I live on a barrier island and there is no available broadband other
than satellite available at my house.  Recently the town (based on the mainland) installed
free wifi at a beach 3.6 miles from my house.  I have no control or access to that access
point nor do I know the exact strength of the signal.  I think they advertised you need to
be within 750 feet of the building.   I do have a clear line of site from my house.  Is it
possible to get a high gain antenna and use that wifi in my home and if so what would I
need?  Ideally I would like to have a wireless solution in the house as well so a number
of laptops could connect to it from anywhere in the house.

This is what you I recommend for your situation:

http://www.jefatech.com/product/BULLET2HP

http://www.jefatech.com/product/SP3-90-6-BFM

http://www.jefatech.com/product/HDDC24-24-NF

http://www.jefatech.com/product/UM

http://www.jefatech.com/product/COAX-SEAL-101

http://www.jefatech.com/category/e310/

http://www.jefatech.com/product/POE-15

http://www.jefatech.com/product/WRT54GL-DDWRT

With this setup, you will point the grid antenna at the access point on the mainland.  The Bullet2HP changes the wireless signal from the grid antenna to a standard Ethernet network cable connection.  You then have a Cat5 cable coming into your house into the wireless router to provide Internet for your computers.


I need to get absolutely dependable wifi from my neighbors router in a condo building. He has encrypted wifi that he will share with me, but ideally installation would not involve changing any of his equipment.  He is one floor above me, and one unit over so that the signal has to
penetrate 2 cement wallls, which it will not do.  We both have outdoor patios that have
line of site.  I have several computers in my condo and would prefer to have wireless connection to them all.

I would recommend using the secure wireless bridge kit to connect your condos together:

http://www.jefatech.com/product/BRIDGE-KIT

The antennas would be mounted on the outdoor patios so they have a clear line of sight for a good signal.  The coax cable would come inside your condos and connect to the Ethernet bridge to provide a wired network connection.  Your neighbor will plug his Internet router into his bridge unit with the Ethernet cable.

You can plug a wireless router into your bridge unit to provide wireless access in your condo.  Any wireless router will work.  We have this one available:

http://www.jefatech.com/product/WRT54GL-DDWRT

• A tin can. Just about any can will do. Use the calculator below to make sure it will work.
• An N Female connector with a radiator tuned to the correct frequency. http://www.jefatech.com/product/cnfbst.
• A pigtail to connect your cantenna to your wireless card, access point, or router. http://www.jefatech.com/category/cable_assemblies/.
• Some basic tools including a can opener, ruler, drill with 5/8" bit, awl or nail for punching guide holes, and a marker.

Why are your connectors RP (reverse polarity)?  What is the difference between RP and a standard connector?

The reverse polarity (RP) connector specification is mandated by FCC Part 15 for ISM equipment which includes WiFi.  The FCC specifies that these connectors must be reverse polarity which means that the dielectrics and pins/contacts are switched between genders so that adapters will not mate with standard coaxial connectors.

There is no difference between the standard and RP type connectors as far as RF performance is concerned.  The only difference is that the gender of the center part of the connector is reversed, i.e. a male connector has a female jack, and a female connector has a male plug.

If you are developing a product for the ISM band, you should be using reverse polarity connectors for any user accessable external connectors on your device.  There are exceptions to this rule, including micro sized connectors such as MMCX and MC Card.  Please consult FCC regulations for full details.

The polarity of connectors is determined by the body of the connector, not the center.

A Reverse Polarity Male connector has a Male body (threads inside) and a Female center jack.

A Reverse Polarity Female connector has a Female body (threads outside) and a Male center plug.

If no gender is specified, it is always assumed to be a Male connector.  Example: RP-SMA indicates an RP-SMA Male connector

Other Notes:
A Male connector is also known as a "Plug"
A Female connector is also known as a "Jack"

Reverse Polarity (RP) and Reverse Gender (RG) mean the same thing.

Related Questions

I want to connect easily to WiFi hotspots from within my RV. I have trouble getting a good signal from inside. What do you recommend for me to use so that I can get a good connection from within my RV?

We now have a number of solutions for RV'ers.  You can find them here:

WiFi Solutions for RV's

I want to connect easily to WiFi hotspots from within my boat. I have trouble getting a good signal from inside. What do you recommend for me to use so that I can get a good connection from within my boat?

We now have products for RV's which also apply to boaters in most cases. 

WiFi Solutions for RV's

We will soon have specific products for boaters available.

I have a computer inside a metal building and I need to connect to my wireless network in another building about 100 feet away.  How can I get this to work?

The problem here is that the metal building is blocking the signal from getting outside.  You need to set up an antenna outside of the building.  We have a kit which provides this solution:

http://www.jefatech.com/product/USB-LINK-KIT

I purchased your cantenna kit and cannot speak more highly of this antenna. I am trying to take it a step further. For instance, say I pick up a wireless connection with my cantenna. I am feeding that "signal" into my computer and it works great. Do you offer a device that receives that signal from the cantenna and feed it into a wireless router or a wired ethernet router? Thanks

We are very glad to hear about your experience with the cantenna!  

You need what is known as a bridge which will convert your wireless signal to Ethernet.

The JEFA Tech Bridge will accomplish this:

http://www.jefatech.com/product/WRT54GL-BRIDGE

You end up with a standard Ethernet connection that you can plug into your laptop, or into the Internet port of a router as you
mentioned.

Also, these boxes have the RP-TNC connector, so you will need this adapter to use your existing RP-SMA to N Male cable that came with your cantenna kit:

http://www.jefatech.com/product/ADRPTNC-RPSMAF

I want to use a wireless network to one of my buildings on my property. it is about 300 ft to the out building. What do I need?

Here is what you will need:

Ubiquiti NS2:

http://www.jefatech.com/product/NS2

You mount this on the outside of your garage facing the house.  It picks up the wireless signal and converts it to a standard Ethernet (Cat5) network connection.  You route the network cable inside your garage and can plug it directly into a computer, or into a hub or router to share the connection with multiple computers in the garage.

You will need a network cable:
http://www.jefatech.com/product/C5MB-50GRY

The NS2 is designed to be mounted to a pole.  Here is a wall mount:
http://www.jefatech.com/product/UM