I have several wifi adapters/antennas that work in various conditions. Recently I’ve purchased a EnGenious EOC-3610S-EXT but I have not been able to get it to associate with an access point yet… very frustrating.
George
I bought an Engenious 8610 and quickly determined that it wouldn’t work for my application. Here’s the description that I provided with my RMA as to why I was returning it.
I have a WRT54G router running DD-WRT. I replaced it with a Engenius 8610 that I purchased from you. This is used on a boat in bridge mode. With the WRT54G running DD-WRT I was able to select an AP and simply connect to it.
With the 8610 I have to set a static IP address on the PC, connect to the 8610 configuration web pages, view the
available access points, change the SSID of the 8610 to match the SSID of the AP that I want to connect to, reboot the
8610, make sure that it associated with the AP, change the static IP on the PC to DHCP, and finally connect to the Internet.This might be fine if you only have to do this once, but I connect to many APs, so this isn’t a viable solution as far
as I’m concerned. Do have any products that are high output (400mw or better) that can be simply bridged using the
standard firmware (or run DD-WRT) and utilize an external antenna? Alternately I could use a USB based solution.
They agreed with assessment of the product and accepted the return. After that I got an Alfa 500mw USB based WiFi adapter which has worked very well. (http://stores.ebay.com/SimpleWiFi) I’ve managed to connect from 3 miles off-shore, although a reasonable range is <1 mile. You PC just sees it as a network adapter and all of the normal wireless networking software acts just the same.
You need to have the LMR400 as short as possible. As a result I mounted the Alfa in the lazarett by the base of the radar mast and ran LMR400 up to a 10 db external WiFi antenna, part OD24-9 from http://www.wlanparts.com.
USB cables are limited to 16’, and since this run was slightly longer than that, I used “active” USB cables which re-generate the signal at the far end. If you can get by with 16’, I’d stay with passive cables.
– Geoff
Thanks Geoff,
I think I’m going to have to go that route myself, simply keeping the antenna coax run down to the minimum and using an active usb cable run. Earlier this evening I found a BlueProton GSKY Wireless G USB 2.0 500mW 27dBm High-Power 802.11g Adapter on Amazon for around 20 bucks. If I like it I’ll simply put two on the boat so Kerri and I can be online at the same time. We do like our computifying.
Once again your council is spot on. I might be able to use the engenious to get our dock security cameras up on the web and salvage something from the experience.
George
BTW Where did you purchase the antenna and coax?
George
I have several USB wifi adapter sticks but I found them to be worthless in most marinas. There is just too little antenna in these little things. The antennae built into my newer laptops are much longer, they go all the way around the screen and thay work fine.I don’t have and don’t want an(other) external antenna. I recently switched to 3G and 3.5G now I have my new Nokia N78 phone. I pay $17.50/month for 150 Mb of data up and down at HSDPA (3.5G) or if that is not available at GPRS (3G) speed. The N78 connects to a PC via cable, bluetooth or wifi.
So I’m no longer dependant on wifi provision of marinas which is either expensive or low quality/low signal here in the NL’s. HSDPA/GPRS covers most of my normal sailing area, so I can be connected all the time. And because you pay per Mb and not per time unit, you can leave the connection running which saves a lot of time logging on every time.
150 mb wouldn’t get me through the next half hour! heh heh We are addicts here!
The usb device I use most of the time at home is highly directional with flat panel antenna. This works well in the R/V also but not so well on a boat at anchor (for the obvious reasons). 
George
George, I updated my original post to include the links to the parts and expanded on the installation.
– Geoff
I tried the wifi systems in our marina, I couldn’t even log into the system to pay for the access and it remained like that for over a week, even after I called then and was given affirmation to a technical issue that prevented anyone logging on it was not fixed…
I decided to go the 3G route but opted for a USB connected unit rather then through a cell phone. Now wherever I can get a signal I can get broadband internet. If you have one of the later cellphones from any of the cellular telephone companies, you can use it as a modem to connect to you computer and access the internet as Michel mentioned in his earlier post to this thread. This way you could get internet on the hook or even several miles offshore using a cellular booster.
Those do work well but they have one draw back… a monthly bill! We are too cheap to pay it. When Kerri was doing editing work we had to have one so she could still work while we traveled but when she quit that job we paid the penalty and got out of the plan. I can’t remember what cell company we had service with but it really worked poorly until I ditched the drivers that they provided and went directly to the website of the manufacture of the card and got their drivers and software. Huge difference in performance.
