connected!!!

Corpus Christi provides wireless service that covers most of the city and we have been been able to use it when we are at one of the marina boater's centers.  On S/V Suppose, not so much. However, now we have reliable internet on the boat.  But it's a little complicated.

Our internet service is coming from a transceiver located on top of the Bay Yacht Club.  Normally, the signal is too weak for our laptops to receive and our laptops don't transmit with enough power to be received.  That problem is solved with a Ubiquiti Bullet and a high gain antenna (both recommended by Walter Crawford and International Electronics of Corpus Christi). This device can receive an otherwise weak signal and amplify the output from our computers. Although we have chosen to use the Bay Yacht Club signal, the Bullet allows us to choose from among approximately 30 local (within 2 miles) wireless links.

The Bullet would be sufficient if we just wanted to connect a single computer to the internet.  But we have two computers, two Apple iPhones, and two Barnes & Noble Nook eReaders all of which need internet connections.  To share the internet, we have added a Cisco Linksys 1200 wireless router on the boat.  Now we are our own personal hotspot.  How cool is that?

As I sit in the cabin of S/V Suppose writing this blog entry on my laptop, we are also listening to a cool music stream through Pandora from my iPhone and a Bluetooth speaker.  How about that?