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Spring is in the air...unfortunately so is a lot of WiFi radio interference. As more homes make use of WiFi technology, airwaves get crowded with signals and activity. Your neighbors' activity can even impact the WiFi speed in your own home. If you plan to travel in the near future, this is the time of year when RV parks and marinas begin to fill up with families taking trips for spring break. Just as a crowded room impacts your ability to hear somebody talking on the other side, a crowded RV park impacts your ability to receive the park's WiFi signal.

This season, consider an Alfa outdoor WiFi antenna for use with a high powered WiFi receiver. This month we have three new outdoor WiFi antennas available. The Alfa AGA-2424T is a 24 dBi directional parabolic grid antenna with the high gain you need to cover great distance. The AOA-2412 from Alfa is an omni directional 12 dBi antenna perfect for boating and RV use. Alfa's AOA-2409TF is a low-cost entry level outdoor antenna featuring 9 dBi of gain. It is perfect for direct connection to outdoor USB receivers like Alfa's Tube-U series.

Not sure what you need? Need assistance choosing an antenna cable or connector? Contact our sales and support staff Monday through Friday from 10AM to 5PM EST.

Omni-directional antenna solutions: Our 8 dBi and 15 dBi gain outdoor omni-directional antennas are both great options for any outdoor need. They concentrate gain in a 360 degree horizontal pattern and are ideal for picking up signals in any direction. Mobile craft like boats and RVs are ideal places for mounting an omni-directional antenna.

Directional antenna solutions: Our 10 dBi panel and 16 dBi yagi outdoor directional antennas concentrate gain all in the direction they are aimed. This helps penetrate obstacles and interference in that direction. While directional antennas can be used on boats and RVs, they are ideal for fixed location mounting. An example would be attempting to cover the long distance between a main building and an out building. The directional antenna can be mounted outside the out building and aimed toward the signal broadcasting from the main building.

Outdoor receivers and all-in-one solutions: Alfa Network Inc. makes a great outdoor Wi-Fi receiver series called Tube-U. With 802.11g and 802.11n models, the Tube-U line has an N-male connector and can be connected to any outdoor Wi-Fi antenna with an N-female connector. We have special kits which give you a Tube-U receiver and an 8 dBi omni or 10 dBi directional panel antenna.

Antenna extension cables: In most cases you will need an extension cable to run between your indoor Wi-Fi receiver like Alfa AWUS036H and your outdoor antenna. We carry antenna extension cables of different length and with different connector types. We also have pigtails and connectors. See our Cables & Pigtails section or contact us by visiting our Support page if you need assistance choosing the right cable or antenna.

This may just be the coolest product ever made by Alfa Network. Have you ever wanted to pick up a Wi-Fi signal from far away? Well of course, who hasn't. And Alfa has their AWUS036H 1000mW USB adapter for that very purpose. But have you ever wanted to have all of your Wi-Fi capable devices- like your iPhone, iPad, wireless printer, TiVo DVR, and laptop- all connect to a Wi-Fi signal far away? Perhaps you're living in an off-campus apartment and you already own an AWUS036H from Alfa. That lets your laptop easily pick up the campus Wi-Fi network, but it doesn't do any good for those other devices, putting you in quite a fix.

Exit fix, enter R36. The R36 is a new USB-enabled wireless router from Alfa Network, Inc. that allows you to attach your AWUS036H Wi-Fi adapter from Alfa directly to the router itself. Then you can scan for and connect to far-away networks using the admin utility built into the R36. This creates a new local Wi-Fi signal right in your room so all of your Wi-Fi capable devices can pick it up. Think of the R36 as a normal Wi-Fi router, but instead of using a cable or broadband DSL modem as the Internet source, it uses the Wi-Fi signal detected by the AWUS036H as the Internet signal. The R36 then repeats this signal around you as a new signal. The base package does not include an AWUS036H Wi-Fi receiver, but we do have this special kit that includes both.

Alfa's R36 can also be used with Alfa receiver models AWUS036EW and Tube-U(G).

We now have our RC1 (Release Candidate 1) Mac OS Lion driver package available for the Rokland n3. You can click here to download it. The RC1 package is not currently on the CD that ships with the n3, so if you are a potential customer planning to buy the n3 for use with Lion, you will need to download the RC1 package.

Rokland now carries AIP-W411 from Alfa Network, a 150 Mbps Wireless 802.11n router designed specifically for small business, office and home networking. With a built-in 4-port Ethernet switch, and an RP-SMA antenna connector, AIP-W411 gives you everything you need at a fraction of the price of today's retail-shelf routers with similar features. You can connect the included 5 dBi gain antenna to the router, or use a higher gain antenna you already own or may plan to buy. Many of today's 802.11n routers do not have an external antenna port which means you cannot upgrade the antenna if you range requirements demand.



