theWhiteNoise.net - Web Log

Here’s the permanent installation of my long range wifi antenna. 

The antenna is a yagi design with about +24db worth of gain.  It’s VERY directional so I designed the mount to allow almost 180 degrees of movement in case it needs to be adjusted in the future.

The antenna is hooked in to a Buffalo 802.11G router which connects to the remote access point in client mode.  A second wireless router then uses the first router as it’s WAN connection and acts as an access point for local clients.  This allows computers within the house to access the remote wifi point without needing long range antennas of their own.  I had to mount the routers close to the yagi antenna because lengthening the antenna cable degregates your gain very quickly.  Since I was limited by where I could mount the antenna outside & still run it into the house with a 3 foot cable, this became the best choice:

Right now I’m using the wifi of one of my very kind neighbors:

At this range, the signal quality isn’t the greatest (in the 18–22% range), but it’s definitely usable & only has an occasional drop-out.

Every “beach house” needs a good source of music.  Playing CD’s on the DVD player wasn’t cutting it because it was difficult to navigate MP3 CD’s.  A dedicated MP3/CD player was definitely needed.  I decided that it wouldn’t cost much more to create a touchscreen jukebox like some bars have. 

I was able to nab an expensive touchscreen off e-Bay for about 20% of it’s retail price which solidified my plans.  Here’s the monitor (15”) I ended up getting:

I then needed something to run it.  Again, I hit e-Bay.  This time I came up with a 1.3Ghz, 256MB RAM very compact Compaq computer.  It had just about everything built in, including 5 USB ports, video, and sound.  I knew I wouldn’t be adding any PCI cards to it, so the lack of expansion there didn’t bother me.  Plus, for $50, how can you go wrong???  Here is a picture of the unit:

As far as software goes, I’m running a stripped down version of Windows XP.  The MP3 player (jukebox) front-end is a program called eJukebox (screenshot below).

I had a spare RF remote sitting around (The ATI Wonder Plus), so I installed & customized Girder so that I can control the jukebox remotely (while playing cards and/or drinking!).  I can even rate songs from 1 to 5 stars while they play.

The touchscreen in it’s final location (the base is hidden on a shelf below it):

And here’s a video demo of the touchscreen jukebox in action.  I run through selecting a song & playing it instantly, browsing by artist & album to create a playlist, playing some internet radio stations, then demo the remote control.  I also show a touchscreen drink recipe program that I can access while playing music: