Setting up the Router (WRT54GL) with the Yagi Antenna
This document is broken down into three sections.
Section 1: Understanding the Basics of the Yagi Combo
Section 2: Configuring the Router manually
Section 3: Configuring the Router using our software (recommended over manual configuration)
Section I - Understanding the Basics of the Yagi Combo
The Yagi Combo unit comes with a high-gain very directional Yagi antenna. This antenna allows the router to "see" other WIFI networks that cannot typically be seen using a laptop or other computer that has wireless capabilities.
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Basic understanding of WIFI
Wifi stands for "Wireless Fidelity" and uses the 802.11 technology. Originally Wifi was only applicable to products using the 802.11b standard, but today, Wifi can apply to products that use any 802.11 standard. Wifi signals are typically used within 100 feet of the actual signal, however with the advancement in technology, such as our YAGI Antenna, much further distances can be reached.
Whether you are using the Yagi Antenna or any other Wifi device, there are many factors that can determine how far you can be from a Wifi signal, such as hills, buildings, electric fields (generators, motors, etc). Even being inside a building can limit your ability to connect to a Wifi signal, especially if the building is brick, metal or other dense material.
Many restaurants, state parks, coffee shops, UPS, and other companies offer Wifi. These so called locations are called "Hotspots". It should be noted that some are free, while others required you to sign up or have an existing account. When you find a "Hotspot" and launch Internet Explorer, it will present you with either a "logon" page or allow you to just cruise the internet. If you are presented with a Logon page, then you will need an account. Some of the major providers of Wifi are T-Mobile and AT&T, however there are many other companies that offer Wifi. Some companies will offer Wifi in a residential neighborhoods where DLS or Cable is not possible. Also, some private users give free access to their internet
Some helpful hints - laying out your plan of action:
Considering all the above, it is wise to locate the Yagi Antenna as high as possible and away from any thing that might block the Wifi signal, such as the wall of a building or hills. Its also very helpful if you know where the Wifi Signal is that you wish to connect to. One thing that is very helpful is to obtain a wireless laptop and drive around your area and find where the Wifi "hotspots" are located and mark them on a map with their names such as "Starbucks Wifi". When you find these "hotspots" on your laptop, you should try to connect to them. If you cannot connect to them using your laptop, then you won't be able to connect to them using the YAGI Combo. As stated above, some Wifi "Hotspots" require that you have an account.
Once you have a general direction of where the Wifi Signal is located, you will want to mount your antenna as high as possible and aim it in the general direction of the signal. Now here is the tricky part.... depending on how the antenna is mounted at the Hotspot (vertical, horozontal, pins up or down) will dictate how you should mount your antenna. This is something you will just have to experiment with. It is very helpful if you mount the Yagi Antenna at 90 degrees to a mast (much like a flag) and since you will be rotating it to find the Hotspot, you shouldn't permanently mount the mast until you find your signal. The mast can be plastic or metal.
When you mount your Yagi Antenna to a mast, you may want to start off by having the vanes on the antenna parallel to the ground and make a 360 degree sweep stopping ever 10-20 degrees and checking the signal. If you don't find anything, try rotating the antenna so the vanes are now perpendicular to the ground (up and down instead of left and right) and rotate again.
When setting up your router, you will have two different "wireless" connections that you should keep in mind. (Explained in detail below)
1. Physical Interface - This is the connection from your router (YAGI Antenna) and the Wifi Hotspot say "Starbucks".
2. Virtual Interface - This is the connection that is between your laptop and the router. It is your own "private" wireless connection that you name and create an IP address for.
Section II - Setting up the router Manually
Step 1-1.
Remove your router from the box and unscrew the two antennas from the router if they are connected.
Step 1-2.
In order to configure your router manually, you must first connect up to it. This will require you to obtain an ethernet cable and plug directly into Port labeled number 1. DO NOT CONNECT TO THE PORT LABELED INTERNET! Connect the other end of the ethernet cable to the lan port of your laptop.
Step 1-3.
Plug in the wireless router and wait 1 minute
Step 1-4.
Launch internet explorer and type at the address bar - http://192.168.1.1 - This is the IP address of your router. If you do not connect to the router and see a "Page Cannot Be Found" you either have a bad cable, not connected to Port 1 of the router, the router is not plugged in, or didn't type the address correctly. Check again.
Step 1-5.
Log into the router
User = root
Password = admin
Once you log into the router you will be presented with the following
Step 1-6.
Click on "Setup" tab on the right
Click on the Sub-Menu tap "Basic Setup"
Under "Network Setup" you will see the IP address of the router which is 192.168.1.1.
