How to get wifi to caravan 50 yards away?

[seashore]

Customer wants to extend wifi from the router in his home to his caravan which is parked in a field 50 yards away over the road. There is a garden, a public road, and a tall thick hedge separating the house and caravan. I'm no Picasso but a rough layout is below. Electricity to the caravan does not come from the house so homeplugs are not an option. I'm not sure a mesh setup would extend that far but I haven't tested it. This type of situation is new to me - anyone have any ideas? Would like to think I don't have to just suggest a mobile broadband contract to him. Thanks.

 

[Diggs]

For that short of range his regular WiFi should be able to work with a decent receiver. I've used USB WiFi boosters more than a few times with excellent results. Surprised me really as I never thought much of them. Add an extended USB cable and mount where it has a good line to the house/router. Turn off the on-board WiFi. I've most often used them out in metal sheds or metal pole barns as we call them. The metal walls suck for WiFi but I hang one of these in the window facing the house and instant Internet. Works great for a single machine. Is he after an access point style setup?

 

[seashore]

Add an extended USB cable and mount where it has a good line to the house/router.

There's no clear line due to the high hedge, but yes the reception might be better with one of those.

Is he after an access point style setup?

That's the ideal, but maybe I have to lower his sights.

 

[14049752]

Ubiquiti nanostations would do the trick. That's a very minor distance and I'm not sure the hedge would matter really at all for them.

 

[mraikes]

For about 3 years now, I've been using one these in my camper:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C8915BV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_u9HcFb2A2XTCW

I attached the outside antenna to my TV antenna, so when I raise that up, the wifi antenna is quite high. Works very well for me.

 

[Diggs]

Ubiquiti nanostations would do the trick. That's a very minor distance and I'm not sure the hedge would matter really at all for them.

...and this would be the best way to go but still needs an access point added. If the customer doesn't mind the expense then the two Nanostations and a router/access point in the caravan would be ideal.

 

[marley1]

Unifi mesh with directional antenna

Or site to site bridge with so at caravan side

 

[SAFCasper]

If you want a guaranteed, rock solid, connection either the hedge needs to go or you need a pole to raise above it. Anything else is going in the "it might work, it might not" category. Even if the connection is stable at installation what about in rain, high winds etc. Also, due to the public road I'm assuming the customer does not own/maintain this hedge. What if nobody trims it for the next 2 years.

I would look at having a 3x3 fence post fitted next to the van and fix a pole to that. Shouldn't be expensive at all.


As for the wifi equipment:

Ideally you would want a PtP link (eg. nanostation at each end) with an access point (eg. UAP-AC-LITE) inside the van.

Cheaper option would be a mesh AP on the outside of the house and another on the caravan pole (eg. UAP-AC-M). At 50 yards with line of sight you shouldn't have any problem with signal even using omni antenna. The issue with this setup is a caravan quite literally being a metal box which your AP is located outside of. It should would work fine but is certainly not the perfect solution.

 

[Briggsy]

Tow his caravan closer.

 

[backwoodsman]

There is a garden, a public road, and a tall thick hedge separating the house and caravan.

I used to run a little wireless internet system for myself and a dozen or so neighbors. I found 2 ways to reliably go through living vegetation: Circular-polarized antennas, and radios that use multiple antennas and sophisticated signal processing. This was back in Wireless-N days, but I would hope the newer standards would be at least as good at it. One of my main backhaul links went 2 miles through the top 1/4's of 12-15 large pine trees using CP antennas at both ends. I had several links going through thick vegetation using either CP at one end and MIMO at the other, or MIMO at both ends.

I think the road will be the bigger problem. If you don't want the signal to hiccup every time a car goes by, you'll have to keep it above the traffic.

 

[Markverhyden]

Tow his caravan closer.

 

[Markverhyden]

First thing that popped in my mind is to stick the caravan side setup on a pole on the side of the hedge facing the road.

 

[frase]

For that short of range his regular WiFi should be able to work with a decent receiver. I've used USB WiFi boosters more than a few times with excellent results. Surprised me really as I never thought much of them. Add an extended USB cable and mount where it has a good line to the house/router. Turn off the on-board WiFi. I've most often used them out in metal sheds or metal pole barns as we call them. The metal walls suck for WiFi but I hang one of these in the window facing the house and instant Internet. Works great for a single machine. Is he after an access point style setup?

View attachment 11914

They are awesome those Alpha Devices, I have one.
All depends on the clients budget, using mesh systems can be expensive $AUS500+ including your labour cost etc.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I'd use the small Ubiquiti airMAX units like the Nanos.....very inexpensive, put a pair on each end, facing each other. 1x row of hedges will not impact it much. To improve things, "thin" an area of these hedges so the "fresnel zone" has a thinner area to punch through. But even 5.0 models will be OK through a little foliage, esp at this close distance. Only thing I might worry about, depending on these hedges, I see you're in the UK so we have winter to deal with, very thick snow accumulating..possibly semi freezing into thick crunchy icy snow/ice...impacting the signal a bit. So...better option, raise the height for those nanos...up on poles. And then put an AP on the receiving end behind the nano. You also have that new Unifi building to building bridge kit...it's basically Unifis version of airMax.

 

[Your PCMD]

Try this.

 

[Moltuae]

Try this.

View attachment 11918

I was actually thinking the same but perhaps something a little more weatherproof.

I mean, if you're going to have to erect poles for a wireless link, might as well just throw a catenary wire and cable over instead. It will of course need to be high enough to clear the tallest vehicles, taking sag into account too.

 

[SAFCasper]

Good deal on NanoStations right now at BroadbandBuyer.
£86.54 for a two-pack which would cover your PtP link.

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/30942-ubiquiti-ns-5acl-kit/

 

[Markverhyden]

I was actually thinking the same but perhaps something a little more weatherproof.

I mean, if you're going to have to erect poles for a wireless link, might as well just throw a catenary wire and cable over instead. It will of course need to be high enough to clear the tallest vehicles, taking sag into account too.

Yeah. But going over a public roadway will not be trivial. Over here, in most states, there's a whole mess of regulations.

 

[Moltuae]

Yeah. But going over a public roadway will not be trivial. Over here, in most states, there's a whole mess of regulations.

Pah, nobody takes any notice of regulations over here. Planning Permission works a lot like Catholicism; instead of asking for approval you just do whatever the hell you like and ask for forgiveness later

 

[SAFCasper]

Pah, nobody takes any notice of regulations over here. Planning Permission works a lot like Catholicism; instead of asking for approval you just do whatever the hell you like and ask for forgiveness later

We had a local councillor do exactly this a few years back. Applied for planning permission to build an outhouse at the back of his garden. Fairly large and fully wired for electric, lighting etc.

Planning permission was refused.... so he just went ahead and built it anyway. Applied for "Retrospective Planning Permission" several months later and it was approved. There was public outrage in the town over this!