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25 MILES WiFi Booster!!!

Rbertalotto
Explorer
Explorer
My local ham radio club sends and receives WiFi from Marthas Vinyard to New Bedford, Massachusetts.....25 MILES away!!!

Check it out here on this video

https://youtu.be/nmyW5ykRX0M?t=26

https://youtu.be/nmyW5ykRX0M?t=26
RoyB
Dartmouth, MA
2021 RAM 2500 4X4 6.4L
2011 Forest River Grey Wolf Cherokee 19RR
520 w solar-200ah Renogy Li-Epever MPPT
14 REPLIES 14

SCVJeff
Explorer
Explorer
RCMAN46 wrote:
Fizz wrote:
Not to get too picky but...
Isn't the horizon only 3 miles away, after that everything drops out of sight.
You would need a very tall tower to see something 20 miles away. This is assuming WiFi needs line of sight to work.


From my home in Idaho I can see the Grand Teton which is about 80 miles away.

So it all depends on where the antennas are mounted.
Doesnt really matter anyway. As has been proven over and over again, 2GHz penetrates and wraps the horizon far better than anyone expected 30+ years ago. Back in the 70's they thought UHF was line of sight too
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350

RCMAN46
Explorer
Explorer
Fizz wrote:
Not to get too picky but...
Isn't the horizon only 3 miles away, after that everything drops out of sight.
You would need a very tall tower to see something 20 miles away. This is assuming WiFi needs line of sight to work.


From my home in Idaho I can see the Grand Teton which is about 80 miles away.

So it all depends on where the antennas are mounted.

JoeTampa
Explorer
Explorer
Only 3 non-overlapping channels in 2.4g wifi: 1, 6, and 11. Each uses the next two channels above and below the center frequency.

One thing to note about using any type of range extending technique to access distant wifi - if you cannot hear the other mobile stations accessing the access point, you will generate/experience a performance degradation.

Technical reason: 802.11 uses carrier sense, multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA), somewhat akin to the CSMA/collision detection of wired Ethernet. However, on Ethernet, every station can hear all others, and it's full duplex. With wifi, you don't know that you can hear each station, and it is half duplex to boot. Therefore, if there are other stations that you can't hear, you can expect an increase in collisions and therefore retries, with the problem becoming exacerbated exponentially by the number of nodes who cannot hear each other and the amount of data each tries to transmit.

It is always better for the wifi network and each station on it if each station can hear all others. This 20+ mile shot is almost certainly a point to point shot between two stations only. I didn't watch the video.
2006 Keystone Cougar 243RKS (First trailer)
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wa8yxm
Explorer III
Explorer III
Not only the parabolic antenna but Channel one is actually within a Ham Radio band.. So we hams can run some serious POWER compared to a standard Linksys on that frequency.. It is also a Satellite frequency as I recall. Wi-Fi is the last authorized user.

This only applies to Chan 1, but Chan 1 can affect 2,3 and 4, not sure about 5.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times

SCVJeff
Explorer
Explorer
JoeyM wrote:
Pretty sure they were only running 1 watt - the FCC limit for Wifi. As a ham for many years, I can tell you we're careful to stay within legal limits on or off the ham bands. As far as I know, the limit for Wifi is 238 miles! http://www.cnet.com/news/new-wi-fi-distance-record-382-kilometers/
there is no limits for range, only records to beat.
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350

JoeyM
Explorer
Explorer
Pretty sure they were only running 1 watt - the FCC limit for Wifi. As a ham for many years, I can tell you we're careful to stay within legal limits on or off the ham bands. As far as I know, the limit for Wifi is 238 miles! http://www.cnet.com/news/new-wi-fi-distance-record-382-kilometers/

Fizz
Explorer
Explorer
I'm not saying it's impossible, simply impractical for our needs.

From Wikipedia:

For an observer standing on a hill or tower of 100 metres (330 ft) in height, the horizon is at a distance of 36 kilometres (22 mi).

Rbertalotto
Explorer
Explorer
And, they are on top of Gay Head the tallest point on Marthas Vinyard.

My understanding is they are using a hotels WiFi 25 miles away.

This antenna and tower IS mounted on a "RV" trailer's pneumatic antenna mast or it can be set up on the ground.
RoyB
Dartmouth, MA
2021 RAM 2500 4X4 6.4L
2011 Forest River Grey Wolf Cherokee 19RR
520 w solar-200ah Renogy Li-Epever MPPT

dons2346
Explorer
Explorer
Fizz wrote:
Not to get too picky but...
Isn't the horizon only 3 miles away, after that everything drops out of sight.
You would need a very tall tower to see something 20 miles away. This is assuming WiFi needs line of sight to work.


Did you note the height of his tower? With that height, 20 miles would be easy

Fizz
Explorer
Explorer
Not to get too picky but...
Isn't the horizon only 3 miles away, after that everything drops out of sight.
You would need a very tall tower to see something 20 miles away. This is assuming WiFi needs line of sight to work.

SCVJeff
Explorer
Explorer
Rbertalotto wrote:
It's only a 4 watt amplifier.....But like he says, the parabolic antenna increases this power many times.
I didn't bother to watch the whole thing, but at first glance my guess is the gain of that parabolic is somewhere between 18-23db. If you average that to around ~20db with 4watts into the feed horn, that's 400 watts ERP. So a 25mile link is nothing, but where do you plan on mounting it on an RV? AND.... likely the claimed 25 mile link is with a pair of these in open and unobstructed space, right? So talking to the local CG "free WiFi" will likely be reduced to hundreds of feet, not even miles.
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350

Fizz
Explorer
Explorer
Every thing old is new again.

In the early days of WiFi this was a very popular topic in this forum. Many of us built our own antennas using colanders, sieves etc. They worked remarkably well.

The original website is gone but somebody took the pics and posted them.
My pics are still up there, the last one at the bottom.

http://wajantenna.blogspot.ca/

Rbertalotto
Explorer
Explorer
It's only a 4 watt amplifier.....But like he says, the parabolic antenna increases this power many times.
RoyB
Dartmouth, MA
2021 RAM 2500 4X4 6.4L
2011 Forest River Grey Wolf Cherokee 19RR
520 w solar-200ah Renogy Li-Epever MPPT

mikebreeze
Explorer
Explorer
It looks like they are using a massive amplifier and a well designed antenna. Very nice.
2006 Four Winds Majestic 23A