RE: Using a DirectTV antenna for a WiFi link?

Thanks, Matt.   
 
This site has a lot of good information.   One or two of my questions,
below, are still open issues for me, however.   Questions 3 & 4,
specifically.  If anyone can give me input on these, I'd appreciate it.
 
Dennis Gallagher 
Woods Creek Wholesale Nursery 
Monroe, WA 
www.woodscreeknursery.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Westervelt [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Thursday, 23 December, 2004 12:41
To: [email protected]; SeattleWireless Talk List
Subject: Re: Using a DirectTV antenna for a WiFi link?


http://www.wwc.edu/~frohro/Airport/Primestar/Primestar.html

Cheers.
-matt

On Dec 23, 2004, at 12:27 PM, Dennis wrote:



All, 

I'm trying to establish an 802.11b WiFi link from my house to a friends
house about 1300 feet away.  There are a number of trees between us.   Last
winter, I made two cantennas and with them we were able to get 3 bars out of
5 but later, when the trees filled in in the spring, the signal dropped too
low to be viable.

I've read that someone used a TV dish antenna - it was a DirectTV antenna or
something similar - to send WiFi signal through trees and brush and had a
lot of luck with his setup.   So, I bought a garage sale DirectTV antenna
and I'm ready to set it up.  But first, I've got some questions I'm hoping
someone would be willing to help me with.

1. Any reason why a DirectTV dish antenna would not work for this
application? 

2. Has anyone seen a how to setup a WiFi link with a DirectTV antenna
document on the web?  If it exists, I'd rather learn from it than invent the
wheel again.

* Assuming the idea is viable and there is no 'how-to' document out there,
then I propose to set things up as follows: 

(in this description, I'm referring to the web page at
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html so I can use cantenna
terminology that folks will recognize)

- I've got an N-type female chassis-mount connector that I made for a
cantenna but never used.  I want to use it for my Probe.  As recommended in
the article, the wire on my probe sticks out approximately 1.21".

- I'm going to use a short pig-tail (12" or so) from the Probe to my AP (an
RG-1000 or an Airport Base station). 

- The AP will be weather sealed in a Tupperware container or something
similar.  I've got AC power and CATS to the antenna's mounting site.

* Now for some questions: 

3. I assume that the outer metal part of the N-Chassis connector should be
electrically connected to the metal of the DirectTV antenna.  Is that right?

4. The antenna itself will be mounted on a PVC pipe so it will not be
connected to true ground.   Is that OK? 

5. I'm also assuming that I should place my probe at the same focal point
the DirectTV antenna's original probe used.   Is that right?

6. Should I position the probe's wire vertically or horizontally? 

7. I have a second DirectTV antenna I could set up at his end but I thought
I'd see if just one at my end would suffice first.   Thoughts?

Dennis Gallagher 

Woods Creek Wholesale Nursery 
Monroe, WA 

www.woodscreeknursery.com 
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