Upgraded WiFi Connections

[Edward Buker]

This is a little off the beaten path regarding RV upgrades but it may be useful to some folks that like to fool with computers, routers, or maybe have some ham radio experience.... it is a useful upgrade to improve your typical WiFi connection in an RV park or beyond what is available in the park if needed.

There is a device called the Bullet M2HP by a company called Ubiquity. It is available in a 1 watt version at about $85. You also would need a $15 power supply and an antenna $20-$50. This device is a little electronic miracle. It houses a transmitter, receiver, microprocessor, firmware (software), and an Ethernet interface all housed in a 1 inch by 6 inch weatherproof housing. What it enables, is to mount an antenna and all of the radio communication circuitry outside of your RV and just feed a small Cat 5 Ethernet cable to the inside of your RV. The sailing community has embraced this device to latch onto WiFi in harbors. What I have heard of for installs in the RV community is a ladder install either temporary or permanent. I also heard of one install where a person fed the Ethernet cable up to the batwing antenna alongside the TV antenna coax and mounted the Bullet and antenna to the square tube of the batwing and could then rotate it for reception. For my case I experimented with an interior install.

http://www.wifi-stock.com/details/bulletm2.html

Antenna link for what I used....many 2.4 GHZ antenna choices from Lcom

http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=21808

My first try was to mount the device inside a cabinet where my wireless router is housed but at 2.4GHZ the RF attenuation was too severe. That led me to route an Ethernet cable from the overhead cabinet to the dash area. I then mounted the Bullet on a mini tripod that I can quickly set up on the dash. Glass seems to have little to no RF attenuation. When not in use the portion of wire that resides in the dash area is coiled up and stored under the access panel for dashboard. There is a 90degree N connector between the Bullet and the small rectangular directional antenna. That would be omitted if you chose a standard vertical antenna. Where my Laptop sees 2 networks in my neighborhood from the RV, the Bullet on the dash sees nine. This device makes what is a marginal WiFi connection quite usable. I tie this device by Ethernet cable to my wireless router in the RV for convenience. The Ethernet cable can also go directly to your PC.

The initial set up of this device has the pitfalls of setting up any wireless network router device with some trial and error. Once you get by the initial set up complete and the values stored in the Bullet you would have a simple procedure to use it in the future that consists of scanning for wireless networks and selecting one.

How and where you mount one of these units is left to your own imagination but being up on the ladder or roof provides the best line of sight to the typical WiFi antenna network. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Is it a directional antenna (has to be aimed at the signal source)?

[Jeremy Parrett]

go to www.radiolabs.com   and look for WaveRV antennas.   I have one on my sailboat and one on the Marquis. Both are USB plug and play omnidirectonal.  

[Edward Buker]

The antenna I am using is is a housed directional panel antenna, that can be mounted for vertical (most likely) or horizontal polarization. It has 12dbi gain, a 60 degree beamwidth, and decent rejection from the backside. I can get a 270 degree "sweep" from the dash area using the windshield, front driver, and passenger side window views. You do not want too much gain and a reasonably wide beamwidth antenna. 60 degree is a good compromise, for just aiming in the general direction, without having to "pinpoint" an alignment.

In the Bullet Firmware, there is an align antenna panel, that shows a signal strength meter, that you can view on your Laptop, as you sweep with the tripod handle. There are also some LEDs on the bullet itself, that indicate signal strength. If I was thinking of mounting this unit more permanently outside, I would probably opt for a small vertical omnidirectional antenna, where a directional one makes more sense on the dash. They have 4db gain at about 8 inches long, and 6db at 12 inch long versions at Lcom.

As Jeremy noted above, radiolabs offers another solution via USB connect. It is omnidirectional and weatherproof. I'm not overly keen on having to use a USB wired interface, I would prefer to run everything through a wireless router and not be wire tethered in the RV. The white box in my cabinet photo is an Apple Airport Express wireless router, that my Ethernet cable, from the Bullet is tied to. That being said, the plug and play aspect of USB does keep it simple for the user, and has that advantage.

Later Ed

http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=22263

[Gil_Johnson]

go to www.radiolabs.com   and look for WaveRV antennas.   I have one on my sailboat and one on the Marquis. Both are USB plug and play omnidirectonal.  

I had one of these, and did some grude testing.  Much to my surprise, the performance increase wasn't noticable over my laptop's internal Wi-Fi system.  I suspect this to be more due to the SW that is used with the Wave, than the Wave itself.  I sold it within the week.

Gil

[Joel Weiss]

The Ubiquity Bullet is about to be offered as an accessory for the WiFi Ranger router.  I've been using a Ranger for the past several weeks full time, and despite a few growing pains, I'm convinced it is just want I want in the way of a router.  I'm new to this  group, but I assume people here are familiar with the WFR.  I have it set up in my Beaver as the hub of a network that currently includes two laptops, a printer, a Blu-ray player, a DirecTV DVR and a web-enabled photo frame.  Not having to change my internal network when I change CG's or go from WiFi to cellular is great.  With the addition of a Bullet, it should be a killer system.

[Wayne Tull]

Joel,

Which WiFi Ranger did you get and what were some of the issues you worked through?  

Ed,

I like the find on the Ubiguity Bullet, but want to go with the external 8db omi. ant. any thoughts installation.

Hmm, I think I'm looking at projects I want to do faster than I move.

