Hope this is the right spot to post this. Many moons ago I posted a similar question. However job commitments (and money) prevented me from following it up. Job situation is better, though money is always a problem :)
This is what I want to do. I live in Hillbank. No ADSL, no cable and no ISDN. My mother lives in Elizabeth Downs. She has access to ADSL :D I want to put ADSL onto her house and transmit it to my house.
As far as I understand this is what I will need to do. Get an ADSL Modem / 4 port router (any suggestions on something good, but cheap?). Hook the phone line into that and her computer as well (via 10/100). Get an AP (the Edimax EW-7206APg?) and connect that to the router. Mount it on the roof with an appropriate antenna (have no idea what to get). Get an AP and do the same at my house. I already have a Netgear FWG114P which I use for a small wireless network in my house (for the laptop to share the printer and dial-up internet).
So I would need to buy 2 APs, 1 modem / router and 2 antenna. Along with the necessary consumables.
Several probs however. I don't really know what hardware to get. I need to try and keep the price down as long as practical. I don't know whether my existing Netgear FWG114P might cause interferance? I don't know whether all this will work (e.g. do I have a clear path to my mums place). I don't really want to spend all this money only to find it doesn't work. Don't really know much do I? :)
Any way I hope someone can help (and explain it in idiots terms). This is the only way I'm gonna get broadband in Hillbank. I've exhausted all other possabilities that I can think of (except satellite which I can't afford)
Thanks in advance
Jason Hart
runey (at) ozemail (dot) com (dot) au
mobile: 0421 978 170
Hi jason. The essence of
Hi jason. The essence of what you have described is all pretty much correct.
One omission in your "parts list" is the possibility of needing a mast at 1 or both ends. This will add to the cost with any turnbuckles, guy wires, cable clamps and shackles that is needed. This could add significantly to the cost as well. I dropped off a pigtail to Nobles on Grand junction road and saw the prices for the guying stuff alot cheaper than what I paid at bunnings!!
Going by the map, looks like you are somewhere around 5 Km apart. Thats certainly do-able, depending on your line of sight (LOS).
Climb up on your roof and have a look.. take a LOS photo if possible in the direction of your Mums...
You may be able to coax 2 members to hold a dish and a laptop at either end and see if theres connectivity before you go buying stuff.
If that fails, you may be able to point an AP at each house straight at the Eliz water tower when thats up and running and use it as a middle man.. run a VPN through it or something..
Good Luck!
Well after a failed attempt
Well after a failed attempt last weekend at getting my mast and antenna up. It was way too wet and slippery to work up there safely.
But on this nice sunny day Sunday the 30th of October, I finally got my mast up :D and man it was WAY harder than I thought it was going to be.
It's 5m past the peak of the roof, plus 1m sitting inside the roof space with lots of bracing. Even without the guy wires it's sits quite nice and still with little wind. I'm doing the guy wires after lunch, which should hold it nice and still even in strong winds.
I'll post some photos as soon as it's done later today :)
great
thats great.. I bet most people that put the mast up for the first time don't expect it to be as difficult as it is. I almost always do it by myself and even the best planning and ideas sometimes fail miserably in practice.
If there is anyone planning to put up a longish mast, I would strongly recommend making it hinged in the middle so it is easy to raise and lower.
remember the 5 P's
Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance
Well here are some photos
Well here are some photos :)
A lonely mast
The big picture
Me and my new baby
I thought about putting in a hinge, but didn't do it in the end. Mainly because this is only a temporary mast, and experiment if you will :). Once I confirm that I can get a signal at the other end, Eliz Downs, then I'll be making some mods. I'll be adding a hinge if I can figure out a suitable method and also more guy wires about half way down. It's a little wobbly in the middle :) It's still stable enough to run some tests and to stand up against a nice storm.
Any suggestions on a hinge arrangement? I've looked at a bunch of hinges at hardware stores, but none of them seemed right. I'd like to avaoid welding if I can, I'm totally useless at it.
Which brings me to my next request. I'm going to be away, in Pt Augusta for work, for the next 7 days. After that I was hoping to talk someone into giving me a hand running some tests. I'm flexible with dates and times. Day or night. Weekday or weekend. Any takers?
If no one is available to lend a hand, which is understandable as were all busy people, can anyone provide a bit of a idiots guide? It's not exactly my area of expertise :( Basically I just need to run a few tests to make sure I can get a signal from my place in Hillbank to my mum's place in Eliz Downs.
Again thanks everyone for your input and help thus far :D
Using the water tower as a
Using the water tower as a middle man is a good idea. Didn't think of that. Thanks HaQue :D
Put all of my location data into nodedb. We are 3km apart. With a good LOS (excluding the possibility of trees / houses etc)
I've been looking at antenna. Thinking it's best to use two direction antenna? What dBi should I be looking for to get me 3km?
Any members willing to lend a hand to check for connectivity? I've got two laptops, just no dishes etc. I'm an electrician, so I can owe you a favour :)
I have 19dBi dishes for sale
I have 19dBi dishes for sale as well. For a P2P link, yes directionals are the way to go. You get a good signal without beaming out to everywhere cluttering up the air with stray signals :)
With 3Km you should be laughing.
Well I think I've decided on
Well I think I've decided on most of the hardware.
A Netgear FWG114P (4 port switch, router, firewall and printserver with dial-ip backup support) at each end. Mostly because I already have one and I've found another one at a good price.
Edimax EW-7206APg APs at both ends. Mounted on the roof as close to the dish as possible.
Still undecided on what dish to use. Directional definately. My LOS is not as good as I had hoped. There seem to be a lot of trees in the way. Will a bigger antenna help get through those trees? e.g. 24dBi instead of 19dBi? Or is there another way to 'blast' through all that foilage?
Probably going to be using a Netcomm NB5 ADSL2+ modem in bridged mode. It's cheap and it's has no bells and whistles that will be going to waste. That's what the Netgear is for. If anybody else can suggest a different, but equally cheap, modem I'm all ears :)
Basically I'm now at the point where it's either sink or swim. I'm ready to start buying all the gear, but I uncertain whether this is going to work. The trees have me worried. I also checked out the idea of using the water tower as a repeater. I can see the water tower from Hillbank, but not from Elizabeth Downs. So that idea may be a bust as well. Since I'm gonna have to fork out over $600 I want to be pretty sure this gonna work first :( HELP
you cant really blast
you cant really blast through foliage. some people have luck getting through trees, but its really important to have LOS.
With some height at both ends you might have some luck.
Site survey is imperative!