Also we are gearing up for world cruising. I still can’t bring myself to say the “c” word although my wife has suggested it. 
George
OK, you guys are killing me! All I am trying to do is exdtend the wireless range of my laptop while in my marina let alone 1-3 miles out! (but that would be really cool).
I tried a 10db antenna with a usb connecton (http://www.data-alliance.net/servlet/the-141/RealTek-USB-400mW-WiFi/Detail ) but got no improvement from this approach. In fact it looks like the signal strength is lower.
So all you techno wizzards what would you recommend for a simple fix to extend wireless range of an IBM laptop. I would prefer no permanent external antenna but one that is set up “as required” would be fine.
Sorry, we did kinda divert the thread from it’s original question.
OK, I don’t think an omni-directional antenna will work for you so how about mounting the directional antenna you tried on the dock so it’s fixed and running the cable to the boat. That kind of assumes you also have a good line of sight to the transmitter though.
Hey,
Are you trying from down in the cabin? Try this. On a nice day put the usb adapter on an extension cord and put it up outside as high as you can get it. You should be able to go 10 feet of USB extension before you notice line lose. You can go up to something like 30 with active extension cords.
George
Hey Robert,
Actually I’m leaning very heavily towards a system like Geoff’s. He’s got a leg up on it having been out there. I’ve used my flat panel out on the water before and it does not do well because as soon as the boat moves on the mooring the panel is not pointing right any more. It works pretty good in the slip.
George
Hi George
Not knowing much on this topic…allow me to ask…does this device work at sea…do they make something to use at sea, so as can use computer?
I read where people use fax also.
Still learning on this site and when the time comes will ask for help where needed.
Thank you,
Lola
Hi Lola,
There is a book titled “Communications at Sea” that I can highly recommend. Things change rapidly. There are various ways to achieve various levels of success at accessing the internet while at sea. Some involve hi freq radios bouncing beams from the ionosphere like Geoff does to send email and receive weather fax, some utilize satellites in one way or another, all are expensive and somewhat complicated. But to answer your question, no, wifi does not work more than a mile or so reliably and a few miles pushing the limits. One cruising friend once managed to get off an email from 5 miles off the coast of Florida to report a whale sighting… but it was just a fluke.
Because things happen quickly in the field of telecommunications we will not make a decision on what com gear will go on Marqueas until we actually need it. Once we start crossing big oceans I suspect that we will have a sat phone. We have an older ham radio that I have not decided on installing or ebaying yet.
Glad you made it here and got all signed in good. I’ll be glad to help in any way so if you have questions, try utilizing the help we have here first, then email me or PM me if you have any questions here. Your questions will help us build a stronger help system so they are appreciated rather than tolerated… ask away!
George
There’s an article in either the latest or the next to latest Ocean Navigator on building a long-distance wifi antenna. Looked like a decent system and allowed for a pretty extended range. When I was still using wifi at Constitution marina, I bought a fairly cheap unidirectional usb unit that would pick up the local healthcare provider and the hotel as well as the marina.
I know the cell cards aren’t exactly cheap, though the prices have come down a bit. We’ve exclusively switched to a Verizon card, and it has been great. For one thing, you don’t have to worry about whether or not a marina has wifi. Also, you can generally keep a signal out to around 10 miles off shore (proven on a trip to Maine two summers ago), and if you’re doing coastal cruising, you don’t get dropped as you leave one wifi area to go into another. The newer Rev A cards provide a pretty decent return and have dsl upload and download speeds. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you use weather routing software you can get your new gribs on the fly.
Here is a cantenna I built. It worked pretty good. I would love to have more details about the ocean navigator article. I’ll go up to the library and have a look.
George
Have a look at this one:
The problem with these directional antennas is that they don’t work at anchor. You need an omni-directional antenna.
– Geoff
Hey Geoff,
Between what you posted here and what we got from engenious support we finally got the dang thing to work. It is a clunky process to say the least.
Completely agree about the need for an omni at anchor or mooring. I’ll keep the directional gear in the arsenal for times when the boat is held fast.
Michel,
I think I have to build one of those yagi’s now just for fun… alas the list of fun projects grows ever longer. I have a cannon that needs to have a carriage built for it in time to salute the new year.
George