real techie question(coaxial cables, usb)

CHR15

Good luck with your project. It's great to see someone having a go instead of buying something ready built :beer::beer:

Patrick20

Cheers mate. I'm getting quite excited about it. Too bad christmas is approaching or i would have done it already. I'll post pics when i'm done if you want.

Basil1234

you goona have problems then if you don't mind unreeling each time the 15m usb each time from the post near the top, i reckon you could get away with it otherwise you goona have to look for some cat5e plus connectors that will need to be out of the weather.
now when i needed to redo phone lines in house best price i could find for cat5e min 100mtr box was around £21 so for a man with no budget i think you are dreaming you will need to spend at least £20 maybe it would be better to bite the bullet and just upgrade your router and wifi to N range but then you looking at spending once. Otherwise i would live without the net in the garde. hints at your budget would be helpful

Patrick20

Basil somewhere our lines got crossed. Let me straighten this out. I can easily spend £20. Its not that i dont have a budget i don't have a LARGE budget. davb's idea was not viable as it involved buying several usb extenders that cost £20 each which will cost £60-£100 just for the cables. Also upgrading the router and wifi isnt an option. My shed is well beyond normal range. The science and tech is solid though. the satellite wifi antenna has been done lots of times. The problem is only adapting the project to my needs. Also the bonus is that once its complete there isnt a comparable wifi booster on the market as its got about 11db gain. Not to mention 90% of the fun is in the build and the concept.

davb

Patrick20 wrote: »

those cables are like 20 quid each. That's not within my budget.

How about something like this 5m USB Extension and Active Cable Booster at £6.64 each (plus postage), although it may not be suitable for outside.

Nice project by the way - good luck with it.

Patrick20

dadb, thanks thats a price i'm willing to pay. The £20 price was from maplin so i should have known it could be cheaper. However, resilience to the elements is a big factor so i'm not sure what my solution is yet.

Dime_Bar

You can run USB over a greater distance than 5M without any boosters, it is just hit and miss depending on the device and its power\data quality requirements. I have gone to about 10 meters with a keyboard before but would not use it long term, plus I also made the cable myself using cat5e.

I think the problem you are going to have is the elements so how about leaving the USB Wifi Dongle connected to the laptop locally and then run the cable from the Antenna connection on the Dongle (it will probably need opening up and soldering on) up to the dish and making one of the Antennas of the guide your using. All delicate electronics will then be kept inside.

You should then have no problems using Coax :-)

S0litaire

How about this if you want to get hands dirty with a build...

http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448

It might be usefull

Patrick20

Dime_Bar wrote: »

You can run USB over a greater distance than 5M without any boosters, it is just hit and miss depending on the device and its power\data quality requirements. I have gone to about 10 meters with a keyboard before but would not use it long term, plus I also made the cable myself using cat5e.

I think the problem you are going to have is the elements so how about leaving the USB Wifi Dongle connected to the laptop locally and then run the cable from the Antenna connection on the Dongle (it will probably need opening up and soldering on) up to the dish and making one of the Antennas of the guide your using. All delicate electronics will then be kept inside.

You should then have no problems using Coax :-)

The reason i chose to mount the dongle outside onto the dish is because i don't really have the tools to do all the drilling and cutting of copper pipes. The only tools i own are the basic home tool kit(hammer,hacksaw,pliers, screwdrivers etc) a glue gun, a multimeter, wire strippers,and a soldering iron.
I'm trying to come up with a compromise beetween these two

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wifi-Signal-Strainer-WokFi/ -CHEAP AND EASY
http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/15/h...-dish-antenna/ - LESS CHEAP AND A IT MORE WORK, AND I NEED TO BUY NEW TOOLS.

I'm thinking instead of mounting it to a wall the solution is to build a extendable stand. It would solve the weather problem since it can be moved back inside in bad weather, which means i could mount the usb to the dish, and use less cable.

Patrick20

S0litaire wrote: »

How about this if you want to get hands dirty with a build...

http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448

It might be usefull

I've read about the pringles tube antenna and the cantenna(made with large tin cans) but decided against them because people have been reporting better gains from the biquad and the wok wifi. Not to mention how bad a tin of dog food would look mounted to my shed. The neighbours would have a fit.