weak campground wifi - antenna any help?

[Pat]

Hi:  Is there an external antenna I could get that would help with a very weak campground wifi signal?  In fact, I moved to a row even farther away from the server, and I'm having trouble getting connected most of the time.  I would probably have to get a new modem that has an external antenna.

--pat

 

[Ned]

I would get the Hawking USB adapter.  It's directional and has some gain in the antenna.  The HWU54D is excellent, if you can find any, but the newer HWU8DD that replaced the HWU54D is also a good adapter.  Either will let you connect to access points that the non-gain antennas won't.

 

[JerArdra]

Pat,

I have the Hawking HWU8DD that Ned suggested and it works great.  Hawking claims an 8db gain with its tiny 5 inch dish antenna and you just aim the "cute" little dish toward the WiFi antenna at the campground. 

JerryF

 

[Jeff]

I'll add my yea to for the HWU8DD, mine has doubled the effective range and bandwidth of my Linksys 54G card.

 

[Pat]

Thanks.  I'm on it.  Radio Shack? Circuit City?  Best Buy?  I'll check the Net.

--pat

 

[Ron]

Try Ebay

 

[Tom]

Pat,

Fry's Electronics sells the Hawking. Their web site is http://www.outpost.com

Click here for a link directly to the Hawking HWU8DD.

 

[Jeff]

Pat,

Fry's Electronics sells the Hawking. Their web site is http://www.outpost.com

Click here for a link directly to the Hawking HWU8DD.

Pat:

Three weeks ago buy.com had the HWD8DD for 49.99 plus 8.00 s/h, now they are 59.99 http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202149085&loc=101&sp=1

 

[Pat]

This morning I hung my little Lynksys WUSB54GS on the pleated shade knob at the top of the window.  Turned the antenna toward the office to face the server.  I've had fairly decent reception all day.  It could be that the office manager wasn't in, and the workcamper wasn't using the system.  The signal is always either "very low" or "no signal."  Speed is usually either 5 or 11 mpbs.  Or at the moment it's 2.  I'm probably about to be dumped.  Anyway, the thing worked.  I may have saved a few bucks if this remains consistent.

--pat

 

[BernieD]

Pat:

Three weeks ago buy.com had the HWD8DD for 49.99 plus 8.00 s/h, now they are 59.99 http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202149085&loc=101&sp=1

Careful buying from Buy.com. I purchased some software from them last November. In January, they processed an order using my credit card and home address but a different phone number and shipping address. A couple of weeks later Google store used the same credit card for an order. I canceled the card but Buy.Com took almost 3 months to acknowledge their mistake. They also convinced Amex that the charge was valid and I had to open a fraud case before getting the refund. Google refunded the charge in a week.

Buyer beware.

 

[Jeff]

Careful buying from Buy.com. I purchased some software from them last November. In January, they processed an order using my credit card and home address but a different phone number and shipping address. A couple of weeks later Google store used the same credit card for an order. I canceled the card but Buy.Com took almost 3 months to acknowledge their mistake. They also convinced Amex that the charge was valid and I had to open a fraud case before getting the refund. Google refunded the charge in a week.

Buyer beware.

Thanks Bernie, I'll watch out. So far nothing has happened.

 

[Pat]

Re Buy.com, I have never liked their practices.  I did not want to place internet orders, so I phoned one in a few years ago.  I found out the guy was entering my order on the internet, even though I made it clean to him I didn't want it done that way.  Stopped the order, finally got them to stop the spam, and will pay higher prices rather than do business with them.

This little wifi dish is cheapest and buy.com, but I'll get it elsewhere. 

--pat

 

[John From Detroit]

I was going through my bookmarks today and came across this

The only thing I can tell you about this company is their URL

I have not contacted them, purchased their products, or done any type of business with them so I am unable to tell you anything about them or their products.... I just note it seems to address the problem which started this thread

http://radiolabs.com/products/wireless/waverv.php 

 

[Pat]

The HWU8DD is coming tomorrow.  So is a new computer, which has built-in wifi.  I am going to test the dish with the old computer to check any improvement.  Apples to apples.  Then I'll try the new computer without the dish and then with the dish to see if the dish can improve the reception.  Some neighbors in this section of the park are waiting to see the results of this little experiment. 

