I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot
for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into >my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot
for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great >performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into >my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot
for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great >performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot
for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range.
On Sun, 29 Jan 2023 18:10:02 +0000, flibbertigibbet <blah@blah.blah>
wrote:
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into >>my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot >>for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great >>performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before >>upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
A search turned up 30 feet depending what obstructions are involved
KenW
flibbertigibbet wrote:
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into >> my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot
for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great >> performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
In my experience, reliable BT operating range is about one meter in a
typical home or office environment.
A linear RF amp is not a good idea.
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into >my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot
for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great >performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
On 1/29/2023 1:10 PM, flibbertigibbet wrote:
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into >> my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot
for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great >> performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
Look for Bluetooth 5 Class 1.
Most of the claims in the advert will be bullshit.
(IoT modes are unlikely to be available in your OS.
The OS driver at least, will select a legacy mode
for greenfield purposes. That's why the range
continues to be 100 meters. It won't be switching to
1/8th symbol rate or the like. The driver won't do that.)
To communicate with all the devices (phones) in the neighborhood,
you have to use the same operating mode as they do, which is
the greenfield one.
The 2dbi antenna the unit comes with, isn't exactly
going to "boost your power" via excessive EIRP. Bluetooth
adapters don't come with 30dbi dish antennas glued to them.
Paul
In article <leadthlgmu2ve54mfhhc564oa5l3rqta66@4ax.com>,
flibbertigibbet says...
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into >> my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range.
Try using a USB extension cable to get the dongle elevated and away from
the PC.
On Sun, 29 Jan 2023 13:55:02 -0700, KenW <ken1943@invalid.net> wrote:
On Sun, 29 Jan 2023 18:10:02 +0000, flibbertigibbet <blah@blah.blah>
wrote:
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into
my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot >>> for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great >>> performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
A search turned up 30 feet depending what obstructions are involved
My searches boasted a lot more, and I was ready to buy something which
looked likely to be a waste of hope and cash. Obstruction? Why, a cigarette paper would probably count as an obstacle for the dongle I'm using at the moment. The thing is, the bluetooth on my phone gives me much better coverage. I can leave the phone in my living room and go into the garden
to fill my coal scuttle and still listen to my music library. Doesn't make sense to me.
On Sun, 29 Jan 2023 18:10:02 +0000, flibbertigibbet <blah@blah.blah> wrote:
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into >> my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot
for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great >> performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
Thank you, everyone, for saving me a bunch of cash trying to get
something better than what I've already got, which was fairly expensive
for just a dongle. I'll just continue using my phone. It's a shame, really, because I've got two high-end Sony headphones,
(Sony WF-1000XM4 ear buds and Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones)
which hammer my phone's battery quite a bit, so I was hoping to switch
to my desktop music library instead. Oh well... Thanks again!
flibbertigibbet <blah@blah.blah> wrote:
On Sun, 29 Jan 2023 18:10:02 +0000, flibbertigibbet <blah@blah.blah> wrote: >>
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into
my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot >>> for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great >>> performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
Thank you, everyone, for saving me a bunch of cash trying to get
something better than what I've already got, which was fairly expensive
for just a dongle. I'll just continue using my phone. It's a shame, really, >> because I've got two high-end Sony headphones,
(Sony WF-1000XM4 ear buds and Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones)
which hammer my phone's battery quite a bit, so I was hoping to switch
to my desktop music library instead. Oh well... Thanks again!
This may be an issue with your phone rather than the headphones "hammering" >the battery life. If it's an old phone it may not be using the newest, most >efficient versions of BT.
Or are you streaming hires audio over a weak wifi signal? That would affect >battery life.
My feeling is that BT is not the culprit, here.
flibbertigibbet <blah@blah.blah> wrote:
On Sun, 29 Jan 2023 13:44:06 -0600, Paul in Houston TX <Paul@Houston.Texas> >> wrote:
flibbertigibbet wrote:
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into
my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot >>>> for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great
performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
In my experience, reliable BT operating range is about one meter in a
typical home or office environment.
There or there abouts, yes. Seems a bit odd to me that, compared to
all these huge advances in domestic computing, Bluetooth still seems
stuck where it started.
That's by design, hence why it hasn't really changed. Longer distance >wireless connectivity is via Wifi.
