Wifi extenders and tv antennas

R Q

R Q

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Charlotte
I need to make my wifi reach my shop and I want to check out regular old tv antennas. Any knowledge from the group? Special devices or any old Amazon crap will do?
 
How far is it between your house and shop? Is your shop metal?

For mine, at 500', and a metal building, I had to use a wireless bridge, transmitter/receiver at each end, to get reliable network connection. I used a pair of EnGenius ENH202. Older take-outs from my work, and only 10/100, but plenty good enough for the access I need in the shop. (Mainly lookups on phone and dual-path for alarm system.
 
kaiser715 said:
How far is it between your house and shop? Is your shop metal?

For mine, at 500', and a metal building, I had to use a wireless bridge, transmitter/receiver at each end, to get reliable network connection. I used a pair of EnGenius ENH202. Older take-outs from my work, and only 10/100, but plenty good enough for the access I need in the shop. (Mainly lookups on phone and dual-path for alarm system.
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Shop is about 80' from the house and yes it has aluminum roof and sides. I can get wifi signal standing at the door but once inside it's gone. My router is at the opposite end of my house from the shop.
 
R Q said:
Shop is about 80' from the house and yes it has aluminum roof and sides. I can get wifi signal standing at the door but once inside it's gone. My router is at the opposite end of my house from the shop.
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If you want the best setup imo. Bury the Ethernet cable and do a mesh system with a wired backbone. Imo. I don’t like extenders because your devices don’t always attach to the best one. Meaning it may stay latched into the one with only a single bar when there is a better network closer.
 
DSM Turbos said:
Ethernet cable and do a mesh system with a wired backbone.
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Fiber because of surge/lightning protection.

Cheap Ethernet to fiber adapter in the house and at the shed with fiber between. Cheap router in AP mode or a wired AP in the shed. WiFi extenders won't work inside a metal building.

TV antenna is going to be the same. For best signal, you need something outside. Need to look at what sort of TV you're using, too. They're switching NTSC standards again, and older tvs won't work with the new signals.
 
If you want, I can ask my cousin some stuff. He's got some wild stuff and has a wifi range close to a square mile.
 
I did a building to building wireless bridge. It has been rock solid for over a year now. I used all ubiquiti stuff.

I would say your best bet is to put a Wireless Access Point (WAP) at the other end of the house on the outside facing the shop. That way the wifi signal would be as strong as possible.

A Wireless Access Point works best when hard wired to your current router.

Honestly I spent quite a bit of time and effort in the attic running cables but now that it over it has been well worth it.

I went through two sets of Wireless Extenders before I bit the bullet and went hardwired.
 
shawn said:
Fiber because of surge/lightning protection.

Cheap Ethernet to fiber adapter in the house and at the shed with fiber between. Cheap router in AP mode or a wired AP in the shed. WiFi extenders won't work inside a metal building.

TV antenna is going to be the same. For best signal, you need something outside. Need to look at what sort of TV you're using, too. They're switching NTSC standards again, and older tvs won't work with the new signals.
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this.
At the very least you're going to be putting an antenna outside the building and running a wire to the inside. You'd have to amplify that signal to near nuclear for it to get into the building through the air.
 
I think this is what I used:

Amazon product ASIN B0716XT1QT

Monoprice OM3 Fiber Optic Cable - LC/LC, UL, 50/125 Type, Multi-Mode, 10GB, Aqua, 2m, Corning - Monoprice.com

Because of its immunity to electronic interference and its greater speeds over longer distances, fiber optic cabling has become the conduit of choice for high speed network communications. Monoprice&t
www.monoprice.com

Pulled it through a 1/2" or 3/4" conduit.

TP Link also makes a cheap converter, but no experience with it. I don't think it includes the SFP transceivers, either.

(edit: I got the one with SX transceivers, not LX)
 
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Fiber is the tits. Just worth pointing out if you aren't familiar with it - need to be a little more cautious as you pull it and route it than with traditional copper.
 
I bought a omni-directional, [think round ufo] amplified, years ago. Had it first standing in my TV room, where it worked fair. Finally I got it in the attic, but it was no better. With a friends help, I mounted to my chimney, on a 15' pole! Works much better, As long as the amplifier is on. lol
 
Loganwayne said:
well yall are really killing my idea for a cheap wifi extender to get to the shop. its 350ft clear line of sight.
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You can do it with wireless, but it means having a directional antenna on the outside of the building pointed toward the house connected to a receiver that either has an antenna inside the building or connects via wire to an access point that's in the building. Metal buildings are basically big faraday cages, so getting radio signals in/out is difficult at best.

If you have an empty conduit between the buildings (or a tractor and a few hours of free time), you can run a fiber connection that will be more reliable and possibly cheaper.

I generally don't trust TP-Link, but this is a decent article explaining some of the issues and possible solutions:
arstechnica.com

Point-to-point Wi-Fi bridging between buildings—the cheap and easy way

It cost us ~$100 to wirelessly connect two buildings across a small wooded area.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
 
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