[Edward Buker]

I think a Bullet would be a great addition. I think you have to decide if this is something you want to install in a permanent fashion on the coach exterior, or if you want to make a holder and set it up when you need it.  I can see both options as decent possibilities.

If permanent, I would consider a ladder mount. Most antennas come with Ubolt mounts. The issue I see, is that most of the antennas look to be non flexible fiberglass, for tower installations. I think it may be wise to have something spring loaded, as part of the mount. This mobile antenna version might be an option. There are also shorter versions of 2.4GHZ antennas that may be well shielded from harm, while attached to the rear ladder, with the antenna tip even with the top of the ladder.

http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=27275

From a wiring viewpoint all you need is an Ethernet cable so you could bore a small hole and pass it through to the inside of the coach and then put Ethernet connectors on both ends.

 
The Bullet also drops into a 2 inch PVC pipe quite nicely. If you wanted to strap a length of 2 inch PVC to the ladder one could devise a quick mount where you climb the ladder and drop the Bullet, with an omni vertical antenna attached, into the pipe. A stop bolt, at the right point passing through the pipe, would set the level. Hope this helps.

later Ed

[Jeremy Parrett]

Ed,
  you will be happy to know that Radiolabs are working on a USB router that will enable the Wave RV wifi antenna to create a hot-spot of your own,

[Edward Buker]

That sounds like it would be a nice addition.

 I like the little Apple Airport Express Router that I use. If I couple the Bullet and join a network, it becomes a hot spot for me, with my own network. If I just leave it on without the Bulllet interfaced, I can still join the network, just locally, and play music from iTunes, with my computer or iPod.  I really like that wireless music feature of the Apple router.  I have Bose speakers in the RV bay, and can listen to iPod music from outside of the RV, pause, skip etc. or from the inside system in the coach also. I have the Ipod where I can access it from the drivers seat and use this system with the interior Bose system as we travel down the highway. Nice to have 500+ songs with play-lists at your finger tips wirelessly.

One new option. I just upgraded to an iPhone.  I have interfaced it into my car audio system, and can now listen to Pandora while on the road, using the cell network. My 2 gigabyte plan would allow for 27 hours of streaming a month.  I could also use that option in the RV wirelessly, by streaming music in via the cell network, and out via wifi to the Airport Express.  I have not tried that yet, but seems like it should work. So many options, so little time....

Later Ed

[JimDyer]

I have my Bullet set up with the same antenna Ed has......but I didn't think of the 90 degree connector so mine has the bullet lined up straight behind the
antenna. I took a leftover piece of skirtboard from my slide seal replacement and wrapped it around the bullet and used a PVC conduit clamp to screw it to a 5" square plastic cabinet carousel(some people call them lazy susans). The carousel I then mounted to the ceiling of the first overhead cabinet behind the copilot chair, which put the line of the antenna nicely above the Girard Awning. It is slightly too long to rotate the assembly 360 degrees, but by unplugging the ethernet cable I can flip it from front and sideways facing to rear and sideways facing. I have also run a 120v outlet to that cabinet with the cable run in the space under the cabinet liner and above the wood cabinet bottom, so the whole installation is hidden.  

In the setup of the Bullet software, there is a spot to enter a network name to be connected to, which I assume Ed is using when he connects to the Bullet and surveys to see the 9 networks he mentioned. If you set it up with "any" as the network name, it will pick up any network in range without human intervention. Combine this with the strength indicator lights on the side of the Bullet, and I  just rotate it until the strength goes up to red. This makes the setup extremely easy to use, and is probably the key advantage to using a Bullet in this application.

I have mine running downstream to a Linksys Cisco rotor with a secured network. All of our wireless devices, 2 laptops,
tablet, Skype phone, wireless printer, etc all connect to the secured network. In a park where I hear continuous whining about
Wifi, because there aren't enough IP's,we are doing fine!  

Oh, a couple of other points. I bought my Bullet from L-com where Ed and I both bought our antennas. It was a considerably lower price than the
link Ed provided. My whole installation, including the downstream router, cost about $70 which is less than half of the price of the WaveRV antenna Jeremy is using.

The main advantages of the bullet are the:

low installation cost
high strength signal reception
automatic signal pickup with signal strength metering, just by pointing the antenna  

[Joel Weiss]

I did go ahead and purchase the Ubiquity Bullet for my WiFi Ranger.  I have the bullet and antenna sitting in the old TV cabinet behind my LED/LCD.  I realize its not as good as mounting it externally, but I hated to put another hole in the roof.  With the fiberglass shell of the coach it works pretty well since it is only ~2 feet lower than it would be if mounted on the roof.  One nice thing about having it inside is that I can see the status LEDs easily.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Jeremy has taken notes and would like to know where you bought the Ranger and the Bullet please.

[Joel Weiss]

I bought both items directly from http://WiFi Ranger.com. I don't think they have authorized anyone else (3G Store) to sell the mobile version of the WFRBoost.  If you are considering buying a Ranger, make sure you get one with the latest version of the firmware.  They are doing a major update which is currently in Beta testing.  I would expect the new version to be released within a week or two.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Hi Joel,
  thanks for the link. I already have a D-Link wifi router so all I need is the Ranger and the Bullet.  I will probably buy this system and test it against my Wave RV before permanantly mounting one or the other on the roof. I am considering attaching it to the Wingard antenna  so as to be able to rotate the Ranger from inside the coachand also benefit from the elevation. Can the Ranger be mounted remotely from the Bullet ?? Then  I could mount the Ranger on the Wingard antenna and the bullet inside the coach.