[SOLVED] Hardware & feasibility of long range WIFI networking ?

[Waterlooboy]

Greetings, apologies if this is not the correct place to ask however I have noticed some great questions and answers on this forum and this is a new first for me

I was wanting to setup a long range WIFI network or some kind of networking system in a remote area with a central gateway rather than multiple gateways. I have included an image below for the example.

The blue site would be the intended gateway and central location as it is the only site directly accessible by a vehicle. The distances are also included. There is no direct line of site between green/orange and blue, but blue to yellow and black and green and orange do. (I'm not sure on elevation currently), but there is light shrub and semi-dense trees in the area.

The blue circle and line represent a security camera approximately 20m away with WIFI and ethernet capability which is reason for wanting a WIFI network rather than LORA (Large squares contain a datalogger w/ RS485, RS232, Ethernet etc.). The blue site would also host a DVR to trigger and store images/video.

(more below).

I have a modem available for free similar to this with SMA connectors

It's a long shot but would replacing the existing antennas with something like a YAGI 25DBI directional antenna towards the direction of each site suffice? Or would I need a booster? (I'm very inexperienced with antennas). Taking a trip out here is a hike 2+ hr driving each way so I'd like to have some kind of solution with the highest likelihood of working. The security cameras have a fair bit of range and can connect to my mobile hotspot from each of the main sites but I would be planning on using ethernet to WIFI adapters with their own external antenna.

All the cellular gateways I have just have a ethernet, no WIFI so I would need to add routers to each site to along with the gateway or an ethernet switch + ethernet cable to the security camera just to include them. Would also save me on 5 DVR's and having a local DVR would be ideal as to not chew through bulk data as the cameras need constant monitoring, I only need to chime in momentarily remotely to check everything works. I guess the second best option is to split the clusters with 2 gateways + 2 DVRs?

Thank you in advance, and any advice is seriously appreciated!

 

[bill001g]

Replacing antenna on a router likely will not work. Most the problem is the internal radios are only designed for so much input. Although you might be increasing the signal level you want you are also increasing the noise and in many cases the noise level is more than the radio can handle. It will not damage it but it now so flooded with junk it can't find the signal you want. In addition the device on the remote end will have issues detecting the signal from the main router.

Now the 100 meter one might work but when you go farther distance you need directional antenna on both ends.

It tends to no longer be economical to just put antenna on hardware. You can get a unit with the antenna and the wifi radio chips as a complete unit for about the same price.

What you are looking for is outdoor point to point bridge. I used to recommend ubiquiti but they seem to have out of stock issues with there more inexpensive units. There site is pretty informative. Many consumer brands like tplink also sell point to point bridges.

You do need clear line of site though. So none of the 3 locations on the lower part of your diagram can see either of the 2 on the top ? Not sure how you would fix that. A 30ft tower is not that expensive. It is mostly all the work to dig holes and fill them with concrete.

 

[Waterlooboy]

Replacing antenna on a router likely will not work. Most the problem is the internal radios are only designed for so much input. Although you might be increasing the signal level you want you are also increasing the noise and in many cases the noise level is more than the radio can handle. It will not damage it but it now so flooded with junk it can't find the signal you want. In addition the device on the remote end will have issues detecting the signal from the main router.

Now the 100 meter one might work but when you go farther distance you need directional antenna on both ends.

It tends to no longer be economical to just put antenna on hardware. You can get a unit with the antenna and the wifi radio chips as a complete unit for about the same price.

What you are looking for is outdoor point to point bridge. I used to recommend ubiquiti but they seem to have out of stock issues with there more inexpensive units. There site is pretty informative. Many consumer brands like tplink also sell point to point bridges.

You do need clear line of site though. So none of the 3 locations on the lower part of your diagram can see either of the 2 on the top ? Not sure how you would fix that. A 30ft tower is not that expensive. It is mostly all the work to dig holes and fill them with concrete.

Thanks mate appreciate the reply honestly. Cheers for the information. This is what I was thinking but you explained it much better than I could.

The UBIQUITI devices are actually exactly what I was looking for or theorizing in my head but I could not search the correct terms to find a product. I would ideally like to connect my mobile as well (there is no cell reception) which won't be possible without being able to upgrade the antenna, but appears possible with those devices.

Yeah the top cluster has no line of site to the bottom three cluster, but each site has LOS within the cluster. So I think my plan of attack will be to purchase those antenna, bring some gear to erect a large tower/pole and try to bridge between the two clusters (then bridge each site individually). If they cannot reach, I will separate the clusters and just use two gateways and treat each cluster separately in regards to remote access.

Champion!

 

[bill001g]

If you can get clear line of site you can go huge distances,many kilometers. There are all kinds of free standing tower but a couple tall trees and a ladder to install it might work too.

Cell equipment is a bit different. They do of course make outdoor equipment that could be fully put on your tower and pointed at the cell tower. These too like line of site but it is not as critical.
This is likely a good question to ask the ISP if they offer something. It is sold to business so it may not be on their standard web site.

You can get antenna to hook to cell equipment but first it must actually have a antenna connector. Many you have to disassemble the units and hook to the internal connections. The reason for this is technically it is illegal to change the antenna on cell equipment. Very technically you can with the permission of the license holder...ie the cell company..but even if they told you it was ok they will never give you the paper work. In any case the antenna you want are called log-periodic since cell vendors run different frequencies and it is too hard to figure out exactly which tuned antenna you would need.