Tom's Diary

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.

Log

10:00 AM: I’m up. Fully sunny and warm so far.

10:15 AM: Sister Jojo called, offering to take [Emmy] and I to the park.  However, since I’ve just gotten up, and [Emmy] is still sleeping, I had to decline, as we could not be ready by the time she wanted to depart.  Oh well.  Perhaps we’ll go tomorrow with one of the lions, when he drives there to work Bingo. 

11:00 AM: Posted the    Dear Susan Jacks   piece to the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog.

02:00 PM: Heading to DelGrosso park to spend the afternoon sitting in the lounge chairs at the water park.  We’ll also stroll over to the main concourse and ride the merry-go-round perhaps.

02:10 PM: We’re at the park and just paid $25.90 for admission for the two of us.  Not bad for a whole day’s worth of fun. 

03:00 PM: I took a little note pad and jotted some notes while people-watching.  Well, to perfectly honest, I was girl-watching.    I’ll write about the experience at some point, should inspiration to do so encourage me. 

04:30 PM: Okay, we’ve spent two hours at the water park, enjoying our iPods and the music through the park PA systems.  Now we’re headed across East Pleasant Valley Boulevard to where the rides are. 

05:45 PM: Let’s see, we did indeed ride the merry-go-round, the Crazy Mouse, and the little train.  Now, we’re grabbing a little supper at the outdoor restaurant close to game land. 

065:00 PM: We enjoyed a couple of steak sandwiches at Murf’s Kitchen.  Unfortunately however, I couldn’t get their free outdoor WiFi to work with my iPod Touch.  I was able to connect to it, but could not access any of my favorite Internet radio stations.  Something must be wrong with their Internet connection.

06:20 PM: We then met sister Jojo near the park’s main office for our ride home.  She had come to pick up her daughter, who had come to the park with a friend for the day, and her younger son, who was working as a life guard at the park. 

06:30 PM: We’re home again.

06:45 PM: After enjoying some cream cheese jello, we’re taking a nap.  Being out in that bright sun this afternoon has really played me out. 

08:45 PM: While dozing, we listened to  the 2010-05-27 episode of   KDKA’s local news at 5:00 PM   on the DVR.

09:50 PM: Watched last night’s and tonight’s episodes of   NBC’s Nightly News   on the DVR.

12:35 AM: Watched the 2010-05-28 episode of   Dr. Phil,  and the 2010-05-23 episode of   NBC’s Nightly News; both from the DVR.

12:40 AM: Going to bed now.  Good night, take care, and see you tomorrow. 

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• The 2010-05 issue of  Consumer Reports   magazine.
• Notice that plastic and paper recycling is coming to our area.
• TigerDirect catalog.
• Invitation to nephew Trey’s graduation party.  We’re going.
• Balance transfer offer from Capital One bank.  No thanks.

Related Posts

• Diary Revisions: 2010-05-29
• Quest Revisions: 2010-05-29
• Site Stats: 2010-05-29
• Today’s Diet: 2010-05-29
• Tom’s Love Quest –> Dear Susan Jacks
• Weekly Backups: 2010-05-29
• Weight Loss: 2010

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.

Log

07:30 AM: I’m up. Starting off fully sunny.  However, there’s rain in the forecast for later today.

08:30 AM: Heading out the door for   shopping   now. 

01:30 PM: On the way home from   shopping, we went by sister Jojo’s house to see the new puppies.  It turned out that they were experiencing problems with their cable TV reception, and the cable guy just happened to arrive just after we did.  We found that the Channel Plus DA-500 booster amplifier that I installed back in 1994 had stopped working.  This became immediately apparent upon touching the amplifier, which, when operating normally, should have felt lukewarm.  However this unit was cool to the touch, indicating that the circuits inside were no longer functioning.  The 12-volt power supply that feeds the amp was still humming, but showed some discoloration on the top.  Overheating was indicated by this as well as a faint, smokey smell I noted from the supply itself.  Subsequent inspection of the supply’sinterior revealed  further darkening of the circuit board, close to the bridge rectifier diodes.  The supply thus, defenitely encountered some trouble.  So I’m hopeful that only the power supply went bad and that the amplifier is still okay.  If that’s the case, I can get this thing working again easily, simply by changing the power adapter.  Otherwise, the amplifier might have to be scrapped.  I’ll figure this out sometime soon. 

