Any one of these in particular? The blade one they show isn't like the suction cup one above. Note that this one at amazon plugs into an external Wifi adapter card.
Jack
__________________
Jack Canavera
STL Mo. AIR #56
'04 Classic 30' S.O.,'03 GMC Savana 2500,'08 Vespa GTS 250
I just posted on another thread the story of our passive external cell-phone antenna
For improved WiFi reception, we just installed Radiolabs WaveRV external antenna by mounting it on the support for the batwing TV antenna. Put up the TV antenna and the WiFi antenna is also well elevated. The present model is 802.11 b/g and works for the Mac OS as well as Windows. Software installation on our Mac was a little clunky, but worked well. We have not yet tested it on the road, but it picks up our home network perfectly as well as some of the neighbors' networks. The built-in antennas in our laptop and our desktop computers do not see the neighbors' systems. We will be testing the Radiolabs antenna thoroughly on a trip in September and I will post results when we are back home.
Great idea to mount it on the batwing. How did you route the wire? Got pictures?
Here they are. The USB cable from the antenna I took through the side of the skylight/vent. This is a nice way because you do not need to put any holes in the roof. Inside, I ran the wire down under the plastic strip covering the edges of the fuzzy wallcovering which our Bambi has. The hole in the vent is grommeted and sealed with 3M marine sealant (urethane) and another blob of the same stuff holds the cable to the roof. These antennas previously came with a USB socket at their base, but the one I bought just has the cable coming out.
When I report after September, I will also let people know if my mounting brackets and method worked. I hope so!
Tim,
That appears to be an excellent solution, and I really appreciate the pictures. They definitely changed my approach, which had something to do with actually drilling a hole in the trailer. I may even consider attempting to mount a Cantenna on the mast because , if it works out, I would be able to point it. If not, a good omni-directional antenna should be fine. Can't wait for your results.
Okay, all this info is very interesting, but a little confusing. I have a verizon chocolate phone in cape may, nj, and connect to the internet using it, national access, broadband. I know that cape may point (a few miles away) has avery good internet connection with verizon. (not sure of differences). So what do all of you suggest for this situation, since I am not concerned about wifi, since my campgrounds does not have it. It sounds like a repeater would do the trick, if the price difference is not too great between the amplifier and repeater. Right now I just walk outside, or put my phone near the windows. That seems to help.
So am i correct in thinking that i will need either repeater of amplifier??? And since hte one website did not show prices, and idea what price range???? any suggested brand names???
I will look into if further and will probablly wait until next year. As it is, internet is pretty decent, and night time illumination while biking is a bigger concern.
Just did a search on ebay, and both amplifier and repeater were hundreds of dollars. Now I like my tech stuff as much as the next guy, but I think that is a little steep. Gets me thinking my reception isn't that bad, and the internet spped not too muc h slower than my cable at home. is there a cheaper alternative?
My pictures might help with the cell-phone question. I posted this information on another thread, but will repeat it here. If you look at the picture of the WiFi antenna, you will see a black antenna behind the label "cable entry through skylight/vent" and the red line coming from that label.
That black antenna is a passive (non-amplified) cell-phone antenna with a wire going into the trailer. The wire plugs into the cell phone. We have Verizon and have used National Access with the passive antenna and have been very happy with the results -- good, strong reception with the cell phone in areas where the phone alone (no connection to the external antenna) has lousy reception in the trailer. We bought the cell phone antenna from Larsen and it was much less expensive that a repeater setup. Because the wire from the cell phone antenna comes out of the bottom, we mounted it on a thick piece of aluminum raised up from the roof on closed-cell foam. The aluminum sheet is grounded to the roof of the trailer so the roof acts as a proper groundplane for the antenna.
Just as with the WiFi antenna, the cell-phone antenna wire goes into the trailer through a hole in the skylight/vent.
Just did a search on ebay, and both amplifier and repeater were hundreds of dollars. Now I like my tech stuff as much as the next guy, but I think that is a little steep. Gets me thinking my reception isn't that bad, and the internet spped not too muc h slower than my cable at home. is there a cheaper alternative?
Hi, neighbor.
I live just across the bay from you just west of Lewes, DE where the cell reception is kind of dismal in some places, and a broadband signal is non-existant for the time being. I bought my signal booster mainly for travel, and it has worked out very well for that. If I understand you correctly, you are primarily interested in improving reception primarily from a fixed location? If so, I believe the repeater system just may work for you because it doesn't require your phone to be tethered to a cable. If your trailer is anything like mine, the signal strength is far better outside than inside. The only cheaper alternative I can think of would be to just get an external antenna with an adapter for your phone, which will cost about $35-$40.
I have included links to the company where I bought several signal boosters for my staff, and because they worked so well, I bought one for personal use. As you can see, the wireless model costs about $90 more than the direct connect model, but is probably worth it if you like to be untethered to a cord. I use mine equally as much in the cab of my tow vehicle as I do in the camper, so I don't mind the wires. Both units are made in the U.S. by Wilson Electronics, are very portable, and can fit in a container the size of a small lunch box.
Tim,
That appears to be an excellent solution, and I really appreciate the pictures. They definitely changed my approach, which had something to do with actually drilling a hole in the trailer. I may even consider attempting to mount a Cantenna on the mast because , if it works out, I would be able to point it. If not, a good omni-directional antenna should be fine. Can't wait for your results.
I promised to report about the Radiolabs WaveRV external antenna after September. Well, we are still underway, but I am very happy to report that the antenna works wonderfully and the mounting method has shown no problems.
For those questions about a cellphone antenna, I would like to mention again that our passive external cellphone antenna, which has a connecting wire to the cellphone inside the trailer, was cheap and gives us good cellphone reception inside while people in $600,000 motorhomes around us are standing outside in order to get their cellphones to work.
I have a Wilson hard wire repeater. I hook this on one end to the cell phone, the other to a directional Yag antenna mounted on top of a 20' extendable flap pole. There is a number you can dial on your cell phone ( brand specific) that will show cell signal strength. Allows me to point at the nearest cell tower. If I can't get cell service with that set-up, it isn't obtainable.
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