After this forum's wifi list began, I thought that was a good criterion to use to select a summer park.  So I looked for parks on the lists first.  Then I looked at locations and price, etc.  This park advertises itself as providing wifi.  However, turns out they ONLY direct it to the half of the park that is already full of fulltimers.  This is a Canadian Holiday Resorts member park, with many people in this temporary area coming and going all the time.  A lot of people are unhappy with the deception.  Nice managers, great park, lovely area, as long as you didn't start out with wifi as your primary requirement.

I got the dish from newegg.com.  Excellent service.  Cheapest price. 

--pat

 

[Pat]

I'll add my yea to for the HWU8DD, mine has doubled the effective range and bandwidth of my Linksys 54G card.

Jeff:  Does this mean you used the dish PLUS the Linksys?  I found my Linksys  modem to be better and a whole lot faster than the dish, which arrived today.  The only problem I have in this RV park is retaining the connection.  Or getting it in the first place.  They have the antenna pointing to the other half of the park - a little detail they neglect to mention in their advertising.  The fulltimers in here get wifi.  The temps are left to struggle to get a connection.  But I digress. 

I read the manual that was on the Hawking CD.  Nowhere does the manual or setup pamphlet define "station" and "access point," but the software came with "station" by default, and when I changed it to "access point," I seemed to have disabled it.  I did turn off Windows wireless network configuration; although, the details for how to do that didn't apply to my system.  I never found the tab "Wreless Networks" to disable "use Windows to configure..."  I just disabled it in msconfig and rebooted.

With the dish and after a lot of trying, I got a couple flimsy connections to Google and to a RAM webstore, but nothing else, and most of the time those two failed as well.  As soon as I uninstalled the dish, replaced the Linksys, reset Windows wireless configuration, I was back to normal, meaning I got consistent service and pretty good speed once my modem was able to make the connection. 

The dish probably isn't going back, though.  I'm sending this desktop computer to my nephew, so he'll have two computers and probably will want to do a wireless network in the house for his twins.  Hope he has a friend or the knowledge to make this work.

--pat

 

[Ned]

You want the adapter to be configured as a station, not an access point.  Use the Windows Zero Wireless configuration to connect, and don't use the Hawking software.  It will install by default and run when you start Windows, but you can exit it from the tray icon and remove it from the Startup folder to prevent it from ever starting.

The Hawking should get a much better signal than the Linksys adapter, as the Hawking is directional with gain while the Linksys is not.

 

[Just Lou]

I agree with Ned.  I installed the Hawking, crippled the software, and get a signal from my own in-house network about twice as strong as with the linksys card.  I can now connect at 11mbps from anywhere on my three acre property with only the stubby antenna of the wireless router as the access point.  I'm hoping for a few good connections from CG's on my Alaska trip.

 

[Tom]

I can now connect at 11mbps from anywhere on my three acre property ....

Hi Lou,

Which service provider do you have that gives you 11mb/s speed? I thought I was hopping along pretty good with my 6mb/s cable service from Comcast, but you're leaving me in the dust.

 

[Jeff]

Jeff:  Does this mean you used the dish PLUS the Linksys?  I found my Linksys  modem to be better and a whole lot faster than the dish, which arrived today.  The only problem I have in this RV park is retaining the connection.  Or getting it in the first place.  They have the antenna pointing to the other half of the park - a little detail they neglect to mention in their advertising.  The fulltimers in here get wifi.  The temps are left to struggle to get a connection.  But I digress. 

I read the manual that was on the Hawking CD.  Nowhere does the manual or setup pamphlet define "station" and "access point," but the software came with "station" by default, and when I changed it to "access point," I seemed to have disabled it.  I did turn off Windows wireless network configuration; although, the details for how to do that didn't apply to my system.  I never found the tab "Wreless Networks" to disable "use Windows to configure..."  I just disabled it in msconfig and rebooted.

With the dish and after a lot of trying, I got a couple flimsy connections to Google and to a RAM webstore, but nothing else, and most of the time those two failed as well.  As soon as I uninstalled the dish, replaced the Linksys, reset Windows wireless configuration, I was back to normal, meaning I got consistent service and pretty good speed once my modem was able to make the connection. 

The dish probably isn't going back, though.  I'm sending this desktop computer to my nephew, so he'll have two computers and probably will want to do a wireless network in the house for his twins.  Hope he has a friend or the knowledge to make this work.

--pat

Pat:

No, I use the Hawking alone after testing the two cards. I always show a much stronger signal with the Hawkings.

 

[Ned]

Tom,

I think Lou means he connects to the access point at 11Mb (802.11b speed) but his internet is still limited by the speed of his internet connection.