WIFI antenna

[jaalex]

Just so you know as someone who works as an Information Security Officer in a large medical center, Aircrack is a known hacking tool. Using it to find the password to a router is in most locations consider theft of services and can be punished in various ways.

Unless your looking to become a thief I suggest using your beers.

Jason

[osirissail]

- - Fixed external WiFi antennas on a sailboat or power boat at anchor is not advised. WiFi is a "line of sight" ultrahigh freq signal and metal masts on your boat or other boats, superstructure, trees, etc. will block the signal you are sending back to the landside antenna. I use the marineRV by RadioWorks as it has a 1-inch marine antenna threaded base. I then put an railing antenna coupling/adaptor on the end of a broken boatpole and position the antenna/boat pole where the signal reception/transmission is best and tie the pole to rigging on the boat. Depending upon which way the wind is blowing I can easily reposition the assembly.
- - Any external wifi antenna needs to have its own internal signal booster powered by either the USB port or another power source on the boat. The higher the wattage of the output signal from your antenna the better Wifi usage you will experience and the range you can transmit and receive. The signals will also "bounce" off intervening metal buildings or boats. Once in Trinidad I had great fast Wifi from a marina 1/2 mile away. Then a large fishing boat left the dock in between me and the landbase antenna and I lost all reception as the signal no longer had anything to bounce off.
- - Directional antennas (I built one from a Chinese Noodle strainer based on a New Zealand design) do not work when you are "swinging" as anchor as they are highly directional. Omnidirectional antennas that you can move around the boat to find the "best" position work. And any external antenna needs to be "waterproof" - I used to use Linksys powered externals but they got wet in rain and never functioned again. The MarineRV from RadioLabs is totally waterproof, powered by your USB port and has been working wonderfully for me for two years now.

[preservedkillick]

On getting passwords. One trick I use is find a wifi signal from someplace that serves food like a hotel or inn. I bring my laptop to breakfast and ask the waitress for the password. Works every time.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by preservedkillick

On getting passwords. One trick I use is find a wifi signal from someplace that serves food like a hotel or inn. I bring my laptop to breakfast and ask the waitress for the password. Works every time.

Actually the coffee house, shopping mall, etc. are all using the "free" WiFi to draw in customers. For the price of a Latte or sandwich, or whatever they let you use the WiFi. But sometimes this backfires on them as the "college kids" mob all the tables and buy a bottle of water or a coffee and nurse it for all afternoon crowding out other patrons. We just had a wonderful coffee-house here in Grand Anse, Grenada go out of business for just that reason. The people here on the island are just too polite and laid back to think of asking the kids to leave or buy something more.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by jaalex

Using [Aircrack] to find the password to a router is in most locations consider theft of services...

Ditto. My company has prosecuted people who have used these kinds of things to break into our network in the past. Is it really worth the fines and a criminal record to get free wifi?

(Of course, our network is now much more secure, but nothing is perfect and the policy is still, prosecute to the full extent possible.)

[mightyhorton]

I've been using the Alfa AWUS036H 1000mW (formerly 500mW) Long-distance USB Wireless Adapter + Antenna in Mexico. It works great, I pick up 3 to 5 bars of signals a mile or further offshore and it does great in marinas, too. I bought mine maybe 18 months ago. At that time it came with a USB cable. I bought a powered or "active" USB cable, maybe 15 feet long, so I can run it out a portlight and have the antenna on deck or buried under the mainsail cover on the boom. A non powered USB cable just won't be able to move the signal back and forth between your antenna and your computer. The new ones may not use USB cables, but check to see if you can power the cable. I would buy this one again, it does the job, though there might be something newer and better out now.

[osirissail]

- - The "little bars" you see on your computer are the strength of the signal you are receiving from the transmitting land-based antenna. Using a high gain antenna with increased sensitivity will result in more "bars" being shown.
- - However, the "bars" have absolutely nothing to do with measuring your output power back to the land-based antenna. You have no way of measuring that except by an external signal meter you hold near the antenna. Just like SSB HF technicians do to the measure the output power of your SSB antenna system.
- - Using a half watt or the 1 watt (1000mW) transmitter will increase your ability to "reach out" to land-based antenna further away from your location and also increase the quality of your transmitted signal to closer in land-based antennas. This helps increase your bit-rate and you get faster wifi up to the limit of the capabilities of the land-based server.
- - As with most things in this world the more you can put out the better your performance. A 25watt VHF can reach further than a 1 or 5 watt handheld radio.
- - I also use a "powered" USB extension cable to increase the USB external antenna cabling from the usual 15 feet to 35 feet. The normal maximum that a USB type signal can travel through wires is limited to about 15 feet before signal losses become too great. These powered USB extension cables are easily available via the internet or good computer stores. They typically have a fat "bulb" at the female end of the cable that contains the "signal amplifier". Using the amplified extension cable I can attach the antenna to a flag halyard and hoist the antenna up the mast to get "above" all the interfering neighboring boats.

[sailingdog]

First, I highly discourage anyone using anything to "break into" a network that they do not have permission to use. Doing so is a serious crime in many areas and can result in jail time, fines, etc. The fact that they are using encryption should be taken as a sign that the network is not open to "public" use.

I'd also point out that many modern networks are using WPA2 and the encryption is very, very difficult to break, unlike WEP, which was a useless encryption standard since day ONE.

I've written about WiFi Security as well as using WiFi on cruising boats. You can read the two articles here and here.

[jephotog]

Is it any less illegal to be using a WEP code purchased with beer? Or how about using unprotected code from the nearby coffee shop? It may be an old wives tail but I seem to recall someone getting arrested for theft of services for surfing the web outside a closed business after hours.

[sailingdog]

Depends on who you gave/bought the beer from. If the WEP code is for a bar, and you bought beer there...then your use is probably legit... if you gave beer to a customer there, and used it to get the security key, then you may not be covered, as you did not get it from the network's owner.

Yes, using the services of a network when the business is closed may be illegal. Just remember, much of this area of law is still evolving, and as such, may change or be different depending on the jurisdiction you're in.

A common standard is the "reasonable" standard. This is a "test" of whether the average person would consider what you did reasonable or not. For instance, sitting outside the business at 0200 is probably not reasonable....while sitting outside the business 10 minutes after they closed to finish up a last e-mail might be.

Originally Posted by jephotog

Is it any less illegal to be using a WEP code purchased with beer? Or how about using unprotected code from the nearby coffee shop? It may be an old wives tail but I seem to recall someone getting arrested for theft of services for surfing the web outside a closed business after hours.