Hi Everyone,
The project I want to do is to mount a USB WiFi adapter on the end of a satellite dish. I've already built a cantenna system but it suffers from not being able to have too long an antenna cable, so mounting it outside becomes problematic. I thought that simply focusing onto the internal antenna of a USB device may be a more practical way of going about it. I've jury rigged a simple test using a USB extension cable and it works impressively well but again suffers from the cable length issue, although I can get a longer length from a USB extension, it's still not long enough to reach to the outside mount. So my idea is to use an ethernet cable. Take the WiFi dongle apart and solder Data+ and Data- to one of the twisted pairs, on another twisted pair, I'll carry 24V (or 12V if I can get away with it) from a power supply at the computer end, then on the dish end, use a 7805 and a couple of caps to regulate down to a steady 5V which is connected to the power pins of the WiFi dongle. At the computer end, I then just make sure the -ve of the power supply is common to the ground of my pc and connect Data+ and Data- to a usb port, either with a plug or directly onto the motherboard header. I'm worried if the 5V data lines will degrade too much down the cable and if I'll need some kind of step up/step down mosfet arrangement at both ends. I know it's not a very expensive or complex thing to just build and try out, but it's always prudent to ask experts before switching on the soldering iron. So any advice or pointers on this would be appreciated
Many thanks
Mort
The project I want to do is to mount a USB WiFi adapter on the end of a satellite dish. I've already built a cantenna system but it suffers from not being able to have too long an antenna cable, so mounting it outside becomes problematic. I thought that simply focusing onto the internal antenna of a USB device may be a more practical way of going about it. I've jury rigged a simple test using a USB extension cable and it works impressively well but again suffers from the cable length issue, although I can get a longer length from a USB extension, it's still not long enough to reach to the outside mount. So my idea is to use an ethernet cable. Take the WiFi dongle apart and solder Data+ and Data- to one of the twisted pairs, on another twisted pair, I'll carry 24V (or 12V if I can get away with it) from a power supply at the computer end, then on the dish end, use a 7805 and a couple of caps to regulate down to a steady 5V which is connected to the power pins of the WiFi dongle. At the computer end, I then just make sure the -ve of the power supply is common to the ground of my pc and connect Data+ and Data- to a usb port, either with a plug or directly onto the motherboard header. I'm worried if the 5V data lines will degrade too much down the cable and if I'll need some kind of step up/step down mosfet arrangement at both ends. I know it's not a very expensive or complex thing to just build and try out, but it's always prudent to ask experts before switching on the soldering iron. So any advice or pointers on this would be appreciated
Many thanks
Mort
