WiFi Antenna Installation Issue

[Sailabel]

Runningfish- pics of our Bullet installation are here: Home

We've also just (yesterday) installed a 3G router with booster and antenna for internet when cell coverage is available.

Steve

[gettinthere]

Thinking of mounting the Bullet horizontally on a spreader then using a right angle adapter for the antenna. Will the Right angle adapter cause problems with signal loss?

[Sailabel]

There is always signal loss with adapters and pigtails... but it should be negligible in this installation. Another option is to just mount the antenna allowing room for the 'bullet' to install below it instead of the angle adapter. That also puts the 'Bullet' in vertical format which should help keep water out of the ethernet connection. Just loop the ethernet cable back up to the spreader and make sure to leave slack for a 'drip loop'. In our installation we used a short jumper, and performance is fine.

[Zydeco]

Originally Posted by Sailabel

We've also just (yesterday) installed a 3G router with booster and antenna for internet when cell coverage is available.

Steve

Steve - Not to hijack the thread again, but what are you using for a 3G router/booster/antenna?

We use a Cradelpoint with our aircard attached to a Wilson Electronics signal booster and antenna. It seems to boost the signal strength somewhat. Nothing spectacular.

Dave

[Sailabel]

Hi- I just started a 3G thread so we don't sidetrack this thread away from WiFi installation.

[scotte]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

We tried the following:
- antenna above, (powered) USB cable downwards,
- same, with network cable downward (all gear at PC),
- same, with coaxial downward and all gear at the PC.

The last solution gives us best signal.

Are you sure you are talking about a Bullet? The Bullet doesn't even have a USB port. Having any sort of coax involved at all is a bad thing - you want to connect the Bullet directly to the antenna... I'm fairly certain you aren't talking about the Bullet at all!

[scotte]

Originally Posted by Zydeco

The unit worked fine for months mounted lower with only 25' of cable. We just moved it to the masthead prior to this trip a couple weeks ago. Since that was the only thing that changed, it seems like a likely culprit.

Ah ha... A clue, perhaps? Check your RJ45 connectors carefully, maybe you got a bad crimp on one of them. Obviously the one up the mast will be more difficult to deal with, but if it was me, I'd cut the connectors off and just recrimp new connectors, super carefully.

[scotte]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

300' for data seemed about the limit for data transmission.

That's about right - the spec for Cat 5/5e/6/7 is 100 meters.

[Zydeco]

Originally Posted by Zydeco

Well, I've been down the wrong path before. Many times.

In any event, Ron-I'm doing just what you suggested. We are tied up in an area where it works great and connects to several APs. I'm letting the house batteries discharge and we'll see if the problem redevelops.

Wrong again. I let the house bank discharge all day to well beyond where it was when we had the problem and nothing bad happened. There is still 11 volts at the POE injector and the bullet is working swimmingly.

Just for fun, lets assume it's not operator error since I've tried to make it happen again with no luck. Any other ideas? Sunspots? Secret Air Force jammer?

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by Zydeco

We need help with our WiFi Antenna. We are using a Bullet 2HP system with a POE injector. We mounted it at the masthead with about 90 feet of Cat 5 cable. (no, we do not have a 90 foot mast - the cable runs down the backstay, then to the middle of the cabin where the POE injector and router are mounted) It worked fantastic for awhile, then went haywire after about a week at anchor. It could still "see" numerous APs and connect, and according to the AirOS software it had a good connection (for example 80 dBm and good TX and RX rates (for example 36 Mbps) but when we opened a browser, it would not open any web pages. From time to time, it would connect very briefly, then stop. We tried different APs, different computers, varios settings on the Bullet, etc but no joy.

We spent last night in a marina and charged the battery bank. This morning the Bullet works perfectly. My guess is that the cable run is too long and the Bullet does not get quite enough power when the batteries are discharged. We have a 440 ah battery bank and it was down about 90 ah when we were having problems with the Bullet. Still reading a little over 12 volts.

We need to be able to use the WiFi antenna when we cruise the Bahamas this winter and we will be anchored for weeks at a time. The batteries will be down as much as 150 ah.

Any ideas?

DHCP or other networking error? Your first paragraph sounded more like a DNS error. What OS are you using? If Windows and it happens again you should open a command prompt (run|cmd) and run "ipconfig/ renew" and see of that clears it up.

[bill good]

.

Anyway, the cable length wasn't just a WAG. The unit worked fine for months mounted lower with only 25' of cable. We just moved it to the masthead prior to this trip a couple weeks ago. Since that was the only thing that changed, it seems like a likely culprit.

Unless there is shielding from some structure then it must be something you have done!! Connectors / cable. Go back one steep?

[Zydeco]

Originally Posted by scotte

Ah ha... A clue, perhaps? Check your RJ45 connectors carefully, maybe you got a bad crimp on one of them. Obviously the one up the mast will be more difficult to deal with, but if it was me, I'd cut the connectors off and just recrimp new connectors, super carefully.

Quite possible. I'll try it if it acts up again.

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

DHCP or other networking error? Your first paragraph sounded more like a DNS error. What OS are you using? If Windows and it happens again you should open a command prompt (run|cmd) and run "ipconfig/ renew" and see of that clears it up.

We use Windows. You lost me. What's a DHCP or DNS error?

Originally Posted by bill good

Unless there is shielding from some structure then it must be something you have done!!

You've got that right.

[scotte]

I was thinking about this last night, along the lines of SailFastTri's advice... On my wife's WinXP netbook I have to disable the network interface when switching the interface from the static IP configuration to the dynamic configuration, and back. I don't have to do that on my Linux laptop.

On the WinXP machine, if I don't disable and re-enable the network interface first, then it won't reliably connect to the access point, regardless of how many bars I see in the Bullet's admin page.

All of this assumes you are using bridging mode on the Bullet...

So maybe give that a try - just go into the network control panel, right click on your network adapter to disable, then again to enable.

It would also help to know if you are getting an IP address or not (there's a status window you can bring up for an interface).

Now here's the thing though - NONE of this has anything to do with the Bullet being on a longer cable!

[SailFastTri]

The following indicates it is NOT likely to be a wiring or connector issue, unless perhaps it is marginal/intermittent:

Originally Posted by Zydeco

It could still "see" numerous APs and connect, and according to the AirOS software it had a good connection (for example 80 dBm and good TX and RX rates (for example 36 Mbps) but when we opened a browser, it would not open any web pages. From time to time, it would connect very briefly, then stop. We tried different APs, different computers, various settings on the Bullet, etc but no joy.
Any ideas?

The fact that you could still "see" APs indicates that the physical connection to the wireless antenna was good and at the lowest network software levels you still had a valid connection. Something is going on at a higher level in the "protocol stack".

Either you were not getting a valid IP address or you were unable to resolve to a valid DNS server (could be the fault of the AP's Internet provider). Some APs are deliberately configured to ONLY let specific MAC (hardware) addresses connect, even if not showing up as encrypted APs, but that's not the case here because you wrote your connection was intermittent.

As an end-user without network troubleshooting experience your best recourse is to try rebooting things in the following order, waiting for each device to come up fully before booting the next:
wireless device,
then your own router or firewall (if separate),
then network switch (if you have one),
then your computer (or run ipconfig /renew from a DOS command line prompt by using START|CMD then in the DOS window type: ipconfig /renew).

[Zydeco]

Thanks Scotte and SailFastTri. I'll try this stuff if (when) it happens again. For now, all is well.