or via a direct wired
> >>ethernet. The wireless router is about 320' away from my wireless
> >>access point at my house. My connection is very weak and sporadic at
> >>best. There are a few trees in the path but not a lot.
> >>
> >> I would like a solid/hassle free connection.
> >>
> >> I've been looking at either a direct burial cat5 cable, will these
> >>work at 320' away?
> >>
> >> Or somehow extend the range so that I can reach 320'. I was looking
> >>at possibly purchasing a couple of Hawking's Outdoor 14dbI directional
> >>antennas.
> >>
> >> Whats the most solid connection to reasonable cost solution for this
> >>situation?
> >>
> >> Any and all replies greatly appreciated.
> >
> >
> > If you (and, presumably, the neighbor) would consider burying a wire,
> > could you not split the neighbor's cable connection and run coax to
> > your machine? That's as much a question as a suggestion.
> >
> > I don't know about wireless. I can't even make my router connection
> > steady from 25 ft!
> You probably need to address both ends of the connection. See if your
> neighbor will place the WAP in a window facing you so it has no walls
> obstructing it. He will probably not want to put a directional antenna
> on it as it would reduce/eliminate the coverage for him. He might need
> to get a better antenna/higher gain on the WAP.
> On your end, suggest a directional antenna pointed at him. You could
> use a commercial USB directional antenna or build your own cantenna.
> See links below for more info on both:
>
>
http://members.cox.net/tulsaalstons/...0Made%20With%2
0Compact%20-%20Dongle%20USB%20Wireless%20Adapter%20.htm
>
>
http://members.cox.net/tulsaalstons/...s%20Network.ht
m
>
> Bob

"Pierre" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:dbmdij$n7f$(E-Mail Removed):

> All the antennas were homemade. The omni is made from a series of 1/4
> wave sections of brass tube and the client antennas are biquads. Total
> antenna cost less than $40 for the omni and 4 clients. The clients all
> have USB adaptors mounted on the antenna to reduce cable losses as USB
> cable is cheaper and does not incur the same loss.
>

I'm sure with some searching I could find it, but do you happen to have a
link that would show exactly what you made and how you made it? I am very
interested....


Thanks!

The biquad can be found at http://martybugs.net/wireless/biquad/ I actually
mounted the small USB adaptor immediately behind the reflector and removed
the USB antenna and used a short piece of coax to the base of the antenna
feed where it came out of the brass tube at the rear. Total coax length was
about 2 inches so losses were really minimised.

The omni is from
http://www.guerrilla.net/reference/a...ollinear_omni/ and was
followed closely. Without the US quarter, I used a brass washer and the
overflow pipe was a piece of 3/4 inch copper tube out of the scrap bin. In
my case, an 18 element omni was constructed so that the radiation angle
would be low, an important consideration in the terrain to be covered
without extending up the surrounding hill areas. I suggest that you may well
suffice with one of a few less elements, say 10 or 12.

Generally, dimensions are reasonable critical for correct performance but a
decent soldering iron, a fine hacksaw and a Dremel tool made short work of
the job. It is necessary to use LMR-400 cable for the omni as other types
have differing characteristic that will change the lengths of each section.

Simple, cheap and very effective.

Peter

"The Chairman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns969AB59CA5C1monsterearthlinknet@140.99.99. 130...
> "Pierre" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> news:dbmdij$n7f$(E-Mail Removed):
>
> > All the antennas were homemade. The omni is made from a series of 1/4
> > wave sections of brass tube and the client antennas are biquads. Total
> > antenna cost less than $40 for the omni and 4 clients. The clients all
> > have USB adaptors mounted on the antenna to reduce cable losses as USB
> > cable is cheaper and does not incur the same loss.
> >
>
> I'm sure with some searching I could find it, but do you happen to have a
> link that would show exactly what you made and how you made it? I am very
> interested....
>
>
> Thanks!

> I would bury a fiber optic cable. Over 300 feet is hard for ethernet
> on Cat 5. Distance impacts delay. A delay over 8 bytes for 10/100
> ethernet means a "late collision", which is really, really bad.

Stick in some coax ethernet, 600'