powerline adapter (extend Ethernet)

Scott - WM7C

Is anyone using a powerline adapter to extend Ethernet to their shack?  If so, do you see any noise associated with these?  Any other issues?

Wifi has proven to not be reliable and I get disconnected from my Flex usually every hour or so.  With the Maestro coming soon (this year?), I would like to have a more reliable connection.  I plan to run Ethernet to my shack, but haven't wanted to dig through 18 inches of insulation and drill through the top plate.

Jim Gilliam

I am using an Amped extender. Using the extender with the antennas that came with it was virtually worthless. I got my self a large parabolic antenna mounted on a tripod and connected it to one of the ports of the extender and pointed it at the router. The 25 dB gain reflector did the trick.

Jim, K6QE

Steve W6SDM

I am not using power line adapters but I do have range extenders that give me good results all over the property,  The router and extenders are Netgear.

George KF2T

I tried power line adapters and found there was an increase in RF noise. Could be just the brand or model I chose, but am leery now. 

My Flex and shack PC are wired to an Apple Airport Extreme set up as a wi-fi extender. The rig and computer have DHCP reservations, so get the same IP address, and can talk to each other mo matter the wi-fi situation. I use 5 GHz from the main Airport Extreme as the "trunk line" to connect to the internet, so it stays away from all the 2.4 GHz noise and competition. 

Much easier than running cable, and quiet, too. I get a good 500 Mbps on the 5 GHz path, so am pretty happy with it.

Good luck!

Geo/KF2T

Jim Gilliam

With the powerline type of adapters, your remote adapter might be on a different circuit and there will not be a direct wired connection between the server and the client. I had this problem before I went wireless with my parabolic antenna and connected .1 microfarad capacitors between the circuits at the breaker box. However, if you are not familiar with how houses are wired I'd hire an electrician or go the wireless route.

Jim, K6QE

Thomas Sorensen

How far is your run?  I would stay away from power-line adapters they can produce lots of RF.  If you run a cable, use shielded cat6 or cat7 wire.  I bet depending on the distance to your shack a WIFI booster/Bridge would solve your problem.

Tom, AF5WO

G4NRT

Speaking for myself, I have had nothing but appalling RFI from every PLT device that I have ever used.

I use a PLT device to extend my cable TV into my bedroom and have to unplug both ends when I want to go on the air.

The British regulator (OfCom) has published some new regulations regarding acceptable levels of interference but I think that there are still many old PLT devices which cause bad interference.  BT's one which they use to extend their ADSL to the TV set-top box seems to be one of the worst offenders!

Until this week, I was running both my 6500 and my Dell Inspiron laptop on the same wired LAN through a NetGear switch.  If I tried to use the laptop as a wireless device on my 2.4Ghz WiFi network then the latency was so bad that the laptop kept dropping offline.  I added an 802.11ac (5Ghz) dongle this week and it all works well now.

David G4NRT

Scott - WM7C

I have one wall and maybe 12 feet between my current EnGenius ECB350 (an N300 device) bridge and the wifi router/cable modem.

Mike Ward

My Neighbor 200 yards away had them, ask me how I Knew :-)

Mike

N7BCP

I live in an apartment with ancient wiring - radio and antenna are on the top floor of the apartment and my hobby room is in the basement.  I wanted the option of playing with the radio in the hobby room so tried a friend's powerline adapters and found to my amazement that they worked so picked up a set of DLan 1200s which include built-in Wifi AC and they're working fine however they generate quite a bit of noise on the bands.  The noise seems to move around a bit and it has some gaps where I can work some digital modes like WSJT or PSK.  When I transmit on forty meters I can watch the network bandwidth drop dramatically so I believe my transmit is interfering with the DLan devices.  Attached is a view of the noise - top pan is where I'm working WSJT, bottom is a larger picture from 5.4-8.4 Mhz.  When I'm upstairs with the radio then I turn off the powerline devices.  Not ideal but will do until I find a way to run a cable.

Larry
HB9EYQ

Bill Roberts

At the home QTH, I use a Linksys power line adapter/router (cheap, about $45 on Amazon) to make a  50 foot jump across the house.  In the family room, I have a TP-Link power line Wi-Fi extender with 2 or 3 wired Ethernet ports.  Using one of the Ethernet ports, I have no problem using SmartSDR 1.5.1 (haven't been there to upgrade) installed on an Intel 2030 based (really cheap) desktop which is in turn connected to our 80 inch UHD TV/display.  Then using a Bluetooth wireless keyboard and headset/mic, I've successfully done ssb QSOs from my recliner.

The radio is a Flex 6300 with the primary antenna being a GAP Voyager vertical (basically a vertical dipole, not a typical quarter wave) about 80 feet from the house.  I have not experienced either RFI into the router from the radio (run an ALS-600 amp) or any obvious RFI hash or spikes from the Linksys router or it's wall wart.  My impression is that power line routers use 200 - 400 KHz RF over the house wiring.  I suppose there could be harmonics into the ham bands but obviously, the fundamental.

In fact, you can see a squished view of SSDR on the big TV in my profile picture.

James T. Whitehead

Powerline adaptors are questional at best - a lot depends on the wiring in your home - I have always done my best to extend my network via Ethernet - for areas outside I have 1 wireless router and 2 Access Points all on the same network = Gateway and domain/workgroup. The 2 Access Points are connected to my network via Ethernet.

K1UO Larry

I used the ASUS EA-N66  wireless Ethernet adapter plugged directly into the Flex6500 but it also be plugged into something like a 4 port TP-Link 105 Ethernet switch to give you more Ethernet ports in your shack.  The wireless Ethernet adapter links up to my ASUS RT-N66u Router about 20 feet away and through at least 2 walls.  This has worked without error for the past year.

Scott - WM7C

Thank you.  I see now my bridge is a 2.4 GHz.  Maybe there is some 2.4 GHz on the same channel.  I'll probably just get a newer 5 GHz extender and will take a look at the Asus.  It's good to hear whats working well for folks.

Jim Gilliam

For those who are serious abouit wireless WiFi please check out RadioLabs. They have high gain antennas with large low-loss coax to connect to your wireless interface. I am using the G24 High Gain Parabolic Grid WiFi antenna. Believe me it is like night and day when you point one of these puppies at your wireless router. I'll shut up now.

Jim, k6QE

Scott - WM7C

Well, the whole neighborhood was on channel 11 on 2.4 GHz and I had left my router on default channel 11 since getting a new one some time back.  I moved down, so I'll see how that goes.