Month: August 2021

Enlarge / We tested these TP-Link outdoor Wi-Fi bridges—both 2.4GHz and 5GHz versions—across 80 meters of partially-wooded terrain, with great success. (credit: Jim Salter)

Extending your Wi-Fi properly from one building to another is, unfortunately, a bit of a secret art—but it doesn't need to be either difficult or expensive. The secret lies mostly in knowing the right tools for the job. This is a job that shouldn't involve range extenders or rely on standard Wi-Fi mesh pieces. The good news is, with the right gear, you can connect your home to an outbuilding without either professional expertise or a ditch witch and a spool of burial-grade cable.

Although the Salter household (current generation) is planted firmly in suburbia, my parents stayed rural when they moved closer to their grandkids. Their place is beautiful, but it's the kind of home where a riding lawn mower is optional—a tractor with bush hog is a necessity. Said tractor lives in a barn about 80 meters from the house, much of which is a moderately wooded grove. And that made it an excellent test candidate for a little DIY networking experiment.

Our goal in this exercise is not to geek out as hard as possible by mounting and aiming everything with millimeter precision. Instead, we're simply out to demonstrate that wirelessly connecting two buildings quickly, cheaply, and easily is possible for anyone. In fact, you can even enjoy more-than-acceptable results in the end.

Enlarge / Arianespace launched a second satellite for the Pléiades Neo imaging constellation Monday on a Vega rocket. (credit: Arianespace)

Welcome to Edition 4.12 of the Rocket Report! This issue comes complete with some late-breaking news: Firefly has completed a static fire test of its Alpha rocket. This is a big moment and sets up the company's very first launch attempt next month.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Firefly completes static fire test. The Texas-based rocket company announced Thursday that it successfully completed a static fire test of its Alpha rocket the day before. This critical test paves the way for a launch attempt as early as September 2 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.