Your Marine Parts Source Analysts Help You Strengthen Your Wifi Access
Raritan Engineering Company your marine parts source specialists are excited to share with you this week this spectacular information about how to take care of your wifi needs while sailing.
As most sailors have found, trying to use a typical laptop WiFi card to connect to a marina or yacht club hotspot doesn’t cut it. A more acceptable compromise is an amplified WiFi card which can theoretically boost transmission power to about 1,000 milliwatts.
Mini’s setup uses the same amplifier as the Wirie but it costs less compared to the Wirie’s higher pricetag. The installation takes about an hour and requires no electrical know-how. Instead of using a watertight box as the Wirie does, Mini uses PVC fittings from Home Depot, which he claims are completely watertight.
INSTALLATION DETAILS
Amplified WiFi Card: The card is an Alfa AWUS036H; Mini’s is rated at 500 milliwatts, but the latest version is rated by the manufacturer at 1,000 milliwatts.
Antenna: The antenna is a 2.4 gHz, 24-inch, 8.5-decibel vertical antenna with an N-type female connector at the bottom.
Your Marine Parts Source Experts Have the Recipe for Your Do-It-Yourself Antenna Fix
Software: Your marine parts source professionals know that you will need to install the driver and interface for the chipset in the new Alfa card.
Housing: The PVC container assembly comprises a 3-inch diameter pipe that is 6 inches long, with a matching domed cap and a screw-on base.
Accessories: Mini used a 10-inch-long coaxial pigtail (RP-SMA male to N male) to connect the card to the antenna. To connect the Alfa Wi-Fi booster to his computer, he used a 2-foot-long USB male mini-B to male mini-A adapter cable to start the cable run.
INSTALLATION DETAILS
1. Install the driver and utility to the computer.
2. Using the USB cables, coaxial pigtail and required adapter, assemble the antenna components for testing.
3. To build the PVC housing, first drill a hole in the domed PVC cap to take the base of the antenna.
4. Cut a hole in the screw-on base-cap to let the USB cable exit the bottom. This hole should not be in the center of the base-cap, as it might interfere with any threaded center-mounting arrangement.
5. To secure the card inside the PVC pipe, cut a 2-inch-long piece of scrap wood so that it fits snugly inside the pipe, then glue it in place. Mini glued the card to the wood insert, but one could easily use adhesive Velcro tape, which would allow you to more easily remove the WiFi adapter, if needed.
6. Cut a hole in the base to hold a mounting clamp if you intend to mount the antenna on deck.
7. Drill a couple of quarter-inch holes in the cap to make it easy to disassemble using a long screwdriver for leverage. Fill the holes with earplugs to keep water out.
8. Put everything together. The antenna will stick out the top, the USB cable will come out of the bottom, and the antenna mounting clamp will be on the bottom-center—and all will be waterproof.
9. If you want to be able to hang the antenna in the rigging for greater range in some places, you can screw on a small ring-eye.
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