Author Topic: Bloomsky WiFi Antenna Pattern  (Read 1333 times)

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Offline waysta

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Bloomsky WiFi Antenna Pattern
« on: March 06, 2016, 06:25:14 PM »
I pulled an old DD-WRT router from my semi-retired router box, and as suggested, DD-WRT does report the client signal strength.

So, I put Bloomsky, ball and solar panel back on a wood stand in the back yard at about 4 feet above ground.  The ball was linked to the Netgear N300 router running DD-WRT.  The router was placed on a surface about 4 feet above ground in the room with no nearby obstructions (and not moved during testing).  The Ball was about 100 feet and three walls (at an angle) about north-north-west from the router in the house.  The yard slopes down a bit from the house, so the router was probably another 4-8 feet or so above the ball.  The solar panel remained fixed pointed south, the ball was rotated above the fixed solar panel on its plastic spike post.

The ball was rotated 45 degrees at a time through the circle.  It was a pain, because I had to wait for each 5 min transmission to measure the Bloom Sky signal at the router on a desktop computer near the router in the room.  I did two runs for each compass point, e.g. east, south east, south, etc.

So, for me, it looks like the best ball orientation is rain pad to the North, when my router is south-south-east of the ball.  For those on the edge of usable signal strength, rotation of the ball may be important, even go - no/go.  However, the difference is not as large as I expected.  On the other hand, note that dB is a log scale.

The worst signal is when the rain pad points back to my router. 

There is some change by rotation, however it is not as much of an effect as I expected.  Signal Strength is in dB (possibly dBm).  Signal quality takes into account noise and signal to noise ratio (SNR):

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« Last Edit: March 06, 2016, 08:49:03 PM by waysta »

Offline VaJim

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Re: Bloomsky WiFi Antenna Pattern
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2016, 08:53:07 PM »
thanks...for me,... 2 things appear to affect my Bloomsky wifi experience;

1.  Distance from wireless router and number of walls, cordless phones, microwaves, weather, etc.

2.  Proximity of neighbors who also operate a wireless wifi router.

The one of mine that is the closest to the house/router performs the best on the wifi.  The others, not so much.


Offline waysta

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Re: Bloomsky WiFi Antenna Pattern
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2016, 10:10:32 PM »
My experience with WiFi in general has been similar. 

Sad to say, but even in 2016, still not much beats a direct run of Ethernet cable.

(Although, some WiFi reliability seems device related.  For example both my iPhone and Canon 6D work fine, even across the street.)
« Last Edit: March 07, 2016, 10:20:56 AM by waysta »

Offline VaJim

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Re: Bloomsky WiFi Antenna Pattern
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2016, 11:08:25 AM »
It was a pain, because I had to wait for each 5 min transmission to measure the Bloom Sky signal at the router on a desktop computer near the router in the room. 

Just a follow up to this thread, not sure if its widely known, but you can force the Bloomsky to take a pic by holding down the WIFI button on the Bloomsky.

Based on your tests and results, which angle for the Bloomsky to be facing worked best for the WIFI signal?

Offline waysta

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Re: Bloomsky WiFi Antenna Pattern
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2016, 11:28:23 AM »
I did not know that, thanks!

The precipitation / rain pad facing away from the router gave the best signal quality.

It was a pain, because I had to wait for each 5 min transmission to measure the Bloom Sky signal at the router on a desktop computer near the router in the room. 

Just a follow up to this thread, not sure if its widely known, but you can force the Bloomsky to take a pic by holding down the WIFI button on the Bloomsky.

Based on your tests and results, which angle for the Bloomsky to be facing worked best for the WIFI signal?

Offline VaJim

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Re: Bloomsky WiFi Antenna Pattern
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2016, 11:38:40 AM »
I did not know that, thanks!

The precipitation / rain pad facing away from the router gave the best signal quality.


Thanks...if that proves to be true in my case, that's pretty limiting in my effort to capture a particular angle of my limited sky view. Just trying to find that 'sweet spot' between camera angle and WIFI strength.