[pdc56]

I lived and worked (as a coder) on a boat for a number of years. I used long range wifi to steal internet from cafes, LTE, and for worst case, satellite internet (insanely expensive, just for emergencies, back in 2014-6).

A lot of my time was spent messing about keeping internet. Whenever the boat moved around I had to move the high gain wifi antenna. LTE at the time was great but small data caps.

For ~$6k a year it's a total game changer.

If I didn't have kids now I'd buy a boat again and do it in a heartbeat. Hell if I can afford it, maybe if my company exits, I'll jump at it with the kids.

It's the future folks, and it's freaking awesome

[belter]

What type of antennas did you use? Asking for a friend...

[pdc56]

Good question. I tested heaps. The winning design by a landslide was a metal plate reflector, with essentially two diamonds around 15mm in front of it, side by side, apx 15mm on the edge.

I thought it was called a 'butterfly antenna', but web searching now I don't think that's correct.

I built one for a friend just with wire and pliers. The tolerances mustn't have been that important because it worked well.

Maybe someone on here knows the name of that antenna design?