USB Mesh Directional Antenna's - Good or Bad? |
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| Written by Zeb | |
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USB Mesh Directional Antenna's - Good or Bad? - Created By Zeb - January 2006 When connecting to Bathurst Wifi, most users that need any form of antenna will use a Mesh or Dish type antenna, with a length of RF cable linking the dish to whatever wireless card or device they are using. This is still the best way, by far - but recently I ended up installing a Mesh antenna with a USB dongle inside the antenna. After some testing, I found that this antenna performed very well, and was a very cost-effective solution. Data Throughput - Approx a 0.5Km Link, in town, 350-380Kb - Solid 11Meg Link. I have yet to test with the download file from the AP's FTP, but would expect to get the theoretical max from an 11 Meg link. The Setup USB Mesh Antenna (Sourced from the RF shop) Netgear WG111v2 USB b/g Adapter PC with standard USB 2.0 Port 5M Active Extension Cable (Sourced from the RF Shop, also available from Dick Smith's) 2 x 1.5M USB Extensions   Active USB Extension - 5M 2.45GHz,grid, USB, Horizontal/Vertical Polarisation 19dbi Gain @ 2.45 Ghz Picture and Antenna sourced from http://www.rfshop.com.au Install --> Follow instructions for Antenna type, all bolts, screws are included. --> Find or create suitable mount point. --> Seal setup from the weather. --> Route USB cable back into house. Pro's Approximately 2/3rds to 1/2 the price to setup of a traditional system. (Dependant on cable length - RF cable with good connectors is not cheap!) Easy to setup, no RF or Haxor skills required It is possible to get very long Powered USB cables...... The Antenna comes with all parts to bolt onto an existing TV pole, and has easy to understand assembly instructions on the RF shop website. Download the Instructions here No RF Signal loss on the connection back to the PC. Con's The Netgear software is annoying, but it does work.... More connections to weatherproof (depending on length of USB connection) USB cables are not outdoor cables, and will need protecting. Lightning Risk, Directly into your PC! Some USB Adaptors will not fit in the plastic shroud inside the Antenna - some modifications may be required.  The Antenna cap, with a WG111v2  The biggest problem is that USB is designed for short lengths of cable, not long cable runs! Problems Found, when using the setup. Take care to select a known, tested USB Wifi adapter. I tried 3 Different ones, with varying results. Netgear WG111v2 b/g - Nice and predictable, and worked reasonably well with USB extensions. Netcomm NP644 b/g - Was happy with the active extension, but didn't like any extra passive cables. Unbranded 11b Dongle (Atmel Chipset) - Did not work with the active extension, unrecognized device, and only 1 Passive Extension. You will need to select and test the USB adapter before putting it in place, with the length of cable you will be using... it may not work! USB cables are lossy. You can and do get a reasonably large voltage drop over a short distance. We found that using an active 5M extension and 3 1.5M Passive Extensions was too long. With 4 Extensions, the USB dongle would not even power up. With 3, it would power up, but not find any Wifi AP's. With 2 extensions, we could connect to Bathurst Wifi, but would 'loose' the network as soon as you tried to transfer ANY data. With the 5M Active extension, and 1 1.5M Extension, the Dongle would work perfectly well. I suspect the extensions for being low quality - The Belkin extensions were by far the worst, and the cheap see through cables being better! Summary Overall, an easy, cheap, reliable solution. It does have its limitations, but with the cons in mind, it does the job admirably. To be done in the future Test with a longer distance link - Such as Eglinton to AP04. Test with powered USB extenders, instead of self powered Active extensions. Source some form of lightning arrestor/protector for USB Usual Stuff Pictures used in this article are borrowed with kind permission from the RF shop, http://www.rfshop.com.au The views expressed in this article are my personal comments, and do not represent Bathurst Wireless' in any way, shape or form. Article created & Copyright to Nick Hatton 'Zeb' - January 2007 |
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