Once the amp was determined to be malfunctioning, the cable guy bypassed it in the system, and fairly good reception returned to all televisions in the house.  He then went around, checking all connections and replacing all the old-style crimp F fittings with the newer, more reliable compression fittings.  He also discovered a frayed cable; probably from Jojo’s rabbit chewing it.  He replaced this and a few dated splitters, and improved reception was noted on all sets afterwards.  In fact, picture clarity improved enough that a booster amplifier is no longer needed at Jojo’s. 

After he finished, the cable technician and I had an enlightening conversation, and he gave me lots of great information about our cable system, including the following:

• They no longer offer FM radio service in this community.  A few years ago, he said, the supporting equipment was deemed too expensive and antiquated to maintain.  Besides, they needed the FM radio spectrum space for additional TV channels. 
• Maximum residential Internet speed: 8 mbps down and 512 kbps up; though higher speeds with special arrangements could be made available.
• They use fiber optic lines to carry the the cable signals from Altoona to the various communities around Blair county, and then convert it to RF for distribution within those communities. 
• On our entire cable system, there are only two channels allocated for Internet data transfers; there’s potential for many more, particularly once the analog channels are phased out in favor of digital ones. 
• They use RG-11 cable for short runs.  The preferred distribution cable from a fiber hub is RG-500.  Older residential cable installations employ RG-59 coaxial cable.  But all new drops are run with RG-6. 
• An underground cable can become more lossy over time, as the elements slowly work their way inside its outer jacket.  Rocks can nick the insulation, allowing water and dirt to get into the dielectric. 

03:00 PM: We’re back home again.  

03:15 PM: All groceries are now put away.

03:45 PM: The Bountiful WiFi BWRG1000 I ordered earlier this week arrived today.  This duplicates the one I already have.  I’ll configure it to mirror the network names and other settings that the original has so that in the event of a WAP (WiFi access point) failure, I can quickly substitute the new one for the faulty one. 

04:00 PM: Tested the new (used actually) BWRG1000 briefly.  The iPod Touch picks it up just fine; though I’ve not yet connected it to the Internet for a full test.  It first must be reconfigured for that.   

09:00 PM: Watched today’s episode of    The Young and the Restless   on the DVR.  Adam may not be dead, and another fellow may have died in his place.  Abby steals Victoria and Billy’s wedding video, and secretly records a party with high gossip potential.  Finally, Emily avoided losing her medical license for the sins that Patty committed in her name. 

12:00 AM: Watched tonight’s episode of   CNN’s AC 360.  The president visited the oil spill zone earlier and much of the coverage focused on the merits and criticisms of his trip to the gulf. 

3:15 AM: Facebooked, looking for new friends.  Up to 234 friends now, including pop singer Susan Jacks  (Which Way You Going Billy,   That’s Where I Went Wrong,  Where Evil Grows,  Etc.), a boyhood favorite of mine as the 1970s began.  Finding her and being able to thank her for the tunes was a unanticipated yet thrilling treasure.  In fact, when she accepted my friend request, I wrote her a heartfelt letter to do just that.  See it   here.  Facebook is great!

03:30 AM: Time to shut down for the night.  So have a good one, and I’ll chat at you some more tomorrow.  Take care. 

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Offer for higher education classes at YTI Career Institute.  Not at this time, thanks.
• Summary of Mom’s medicine expenses so far this year. 

