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| Wi-Fi antenna attached to the TV antenna. |
Our aluminum skinned 1996 Safari Sahara motorhome can make it a struggle for Wi-Fi signals to penetrate through the sides of the coach. To overcome the problem, I installed a dedicated Wi-Fi antenna and radio connected to a router inside the motorhome. The antenna attaches to the Winegard Sensar TV antenna mechanism that raises up and down. This arrangement helps us connect to weak and distant Wi-Fi access points.
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| Antenna in up position |
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| Antenna in down position |
Components Used
- Wi-Fi Antenna - Air802 8 dBi
- Wi-Fi Bridge - Ubiquiti Bullet 2
- The radio that connects to Wi-Fi access points (hotspots)
- Provides the Wi-Fi router in the motorhome with a connection to the Internet
- Cable - CAT 5 Ethernet cable
- First one goes between the bridge and the POE
- Second one goes between the POE and the router
- Power Over Ethernet (POE) - Ubiquiti POE
- This allows the Ethernet cable running to the bridge to also carry power to the bridge.
- Wi-Fi Router - Cradlepoint mbr1000
- Creates a Wi-Fi network within the motorhome that all devices can attach to
- A laptop computer used to configure the bridge and connect it to a Wi-Fi access point.
Note: Today, nearly all of the components have later models available in the market. For example, if I were building a system now, I'd purchase either the Ubiquiti Bullet BM2HP or the Ubiquiti Bullet Titanium BM2-Ti, and I'd use the Netgear AC1200 Dual Band Smart WiFi Router.
Despite the the weatherproof claims from Ubiquiti, I decided to enclose the Bullet in a white painted PVC pipe with two end caps held in place with stainless steel screws, in order to protect the Bullet from the elements, including UV rays.
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| Ubiquiti Bullet inside PVC pipe |
The Wi-Fi bridge is attached to the Winegard antenna using two stainless hose clamps. The Ethernet cable is tie-wrapped to the Winegard.
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| Ubiquiti Bullet 2 |
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| Air802 Antenna |
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| Routing Ethernet cable into the motorhome |
After removing our satellite dish on a previous project, I was left with a cable access hole in the top of the fiberglass end cap. I reused this hole to route the Ethernet cable into the cabinets at the front of the motorhome.
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| Power Over Ethernet adapter |
The POE is powered by 120 VAC. The blue Ethernet cable carries data and power to the Ubiquiti Bullet, and the gray Ethernet cable carries data to the Cradlepoint router.
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| POE and router |
Connecting all the hardware together was pretty straight forward.
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| Connection Diagram |
Software Configuration
While the software isn't complicated, the system is still not plug and play, so you need to be prepared to to read and follow the setup instructions that came with your bridge (the Ubiquiti Bullet in my case). Here are the links to a couple of websites that provide an overview of the process.
Once the system is setup, it requires ongoing configuration every time the motorhome arrives at a new destination. The process goes something like this:
- Raise the antenna
- Use web browser on laptop to connect to http://192.168.100.200. This is the address assigned by my router to the Ubiquiti Bullet.
- Log into Bullet
- Use the web browser to access the airOS software that runs on the Bullet, to find the RV park's Wi-Fi signal, and the connect to it. The airOS provides a field to enter the Wi-Fi password if the RV park uses one.
- All devices connected to the motorhome's router should now have access to the Internet.
Final Thoughts
I'm very happy with the system. It has overcome the signal loss caused by the motorhome's skin, and I've managed to pull in signals from two miles away. The system won't make up for an RV park's poor performing Wi-Fi, like not having enough capacity, but when a signal is available, it brings it in strong.
When Wi-Fi isn't available either free or paid, we turn one of our Verizon phones into an access point, and then point the Bullet at the phone.
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