Small Marina Wireless expansion

[captcouillon]

De-facto dockmaster at a small marina in Va. Talked the owner (nice guy) into getting us some internet access so we can offer it to folks on the dock. Verizon DSL (throttled at 7mbs)
installed by Verizon with GT784WNV modem/wireless router. Router is mfg by Actiontec but specs as to xmt pwr and sensitivity are unknown as Verizon considers this info "proprietary" and thus Actiontec is unable to provide. Go figure... Anyway the location of the box is limited by the fact that is in Butch's home, and location of jacks for the DSL are limited. Also Butch's wife doesn't want to look at a bunch of blinking hardware in the middle of her great-room. Currently located on the second floor in the office. Shooting through a single drywall/vinyl siding exterior wall towards the docks.

As expected, signal strength on the docks (150' clear line of sight) ain't great. As scanned from a cheap neatgear usb nic, sig strength is at about -77 db or so. Have explored several solutions, keeping in mind that this is a budget concerned situation.

Solution 1
Tell everybody to buy a better nic for their hardware.
Cheap (for us), but not very friendly.

Solution 2
Set up a "repeater" on the dock.
Exterior equipment not so cheap. Repeater by definition cuts speed in half. Didn't think this would be a problem with the 7 meg throttle on the dsl but after setting up an old netgear router flashed with dd-wrt as a repeater here on my boat, then connectng to it via my wireless nic, it cut my download speed from 7mbs to 3.2mbs. Not so hot.

Solution 3
This is the one I figure will work, but am looking for some input as to what y'all might think so I don't end up looking like a dork when the money is spent and it doesn't work.
Picture worth a thousand words?

Plan is to run an outdoor rated ethernet cable from the GT784WNV outside to an Ubiquiti Bullet2 (Running AirOS) Bullet screws into a Pacific Wireless 120deg panel antenna 9db gain mounted on the peak of the house and pointing at the docks. Bullet is powered by a POE injector inside the house.

Figure that the weak point in the system is the consumer grade nics that are going to be running as clients on the docks. Hope the 120deg "ear" along with the Bullet2's -90db sensitivity should really help out. I could go with a Bullet2HP that would give me 600mw xmt rather than the 100mw of the Bullet2 but the sensitivity isn't that much better, and as I said I think the problem is going to be the client nics not the Bullet transmit power. Besides, this is an "open" network and I don't need half of town trying to piggyback, as well as the fact that the HP model is twice the price. 120deg spread should cover the docks end to end and not much more. (See pic below)

Haven't had an opportunity to play with the AirOS firmware, but from some reading it looks like I can hack it into a configuration I can live with. Would prefer to be running a seperate subnet and ssid with the GT784WNV passing DNS. Probably a subject for another thread in another forum.

Pic of the proposed physical layout

Tks in advance for any input, suggestions, rants or general comments. Looks like the total cost of Solution 3 is about $150

Cap' Couillon

 

[stevech]

I'd put two APs on the dock. Each with a yagi inside a PVC radome. Point them in opposite directions. Put one on channel 1, the other on channel 11. Try to separate them vertically by a few feet.
Feed the two with a CAT5 splitter plug adapter which makes one 10/100 cat5 cable carry two independent connnections. On the other end, plug both into a switch.

power over ethernet is a different story.

 

[captcouillon]

Thanks for the suggestions Steve..
If I understand correctly you are suggesting feeding the 2 APs with a single cat5
from the DSL modem? That distance would be approching the magic 100 meters
and am trying to avoid a hardwire run (lots of ditch and underdock work) If I have to go that route think I would be better off extending the DSL line itself. Plus, double the equpment is double the costs and our slip rates here on the Chesapeake are just too low to justify a large investment. (You could probably rent a slip here for an entire season for the cost of a month in San Diego)

Is it your opinion that the setup I outlined in my original post would be inadequate to justify the cost?

One way or the other, thanks for taking the time to read through a long post and offer your suggestions

Regards,
Cap' Couillon

 

[captcouillon]

Update..

Headed in the right direction. Just did a little experiment involving cooking devices.

Stuck an 8" metal colander behind the existing indoor AP. Its about 2" behind the router
and angled slightly downward.

Went back to the boat and checked the signal strength as seen on my nic.... Damn signal strength jumped from -77db to -67db. (10 times signal strength) Looks like I am going to spend some spare time hacking up a home-brew reflector and see if I can avoid ALL the hassle and cost of an outdoor installation. Have to check strength at othe points on dock but looks promising.

Will post final results as FYI

Cap' Couillon

 

[Mark Uhde]

EnGenius ENH200 (actually seems to handle more users better than the 202, presumably due to crosstalk between polarities in outdoor environments). Dirt-cheap now and the range is fantastic.