Viofo A139 pro // 1ch // Wifi // external antennas

[Müller]

Hello.

One doesn`t have to be the king of crimp. The necessary components for this job are available already. For example these:





In medias res:



Turns out to be a mechanically solid setup. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. VIOFO for not being stingy with wallthicknesses and form fits.

 

[kamkar]

I do not use my car radio antenna, so i could put a small rubber antenna there, that will survive the frequent car washing.
Though the way things are here in relation to where i parn and where my wifi access points are, well i would still have to put a extender or new AP in my bedroom or kitchen window.

TBH, with smart cameras ASO, i would expect things like that to be come standard, CUZ the build in antenna, well it aint going to reach far from inside your car.

 

[SkyeHack]

Can someone explain why he did this modification to his unit?

 

[Müller]

Hello SkyeHack.

SkyeHack: "[...] why [...] this modification [...]? "

With an external antenna, the cam´s Wifi has more reach/is more stable. Wether the customer uses it in ap- or station-mode. After the modification one can choose using a higher gain antenna IN one´s car or motor-home or connect the cam via HF-cable to an antenna OUTSIDE one´s vehicle. One can additionally choose the suitable antenna-characteristic, omni or directional.

 

[zugzwang]

Hello SkyeHack.



With an external antenna, the cam´s Wifi has more reach/is more stable. Wether the customer uses it in ap- or station-mode. After the modification one can choose using a higher gain antenna IN one´s car or motor-home or connect the cam via HF-cable to an antenna OUTSIDE one´s vehicle. One can additionally choose the suitable antenna-characteristic, omni or directional.

Was it worth it? It works how it meant to be?

 

[Müller]

Hello Zugzwang.

It´s not about being worth anything. That worthiness-thing depends on each individual person´s input/output-expectations from this modification and is therefore subjective and not transferable from one person to another, so no advise can be given on that basis. It´s more about actually being in need of range/reach and/or stability beyond the capabilities of the A139´s build-in PCB-antenna. And it´s simple physics that, depending on which antenna (gain/characteristic/overall antenna (hf-)quality) you choose for your personal transmitting-scenario, external antennas getting that job better up to far superior done than the PCB-antenna which is only designed for shortrange connection from cam to app.

And yes, it works. Even still without using a dedicated router with equally capable/matching antennas on the receiving side i tried a directional 17dbi sector-antenna on the cam and had a stable connection to my smartphone through additional 3 rooms with halfbricked sandlime-walls (in german: halbsteinig gemauerte Kalksandstein-Wand) and closed metal-doors where prior to the modification the connection already went down the toilet after i closed the door to the second room (all mentioned rooms in line and the line of rooms in line to the position of the camera/antenna with the camera/antenna outside the first room).

I did not test the max. free-field/open air-distance with direct line of sight.

But: the livestream is NOT 4k. It´s VGA-level. And without audio. Up to date. Hope that may be subject to a future change ...

 

[Dashmellow]

There is a company I've been doing business with for more than 20 years called RadioLabs that anyone here who is interested in long range WiFi might find interesting. My association with them has been more about my interest in short wave radio and they've done custom modifications on a couple of my radios but this company has been pioneering high performance long range WiFi products since 2001 selling unique amplifiers, antennas, routers, etc. With some of their products and designs line of sight WiFi distances of several miles can be achieved.

Wireless - RadioLabs

Wireless - RadioLabs

www.radiolabs.com

WiFi Antennas - Wireless - RadioLabs

WiFi Antennas - Wireless , 2.4, 5.8 Omni, Directional, high power, Wifi Sector, or other antennas for your wireless needs. RadioLabs offers a full line of wifi antennas to fit your needs.

www.radiolabs.com

 

[kamkar]

A car which are more or less a metal box and so also a faraday cage, well it will block radio waves and deflect high voltage like a lightning strike, hence why a car are one of the safest places to be in a thunder storm.

Faraday cage - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The wifi radio in a dashcam, well it probably also have a pretty modest output, so that will limit reach even more so.

 

[Dashmellow]

The wifi radio in a dashcam, well it probably also have a pretty modest output, so that will limit reach even more so.

I guess that's the reason for @Müller's external antenna mod. With the right support set-up at your base station you should get pretty good range. On their web site RadioLabs talks about dealing with obstacles like trees, buildings and metal siding using their boosters, repeaters and bridges. With their RV and marine antennas they say, "Our WiFi antenna systems have incredibly long range to any access point in a large area. We’ve had reports of connection distances up to 7 miles, but realistically you will receive all WiFi within a huge radius of 1 mile or more." Of course none of this stuff is cheap.

 

[kamkar]

Yeah.
If you have a house, well you could put your router or a wifi AP close to your parked car, and i assume be fine.
If you like me live in a apartment and have some ways to your parked car in the parking lot, well a near by AP will probably not do it alone.

IMO as dashcams get smarter and smarter, even if i would probably never use it, i would expect to see things like this., if not for wifi then for the 4 / 5 G in the camera to have better penetration to the cell tower.

 

[Dashmellow]

Yeah.
If you have a house, well you could put your router or a wifi AP close to your parked car, and i assume be fine.
If you like me live in a apartment and have some ways to your parked car in the parking lot, well a near by AP will probably not do it alone.

IMO as dashcams get smarter and smarter, even if i would probably never use it, i would expect to see things like this., if not for wifi then for the 4 / 5 G in the camera to have better penetration to the cell tower.

Venezuelans set new WiFi distance record: 237 miles | Engadget

It's been a while since we've seen people muck around with long-distance WiFi -- not only are DIY solutions like cantennas possibly illegal, sexier technologies like WiMAX have emerged to better serve those long-distance IP needs.

www.engadget.com

 

[kamkar]

Here in my town they also tried to roll out wimax or something like that a while ago, before i moved here, but i think 4G killed it off, and also you get cable in most of the town and fiber are edging in too.
you can still see the little directional antennas on many houses here.

Just did a little mast surfing here ( 5 G ) and really what i see dont give me high hopes, most masts are the lower and mid frequencies and still far in-between the really fast masts with the high frequencies antennas..
Looking at a national bases, well yes sure there are 5G in almost every town with over 10,000 people, but in between there are still big patches of 4G coverage only.
BUT ! they are not done putting up masts and upgrading old stuff, but i am glad i an not addicted to this field

Also checked up on 2.5 Gbit and 5Gbit coverage on fiber, that was a let down as it is not there in most areas, and i was hoping to go to 2.5 Gbit on fiber when i change apartment, but it seem like i will have to settle for 1 Gbit.
The really fast stuff are only up in really dense population places, and a few industrial parks.