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4g router/hotspot


cornishdave

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we run a Huawei E5573 that i picked up 2nd hand a couple of years ago for about £20.

 

It has an internal battery but to be honest its usually run off a USB cable plugged into a 12v cigar socket.

Its blu-tacked to the window in the saloon and usually performs well, but i have recently bought a pair of cheap aerials for it as it has two TS9 sockets which worked well last time out on the boat. If it was solely our boat i'd look at a more permanent solution and spend a bit more.

 

i think @Jen-in-Wellies had problems with one overheating in a window so be careful of direct sunlight

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3 minutes ago, cornishdave said:

Or failing that, does sticking one to a window get over the Faraday cage problem of being in a metal tube?

It does with my phone which I use as my WiFi hotspot for my laptop, tablet and for streaming TV, music and radio.  Actually, it doesn't need to be in the window half of the time.  I cruise most days though, so if I'm ever in an area with poor net access I can wait 'til tomorrow - this is why I don't feel any need to go for any device other than the phone.  A Faraday Cage with glass windows isn't a very effective Faraday Cage.

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16 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

i think @Jen-in-Wellies had problems with one overheating in a window so be careful of direct sunlight

Yes, a south facing window on the hottest day of that year killed it. As @Sea Dog says, a Faraday cage with glass windows isn't that effective. Window mounting helps if the signal is poor, but in a strong signal area, anywhere works pretty much.

Jen

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Because our cruising range is a lot wider than most on here, I've timkered around wil all sorts of kit.

For our requirements - "web browsing", the popular Huawei E5372 type(s) are adequate.

I've played around with

dongles in the window

flat aerials also in a window

 

For consistent results I find that a whip aerial on the roof works best 'almost anywhere'.

You can spend a lot of money on multi elements in a box and whizzy routers from different manufacturers (though I suspect most of them contain "WahWei" chips). The real determinant is "location, location, location". Service providers concentrate their efforts on customers in towns and cities - folks moored in a tin box in a ditch at or below ground level are not a high revenue prospect, thus "we" get poor service...

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6 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Yesah - but you're in Boyd Gibbins land - so you've got a good signal...

I can see the mast from here, just by the railway.  But it's good everywhere, it's mobile with it's own battery, lasts about 4 hours, had it 3 years. The dangling lead is to USB charge it.

   The bracket has stand off Meccano bits at the top so that the curtain can be drawn across behind it, the signal gets through the curtain as well as the glass.

Edited by bizzard
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40 minutes ago, bizzard said:

I know this is trivial.  Meccano trivet upon my stove, on which I dry my nuts, wood and socks before feeding them into the furnace.  Painted in metal primer.

SAM_1559.JPG

That's something new!, Never throught that you were into hardcore Masochism.

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1 hour ago, bizzard said:

imageproxy.php?img=&key=fba7ffdd30274950imageproxy.php?img=&key=fba7ffdd30274950imageproxy.php?img=&key=fba7ffdd30274950Wi Fi thingy in my window mounted upon Meccano bracket. good reception.

SAM_1651 (2).JPG

Frank Hornby was a very forward thinking chap. He selected the pitch and size of the holes in Meccano  in 1898 so as to easily let 4G and WiFi signals pass through. Will it block 5G signals though? Will conspiracy theorists be wearing home made Meccano suits of armour to protect themselves from the Covid and the mind control?

 

Jen ?

  • Haha 2
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35 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Frank Hornby was a very forward thinking chap. He selected the pitch and size of the holes in Meccano  in 1898 so as to easily let 4G and WiFi signals pass through. Will it block 5G signals though? Will conspiracy theorists be wearing home made Meccano suits of armour to protect themselves from the Covid and the mind control?

 

Jen ?

Indeed, Frank did think about the future and thought a lot about Wi Fi signals and stuff. So much so that he made it clear that in future when plastics  technology arrives thin plastic plates to let the signals through were to be manufactured, as just the holes wouldn't be sufficient in metal plates.  The blue and yellow back plates behind ,my dongle thingy are the later thin plastic ones. :closedeyes:

  • Haha 1
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39 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Frank Hornby was a very forward thinking chap. He selected the pitch and size of the holes in Meccano  in 1898 so as to easily let 4G and WiFi signals pass through. Will it block 5G signals though? Will conspiracy theorists be wearing home made Meccano suits of armour to protect themselves from the Covid and the mind control?

 

Jen ?

Indeed, Frank did think about the future and thought a lot about Wi Fi signals and stuff. So much so that he made it clear that in future when plastics  technology arrives thin plastic plates to let the signals through were to be manufactured, as just the holes wouldn't be sufficient in metal plates.  The blue and yellow back plates behind ,my dongle thingy are the later thin plastic ones. :closedeyes:  He actually visualized 10G to match his biggest No 10 Meccano construction set.

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3 hours ago, cornishdave said:

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a specific 4g router/Wi-Fi hotspot device, ideally one that will runs on battery and also will take an external antenna? Or failing that, does sticking one to a window get over the Faraday cage problem of being in a metal tube?

 

Cheers

Dave

Hope you will be suitably inspired by all this highly technical Wi FI nollidge, cornishdave.  :unsure:

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15 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Hope you will be suitably inspired by all this highly technical Wi FI nollidge, cornishdave.  :unsure:

I am thanks, all very helpful and interesting.

I'm also impressed with your mecanno contraption - it reminds me of the stereo mount I cobbled together in my very first car using the same materials

 

Cheers

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10 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

I had Trix stuff - much better stampings with less agricultural fixings.

 

I wonder what happened to them?.......

I don't think they lasted long, very limited differing bits and pieces in the range. They're Trix Twin 3 rail 00 gauge model train sets didn't either, Strange looking out of scale loco's and stock.  Not in this country anyway.  Bloddy Gairmans again.

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I have one of these Huawei E5172As-22 150Mbps LTE WiFi Router

It will run on 12 volt with volt voltage regulator inline instead of

240v to 12v adaptor which comes with it. Only took 10 days to

arrive. A landline phone pluged into my one. The External antenna

socket is SMA female.

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