Hi All,
Hope the rain has not dampened your spirits too much. Who have thought we are in the middle of summer eh?
Can I ask for a little advise please? I need some help on mobile Internet for our holiday trip. I know some of you use mobile Internet dongles and wondered where it is best placed on the boat to pick up a signal. I've seen some in plastic bottles under the cratch cover but Isla's Drum wont have a cover so that is out. I want to blog whilst on holiday so wondered what your experiences are in solving the dongle position problem.
How long a USB lead can it cope with? I'll be using a pay as you go Vodaphone USB mobile internet dongle which work well enough at home but in a steel boat I do know there are problems.
With AmyJo's build now long complete and one of us into retirement. Chris I now look forward to cruising the network further afield now time allows Our blog is a diary for our friends and family to follow our adventures and, of course, you are welcome to join us as well.
7 comments:
Hi,
You might get help on this blog as Heth has only just been bloggin about this.
http://www.takeytezeyheth.net/2011/07/mobile-internet-why-reception-can-be.html
Hope this helps.
Hi Dave,
Some useful hints there and it sounds like Heth uses the same set-up I'm thinking of using, at least when using the dongle.
I liked the pastic bottle idea, at least that way the dongle stays dry. Pitty Isla's Drum does not have a cratch cover otherwise it sounds like the ideal place to sit and type away is there
For a long time we just used to hang the dongle in the window. Now we use an external ariel, which had a magnet to hold it onto the roof. It's technically an indoor one, and cost about £30. This improved the signal no end. It also has the advantage that the dongle in inside rather than outside. Our current dongle doesn't actually have an ariel socket on it, but I found a thing that wraps round the dongle and plugs into the ariel, which also works well.
Hi Adam,
Interesting Gizmo you describe there. Never heard of something that wraps round the dongle like that before. Is there a web page for it where I could see it?
Steve, here's a link to the post on my old Debdale blog about it. I'll try to find out where I bought it.
http://nbdebdale.blogspot.com/2010/08/mobile-internet.html
OK, here's the wrap around thingy:
http://www.panorama-antennas.com/shop/antennas/cplr-ep3g-015-fp.html
I had to get another adaptor to connect it to the antenna.
And this (I think) is the external antenna we use:
http://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-antenna-ren5_om.htm
We put the cable through the dinette window. It has the advantage that the dongle is inside not outside, and when you're not using it you can disconnect it so there's no chance of it getting stolen.
Thanks Adam I'll take a look
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