OT- Do antennas or disk exist to pick up far away Wi-Fi signals ?

If one Googles Wi-Fi range extenders one is bombarded with methods into increase your Wi-Fi signal range, but what I want to do is the opposite of that.... hone in on someone else's Wi-Fi signal (a marina in this case, where the boat is too far from the marina's router)

Also, this marina is surrounded by homes and villas, so there could be fifty or more different strong Wi-Fi signals floating about the airwaves at the boat (all with passwords of course so not accessible to me), as such it would be best if something directional like a disk existed to aim this at the dock masters building. Does such a thing exist ?

Simply put, yes.

Google image search

"wifi antenna booster diy"

I know you are likely looking for a purchased version, but they are out there.

Try searching for "Directional Yagi Wifi Antenna." That should get you where you want to go.

Yes, a yagi will help.

But first, what device do you have that you want to connect to the marina's router? (i.e. do you have an WiFi bridge on your boat already, or are you hoping to get your iPhone to connect directly to the marina's router?)

Jim McIntyre said:

Yes, a yagi will help.

But first, what device do you have that you want to connect to the marina's router? (i.e. do you have an WiFi bridge on your boat already, or are you hoping to get your iPhone to connect directly to the marina's router?)

Click to expand...

No, not the phone but a MacPro laptop

That's what I had for many years to amplify the incoming and outgoing signals: ALFA NETWORK Inc You install a driver and connect the adapter to a USB port of your laptop. Unfortunately, IIRC, they never issued a driver for Win.7 64-bit and it was a reason for me to buy a newer model. Now I have AWUS036ACH. It works perfectly with my Win.7 64-bit.

I tried simple directional DIY antennas on my router to improve communication in certain area. They definitely work. Heck, my father-in-law, being a university professor teaching Radio Communications and Electronics still uses a Windsurfer Antenna on his router at home and says he doesn't need anything better. But for the purposes similar to yours, my Alpha AWUS036H Wi-Fi Long Range USB adapter is more convenient and efficient.

I guess you can even try combining both, directional antenna and the adapter. I cannot guarantee it will work better with a "foreign" antenna (their impedance may be different), but you may try it. Just check how the antenna is designed to be connected. I'd start with a simple DIY contraption like the Windsurfer Antenna to see if it's worth it at all. With all probability, the adapter with its own antenna will be all you need.

P.S. While I was typing, you mentioned that you had a Mac. This is from the Amazon's description of my model: "Functions Seamlessly with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1; Mac 10.5 or Later; & Linux"

MichaelP said:

At home I tried simple DIY antennas. They definitely work, but the Alpha AWUS036H Wi-Fi Long Range USB adapter is a way better.

Click to expand...

Now I'm confused..... why wouldn't a normal home router work with the boat mouted Yagi antenna ? I'm presuming the Yagi would be mounted as high as possible, aimed at the dock master's hut (i.e. where the Wi-Fi signal is broadcast), coax cable run from antenna to router inside the boat, and then use the Mac Pro as per usual with Wi-Fi. So why the need for this special Alpha AW thing ?

Give it up guys, Milacron's a good guy but a pessimist. He finds fault with every good suggestion. Good enough ain't good enough. He wants instant, simple, cheap, and perfect. All four at once: no "best _ out of _" BS.

There's a there's nice series entries on WiFi in Wikipedia. Might start there if you haven't already

Yes !
Get a semi-directional antenna, a directional will likely not work due to the boat moving too much.

We used to do 30 km wifi links, back in 2002-2003, one in between iirc.
Google long range wifi.

Milacron said:

No, not the phone but a MacPro laptop

Click to expand...

Directional Yagi is the best, yes.

You may not need it.

MacPro here as well. The built-in WiFi antenna is better than most, but it is still a built-in.

A USB cable with a WiFi dongle that you can tape up high, center of a window or port, or on a fibreglass "fish" rod (electrician's "fish" not mariners, but a fishing pole might be handier) might be all you really need.

Cheaper, handier, more portable than a Yagi.

Not that they are huge, but still, they, too need elevation and position for decent line-of-sight.
Masthead, plus "aimed" mayhap if the hull still being on the hard is the source of the need.

And... I'll figure that also means "not THIS weekend" on that French lathe, while we are about it.

First look for and install a wifi analyzer in your phone.

This is a great tool that has a spectrum analyzer type screen that shows all of the signals so you can hunt for them.

If you are not looking at streaming video then some older style unit may be a better choice.

A boat mounted router may not work as routers usually are connected to the net and broadcast out to clients.

You are the client and need a client device to receive from another and there are likely devices for this but not as common or obvious.
Wifi is like cellular in that the common design may not be for range but small footprint so a house works well but not jamb up neighbors place.

Older units may have a removable antenna that connects via a BNC or SMA rv connector while many of the earlier devices for laptops had a provision for connecting an antenna but the connection was proprietary.

There may be available "interesting" devices that could help.

We have a simple wifi camera we picked up at a yard sale that uses cloud for storage but it has a wifi repeater built in.

