topic Re: Base Station Orientation in Arlo

Base Station Orientation

JimH135 — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 18:25:53 GMT

Is there an optimal orientation of the base station? I have four cameras, and where I have the base station a couple cameras have poor connectivity. I'm wondering if there is any directional profile of the antenna such that I can orient the base station in an optimal way.

Re: Base Station Orientation

jguerdat — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:41:31 GMT

Some folks have said that simply rotating the base helped. Otherwise it's a bit of trial and error, checking out walls, etc. that might interfere. A possible way to test would be to load your phone with a WiFi finder app that displays strength and move around the house to check for weak signal, move the base and check again.

Re: Base Station Orientation

TomMac — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:34:49 GMT

As i continue to work on a gain antenna for the base , here's some info.

The two antennas are mounted in the upper left and right corners of the base unit. Tho it is basically omni directional overall, rotation of the base does produce small lobes of slightly stronger signals.

So if your having a weak signal to a particular camera, some small rotation may help in that condition.

Currently in the process of mounting a couple of gain antennas on the back of base to extend working range. Time will tell if worth the trouble.

Re: Base Station Orientation

Schorschi — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:41:03 GMT

TomMac wrote:
Currently in the process of mounting a couple of gain antennas on the back of base to extend working range. Time will tell if worth the trouble.

Do you use a device to measure the Wifi signal strength at the mount locations of the cameras to determine what antenna or base station orientation works best?

This brings to mind an article on Hackaday a while back on creating a 3D Wifi-signal map. Quite an elaborate hack though.

Smart phone apps should be sufficient for that, provided they have large enough gauges that one can still read when holding the smart phone on an extended arm, i.e. near a camera's mounting location on a wall or ceiling.

Re: Base Station Orientation

TomMac — Fri, 13 May 2016 16:55:27 GMT

Do you use a device to measure the Wifi signal strength at the mount locations of the cameras to determine what antenna or base station orientation works best?

Yes, actual signal strength meter for detecting wifi / other signals and also a simple base signal strength app shows the difference as per location to the main axis of the unit

Re: Base Station Orientation

benthomas — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 05:32:49 GMT

Any results from your antenna hack yet? I'm interested to hear as I have two cameras mounted pretty close to the base station however the signal has to go through some pretty chunky concrete walls. They're working, just at very low signal.

Thanks.

Re: Base Station Orientation

TomMac — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 13:09:26 GMT

benthomas wrote:
Any results from your antenna hack yet? I'm interested to hear as I have two cameras mounted pretty close to the base station however the signal has to go through some pretty chunky concrete walls. They're working, just at very low signal.

Thanks.

There are two 'bow tie' antennas made from traces on pc material in the upper corners of the base...( when normal sitting )

The base is basicly omni, but there is very slight gain if rotated ...prob not enough to make a diff tho.

I did test it on a high gain, (15 dbi ) vertical omni antenna but prob had a matching problem ( or loss from cable which is high at those freqs), didn't get the gain expected. So I didn't take it much further.

Best gain was using a 24" dish with the base in the aprox focal point, but it was unrealistic to use it for more than testing. ( also very directional of course which helped )

In the end , it was easier to obtain a second base to maximze camera coverage with the normal methods

Re: Base Station Orientation

Flashfox — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 13:50:46 GMT

New to ARLO... are they working in the 2.4GHz ISM band?

I solved similar problems with Wi-Fi routers by using high-gain antennas with short RF cables. There are also several after-market high-gain antennas for routers, which is why I ask about the frequency band being used. My source for the antennas was "Fry's".

Now I do agree that the challenge is to match the built-in "bow tie" antenna impedance to the external ISM band antenna for optimal performance. At those frequencies it's more than "RF electronics"... it becomes an "art" LOL

Oh, and yes, I saw the "Morse is faster than texting" video. I can operate in CW at up to 25 WPM, which is more than enough for the hobby LOL.

Re: Base Station Orientation

TomMac — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 18:23:16 GMT

Flashfox wrote:
are they working in the 2.4GHz ISM band?

yes, the Arlo base operates on the normal 802.11 channels for 2.4 ghz wifi ( it will match channels with your home wifi if in close range to it )

Now I do agree that the challenge is to match the built-in "bow tie" antenna impedance

Like mentioned, didn't get the gain I expected from a 15dbi gain omni, so i removed it...would have been nice if there were built in sma connectors for external antennas. ( spare base still works fine so I couldn't have messed it up to badly... but I did need a 10ft lenght of coax and it's lossey at those freqs )
Didn't try it with just a small external antennas usu used.

I can operate in CW at up to 25 WPM,

That's a good speed, same here.... any faster and It actually skips my head and it goes from the ear to pencil ( have to look at the pad to see what I copied )