Related Posts

• Facebook Tid Bits: 2010-05-28
• Shopping Trip: 2010-05-28
• Today’s Diet: 2010-05-28
• Tom’s Love Quest –> Dear Susan Jacks
• Weight Loss: 2010

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.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Improving Pavilion WiFi #1
• Improving Pavilion WiFi #2
• Today’s Business: 2010-04-11

09:30 AM: This morning, I received an email from dyndns.org, warning that my account with them would be deleted unless I followed the provided link, which was to confirm that I still wished to keep the account, as well as to remove the inactivity flag they’d recently placed on the account.  If there’s no activity for thirty days, they deem the account inactive, and since this is a free account, they delete it within a week afterward unless they hear from its owner through this confirmation process.

I do in fact, want to retain this account, because it enables me to log into this computer while I’m traveling, without having to know its current IP address.  I ust access it through the qualified domain name at DynDNS.org. 

So, I followed the link, and got a message in my web browser, saying that my account would not be deleted.  But, it also said that in order for me to retain the account indefinitely without being pestered to re confirm it each month, I should either upgrade to a pro (read that, PAID) account, or make sure to keep some activity going on the free account. 

I wondered at this, because they said that routine client update requests sent periodically from their updater client program (which I run on this computer all the time) are enough to keep the account in active standing.  But even with the updater running, for some reason, they deemed my account inactive.

To investigate the matter, I hovered the mouse pointer over the DynDNS updater icon that always shows up in the notification area of my task bar (I’m running Windows XP).  Doing this brings up a status balloon message that shows when the last IP address update to dyndns.org occurred and whether or not it was successful.  My message indicated that the last successful update had occurred some three months ago, in January.  Curious.

So, I went to http://dyndns.org/ and successfully logged into my account.  This meant that the user Id and password I had on file were correct.  To my knowledge, these were also the ones I used when I first set up the client updater program on this computer. 

Next, I opened the updater configuration window.  Immediately, an error message window appeared over top of that one, saying that user authentication had failed. 

This got me to thinking that somehow, the user id and password saved in this window when I first installed this program had become corrupted.  But when I pulled up the “Change user” window, the correct user Id displayed.  However, as per good security precautions, the saved password did not appear.  So to eliminate the possibility that the password was corrupt, I tabbed into that field (edit box) and set it to what it is at dyndns.org, and saved.  However, the error appeared again the next time I ran the configuration utility.

I noticed however, that my version of the DynDNS client program was old.  So I updated to version 4.1.5, the latest version as of today.  Still though, this program could not successfully log into DynDNS to update my IP address.

I wasn’t sure what to do at this point, and toyed with the idea of emailing their support address, asking for assistance.  But I wasn’t quite ready to give up just yet.  After all, I’d only spent ten minutes on the problem so far, and I’m usually good for at least an hour or two, wheel-spinning on my own, before frustration forces me to throw in the towel.  Besides, responses to such email requests often come only after days, and I hate waiting around for them if there’s something I can do by myself to fix things sooner.

So, on a hunch, I went back into the change-user option, and re-entered my user Id and password, then saved.  This time, I retyped both the fields (user Id and password).  I don’t know why or how, but this seems to have solved the updater issue, as I subsequently got a successful update message, dated today.  Perhaps resaving the entire user record overwrote any corruption so that now, my DynDNS client is working correctly. 

Since it updates every few days, I should no receive those periodic email messages, asking me to confirm that my account is still active.  Nice. 

This raises another question though.  My NetGear ProSafe firewall supports DynDNS.  So when I first started using this dynamic IP address domain name service (DynDNS), I configured my DynDNS user ID and password into the firewall as well.  The aim was to have the firewall send the updates so that I would not have to run the client program on this PC.  But apparently, the NetGear isn’t updatig either.  So I’ll check into that.  Eventually though, I’d like to get the firewall to perform these updates so as to have one less program running on the computer here.  Stay tuned.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Projects Page
• Today’s Business: 2010-04-05