AIP-W411 also features an on/off switch. For most routers, in order to power-cycle (soft reset) or turn the router off you have to directly unplug it, wait 30 seconds, and plug it back into the wall. Having the on/off switch is more convenient and allows you to quickly turn off the router so you can conserve power if you will be out of town of don't plan on using the router for an extended period of time.

New from Alfa Network- a 5m (16 feet) "active repeater" USB extension cable. This is a special type of cable that buffers power over the distance of the cable. Standard USB extension cables- the kind you may find online or in office supply stores for a few bucks- are "passive" cables that do not buffer the power signal and therefore lose power over the length of the cable. This means they cannot offer enough power for high consumption devices, such as Alfa's line of long range Wi-Fi USB networking adapters including AWUS036H, AWUS036NH, and AWUS036NHR. This also has special shielding to insulate against power loss- you will notice out of the package it is quite a bit thicker than standard USB cables.


 
This allows you to put your long range Wi-Fi USB adapter further away from your computer to help improve the range.

If you are in need of a long range outdoor Wi-Fi solution, before you consider a pricey $100+ outdoor receiver, why not simply put your indoor long range Wi-Fi adapter outdoors? Now you can use your Alfa AWUS036H, AWUS036NHR, or Rokland n3 wireless USB outdoors with our weather resistant case mount enclosure.

It features a USB cable hole on the bottom and an antenna/antenna extension cable hole on the top. Also included are eight screws- four wood screws designed to fasten the entire encasement to a surface area, and four smaller screws designed to keep the lid onto the case. This comes with 4 pieces of 5 lb test double-sided adhesive which allows you to fasten the container to an encasement without using the wood screws. This may be ideal for use on the outside of an RV or a boat. The 5 lb capacity of the adhesive is enough to hold any Wi-Fi adapter that will fit and antennas up to 9 dBi.

For those that need multiple items- such as a Wi-Fi adapter, outdoor antenna, and antenna extension cable, we are expanding our "Wi-Fi Bundles/Kits" category to include more discounted offerings. Our two new addtions this week are:

Alfa AWUS036H 1000mW USB + 16 dBi Yagi antenna + 5m LMR-200 extension cable

(1x) Alfa AWUS036H 1000mW long range wireless USB adapter, new in retail box with 5 dBi omni directional antenna, (1x) 16 dBi gain outdoor directional yagi antenna with 16 elements, and (1x) 16-foot LMR-200 shielded antenna extension cable to go between the Wi-Fi adapter and antenna. Individually these three items retail for $70.91, so save money with this special kit.

16 dBi gain Yagi antenna + 5m LMR-200 RP-SMA extension cable

Perfect for those who already have a long range Wi-Fi adapter with external RP-SMA antenna connector, this package deal includes (1x) 16 dBi gain outdoor directional yagi antenna with 16 elements, and (1x) 16-foot LMR-200 shielded antenna extension cable to go between your Wi-Fi adapter and the antenna.  LMR-200 shielding is industry recommended for low gain loss.

Our popular n3 wireless USB adapter from Rokland is now just $34.97 with free shipping. The n3 offers 802.11n functionality and an external RP-SMA antenna port for use with both indoor and outdoor external antennas.

 If you snoozed on our pre-order deal, grab your AWUS036NHR now for just $34.97 with FREE SHIPPING within the US!

Alfa's AWUS036NHR is the long-awaited successor to their popular AWUS036NH long range 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter. What's different? Even...longer...range...to both N and G access points! Based on the sensitive Realtek RTL8188RU chipset, AWUS036NHR gives you the fast speeds of 802.11n and stronger signals than most existing 802.11n Wi-Fi products. Not convinced? Check out this range comparison test vs. Alfa's AWUS036NH model:

Alfa Network's newest 802.11n long range Wi-Fi USB adapter, model AWUS036NHR, launches next week. To see how it compares to Alfa's current long range N model, AWUS036NH,  check out this video:

 
Then you can pre-order AWUS036NHR directly from our web site and save 10% by using coupon code "AWUS036NHR" during checkout.

One of the many new products we have on our web site this month is Alfa Network's new Tube-U series of long range outdoor Wi-Fi adapters. They are great for use on boats or RVs. There are two flavors- Tube-U(N), which is an 802.11n model, and Tube-U(G) which of course is an 802.11g model. Tube-U features a high-powered Wi-Fi receiver in weather proof casing, as well as a special shielded 16' USB cable designed to prevent against signal loss. It also comes with mounting ties and features an N-male antenna connector. Check out this video: