Thread: Getting internet from a mile away on a remote ranch.

I'm not sure if there is a good way to do this, but it coulden't hurt to ask. My parents live on a ranch in new mexico. The phone lines are too weak and staticy for dial up. Dsl and cable internet are availible along the highway, but that is about 1 mile from the house. My dad is a retired engineer and still works as a consultant at times, so internet is important. Right now the only viable option is very expensive satelite internet that is not very reliable. It costs as much as the rent on a small apartment. I don't know a lot about singnal transmission. Would a directional antenna be able to get a good signal from the barn (by the highway) to the house a mile away? We could run some cables, but I don't know what type and what transmission method would work. I know that cat-5 cable is only rated to carry a signal a few hundred feet. Anyway, anyone have any good ideas on this?

edit: details, its a straight clear shot from the house to the barn with no trees in the way, its a slight, even, uphill rise from the barn to the house. The grade is maybe 60 feet per mile. The air is clear and dry almost all of the year. This is why I thought of a directional antenna, but I'm not sure that even with these favorable conditions that a mile would be possible.

From what I've found it seems like a parabolic dish with a very powerfull wifi transmitter could possibly do it, but the cost and difficulty may be prohibitive. On the other hand, it would be one expendature instead of them paying hundreds of dollars monthly for the satelite internet.

edit: interestingly I was able to find a thread elsewhere (link incase anyone cares) where someone is trying to do almost exactly the same thing. I guess I could get rid of this one. But I don't have an account there anyway. Either way, if anyone has any helpfull suggestions they would be appriciated.

They do make long range WiFi access points (AKA bridge). Also Pringles can antennas are popular DIY directional WiFi antennas.
Homebrew antenna shootout

The more directional and higher gain the antenna is the longer the range.


It gets the Coffee channel

Parabolic reflectors are very directional, they work with sound, light, RF...

Yeah. I know the concepts, but this seems like it could be one of those things where when you actually go out and try to do it you realize theres a lot more to it. But the tutorials are pretty good about telling you spacing and such. I think with some more research wireless is probably the best way to go.

One thing I'm curious about is how you test it as you align it. When you line up a laser or a sound source you know immediatly when you get near or cross the right spot, so you can move it around till you get it. It seems like with this I would need to move it, test if the internet worked, move it again, and all the while I woulden't be sure if it wasn't something to do with the settings, cause we all know computer networks don't work all the time as it is. I could use another audible radio source, but that would be a different frequency, and I'm not sure, but woulden't the antenna work differently with a different frequency? I guess I need to look into wifi signal testing, I know theres stuff for just that purpos.

Now there's the rub, alignment.
A small spotter scope might be attached to the dish, just like telescopes do.

a related article ....
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/computi...es-a-village/1

There are some free utility programs around that can show you your WiFi throughput or signal quality. You need to get your hands on one of those to do the alignment.

I strongly recommend that you consider using routers and stuff from this supplier:

Ubiquiti Networks, Inc.

We have recently started using their stuff in some experiments and are impressed with the quality of the gear and with the better flexibility they have in setting up a link. It appears that they cater to long range use of WiFi with software and a users forum. Very good.

A mile is very do-able but remember that in this business, the antenna height above the ground is the key. The higher the better, and it must be a line-of-sight radio path that shoots through nothing but air; no hills, no buildings and no trees please.

Don't most WiFi receivers have a signal level monitor that shows up when connected to a computer? You could use that to align the antennas. It would be easiest if you had a laptop near the receive antenna with the receiver connected.

Edit: Here's an antenna that claims it's been used over three miles http://www.ccrane.com/antennas/wifi-...i-antenna.aspx.

Nice, I wish I had that antenna a few years back.

Check out post #6

Ultra-Narrow Band Radio link - where to start?

I have a wireless link that can easily cover the distances you are talking about. Just use a wireless router on each end as the transmitters and then set up a pair of dish antennae for directional signal transfer.
I have seen a dish setup that used the little antennae off of a wireless router mounted in the sweet spot on an old satellite dish. As I understood it a pair of dishes can still have a few mile range when set up that way.

I have mentioned this several times in other posts as well. If your good with basic dish antennae set up all you will need is a pair of wireless routers and a stripped down basic old computer as your land to air connection server.
Since all that computer is doing is handling the DSL card to wireless router processing the software can be gutted to absolute minimum and a few hundred MHz processor will still be at idle all day lone even at peak transfer rates.

I would say that with a some basic scrounging and a pair of wireless routers from an on-line auction it can be done for under $300. Maybe even free if you have an old computer and a pair of wireless routers laying around and be built over a weekend.

Mine was all done with leftovers and surplus gear my brother got from where he works so my cost was basically time only. Or about one good long day.
I can run at 85 meg transfer between my place and my brothers now with a half mile separation and one wind mill tower mounted repeater to go around a hill since we dont have a true line of site between us.