The idea is you place these things outside on your property and they use the repeaters to allow for extended coverage for their operation but also extend your coverage.

You could use one to repeat coverage from something nearby or work with the harbor folks to have them look into security cameras ...

Back to antennas...lots of options here and if you can get something with a standard connector or adaptor to allow it there are both 2.4 and 5 ghz bands and your phone app will help you decide which one.

There are commercial products available in many configurations so review their data sheets to determine if they will help.

However if there are many units clustered in an area then it may not help much as there may not be a channel with a single unit.

Good luck

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk

Tony Quiring said:

First look for and install a wifi analyzer in your phone.

Click to expand...

Mac Book Pro makes a right clumsy phone.

OTOH, it has all the analysis tools built-in.

Top bar of the screen, drop-down list if so optioned in System Preferences.

As we usually have done, arredy.

hanermo said:

Yes !
Get a semi-directional antenna, a directional will likely not work due to the boat moving too much.

We used to do 30 km wifi links, back in 2002-2003, one in between iirc.
Google long range wifi.

Click to expand...

The boat will be tied to a wharf in a marina that is accessable only via a lock ! (Windmill Harbour, Hilton Head Island, if curious)...i.e. tied to rigid sea wall with no tide or current and very little wind.... don't expect too much "movement" in that situation.

Re-posted with correct link.

82.11ac Dual Band 2.4/5.8 GHz WiFi Antennas | L-com.com

Milacron said:

Now I'm confused..... why wouldn't a normal home router work with the boat mouted Yagi antenna ? I'm presuming the Yagi would be mounted as high as possible, aimed at the dock master's hut (i.e. where the Wi-Fi signal is broadcast), coax cable run from antenna to router inside the boat, and then use the Mac Pro as per usual with Wi-Fi. So why the need for this special Alpha AW thing ?

Click to expand...

When I mentioned router, I was talking about WI-Fi (wireless) router. All of them use antennas to receive and transmit signals. You may substitute their own antenna with another one like Yagi, etc.

If your goal is to improve communication of a single computer, you can use the Alfa thing connected to this computer. In essence, it is an active antenna that amplifies incoming and outgoing signals. So your computer, instead of using its own built-in Wi-Fi antenna will use the Alpha device. The Alpha device contains it's own antenna stick and a bidirectional amplifier. If you really need, you may try using another antenna instead of its stick.

Naturally, you may improve communication of any number of computers using Alpha, but each of them will need to have the Alpha device attached.

Forrest Addy said:

Give it up guys, Milacron's a good guy but a pessimist. He finds fault with every good suggestion. Good enough ain't good enough. He wants instant, simple, cheap, and perfect. All four at once: no "best _ out of _" BS.

There's a there's nice series entries on WiFi in Wikipedia. Might start there if you haven't already

Click to expand...

Forrest is a good codger but apparently getting a bit neurotic. I admitted I was "confused"....drives me crazy when someone assumes I am questioning their judgement when I am simply curious what I am missing

Milacron said:

The boat will be tied to a wharf in a marina that is accessable only via a lock ! (Windmill Harbour, Hilton Head Island, if curious)...i.e. tied to rigid sea wall with no tide or current and very little wind.... don't expect too much "movement" in that situation.

Click to expand...

With a shore power connection ?

Maybe a "magnetic mount" for whatever antenna, stick it on top of the electrical box
(on the non moving dock) tye wrap antenna lead along with shore power cord.

Milacron said:

The boat will be tied to a wharf in a marina that is accessable only via a lock ! (Windmill Harbour, Hilton Head Island, if curious)...i.e. tied to rigid sea wall with no tide or current and very little wind.... don't expect too much "movement" in that situation.

Click to expand...

The WiFi and hand-held "waves" are measured in millimeters or less, so we have "movement" all the time, anyway, especially when walking or driving.

Just not a problem, berthed watercraft, still water.

Milacron said:

Now I'm confused..... why wouldn't a normal home router work with the boat mouted Yagi antenna ?

Click to expand...

Who said it would not? Making problems out of solutions?

If not BUILT to attach to an upstream that is WiFi, not wire, it may need a dongle plugged-in to one of its ports.

Those that DO seek WiFi uplinks are not rare.

I'd start with trying one, elevated, INSTEAD OF a Yagi antenna. Your case is not that "extreme" as to range.

Often works just fine. Cheap enough. Not hard to weather-proof.

Also easier to just pick off the shelf - or off your desk - and go try it out.

As a boater, I'd take it as "obvious" you already know about more expensive Redports and such:

Halo Long Range WiFi Extender System | Global Marine Networks

But that is a greater spend you may not need. Especially if not keeping the boat or the berth.

Randy Richards (In the Shop), a machining YouTube contributor uses some sort of home-brew wifi 'dish' in his out-building shop to boost wifi reception from his home router (several hundred feet away).

Can't recall the specific video in which the description appeared (about a year ago) but the set-up works for him and he's quite responsive to comments.