Installation Tips

From WugWiki

This is where we will give you some help and advice with installation The information on this page is from personal experiences.

Firstly to those of you which are new to the wireless arena, welcome. Some of you might have heard of the different types of Antennas that are used to setup the links, here we will first be discussing the proper ways of mounting an antenna.

Firstly if you dont have LOS then you must reconsider where you are mounting your antenna. The LOS also makes a huge difference to the type of antenna you mount so please read through the Antennas page before you spend money you could use.

The typical installation used to be:

• Mount the Antenna in a convienient place, with the best signal at the site.
• Drill HUGE holes in the walls and celings to get the LMR400 cable from the Antenna to the Computer housing the wireless card.
• Connect the cable through a VERY small flimsy pigtail to the wireless card (usually you would need to tape the thing to the card so it dosnt move).
• Get some sort of a Genius to come and get the freeking thing working.

This would get you about 50% of the way there, to get connected to the network was A LOT more complex, usually someone was paid to get it working and the annoying thing is that it was not the Technical support of the ISP but some client that has sold their soul to gain the know-how to get it working.

The "Vision" of the JAWUG team is to make installation SO simple that you cannot make a mistake... well that is the vision :P

What I suggest is to follow the simple steps.

• Do not go for an Internal wireless card in your PC, this will result in a large cable that will have to run from the antenna to the PC and you will recieve ALOT of loss on the cable. Rather go for an AP, you will then connect your antenna to the AP and your PC to the AP, or the AP to your LAN
• Once you have chosen the AP that you feel suits your needs and desires :P you can go about installing it.
• The suggested way to install the AP would be to mount it in a WeatherProofEnclosure+ as close as possible to the Antenns, then run PowerOverEthernet+ to the AP.

The benifit of running PowerOverEthernet+ is that the AP will be close to the Antenna so there will be almost no loss from the cable, then the AP will get power from the Ethernet cable so you dont have to worry about getting 220v to it, and if your running the AP all the wireless network related settings are accessible remotly. Now you could have a problem if your AP does not support PowerOverEthernet+, but this can be solved by running a second power cable from the Transformer to the AP, because the AP's use DC voltage, running the Power cable next to it wont cause interference, and because the AP's use about 5vDC you can run a length of cable before worrying about Volt Drop over the cable. I do suggest you ask someone if the length you are considering is acceptable before you go ahead and install your AP. (You could also make your own Home made PowerOverEthernet+).

The brackets that you should use are pretty easily avaliable from any Mica hardware store, basically you need a vertical pole that wont move in the wind. 38mm Aluminium poles or 50mm Aluminium poles will do the job perfectly. Most TV ariels are mounted with 38mm poles.

Thats pretty simple to get hold of. The only aspect that you need to be aware of is the Legal limit is 3m above the apex of your roof, now personally I dont see the point of this because I have 2 double story houses on either side of me, if theyr allowed to go 3m above the apex of their roofs then surly I can go higher?

To seal the connectors of the cable DO NOT think that electrical tape will do, because it will NOT! The best stuff I have ever used to seal the cables has been a black tar-like substance that has been nicknamed "afkak" because you "kak to get it off" if it gets on your cloths your doomed. The next best thing is Self Amalgamating Tape, basically the tape fuses to its self, you have to cut it with a blade to get it off. This tape is known as Scotch 23 tape, but you can get a locally manufactured version for a 3rd of the price.

When installing the WeatherProofEnclosure+, make sure the antenna connectors (and all the holes) are on the bottom, make "U" shape bend in the antenna cable for the water to run along, so that the water runs away from connector when it rains.

Do extensive tests before deciding on a spot to install your antenna! Make sure you're in the best spot for installation. If you can, get a friend to hold the antenna where it would be mounted and check your signal strength.