- Joined
- Jul 21, 2019
- Messages
- 456
- Reaction score
- 148
- Points
- 43
- Location
- Myrtle Beach SC
- Model
- Express 330
This Summer, I’m going to need to be able to stay in touch with my business while we are cruising. The Marina where we keep our boat has free WiFi that is unusable without an external antenna on the boat. From what we experienced while running the boat up from FL. That’s pretty standard. The closest Verizon cell tower to the Marina must be miles away, because we barely have one bar And we drop every call at least once. I decided this would be the perfect environment to try to maximize available signals for our trip in July.
For the WiFi I purchased the Alpha WiFi Camp Pro 2 booster and antenna. Easy to install and works fantastic. I went from no signal to being able to live stream Netflix. It was very inexpensive. I did the whole job for under $200. It picks up the Marina WiFi and boosts the signal.
For the cell booster I bought the Shakespeare Super Halo. These are not so inexpensive. Your looking at $1250. These are a little more tricky to install. The effectiveness of the unit is pretty much controlled by how far you can get the outside and insides antennas apart. The installation guide say a minimum of 6ft. A Shakespeare sales person told me 10ft. I was able to get about 12ft separation with the entire helm area helping to block the signal from passing from my inside antenna to my outside antenna. It also helps to aim the inside antenna away from the outside antenna. It is working well. I can sit in the cabin and talk on my cell phone with no dropped calls and good clarity. Since the inside antenna is aiming straight forward. It does not give me a signal outside at my helm. There is a patch antenna included. I can plug that into the booster and hold it against my phone in the helm area.
Ive attached some pictures below. The first 3 pics are the cell booster. The 4th picture shows the WiFi antenna. The WiFi booster (blue lights) is mounted under the cell booster (Green lights). The white box above my breaker panel is the inside antenna.
For the WiFi I purchased the Alpha WiFi Camp Pro 2 booster and antenna. Easy to install and works fantastic. I went from no signal to being able to live stream Netflix. It was very inexpensive. I did the whole job for under $200. It picks up the Marina WiFi and boosts the signal.
For the cell booster I bought the Shakespeare Super Halo. These are not so inexpensive. Your looking at $1250. These are a little more tricky to install. The effectiveness of the unit is pretty much controlled by how far you can get the outside and insides antennas apart. The installation guide say a minimum of 6ft. A Shakespeare sales person told me 10ft. I was able to get about 12ft separation with the entire helm area helping to block the signal from passing from my inside antenna to my outside antenna. It also helps to aim the inside antenna away from the outside antenna. It is working well. I can sit in the cabin and talk on my cell phone with no dropped calls and good clarity. Since the inside antenna is aiming straight forward. It does not give me a signal outside at my helm. There is a patch antenna included. I can plug that into the booster and hold it against my phone in the helm area.
Ive attached some pictures below. The first 3 pics are the cell booster. The 4th picture shows the WiFi antenna. The WiFi booster (blue lights) is mounted under the cell booster (Green lights). The white box above my breaker panel is the inside antenna.
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