My friend lives next street and we were wondering if it is possible to have a wireless network set up between our houses. I measured the distance, and it is roughly 195 meters (640 ft.). We thought maybe we could use 2 parabolic antennas and wi-fi, but I have no idea if it is even remotely possible. Could it work?
Pic related
Yeah, I rigged one up in my last rent house (rural USA) and it worked. Lots of tweaking though.
>>917141
Yes, it is very easy to do. Just get 2 USB wifi devices, two 10 feet long USB extension cords, and 2 parabolic dishes (google "wokfi"). I use metal lamp shades like those used for heating lamps but you can something cheaper. Pic related. I don't have mine outside, they just aim at each other through several walls and it does the trick. For block walls you'll need to bounce it around them using some flat surface the signal can bounce off of. I had to do that for someone's wireless security cameras.
I only use 1 dish for my setup and that is all that is needed for my range. It is about 200-250 feet away and through 3 wood-drywall walls. Having 2 dishes pointed at each other will extend the range up to a couple miles with line-of-sight.
http://www.exe64.com/mirror/wokfi/
Is there a clear line of sight or is it obstructed? 200 m is easily doable with available wifi bridges (I personally have achieved 1000+ m with a Ubiquiti Airgrid M5 and a Bullet M5 on the other end). If there are obstacles in the way (or even within the fresnel zone) things can get a bit trickier.
>>917438
It'd need to be a brick wall or a forest to cause real problems at only 640ft.
>>917446
>Depending on the Tx power
A normal wifi dongle + wokfi will do it without ramping up the power. It is quite impressive.
>>917446
>>917450
With a clear line of sight, even ordinary dongles shouldn't have any trouble with this when augmented by reflectors on both ends. Using only a single reflector or going through intermediate obstacles might require more power than the average dongle.
It should also be noted that wokfi reflectors and cantenna waveguides, when applied to Part-15 certified transmitters constitute antenna modifications which are technically not legal, even if you keep it within the EIRP limits set by the standards. It's unlikely anybody would give a shit, though.
>>917446
You got a problem with Ubiquiti?
They may be a bit on the pricey side but their products do work well, and their M5 series were the only option which suited my particular application (since the 2.4 GHz band was off-limits).
>>917453
Actually the opposite, our company doesn't use Ubiquiti and when I've had to work on it for new customer, its because its shit. I work with Cambium equipment mostly so no price isn't the issue.
>>917453
>It's unlikely anybody would give a shit, though.
As far as the FCC goes, no. Its unlikely this would cause problems for adjacent bands that the FCC would be interested in auditing frequencies in that area.
Outside of that you may be causing interference on channels for WISPs or residences, they may give a shit.
>>917460
>its because its shit.
How so? I had zero problems and the equipment seemed quite adaptable and well-developed all around, to me. I'm curious to hear your complaints.
>>917446
You can buy or make an amplifier to increase the Tx power, no biggie
>>917463
>Outside of that you may be causing interference on channels for WISPs or residences
Plausibly, yes, but even that probably isn't very likely with a typical wok-fi setup. We're merely trading beamwidth for gain in this particular case, so really anyone who would be more significantly affected than from an ordinary wifi setup would have to be somewhere in that narrow beam. Furthermore, if OP is prudent and curteous about it, the increased receive gain on both ends would actually permit him to run a LOWER peak EIRP for the bridge than if he were using omnis (OP would have to reduce the power of the radios in question, though, which not all wifi equipment accommodates straightforwardly).
>>917453
Since when was wifi part-15? I thought part 15 was AM, FM and TV?
Otherwise my microwave would be an unlicensed transmitter?
>>917529
>I thought part 15 was AM, FM and TV?
Umm... no. AM, FM and television broadcasting stations are licensed and use very high-power transmitters. There are a handful of exceptions (Low Power AM and Low Power FM broadcasting, which are license-free so long as they don't interfere with other stations), but for the most part TV and radio broadcasting is a licensed affair.
Wifi, on the other hand, uses low-power (<1 watt), spread-spectrum transmitters (usually in the 2.4 GHz band) that are Part-15 certified. Microwave ovens are also Part 15, and the shielding is absolutely essential to bringing the external radiation field strength down to allowable limits.
>>917468
you can do this from your OS:
https://www.linux.com/learn/docs/ldp/872372-tips-and-tricks-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-linux-wifi
I'm sure you can do this in windows, too, no idea how, though.
>>917680
>Set wireless regional region to Bolivia
These wireless regions are chosen specifically to keep wifi transmitters operating legally within a particular jurisdiction. If you're going to go pirate/off-cert in order to make the bridge work, you might as well use wokfi instead as it will work better (assuming it's done properly) AND probably create less interference for neighbors.
Is no one using Pringles cans any more?
Highly directional and dirt cheap... used to work great.
>>919488
Use this for sizing the can you need to the frequencies you are using.
http://www.changpuak.ch/electronics/cantenna.php