Well, friends, I’m sorry to report that unless you’re an engineering genius or are willing to take apart your iPod Touch to connect an external WiFi antenna (they do not provide an externally accessible port for this), there’s not much you can do at the iPod end to significantly improve its WiFi performance without negatively impacting the portability and usability of the iPod Touch.  In fact, you can get far better results by modifying your WiFi network as follows:

Keep In Line Of Sight

What you can do with relative ease though, and what I have done in fact, is to assure that the iPod Touch is always in line-of-sight of the WiFi access point (WAP).  It works most flawlessly when you’ve got it in the same room as your WAP.  But if you’re using the Touch outside, then ideally, you’d want to place your WAP outside as well, or at least, to put an antenna out there that’s connected to the WAP.  Avoid trees in the line between the WAP and the iPod Touch if possible.  But don’t worry if you can’t; the signal still gets through the trees, though they will weaken it somewhat depending on their density.  So, trees will reduce how far away from the WAP you can go without losing the WiFi signal.    

Use Directional Antennas

Still though, even with a full-power (1 watt) WAP, you’ll do well if you get continuous WiFi connectivity beyond 300 Ft. with omni directional antennas on your WAP.  Now you could buy directional, high-gain parabolic or yagi antennas and point these in the direction you’d like the best WiFi service.  I haven’t actually tried this yet due to the cost of the devices, lightening arresters, and cables.  But research indicates that such antennas can dramatically increase the strength and range of the signal in the direction you point them.    

Keep Antenna Cables As Short As Possible

Should you decide to employ external antennas of any type, it’s imperative at WiFi frequencies (2.4 Ghz.) to use no more antenna cable between the access point and the antenna than you have to.  At these frequencies, antenna cables reduce the signal that reaches the antenna by a ghastly amount if more than a few meters long.

Make a Repeater

Or you could purchase another WAP and configure it as a WiFi repeater, and place it where you want good service.  As long as the repeater gets a reliable signal from the original (root) WAP, it will repeat well.  I got some great success with this technique (discussed   here).  Keep in mind though that the presence of a repeater on your WiFinetwork will effectively halve the network’s effective bandwidth capability.  So, employ this solution only if 27 mega bits per second (half of the wireless-G bandwidth of 54 mbps) still meets your network requirements.  For most Internet radio listening or web browsing, this is sufficient. If you have a spare WAP you can use for this but it’s firmware does not support the repeater function, you might be able to install the dd-wrt firmware on the WAP.  This program has repeater options built in.

Make Another WiFi Network

Or, if you’re put off by the repeater solution as I was, but you’d still like to employ your extra access point, then put it near where you’ll most likely connect to the Internet with your Touch, and configure it as a different SSID (a different WiFi network).  Of course, you’ll need to get the Internet from your primary Internet router to the WAP.  You can run Ethernet cable if possible. If not, you can utilize your power lines to carry the Ethernet signals from your house to wherever you place the WAP outside.  However, these are somewhat costly. 

Put The WAP Close By

Whether you go the repeater or second-network roots described above, locate the access point serving the desired area as close to that area as possible.   Devices with internal antennas (such as the iPod Touch) prefer very strong WiFi signals to eliminate connection drops, especially if you wish to move around with them like me, say, on a riding lawn tractor or swinging with them in a pavilion.  A WAP within a hundred feet will do much to ensure against unwanted pauses in audio and video streams playing over the network on these devices. 

Summary

In short, you can most effectively extend the operational WiFi range of your iPod Touch.  But your best bet is to do so by manipulating the network equipment surrounding the iPod, and not the iPod itself.  They may come out at some point with WiFirange boosters for the Touch, such as what you can buy for cell phones. But until them, the above suggestions can help significantly.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Improving Pavilion WiFi #1
• Improving Pavilion WiFi #2 
• iPod Touch Has Weak Wifi
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-29

In the ongoing effort to get stronger WiFi signal at my pavilion so that my wireless devices like the iPod Touch function more reliably down there, I thought that today, I’d do the reverse of   what was done yesterday.  At that time, I configured my high power access point (the Bountiful WiFi BWRG1000) as a repeater of the root access point, which was my lower power AP (the Linksys WRT300N).  However, I could not get the BWRG1000 to repeat the WRT300N V1s signals after several hours of reading, trial, and error.

