Topic: Connecting my Yagi range extender to my WiFi Access Point/Extender

[DaleReid]

Somewhere in these pages I read a few months ago about using a high gain, very directional antenna to extend one's more remote weather site back to the router and the rest of the house/world without having to run CAT5 long distances, revert to a microwave link (well, this is sort of one but in a more affordable way) and enjoy the added benefit of having the shed/shop/mancave/outbuilding also enjoy a good WiFi signal to cut down on cell phone link charges.

As most others, I have a WiFi router, which works pretty good around the house and close yard.  A few hundred feet away I have a shop/shed where a lot of stuff goes on, and I'd like to extend the signal out there without digging in rock to bury a CAT5 cable.  Others here have commented that a highly directional antenna would help a lot, and I finally got a nice little Yagi for that purpose, and a NetGear range extender.  It alone doesn't quite do the trick, so I need to attach the Yagi to one of the three antenna connections. 

The Yagi has an "N" type connector on it, but the best I can remember someone called the screw on connectors something like a 'reverse' SMA or such. 

Almost anything is available through Google or eBay or Amazon searches, so rather than order a lot of stuff that is wrong, and keep it and eat the cost or try to return it, I'm hoping one of the experienced folks here can tell me what I should look for when I want to make the Extender end of the cable screw into an antenna attachment plug.  Is it SMA?  Is it that mysterious 'reverse' SMA (how is there something other than a male or a female SMA?)

By the way, one thing that I did find out was how the extender works with a high gain antenna, and trying to figure out to which one I should attach the high gain to.  Apparently all three antennas listen, then rebroadcast, then listen and rebroadcast.  Otherwise if there were just one input and say two outputs, how would one know which to attach to?  One in and two out.  And I wondered how it could listen on one antenna and simultaneously rebroadcast, which would require a duplexer or something similar.   Apparently, from what I was told and I could be wrong, is that all antennas listen, then pause and use the same antenna to broadcast, then listen again, back and forth.  Sort of like the old police radios where one person talks, then releases the push to talk button, and then the other person.  Not like the live two way conversation on a landline telephone.  But I digress.  If this ISN'T right, I'd sure like to hear how this works.

Well, thanks for all the help previously, and now before it gets cold up here I'd like to finish my station and have it on the air for happy fall and winter use of solid connections to my shed.

So please, if someone knows or has been down this path and has a connector name for me to specify, I'd really appreciate it.
Dale

PS, Happy Extending!

[miraculon]

Maybe this will help.



The non "RP" ones are pretty clear as to which is which, but the "RP" terminology is a bit confusing. My ZyXEL WiFi router has the RP-SMA Female. The do make "gender menders" for these. I got a couple from Amazon.

I think that you are going to need this: https://www.amazon.com/pigtail-Jumper-RP-SMA-Wireless-connections/dp/B00A2FOELO/ref=sr_1_6 or similar of whatever length you need. At these frequencies, you either need low-loss coax or a short run (preferably both) to minimize loss. Hopefully your Netgear has the same SMA connector type. Most seem to be somewhat standardized, but you never know.



Greg H.

[WeatherHost]

" and I finally got a nice little Yagi for that purpose, and a NetGear range extender.  It alone doesn't quite do the trick, so I need to attach the Yagi to one of the three antenna connections.

The Yagi has an "N" type connector on it, but the best I can remember someone called the screw on connectors something like a 'reverse' SMA or such.  "

Post pictures of the connectors on what you have.

Any currently available network device should be Full Duplex (telephone conversation type).

[DaleReid]

Weatherhost:

Now you've confused me with the full duplex.  So does the electronics figure out the receive antenna and broadcast on the other two?  Is there a duplexer in side the box somewhere?  I'm not going to design one, but I am curious as to how that works.

Oh, and when one has three antennas on many of these newer ones, how do your orient them?  The instructions just say to 'position' them.  How?  Like all vertical?  One in each of the three orthogonal planes?  They could have been a wee bit more clear on the specifics.

I'll get the camera out and get some pix of the ends shortly, and I see Greg has a message posted here, too so I'll look at that.

Thanks for the comments, it is helpful and of course like any good thing, sparks more interest and research!
Dale

[ValentineWeather]

If talking about common 2.4 and 5GHZ wifi have you looked into the Netgear version called AC 1900 NightHawk?
Pricy $100+. I purchased one this summer because planing on purchasing my neighbors home and don't want double internet bill living in both homes. I haven't tested yet but from what I read this can send good bandwidth signal some reviews reporting 300'  through walls.   

[DaleReid]

Yes, it is a NetGear AC1900.

There was a sale and I had a percent off coupon, and I wanted to go with a brand name.

Actually I have an old Buffalo router/wifi that was very good.  But I can't get it into Access Point mode for some reason.  I'm sure it is operator error. I really like that for some reason and was going to use it, but need to get a few other things done so I just broke down and bought this one when it came up at a good price.

Hope it works well, should be OK, I'd think.

Can one have a router and two extenders, one on each side?  What if the extender overlaps the other extender's range?
Should they be on different channels, like one on 6 and the other on 11 to avoid overlap? 

[ValentineWeather]

They also have a wifi router with same name it's very confusing. The extender is called Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender (EX7000) so the (EX700) is how it differentiates.

Here is a video may help setting up [youtube]https://youtu.be/iyQkRPii_IQ[/youtube]

[Phil23]

If it's something like 200 feet, what about something like his,

http://www.wireless4now.com.au/ubiquiti-2-4ghz-nanobeam-13dbi.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw9afOBRDWARIsAJW4nvzOtDpsT-maCRk20PsPcFECOLDgT41MeGe1EzR1e006QGqCqJnMkocaAsMuEALw_wcB

I'm pretty sure they can be configured in AP mode.
Used a few on various sites & they VERY easily bridge 500+ metres.

[K8POS]

Dale,
Only other thing to watch out for is antenna polarity.
If your Yagi is Vertical (elements up and down) the other antenna needs to be in the same orientation.
You can also have it Horizontal, but again BOTH antennas need to have the same orientation.

Bob

[dupreezd]

I'm pretty sure they can be configured in AP mode.
Used a few on various sites & they VERY easily bridge 500+ metres.

Those Nano beams are great. Our company also use them in many remote sites, mostly in bridge mode to connect two buildings together instead of running fiber.
At one site we got 2 miles, @100Mb/s. But, it IS line of sight.

Yes, you can set them up for AP or bridge mode.

[Phil23]

Those Nano beams are great. Our company also use them in many remote sites, mostly in bridge mode to connect two buildings together instead of running fiber.
At one site we got 2 miles, @100Mb/s. But, it IS line of sight.

Similar experiences with 4 links in total using their various devices.

One of particular note is a couple of PowerBeams running a 11km link @ 485mb/s.

[Mattk]

Gave away general consumer grade WiFi long ago, it just becomes rather limited once you start to get outside or have to go through walls. Quite a few Ubiquiti options for this one Rocket AC/Litebeam combination or Rocket M/Nano in anything from 900mhz to 5GHz.