Improving Pavilion WiFi #3
I’ve tested another strategy for getting a stronger, more reliable WiFi feed at my pavilion that’s easy to implement in this particular environment. I’ve found during the past week, that moving the WiFi Access Point (WAP) just 20 feet closer to the pavilion with a more line-of-sight setup, removed nearly all dropped-connection problems. They still happen; but only once or twice an hour. Now I can swing as high as I like on the porch swings there, with iPod Touch in hand, without losing Internet radio stations much at all.
Specifically, I repositioned the WAP from the office (in the center of the house) to the pavilion-facing window in the attic; on the east side of our dwelling. Not only did this get the WAP ten percent closer (the pavilion is approximately 200 feet away), but it also eliminated two walls from the signal path (one drywall and one roof) through which the signal must pass to reach the pavilion. While this did not raise the number of signal strength bars reported by the iPod Touch at the pavilion (I still get just one bar down there), the reliability of the connections rose a great deal, still.
I’m concerned however that the attic climate extremes might not be good for this particular WAP, which is a Bountiful WiFi BWRG1000) that was intended for indoor use only. So investing in a “beefier” WAP that has a sealed enclosure, or building such a box for the one I have might be prudent. While our attic is technically considered “indoors,” dampness and large temperature swings typically intrude; it can go from below freezing at dawn to nearly a hundred degrees in the afternoon, and that’s even with the exhaust fan running. Further, since our house has aluminum siding, the WAP must be located near the only attic window on the pavilion side of the house, for maximum WiFi signal at the pavilion. Metal attenuates the signal significantly. So getting all metal out of the signal path is paramount. But the sun shines there on clear mornings, and falls on the WAP, heating it up perhaps too much. Indeed, I have noticed since relocating the WAP to the attic that it requires more reboots. If this proves to be a trend, an outdoor WAP will be necessary.
Though the enhanced coverage area doesn’t extend very far past the pavilion on the east side toward the river, the bubble of useable WiFi now nonetheless completely envelops the pavilion. Ideally though, it’d be nice to have that bubble encompass our whole yard, so I can listen while mowing the grass without having to stop to reset the iPod Touch so often when entering those fringe signal areas. That may be possible by either putting a high-gain dish-style antenna outside the attic window and aiming it at the pavilion, or installing an outdoor access point at the pavilion itself. I’ll post more on that later.
The antenna route would be the cheapest (around a hundred dollars), as it requires no additional access point. However, there is a row of tall green spruce trees between the house and the back yard where the pavilion is, that may reduce the signal to unusable levels in the part of the yard on the opposite side of the pavilion from the house. This can’t be determined for certain unless I get an antenna, mount it outside the attic, and test it. It probably wouldn’t be an issue though, because even with small omni directional antennas that come with the BWRG1000, the signal is still pretty good at the pavilion, despite their low amount of gain. The dish antenna I have in mind though, offers 24 DBi gain which, on the S-unit scale at least, is enough to increase the signal strength from S-1 to S-10+ (almost no signal to full-scale signal). Of course, the effective gain of this antenna wouldn’t quite reach 24 DBi because of the couple of DB signal loss in the coaxial cable and connectors that would be required to attach the WAP to it. But still though, we’d have roughly 20 DBi of gain.
This would probably be enough to eliminate all fringe signal areas in and immediately around the pavilion. But the questions remain: How much would the dish antenna lengthen the strong-signal bubble toward the river? Would it in fact, cover the entire yard with dropout-free WiFi reception? I’m not sure. The pavilion is midway down the yard between the house and the river, and the edge of current bubble just barely covers the pavilion. This still leaves the lower half of the yard unusable on the Touch. While I’m sure there would be SOME signal enhancements with the dish, it’s not clear if these would be enough to reach the river (the river is about 500 Ft. from the house).
Also, the dish would blast practically all the WiFi signal toward the river. So I’m wondering if there’d be enough back-side signals radiated to still provide good coverage in and around the house here. This is also a requirement. If yes, then we’ll be done. If not, then I may go the route of installing a second WAP at the pavilion. Clearly though, further experimentation is necessary to get these answers, and I will do that as time and available money permits. J So stay tuned, and take care.