My High Speed Internet Access Project Summary
The Peace River Internet Society (PRIS) is my ISP. They supply internet connections to people in the Peace River area via dialup, ADSL, and wireless. Rural customers have only one choice for high speed access which is the wireless option. In order for the wireless option to work you have to be able to see one of PRIS's access points.
I live in a valley bottom and cannot see the closest access point to me, (Bear Mountain) from my house. I can see it from a point 1.4 km from my house while standing out in a field. My objective was to pick up the signal from Bear Mountain and relay it to my home, wirelessly.
At this time I have a Tranzeo 1200 radio (80mw card) set in router mode in an enclosure in the field. It is attached to a 24dbi parabolic directional antennae which points at Bear Mountain. To that I have cabled a Linksy wireless bridge (Wet 11) in point to point mode connected to 16 dbi yagi antennae directing the signal toward my house. At the house I have another enclosure with another Linksys wireless bridge set to point to point mode with another yagi antennae pointing back at the main site. This box is cabled to the house where it is connected to an Apple Airport Base Station which handles the DHCP and NAT.
Power is the problem at the moment. I have a small (.12 amp) solar panel attached to a 12 volt deep cycle battery powering the field units. The home unit is wired to 110. The panel is not enough to keep the battery charged up so I end up switching it out once a week. Good exercise but not the ideal situation.
I plan to find out what the two units are using for power at the field site. Then decide if going to a larger panel is affordable. Right now everything is mounted on some electrical conduit. This has withstood some very strong winds. Duct tape is what anchors it to the fence post. It is very likely I will put it on a treated pole if this becomes the permanent location and raise it higher. I think cows can reach it at its current height.
Speed tests have been good.
Last but not least. Many, many thanks to all my friends at PRIS and The School District 59 tech department for their help, materials and insights. They were all very patient, and contributed a lot to the project. It would not have been possible with out them.