SOLVED Extending wireless with coax?

[knoober]

Ive been putzing around with the home network and decided to add capabilities in one of the outbuildings. I pulled an old Linksys WRT54GS from the junk pile and flashed it with DDWRT. My in home tests went well enough; speed wasnt great but what can you expect from an older router like that? When I took the thing out to its new aluminum home however I got disappointed . No signal. I noticed that the antennae on the back of this beast just twist right off and seem to have some type of coaxial connection, but that it seem different from the standard coax ( I already tried fitting my TV antennae and the connection on the router was just slightly larger.

So Ive got 2 questions:
1) what type of coax connection could this be? Ive looked at a few different types and cant seem to get an exact match. here are some of the best images I could pull from google (believe me they are better than I could take)





2) if it isnt obvious, I intend to poke a hold in the wall and run an extension to just outside the aluminum. That way the router iteself is sheltered from the elements, but the antennae is outside where it can grab the signal. Is this a real solution or am I just imagining it will work? It might be worth noting that my phone and laptop (although the laptop loses ~90% of its speed/phone is fine) can get signal out there, but I think they just have better hardware.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JrClocker]

Found this:

http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/wrt54gl-what-type-of-antenna-connection.19503/

 

[knoober]

Found this:

http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/wrt54gl-what-type-of-antenna-connection.19503/

and with that I found this extension cable. Now I just need to perform a couple more tests that I didnt think of yet... like whether I can get signal outside of the building as opposed to inside, and I think I might have this one solved

 

[JrClocker]

That should work if you have enough signal. Although the antennas are not outside antennas...and you will need to worry about lightning strikes.

Do you have cable tv between both places? If you do, you can get a MoCA adapter on each end. (Check out the link in my sig)

You can get the slower MoCA 1.0 or 1.1 adapters much cheaper, and don't have to worry about signal dropouts. You did the firmware change to the router, so you should be be able to set it up as an access point.

 

[knoober]

That should work if you have enough signal. Although the antennas are not outside antennas...and you will need to worry about lightning strikes.

Is this something to be super worried about? From your comment Im guessing there is some sort of grounding in place for outdoor antennae? Im can insulate against water where the connection is and the spot is fairly sheltered anyway, but if it is a real hazard I may have to look into a different option.

Do you have cable tv between both places? If you do, you can get a MoCA adapter on each end. (Check out the link in my sig)

Nah just setting up a comp in the workshop so I can check out how to videos and such while I work on stuff. I did consider the kind of wifi extension that travels through existing wiring, but I am not sure it would be a good option. The outbuilding is almost certainly on a different circuit, and I feel there may be complications with that kind of signal travel.

You can get the slower MoCA 1.0 or 1.1 adapters much cheaper, and don't have to worry about signal dropouts. You did the firmware change to the router, so you should be be able to set it up as an access point.

there is pretty detailed instructions over on the DDWRT site about how to set it up. I was about 5ft from my AP when I tested, and everything was working just fine. My connections was bottlenecked by the obsolete router but otherwise worked fine. I am unsure if I can use the router as an AP as well as passthrough to a wired connection (frankly I think I read that you specifically cant because you cannot receive wireless and send it out at the same time) but I would have to purchase wireless NIC(s) then anyway. Hopefully I can get this working without shelling out too much, as it was just a "because its interesting" type of project anyway. Thank you again for your help

 

[JrClocker]

Lightning strike...super worried? No, but it is a possibility...depends on where you live.

Weather...super worried? Yes. Not sure of your climate, but in the summer the sun will destroy the plastic. The rain will destroy it. If you have cold weather, it will be bad on it too. If the idea works out, you can buy yourself an outside antenna...just need to match the impedance of the original antenna, and determine what sort of antenna gain you want!

 

[knoober]

Lightning strike...super worried? No, but it is a possibility...depends on where you live.

Thanks for the heads up. I just wanted to make sure that indoor antennae didnt make their own lighting or anything. Average to slightly above average risk of lighting strike is ok. If it starts flying a kites with a key on the end... ill get an outdoor antennae

Weather...super worried? Yes. Not sure of your climate, but in the summer the sun will destroy the plastic. The rain will destroy it. If you have cold weather, it will be bad on it too. If the idea works out, you can buy yourself an outside antenna...just need to match the impedance of the original antenna, and determine what sort of antenna gain you want!

Meh. I can weatherproof the connection and hole through the wall. As for the antennae itself I will take measures (Plastidip if I dont lose performance from the coating) to keep it safe and dry. I will probably want it right under the eaves of the building anyway because it is less prone to snagging on clothing or other mechanical damage.

I have run tests in 3 locations now:
1) 5ft from the source AP = ~17mbps 9ms ping
2) 2 x 40ft from source AP. 1 40ft to the north and 1 40ft to the south = 18-19mbps 9ms ping
3) Directly outside destination aluminum building = 18-19mbps 9ms ping all tested by speedtest.net

Inside the building... nothing. Not even a connection. So I guess Ill be moving forward with the extension cable purchase. Ill let you guys know how it goes after they get here.


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[JrClocker]

I think it's funny when a guy named JrClocker is trading advice with a guy named knoober - hehe.

Good luck!