Hello World

Weeeeeeeeeh!

This is my first blog post using our new WiFi setup on board Herbie. Installed five minutes ago. So far, it's looking good. Here at Crick the phone network is pretty ropey and the marina's WiFi is very weak in our spot, but we're getting quite fast Internet response from our new setup.

Basically we have copied the setup shown to us by Kathryn on NB Leo No2. Thanks Kathryn. What we have is a Huawei E586E Mobile WiFi thingy bought from Amazon, connected to an outside antenna which has a good magnetic foot (just the job for a boat roof) and a longish lead. We are using a 3mobile pay as you go sim 3gb /3 month for about a tenner.

The Huawei thingy is nearly the same as the wireless pointer sold by TMobile but their's doesn't have an antenna socket. We do seem to need the antenna, the signal inside the boat is pretty poor without it.

Kath and I are both on our iPads as I write and we are both agreed the Internet speed is the best we have ever had on board. Also the WiFi seems to work well from one end of the boat to the other.

Herbie seems to have survived her winter lay up. No burst pipes or leaks. The bilges are dry. The batteries were Ok too.

Next job is to fit the new ammeter to the solar panel circuit so I can see what they are generating. In theory this should be simple, but these things never are quite as easy as you hope because of fitting stuff in a tight space. Should I succeed tomorrow, I'll post a picture.