At the new QTH, the ham shack will be some way from the wireless router and I will not be able to see if the signal will be usable in the shack for some weeks yet; I have yet to organise the move with the internet service provider. (Reminder to self: contact supplier) Although I could run a network cable through, I'll not do this yet in case the signal proves to be good enough. It means drilling yet more holes in walls and scrabbling around up in the furthermost reaches of the loft, not something I want to do at my age.
Does anyone have any recommendations for WiFi extenders? Maplin and others advertise these but I am concerned about pumping data along mains cables and the resulting QRN likely to be produced, especially in the lower HF spectrum. Does anyone know of one that is electrical quiet, if that is even possible?
In distance terms, the shack is about 20m from where the router is likely to be located, but the microwave signal will have to get through 3 doors (one is metal) and 3 walls. In the current home the router is upstairs and is a decent signal in the lounge downstairs, but through one more door the signal is non-existent. Incidentally I use a recent Netgear super hub supplied by Virgin Media.
You can use most WiFi Routers, surely the TPLink ones to act as an extender by configuring it that way. I do use mines with OpenWrt instead of the native firmware, but I do believe it can be made with the native firmware as well. The only drawback is that for all nodes connected to the "far" router the bandwidth will be halved, which typically isn't even noticeable in day to day usage. 73 de Pedro LU7HZ.
ReplyDeleteAlmost any router these days has an "extender" mode. Since range is the issue, for obvious reasons try to get a box with one or more external antennas.
ReplyDeleteHi Roger,
ReplyDeleteI started a new blog. You can find it here: http://radiozendamateur.blogspot.nl/
Please change the link in your blogroll.
Thanks! 73 Paul
Hi Roger, I use a Netgear N600 and have several older DG834s acting as relays under WDS protected by WEP and MAC address lists. (people moan about WEP but its secure enough for my uses, I don't think GCHQ would have any desire to hack me and if they did, then I think WPA2 would fold easily!). DG834s can be picked up cheaply off E**y and get a v3, 4 or 5 which on some firmwares will run WDS. G7NKS
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