Not only was there no internet this morning, I couldn’t even connect to the Mifi, which told me I was having Mifi problems more than internet problems. I yanked the battery from it and restarted about 10 times and then I could connect to it. But still no internet. So I went up the hill, and good thing I did because I just made the deadline to pick up a nice amount of work for today.
Back home, I again tried to connect. The weather is crappy yet again (could we please have some heat if not sun?), lots of thick clouds, so I was going to give up. Then I had an epiphany.
My signal strength has always been more decent lower to the ground than higher! I had a generally more decent signal with the stubby antenna stuck on the truck roof than I ever did with the big antenna as high up as it can go.
So I brought the antenna to almost ground level. It’s stuck to the top step of my magnetic step ladder. And I am online. It’s not a great connection, so no picture of the setup, but I may be able to send my project to the client without having to get back into the truck. And that’s enough to make me less cranky today.
I’m wondering if the power line could be causing some interference? Or maybe the line of sight is downwards?
In unrelated news, I got home from the hill to find a ginormous bright yellow bag on one of the chairs by the door. Inside, was deliciousness: a kazillion stalks of fresh rhubarb. I’m finishing this assignment, them I’m off to make compote!
Some would be delighted with a bag of rhubarb, some would be horrified (me). I am glad nobody grows it around here.
One of my favorite stories
by Laura Ingalls was she made rhubarb pies for the wheat harvesters that
were on the farm. She forgot to put sugar in the pie! LOL
She was saved from embarrassment by one fellow, he said she was so smart, each guy could sweeten their pie to their own taste.
I can’t remember if I put sugar in my rhubarb or not. I guess I’ll known when it’s cooked!
The way I make it, it tastes like a combination of apples and raspberries. Sooo yummy.
Could that fellow have been Almanzo? I would have married him right there!
Yeah, he sounded like a dreamboat didn’t he? lol
The signal could be bouncing around and coming from a different direction than direct line of sight to the tower. It could even be reflecting off the ground.
You could also (worst case scenario) be getting almost equal strength signals from more than one direction hitting your omnidirectional antenna. This is called “multipath”. Think of two identical signals being sent down a pipe, one aimed straight down the pipe and travelling without bouncing off the sides. The other signal is aimed at the side of the pipe and bounces from side to side until it reaches the receiver. The bouncing signal has to travel much further than the direct signal and the difference in arrival time can confuse the receiver and possibly cancel out the data received.
I know it is not in your budget but a Yagi could help in this situation as it would attenuate (reduce) the signal coming from a non-direct angle.
If I decide to go the Yagi route, I’ll order on Amazon to my friends’ box in Montana and have them pick it up for me. But as things stand now, I don’t need anything else!