Wireless Internet Access using Ubiquiti Bullet2-HP

Boat Systems
1

One of the most common upgrade that I’ve done on BlueJacket is to the WiFi Internet system. I’ll admit it: I’m an ex-Internet guy and love my access. Finding the right solution has involved a lot of trial and error. My latest (successful) attempt utilizes an Ubiquiti Bullet2-HP 800 mW access point. You can find details on it here: http://www.ubnt.com/products/bullet.php. Here’s a photo of the device:

The device is about 6" long and threads directly onto an external antenna. This is key as you get a lot of signal loss when you use a cable to attach the antenna to the device. The installation that preceded this one utilized the same antenna and a 12’ LMR-400 cable connected to an Alfa wireless USB adapter, but I can see far more access points using this setup. Another issue is that the LMR-400 cable is very thick, making it hard to run. Data connectivity and power to the Bullet is supplied via cat-5 Ethernet with power-over-ethernet (POE).

I’ve been using a 9dB 2.4GHz omni-directional antenna with great success. Here’s a link to the antenna that I use: http://www.wlanparts.com/product/OD24-9/OD249_9dBi_24GHz_Omni_Antenna.html Here’s what my setup looks like:

Basically all that you do is connect the Bullet to the antenna, connect an Ethernet cable with POE to it, plug the Ethernet cable into your PC, configure the Bullet and you’re ready to go!

I will say that figuring out how to configure the Bullet was a bit confusing. The device doesn’t come with any manuals, so you have to find the information on-line. Unfortunately, it’s less than obvious where to start. After a bit of searching I did find the following article which answered most of my questions: http://www.ubnt.com/downloads/Nano_Quick_Set-up.pdf Note that it’s titled “Beginners Setup Guide for Nanostation 2”, but it also applies to the Bullet.

Once you’ve configured it using the above instructions, the Bullet is acting as a router. You connect to it via your web browser (192.168.10.20 if configured as described) and then you can view the status and/or select an access point. When you connect to it, you’ll see following main screen which contains status information:

In this case I’m connected to an access point (AP) named “Beacon WiFi Network AP2” and have a great signal (-22 dB). If you were to look at the actual Bullet device, you’d see the LEDs on it that are lit up with the color coding shown next to the Signal Strength. You can also see the AP MAC address (which would be all zeros if you didn’t associate with the AP) as well as the IP address that was assigned (10.0.2.153 in this case). Another thing to note is that if you associated with an AP but it didn’t assign an IP address, the LAN IP Address will be the same as the WLAN IP Address.

To select an access point, you click on the “Links” tab, which displays the following screen:

If you want to select a new access point, click on the “Select” button. You’ll then be presented with a screen showing available access points, their signal strength, encryption, etc. Here’s an example showing the access points sorted by decreasing signal strength:

Check-mark the access point that you want to connect to and then press “Select”, which will bring you back to the Links screen. Update any security information, press “Change” at the bottom of the screen and then “Apply changes”. You can then navigate back to the Main tab to view your connection status.

All in all this has been one of the best WiFi devices that I’ve tried. It’s very reasonable priced at around $80 plus a POE injector (which is cheap). You’ll also need an antenna, which will run about $45 plus a mounting bracket. So, for less than $150 you can have a very powerful, easy to configure WiFi system. Note that I tend to buy my equipment from http://www.wlanparts.com/, but these parts are sold by many vendors. Just find one who you feel comfortable working with.

– Geoff

2

Nice presentation,

I actually ordered one to play with the other day. I was thinking about going with DD-WRT firmware but now, not so sure. The firmware that comes with the Bullet looks straight forward enough.

Thanks

George

3

Personally I don’t see any reason to go to DD-WRT. The firmware is very specific to the hardware, and is easy to use. I’m going to stick with Ubiquiti’s firmware.