Since all routers are shipped with this address, we want to change to be sure to not make conflict with any IP address of distant router.
We will use the IP address 192.168.14.1 because this one is rarely used and the risk of conflict is minimized - so type that in.
click on "Save" at the bottom of the screen and then "Continue".
Step 1-7.
Click on the "Status Tab"
Click on the Sub-Menu of "Wireless"
At the bottom of the page is "Site Survey", click on that.
You will see this page;
If there are any Wifi Signals that the YAGI Antenna can "see", this is where they would appear. If you don't see any networks or the one that you wish to connect to, move your antenna slightly in 10 degree and click again on "Site Survey". Repeat until you do see a signal.
Remember that you will have to experiment to receive the best signal which might include rotating the antenna so the pins are either horizontal or vertical to the ground.
One of the headings at the top is labeled Rssi. The lower this number is the better the signal (example 68 is better then 82). Move your antenna slightly to get the lowest number. .
Under the Open word, you see if the network is open by either a "Yes" or "No". If you see a "No, you must have the encryption key to join the network. In other words its a private network.
If you cannot find any networks, then try moving your antenna to a completely different location and again click on "Site Survey"
Hopefully by now you have found the network that you want to connect to.
To connect to the Wifi click on " Join" and then click on "Continue"
You should now see the page below
Click on "Save". DO NOT CLICK ON "APPLY"! Apply will not save your settings!
After you have saved your configuration, unplug the power from the router and your network cable from the router - wait 1 minute.
Plug your network cable back into router and apply power to the router...wait about another minute. At this time your PC will obtain a new IP address from the router based on the IP address you gave it.
When you see the yellow logo light on the router, wait 30 more seconds.
Try to connect back up to your router using the IP address 192.168.14.1.
Now, you are supposed to have internet (If the network you connected to have internet of course!)
Part Two: Setting up the router for Wireless connection (Repeater mode).
In this section, you will learn how to set the router to have access wirelessly to the internet (from the distant source selected in the previous section)
If you are not connected up to your router via the lan cable do so now. (see steps 2 to 4 in the previous section)
You must be connect with the RJ-45 to the router like in the part one
Step 2-1.
Open Internet Explorer and type http://192.168.14.1 and press "enter"
Again you will see the basic setup page. If you are requested to log in, the "User = root" and the "password - admin"
Step 2-2.
Click on "Wireless" Tab, you will see the following page;
Change the wireless Mode from Client to Repeater and click Apply
You will see new options in the page:
Step 2-3
Setting up the "Virtual Interface"
The "Virtual Interface" or network is the network you created on the router. It is network that exists between your laptop and the router. It also contains the IP address you assigned above. It is not the Wifi network you wish to connect to.
You must tell the router that this "Virtual Interface" exists.
Click on "Add" to create this virtual circuit
Step 2-4 - Naming your network
Choose a name for your network, like "ZULU". It is not recommended that you use a name that someone can figure out its you.
Click on "Apply" then click on "Save"
Step 2-5 - Setting up your Laptop and router for wireless connectivity
If your computer has a wireless switch, turn it on.
Unplug your lan cable and power from the router.
Wait 30 seconds and plug the power back into the router....Leave the lan cable disconnected!
It can take up to 2 minutes for your laptop to configure the network card and be able to detect wireless signals. So be patient.
You should see the "Yellow" logo light on the router light up. Please note its pretty dim. At this time the router will be sending out a beacon which your laptop should pickup.
Step 2-5 - Connecting your computer to the wireless network.
Using Windows XP, click on "View Wireless Connections". (click on Start -> Connect To -> Wireless Network) or right click on your wireless icon on the bottom right of your computer.
You should see your network - Click on "Connect".
Once connected, launch Internet Explorer and type in the address bar http://192.168.14.1
Log into your router
You should see your Router Setup page. If you don't, you have something wrong. Check to make sure you have a stable wireless connection (view wireless connections) and that you are not too far from the Yagi Antenna (about 10 feet).
Step 2-6 - Connecting to the Remote Wifi
Once you have connected to your "private" network (in this case Zulu), you can now "Join" your remote Wifi.
To do this, click on "Status"
Then click on the "Wireless" sub-menu.
Again, you will see at the bottom "Site Survey" click on that
Next, find the network you wish to connect to and click on "JOIN" and then "Continue"
Next launch Internet explorer and try to go to http://www.yahoo.com
You may connect directly up to Yahoo.com or be presented with a "Logon" page from the wifi provider. Again, if you are presented with a logon page, you will have to have an account.
