Long Range WiFi

john.weland · February 19, 2015

So I have a buddy that works at a ranch their internet, from what I understand they pay for 3 separate internet accounts each modem plugs in to a router in a region of the ranch giving it some WiFi. No on top of their main office is a massive antenna on the roof with a SMA connection. They've had a few people come out and look at it and while they can plug it int to a router they don't seem to get anything out from it. Their goal is to have internet come in plug in to a router to create WiFi that will span 100 yards one direction and 400 yards in the other direction.

My thought was to have a router/AP form the main location connect to two directional antenna one pointing one direction the other pointing another direction. sending and receiving data from a router/AP based at either location. The AP at either location would have one antenna for the long distance send and receive and the other to provide coverage for that area. I saw a guide online that stated that for point to point access on the 2.4GHz band you could removed wattage from the router and add to the gain on the antenna essentially giving you up to 60 watts of power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdv_uwz3tf4

This all started because I fixed the router at my buddies house (garage and shop) and connected a range extender to boot the signal inside his house. His theory is "oh hey your a computer guy... fix it".

Any thoughts?

john.weland · February 23, 2015

Update. I actually got to go one and see the area. From center of the proposed coverage area they would need a 2000ft radius of coverage, the land is covered in pretty heavy foliage, mostly 30-40ft tall oak and cedar.

dzonidev · February 23, 2015

From what I understood you will want to use 5Ghz for the PTP and 2.4Ghz to cover the area. Because I think 2.4Ghz for long rage + right there another 2.4Ghz for coverage I think it won't do you any good. However I did not quite get where the internet "source" is..

I don't know much or anything about regulations in the US. Here the laws are pretty loose.

Scheer · February 25, 2015

I'm not a RF engineer by any means, but I know a bit about RF and my gut is telling me that guy in the video has no idea what he is talking about... 60W is A CRAPLOAD of RF power and you can't just magically turn 1W into 60W. This is what I deal with that puts out 60W max of power (per RU): http://www.academia.edu/5263157/Product_description_for_RBS_6201_1_221_01-FGC_101_0570_Uen_Rev_FA RU weighs about 20 pounds and they get HOT when at 60W of output.

Also, there are FCC regulations on the total EIRP, its not as simple as a 1 watt radio output limit: http://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet63/oet63rev.pdf

Or simplified here (may be out of date, not sure): http://www.air802.com/files/FCC-Rules-and-Regulations.pdf

If it is a massive antenna, it is likely an "N" style connector, in which case, a Ubiquiti Bullet would hook right up to it... but you can't just use any old antenna, the elements are a specific diameter and separation, depending on your frequency, so it would have to be a 2.4 ghz or 5 ghz antenna (depending on which Bullet you go with). On top of that, omni's have a specific pattern that they will cover, some shoot like a giant umbrella where you won't have coverage from it until you are 500 feet away, and some can be 10 feet tall and be extremely concentrated up close where even being 50 feet away you won't have coverage. It would be really hard to know what is going to happen unless you can get the model number and look up the specifications.

If you are shooting through a lot of trees, I'd go with 2.4ghz as the penetration is better. 5ghz may work, but it would royally suck to spend the time and money installing it to find out that it will not... and I can nearly guarantee you that 2.4ghz is going to work. And honestly, I doubt they are doing much on their phones where they need the speed benefit of 5ghz.

I plug Ubiquiti products so much, you'd think they are paying me... but I promise they aren't, I've just had extremely good luck with them.

My recommendation would be to start with a Ubiquiti Bullet M2 and a omni to suit, mount it on the main building roof and see what the coverage is like. There is a chance it may be good enough to cover it all and you are done for under $150... If it doesn't make it all the way to the 400 yard side, grab two point to point Ubiquitis like the NanoBridge or NanoStation to shoot to a building over there and another Bullet and Omni to mount on that building.

Obviously, there are a thousand different ways to solve this problem, this is just my $.02