– Geoff

4

I like the simplicity of having one unit that both associates with a distant network, and redistributes wifi within the boat. I understand the reduction in theoretical top speed (by half). Nevertheless it never works out that way for some reason. I’ve done speed tests both ways with very little reduction in speed (real life). I also like having wireless access to the GUI so that I would not have to physically attach to the network in order to make changes to the setup, find and associate with a new network, etc… although I do understand that I still have to have an Ethernet cable hooked up to it in order power it via POE. In the end it may not be worth the extra effort and $20 to switch firmware, particularly judging by the straight forward looking software that comes with the unit.

BTW did you use the gel filled cable intended for outdoor use? Also are you using a regulated power supply or do you feel comfortable with the 10-24 volt range and just hook right to ships dc?

BTW number 2: The company I had ordered from couldn’t come through so I re-ordered from Pasadena, thanks for the tip.

George

5

I like the simplicity of having one unit that both associates with a distant network, and redistributes wifi within the boat. I understand the reduction in theoretical top speed (by half).

I think that you’re talking about WDS (Wireless Distribution System). AirOS supports WDS and I’ve thought about using it. However, I must admit that I don’t have enough personal experience with it to make a truly informed decision, but based upon what I’ve read, I decided against it for a variety of reasons (not in any order).

  • I don’t want my WiFi system ending up acting as a repeater for the entire anchorage/marina. Believe me, if you’re connected to a standard AP with little rabbit ears and 70 mW of transmit power and you’re repeating it at 800-1000 mW, everyone will connect through you.
  • Following the above thought process, I would want to be able to set up my own security, but I believe that WDS simply repeats the packets, bit for bit, and it’s the end station (i.e. your PC) that has to supply the security for the final destination AP. Thus I don’t believe that you can specify any security for the WDS system.
  • In my marina, where the company handling the network stupidly set up all of the APs on channel 3, the bandwidth gets pretty crowded at peak hours. Duplicating that data at high power doesn’t seem like it’s a good idea.
  • Every time that I’ve looked at the human interface associated with WDS, it seems very complex and doesn’t align itself well with a cruiser who has to switch between APs on a regular basis. When I’ve looked at this in the past, it seemed to me that it would be a royal pain to switch all of the parameters necessary. With the Bullet in Router mode, all that you do is select an AP and go. It’s very clean.

To get around the above issues, I selected a much more simple approach. I had an old Linksys WRT54G router (laying around from a previous generation of boat WiFi) that I turned into a local AP for the boat. I simply plugged the Ethernet cable from the Bullet into the Linksys router and use it as an AP for the boat. It’s low power, probably transmits on a different channel and has it’s own security, thus addressing all of the above issues. Now I only have to setup security once on my wireless devices for this AP, and not for every AP that we encounter along the way.

I run DD-WRT on these (although I think that you could just use the stock firmware that comes with the LinkSys) and place it into WAP (Wireless Access Point) mode. See http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_Access_Point for instructions on doing this.

The only downside to this is that you need another router. However, they’re available for cheap on eBay. Installing DD-WRT might be challenging for some people, but as I said, I don’t see why you just couldn’t run the stock firmware that came with the router.

– Geoff

P.S. I’ve never heard of a “gel filled Ethernet cable”. I’ll look that up.

6

Hey Geoff,

As I type, my laptop is associated wirelessly to a “virtual” network on a WRT-54g upstairs. I’m running DD-WRT on that router. The “virtual” network is secured with WEP although I could run WPA or any of the other security protocols available under DD-WRT. I don’t ever have to change that but if I did it’s a simple procedure. We did have it running open at anchor in Culebra and you are correct about everybody in the anchorage piling on. Solved it then by simply securing the virtual network and keeping an eye on it. We are operating the router in “Repeater” mode and associated with a “buffalo” open network over on the next block somewhere. I was running a Yaggi antenna but didn’t think it would be practical at anchor (I think we killed that horse) and the omni we are on now works great, even inside the house. I can log on to the router from right here on the couch downstairs wirlessly and make any changes I like, even reboot it if I want to. I can even do site surveys and associate “join” other networks with the same amount of button pushing involved with any good wifi firmware/software. Yes there is a TON of stuff with DD-WRT I simply do not understand. I leave all those settings in default mode… heh heh Seems to work for me very well. Some of your other points are well taken. Throwing up another network on the same channel is going to cause unnecessary noise if/when that channel is already crowded. I can still deal with that on a case by case basis. And unfortunately it’s all too common that it’s channel 6 that gets choked up because… that’s where all the right out of the box plug and play routers are running wide open for us I guess.