So, later yesterday and today, I investigated configuring the WRT300N V1 as the repeater instead.  Unfortunately, the stock firmware from Linksys that ships with this AP does not support repeater or repeater bridge functionality.  But a Google search revealed a neat firmware system, called dd-wrt.  This package is open software (so it is free), and it contains the additional functionality I need for repeating. Check out its web site at  http://www.dd-wrt.com/, for more information.

After locating the correct firmware for the WRT300N V1 (not a trivial task, mind you), I downloaded it and installed.  I may post details about this experience in another piece if I can remember everything I did.  It took a couple hours to read the site, locate the software, then read some more in order to convince myself that I did in fact, select the correct version.    

Anyway, as it turns out, I chose correctly, because I experienced no dead (or bricked) router problems, and after more trial and error into the wee hours of this morning, I finally got WRT3000N V1 to repeat here in the office!  More details on that effort later.

Then, an hour ago, I took the WRT300N V1 down to the pavilion (it’s cold and rainy outside today, but I was determined.).  It worked like a champ.  In fact, I was amazed at the enhanced reliability and range of it. 

There are still a few kinks to work out – could not get DHCP to work through this router when configured as a repeater bridge.  So I program a static IP address for the iPod Touch to use when it connects to this particular (repeater) SID.  But I’ll tinker with that more this afternoon and hopefully will discover a solution; I avoid hard-coding of IP addresses where possible. 

After playing around and changing parameters, I resolved the DHCP problems by configuring the WRT300N V1 as a   repeater; not a repeater bridge.  This means that all clients on the WiFi side of the router as well as those plugged into the LAN ports on that same router, get their dynamic IP address from the DHCP server in that router (the WRT300N V1).  Additionally, the WRT300N V1 also acts as a client on my BWRG1000 AP, which gives the WRT300N V1 its IP address via the BWRG1000 DHCP server. Funny that this server grants dynamic IP addresses to the WRT300N V1, but I couldn’t get it to grant to the clients on that router.  People talked on the dd-wrt forums about the software not forwarding DHCP broadcast packets to the Ethernet side of the router. If that’s true than nothing less than a firmware update will fix it. 

The repeater solution, after a day’s work to get it going, works well when repeating an open system (no wireless security turned on), although it does cut the effective throughput of the entire WIFi network in half.  This is not a problem for me listening to Internet radio and surfing, because the bandwidth is still around 27 megabits per second.  Since even the best stations only require 128 kilobits per second, there’s still plenty of capacity available. 

So once everything was working in open-system mode, I attempted to turn on security.  I tried WEP, WPA Peraonal, and WPA2 Personal between the two routers.  However, all of these broke the repeater; while turned on, the repeater router would not repeat.  In fact, it would not connect correctly to the primary (BWRG1000) router at all.  So it appears that I’d have to keep my security on the BWRG1000 turned off; not an acceptable solution.

Also, I noticed decreased stability on my WRT300N V1 after applying the dd-wrt firmware.  Specifically, when you change various parameters, oftentimes they do not take effect, even when you save them, apply them, and finally, reboot the router.  Sometimes, you must set them two to four times before they actually modify system behavior as they should.  I’m not sure why this is so.  It could be that the dd-wrt firmware has bugs.  So I suppose I could try earlier versions and see if they’re any better.  But I’ve already got way too much time in this. This firmware works well when operating the WRT300N V1 as a straight access point (no repeating or bridging).  Thus it might be wise to investigate how to use it to solve the pavilion WiFi weakness problem in this basic mode. 