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Step 2-7 Securing your network
To set up a secure network, you only have control over your private or "Virtual Interface". So we will be setting up a key for just the Virtual Interface.
To protect anyone from gaining access to your "private" network (your router), you should secure it with a "key". A key is much like the same thing you use for a car. Meaning you cannot
get into it without the key.
To create a Key for your router to the following.
Click on "Wireless" tab
Click on the sub-menu "Wireless Security"
Select WEP for the security Mode
Make sure button 1 is checked
Select encryption type to "64 bits 10 hex digits"
In the field KEY 1 type in a 10 digit number that you can remember. Perhaps your parents phone number. Again I do not recommend you use your home phone as that can be hacked if someone correlates you network name with you and knows your phone number.
Your wireless card on your computer should be the same as the encryption method you select. As stated in most cases WEP works fine.
Please note:
Sometimes, if you use WPA or WPA2 encryption, you can have problems connecting up to the router. If this occurs then click on the following tabs
"Administration" then the sub-menu "Command"
Enter the command shown below and click "SAVE". Then reboot the router.
Please note regarding transmit power -
There are many commands available to you on this router. They are beyond the scope of setting up your router. However one that that you might find helpful is the "transmit power" and "Transmit Power boosting" in the "Wireless" and "Advanced Settings" tabs.
It is not recommended that you put more than 160 mW of power into the antenna as the more power you generate the more distorted the signal. Think of it like turning your stereo on full volume, your speakers will distort and you won't have a clean signal.
You will have a higher reception level, but the transmit signal will be distorted and this will actually decrease your speed.
Section II - Setting up the router Using our Software
Once you completely understand how to setup the router manually you can try using our software. Its much easier once you get the hang of it. However if your comfortable with the manual setup and it works fine, then I would recommend that you just leave it.
In this section, you will learn how to setup your router with the configuration software. The DD_WRT firmware(upgraded firmware in the router) give you the option to put the router in repeater mode to catch a distant wireless signal and at the same time, connect to your router wirelessly. However, you can only make a basic configuration. Your local Wireless network SSID (Name) and encryption key (If enabled on the distant router) will be the same for the local SSID and Distant SSID.
With the configuration software, you can put a different SSID name, encryption key for the distant signal and the local repeated signal.
You can find all the necessary parameters in the site survey in the web interface of the router (Status/wireless/site survey)
How it works:
You enter all the parameters in the software and the software will connect to the router by telnet and set all the parameters automatically for you.
First thing you have to do:
Install the configuration software on your computer.
You can download the software here:
http://www.innovativedevice.com/Files/wifi/SetupConfig_dd-wrt.exe
Here is a description of the different fields:
Network to connect configuration:
· SSID name: Here you write the name of the network that you want to connect to
· Encryption: If you have to connect to an encrypted network, you can select WEP 64 encryption. It’s the most used encryption type to date (But not the more secure). When WEP 64 encryption is used, you must know the key.
· Key: It’s the 64 bit key. You must enter a key here only if you choose WEP 64 encryption. The key is in Hexadecimal format, 10 values. (10 value, can be any value between 0-9 and A-F. Other letters are not allowed here.)
· Channel: Here you enter the channel of the network you want to connect to. You must know the channel. You can check it with your laptop or even in the router with the Site Survey button (More info on this in the previous section 1 of this document)
My network configuration:
· SSID name: Here you write the name that you want for your internal Wireless network.
· Encryption: If you want to encrypt your connection, select WEP64 encryption.
· Key: If you use WEP 64 encryption, enter the key here. The key is in Hexadecimal format, 10 values. (10 value, can be any value between 0-9 and A-F. Other letters are not allowed here.)
Note: There is no Channel selection for the local network, it use the same channel than the distant network.
Output Window:
In the output window, you will see all the information send and received to the router.
IP:
This is the IP of the router. Normally, if you have waited about 1 minute with the router connected before starting the software, the router IP must be automatically detected.
Port:
This is the port number to connect to the router. The default port for telnet connection is the port 23. Telnet protocol must be enabled in the router for the software to work. The telnet protocol is activated by default in the router
Update Router:
Finally, This is the button you click when you have entered all the values.
So, all you have to do is enter all the information and click on Update Router. You will see patterns like this in the output window:
And finally, when the update is finished, the router will reboot. Unplug the RJ-45 and replug it if you want to use the router with the rj-45 or Connect your computer wireless card to the SSID name you have configured if you want to connect to it wirelessly.
It can take up to 2 minutes before the internet start.