Having said all that, I’ll probably run ours on board the same way you do, with a second router for the boat. But I’m not ruling out the DD-WRT route for the Bullet just yet. I’ll know more this weekend when I have it up and running on the boat.

George
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7

George,

I have several questions about DD-WRT in repeater mode:

  1. Can you have it repeat on a different channel?
  2. Do you have you supply the wireless security information on the router in repeater mode, and does it repeat the information in “clear” binary?
  3. If #2 is true, can you assign your own security to the repeated signal?

– Geoff

8

Well I’m not sure if I understand question #2. I’ll go ahead with #1 and #3.

So far as I know. Once the router is operating on a channel, that’s it. I’m only basing this on not being given a choice as I set up the virtual network. Possibly there is a feature someplace else I’m missing. You might try poking around the DD-WRT forum for that one. Your observation about channel crowding is a valid one. And as I mentioned, since most of the open wifi signals one finds are because people just take a router out of the box and plug and play, most of those are on channel 6. In operation I rarely think it’s an issue but I only have a few months playing with it out on the water. Ask me again in a year.

We can and do run encryption on our “virtual” network. In fact I have three virtual networks running at once. All of them have WEP and we can use any of the three. I did this just because I was curious to see what three computers using three virtual networks at once would look like and what speed issues we might have. It doesn’t seem to matter. All three computers run rock solid.

So just to be clear, the remote station which in my case at the moment is an open Buffalo router hooked up to someone’s Comcast on the next block over from us and down the street a ways. And our local virtual network is encrypted here within the house using WEP but it could be WPA or Enterprise or whatever else encryption that DD-WRT allows. Of course the data flying in between our house and Buffalo is in the clear. In that regard it’s about like sitting in Panera.

George

9

George,

I’ll rephrase my question #2:

Let’s say that the AP that you want to connect to is encrypted. Do you provide the encryption passphrase on your router and then repeat the data without encryption? If so, can you specify your own encryption on the repeated data?

– Geoff

10

Yes and yes. The software causes the one WRT-54G to act like two routers, or in my case like four routers. I’m not sure what the upward limit is… So I can associate with a distant station that is encrypted by simply providing the code, then choose to encrypt or not on the redistribution aboard the boat. I can’t see any reason I’d want to turn our on board encryption off though as the Culebra experiment proved out. OTOH I could see myself giving the pass code to a Buddy Boat…

George

11

I received our Bullet and a POE coupling today. I’ll be playing with the unit down on the boat tomorrow probably. The antenna I bought [u]here[/u] is only 7dbi but I was getting nearly as strong a signal with it here at the house as I was with the directional Yagi! I don’t think this says much about the Yagi or we can just chock it up to one of those weird things. It will be interesting to see how it does in the same location with the Bullet running high power as the WRT-54G does running at 70mw (our normal setting).

George

12

Be forewarned…my Bullet was dead when I got down to the boat. It’s been raining non-stop since I installed it, but there was condensation/water inside of the unit. I had read other complaints about this and was planning on sealing the antenna coupler with heat-shrink tubing, but I guess that I was too late. I’m quite surprised as the unit externally appears to be well sealed.

– Geoff

13

I’m happy to report that I was able to revive the unit by removing it from the housing, drying it with heat and then rinsing it with electronics cleaner. I’m still confused as to how water got into it, as it appears to be well sealed.