Just for purposes of experimentation and edification, it would be nice to devise a solution that does not impact available network bandwidth so much, and that would also solve my security problems.  Further, the WRT300N V1 router is only designed for indoor use.  However, I’d like to get an outdoor unit that could be permanently mounted in the pavilion, to save me from having to cart the router down there to listen to the radio, and then bring it back up to the house when I’m done.  Hmmm.  Time to set up some saved searches on eBay for cheap outdoor WiFi equipment.  I’ll look into this and write more about those possibilities in other pieces later.    

So again, stay tuned.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Improving Pavilion WiFi Attempt #1
• Improving Pavilion WiFi Attempt #3
• iPod Touch Has Weak WiFi
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-23

So, in early 2008, I purchased a Linksys WRT300N V1 WiFi access point (AP) and router to ease myself into the WiFi world cheaply.  However, this unit appears to utilize a very low-power transmitter – the signal strength falls rapidly as you increase your distance from this AP.  I lose one bar even when just one room away on a laptop.  Still though, at the pavilion, I get one bar from it and can reliably connect.  Its signal seems reliable and strong enough to be a good input to a repeater AP.

Nonetheless, I still wished to further improve signal strength down there and throughout the house up here.  So in later 2008, I purchased a full-power (1 watt or 30 DBm) system: The Bountiful WiFi  BWRG1000 AP and router.  This vastly improved WiFi reception everywhere, including my favorite hang-out spot here on the property; the pavilion, which is 210 feet from the house. Laptops with WiFi now get three to four bars out of five down there, and they reliably play my favorite Internet radio stations.

My passion for Internet radio has grown over the past year.  So I decided to purchase a 64 GB iPod Touch with WiFi, hoping to spend some long days at the pavilion listening to stations on it.  Unfortunately, while the WiFi signal strength is very useable, it’s still quite weak on the iPod; the touch does not receive as well as the laptops, and so, requires a stronger WiFi signal to establish comparable reception.  Further, as I swing with the iPod Touch, apps such as AOL Radio and ShoutCAST often cut out apparently due to the dead spots encountered at the fringes of the “WiFi bubble”.  It will work.  But once you find a place where the signal is strong, you must keep the iPod Touch quite still to avoid these drop-outs.

This will not do though, because I love to sit on the pavilion swings, and get them really moving as I’m jamming.  So for me, it’s no fun sitting still, when listening to the sorts of dance and classic rock music that I so enjoy.  Thus, I’ve got to be able to move around without fear of losing the signal.  So, I’m seeking a way to get a strong WiFi signal in and around the pavilion, so that my iPod Touch will function flawlessly.

To that end, I attempted to configure my BWRG1000 as a WiFi repeater, and take it to the pavilion while I had the WRT300N V1 up here configured as my root access point.  If it worked, I’d have an extremely strong signal on the Touch, as the BWRG1000 would only be a few feet from me.  However, I could not make the BWRG1000 repeat the signals from the WRT300N V1, even when I positioned it very close to the WRT300N V1.  I tried the following steps without luck:

• Enabled WDS mode on the BWRG1000.  No repeating occurred.
• Configured the SID and MAC Ids of the WRT300N V1 as my root access point on the BWRG1000.  Still, no repeating.
• Set the encryption format on the WRT300N V1 to WEP.  It says on the Bountiful WiFi web site that the BRWG1000, in repeater mode, does not support any encryption except WEP.  Aaaaah, I thought.  This explains the no-signal situation.  Alas however, I still had no signal from the BRWG1000 after this change, even I verified that I could connect to the WRT300N V1 with the iPod Touch using WEP.
• Made sure that the WRT300N V1 was configured for Wireless G mode only.

I also read that often, when the make of the repeater-mode access point (Bountiful WiFi in this scenario) differs from that of the root access point (Linksys here), repeater operation may not work.  It could be that this difference is preventing the BWRG1000 from repeating. 