– Geoff

14

Thanks,

I agree, there is a red rubber seal inside the antenna coupler that should make a water tight seal.

Just a FYI, when installing track vision units we came to understand that dielectric grease is not invisible to RF. It seems like a logical choice for waterproofing antenna connections but it’s not. You may have already known that but I put it out as a part of the record here for others. Looking at the unit yesterday I had the same thought about heat shrinking the antenna connection and I think that some self amalgamating tape might be needed as well as the heat shrink… not too sure about that. I might heat shrink and then run a bead of ultrablack around the bottom of it.

George

15

Guys, I’ve been following this timely thread with great interest. I bought one of these units about a month ago but I haven’t installed it on the boat yet.

Just to be sure: y’all are talking about a leak at the Bullet/antenna end, not the cable end, right? I’m planning on a dab of silicone grease on the threads then some self amalgamating tape over all of it.

Looking at the installation, one mounting idea is to mount the antenna pointed down instead of up. Trying it at home there doesn’t seem to be a difference in signal strength. I haven’t decided about it yet but any reason I can’t do this?

Thanks for any help!

16

I would absolutely not invert. For one thing most omni antennas are designed to create a slight upward shoot to the signal. Inverting would send your signal into the water in a circle around the boat. Also the unit is designed to be weather proof installed in an upward direction. I would avoid silicone grease as it can conduct RF.

I’ve started playing with mine today, I’ll report back soon.

George

17

Using it at the moment. I must say my initial reaction is awe. This absolutely hands down beats anything I’ve used to date. I will probably order a second one for back up and go ahead and pay the $20 to get DD-WRT license for it so that I can use it in repeater mode on board.

Woof! This thing rocks!

And thanks again for the tip on the Nano instructions Geoff, that saved me a good bit of time. Just have to ignore the information about built in antenna and a few other minor differences. Anything not mentioned in the Nano guide was simply left in default mode and that worked perfectly.

George

18

George,

I don’t understand your comment on purchasing DD-WRT. It’s free for private use.

Also, what’s your concern with using dielectric grease on the antenna connection? I spent a fair amount of time this morning searching the web for “dielectric grease rf” and found it suggested over and over for radio connections. No mention of it “blocking rf”. It doesn’t conduct electricity, but there should be a good physical connection between the threads of the connectors.

I plan to use dielectric grease on the antenna threads, heat shrink it and then use self amalgamating tape over that. (Belts and suspenders here.) Then I’ll place some silicon on the bottom threads and finally place silicon around the cable entrance.

Yesterday I connected to my marinas network which is 5.3 miles away with land in between! Note that it wasn’t a good connection, but I was amazed that I could see it and actually connect. I’m now connected to an open Linksys router which is probably a couple of miles away.

– Geoff

19

Hey Geoff,

The version of DD-WRT that is specific to the Bullet 2 needs an unlock and was $20 last time I checked. I’ll go look at the compatibility again and see if they changed it but that’s where it stood a couple months ago.

The dielectric grease issue came up when we were installing track visions and using it at the connections to the LNB’s up in the dome. We got failures and the only thing that made a difference was removing the grease… If you try it and it works on the antenna connection then great! It might be freq specific or it could have been just some weird ju-ju. And the funny thing is the Net is full of people saying you must use dielectric grease at the LNB connections…

I’ve been playing around with the antenna trying to decide a good mounting place on the boat. I’ve been hoisting it on halyards between the masts (basically using a spare halyard to hoist it tracking up my topping lift for the main) and using the “antenna orientation” tool to keep an eye on the signal power. Nice little tool that. I might get the yaggi down there and also use that tool to figure out who’s who in WIFI along the shoreline. I need to get a legitimate connection to one of the houses for our dock cameras to go live on the internet. :slight_smile:

George

20

Here it is, they call it an “Activation”.

George
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