Unfortunately, this experiment of employing the BWRG1000 as a repeater for a WRT300N V1 AP has failed, barring any new information that readers provide.  I wonder if the repeater solution might work the other way around?  That is: What if I configure the BRWG1000 as the root AP and the WRT300N V1 AP as the repeater?  That might work.  However, I’d probably have to switch to different firmware than the stock software, as the stock software does not allow the user to configure this AP for repeater operation.  Still though, I might give that a try.  

The Next Day

In fact, I did try this out.  Click   here   for details.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Improving Pavilion WiFi #2 
• Improving Pavilion WiFi #3
• iPod Touch Has Weak WiFi
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-22 

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty. DONE.
• Pay all (2) pending bills.
• Schedule appointment for Mom with the retina specialists in Johnstown for sometime in April, 2010.

Log

08:10 AM: I’m up. My weight stayed the same as yesterday, at 175.0 Lbs.    See   here for a summary of the progress on this goal so far in 2010.

09:45 AM: Added a   Projects Page   to this blog, moved the lists of completed, current, and deferred projects from the main page side bar to this page.  Then, I added a link to this page on each page mentioned in these lists.

10:00 AM: Read more of the    Call of the Wild   book throughout the night and during down moments this morning.

01:45 PM: Worked the   Emmy’s New Cable Service   project; helped [Emmy] set up and use her new email and digital television. 

03:25 PM: Posted the   Beam Box FM Antenna   piece.

04:30 PM: Worked the   Storm Cleanup: 2010-03-13   project.

05:00 PM: Nap time.  The switch to daylight savings time over the weekend has me off schedule a little.

06:30 PM: I’m up again. 

08:00 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless    on the DVR.

09:15 PM: Converted my list of 2009 audio journal episodes into a list of search links, that will be posted on the upcoming   Audio Journal Information Page.

10:30 PM: Talked with  [Emmy].

11:30 PM: Posted an   Audio Journal Information Page,  where I can keep track of all the audio journal episodes I’ve recorded.

12:35 AM: Created audio journal episode:  AJE-2010-03-16-00-03, where I talked about feeling a lot of stress over the past 12 hours.  It’s my way of venting and de-stressing. 

01:10 AM: Read more of the    Call of the Wild   book throughout the day.

01:12 AM: Bed once again.  Catch you tomorrow.  So long.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Flyer from FEMA, explaining the importance of having flood insurance.  We already have it.
• 25% off coupon from Sherwin-Williams.
• Another notice of termination of my dental insurance; how many times do the need to tel me?
• Promo Only’s Urban Radio series; the 2010-04 issue.
• Promo Only’s EADFF series; the 2010-03-02 issue.
• Offer for free personal checking from First Commonwealth bank.  No thanks.  Both Mom and I already have this at our respective banks.
• Misc. banking info.
• Final phone bills, both Mom’s and mine, from Verizon.

Related Posts

• Audio Journal Information Page
• Beam Box FM Antenna
• Book: Call of the Wild
• Emmy’s New Cable Service
• Projects Page
• Storm Cleanup: 2010-03-13
• Today’s Diet: 2010-03-15
• Weight Loss: 2010

08:43 AM: [Emmy] called just now to say good morning.  This will be the last time we talk on her Verizon land line telephone service; this morning, she’s switching to Comcast phone service. 

For just a few dollars more a month, she’ll get a four-times faster Internet connect (12 mbps down), and lots more channels on her television.  She’ll lose Verizon’s Call Intercept service however.  But that’s okay because she’s been considering getting rid of that for some months now anyway.  She’ll also lose her WiFi capability, a feature that’s built into Verizon’s Westel DSL modem, that Verizon will probably want back.   But I have an extra access point that I’ll loan her. 

The quoted prices for this Comcast service are good for one year.  Hopefully by the time they expire, Verizon will have FiOS in her area, that offers a faster-still Internet connection, and even more television channels. In the meantime however, Comcast appears to be the most economical product for her.

…

01:00 PM: [Emmy] now has her new Comcast phone, television, and Internet service.  Only problem was that the installer did not wish to help her configure her email, even though we were assured when we ordered the new service that the technician would assure that [Emmy's] email was configured.  Nor did he take the time to show her how to use the universal remote control.  She had no idea how to turn her TV on much less change the channels. 

So once the instaler left, we called Comcast for assistance.  The fellow we spoke with was most helpful, and he talked [Emmy] through setting up the email initially.  He also provided me a link to the users guide for the remote that accompanied [Emmy's] new digital cable service.  Between the two of us, [Emmy] and I gained access to the remote and I described to her how to find the remote’s essential buttons.  It has many buttons that she’ll probably never use since she did not opt for a a DVR. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Projects Page
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-15

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty. DONE.
• Pay all (1) pending bills.
• Schedule appointment for Mom with the retina specialists in Johnstown for sometime in April, 2010. 

Log

09:30 AM: I’m up. My weight dropped a half-pound from yesterday, to   176.5 Lbs.    

10:30 PM: Read more of the book   To Kill A Mockingbird.

11:15 AM: [Emmy] called to say good morning.

12:00 PM: Worked the   Pink’s PC Problems: 2010-03-10   project.  I must confer with her about how to proceed, before proceeding. 

02:30 PM: Finished the book   To Kill A Mockingbird.  Excellent and informative reading!

02:33 PM: Warmest day this year; the temperature on the back porch here is 62 degrees and climbing.  The sun is shining as well on a mostly clear afternoon. 

03:35 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   on the DVR.

04:05 PM; Further, on this warmest day so far, I took the opportunity to replace a burned-out halogen flood light in the east carport.  Looks like the fixture won’t last much longer.  In fact, sometimes I wonder why they make the bulbs replaceable in these.  I changed thsi holder the last time the bulb failed a few years ago, and this fixture shows the same signs of deterioration; rusted face clips and weakened contact springs.  It must be the heat from the 300 watt lamp that’s so hard on these things.  Oh well.  I’m toying with replacing these with LED dusk-to-dawn lamps later this year.  That would solve the heat problem at least.

04:20 PM: Downloaded the following talking books from the BARD site:

• Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• Adventures of Pinocchio
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Call Of The Wild
• Canterbury Tales

05:00 PM: With the weather being so warm, it’s safe to classify this day as the first pavilion day of 2010, and to honor this very special time, I took the iPod touch down there, through the muddy grass.  Internet radio works pretty well at the pavilion.  But it does cut out frequently if you don’t hold the touch properly.  So I might look into how to improve the WiFi reception; either by moving my access point to the attic and then putting a directional antenna on the roof, or putting a weatherproof access point in the pavilion.  I’ll have to mull it over to see which solution would be the cheapest.   

06:00 PM: Sister Christine called to check in.  Nice to hear that she’s recovering from her facial paralysis.  She has this week off from teaching to get better.

06:15 Nap time.

07:30 PM: I’m up again.  Working the   Pink’s PC Problems: 2010-03-10   project.  Restoring the Vista operating system from the recovery image on the hard drive.. 

10:00 PM: Listened to the third and overtime periods of the Penguins hockey game with [Emmy] on the phone.  They lost however, 4 to 3. 

10:30 PM: Sister Joann called to arrange our shopping trip for tomorrow.  We’re going early (at 7:45 AM) because Jojo is taking Mom to the doctor’s tomorrow afternoon.  So we’ll get our activities out of the way in the morning. 

11:30 PM: Went back to reading the   Team of Rivals   book.

11:50 PM: Okay, going to bed.  Good night and take care.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Offer for Verizon DSL high speed Internet.  No thanks.
• Notice of new premium rates from my ex dental insurance company.
• Offer for AT&T cell phone service.  No thanks.
• Mom’s 2010-02 banking statement.
• 2010-03 issue of Analog Science Fiction magazine.

Related Posts

• Book: Team of Rivals
• Book: To Kill A Mockingbird
• Pink’s PC Problems: 2010-03-10
• Today’s Diet: 2010-03-11