On 1/30/2023 4:36 AM, flibbertigibbet wrote:
On Sun, 29 Jan 2023 13:55:02 -0700, KenW <ken1943@invalid.net> wrote:
On Sun, 29 Jan 2023 18:10:02 +0000, flibbertigibbet <blah@blah.blah>
wrote:
I currently have a Mpow Bluetooth 5.1 USB Adapter for PC dongle plugged into
my desktop but I'm not satisfied with the range. I've looked around a lot >>>> for something better to try, and while there's so many boasting about great
performance I thought I'd try the knowledge base here first before
upgrading. Can anyone here offer a good long-range alternative?
A search turned up 30 feet depending what obstructions are involved
My searches boasted a lot more, and I was ready to buy something which
looked likely to be a waste of hope and cash. Obstruction? Why, a cigarette >> paper would probably count as an obstacle for the dongle I'm using at the
moment. The thing is, the bluetooth on my phone gives me much better
coverage. I can leave the phone in my living room and go into the garden
to fill my coal scuttle and still listen to my music library. Doesn't make >> sense to me.
Lower frequencies penetrate walls better.
Bluetooth, at 2.4GHz or so, will have a bit of trouble
with a couple walls.
Low power FM transmitters are sometimes used for
near space transmission. The frequency is lower.
But so is the power level. Whereas 2.4GHz is a band
with unlicensed usage up to a certain power level,
FM is used by commercial broadcasters, so if following the
rules, the rules are less permissive of using your own
personal FM transmitter. Your signal could also be
picked up by neighbours. When devices like this FM idea exist,
they're at the microwatt level.
These would be analog signals, converted to FM and back to
analog, so would rely on the headphones having an analog plug.
You would carry a thing the size of a pager, to pick up signal.
At one time, we would go to the RadioShack and see what
the latest toy was, for functions like this. If you go
to a Stereo/TV Store, the kit there would be much too
expensive as a given.
The next nearest unlicensed frequency, might be the
garage door opener frequency, but then while you were
listening to music, the music might drop out occasionally
due to the level of electrical noise on such a frequency.
That might be 435MHz or so, as a rough number.
And wall composition makes a difference. Aluminium framed
windows might stop signals pretty effectively, compared
to a wood framed window. At least at 2.4GHz this could be
an issue. At work, in an office building with a lot of
that sort of metal in framing, you could not even receive
broadcast FM at 100MHz. There was also no cellphone reception
inside the building, which is why all the hallways had
cell transmitters so there would be signal.
*******
USB2 cables are available, with a one port hub on the end.
This regenerates the USB2 signal. You can join four
of those cables at 5 meters each. You can run
those cables and then at the end, plug in your
Bluetooth nano transmitter. That's one way to position
a Bluetooth transmitter, for better reception outside.
(the 20 meter ranges quoted here, is that Class 1 ???) >https://www.amazon.co.uk/Avantree-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Nintendo-Headphones-Green/dp/B01G3J1I5M
(the 100 meter spec is Class 1 output on a Bluetooth transmitter) >https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-ZEXMTE-Keyboard-Transmitter-Receiver/dp/B09MZ8715D
And this is the kind of cable you can use to extend
a USB2 signal to a proper Class 1 Bluetooth nano or similar.
There is a digital limit as to how many of these can be
placed end to end. The blob on the end counts as a hub,
there is a 5 hub max, the computer usually counts as 1 hub,
leaving four blobs external as the limit. The very last
cable can be a 5 meter passive. That gives you 25 meters of reach,
before you position the Bluetooth transmitter.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CableCreation-Active-Extension-Extender-Female/dp/B01LA56WDM
And then it is best, if the Bluetooth transmitter is in
outside air and line of sight to the garden. You don't
really want to go the whole 25 meters, and this is just
to show a rough technical limit. I have run a webcam off
three of these cables, and there was still enough +5V
bus power on the cable for a webcam. I don't have enough
cables to reproduce this exact config. (The capital X in the figure,
is the blob on the end of the cable, which provides drive
for the next 5 meters of passive cable.)
USB2 USB2 USB2 USB2
Computer x------X x------X x------X x------X x------x BTdevice Garden headphones
Active Active Active Active (Passive)
The purpose of the cabling is not "range improvement".
The cabling is to allow the computer signal to be
staged outside the premises. Maybe getting the BT transmitter
next to a window would be enough. Or, open the
window and stick the BT transmitter just outside
the window. The purpose of the cable is not to go
further than that. The Class 1 transmitter does the rest.
The computer is not normally positioned right next to a
wooden window frame, for this sort of purpose. That's
why at least one passive cable would be needed, for
positioning. One computer here, has around 8 inches of
passive cable off the back of a PC, just to get a
line of sight signal. That little piece of cable,
came in a motherboard box. I have a BT400 on the
end of the tiny length of cable.
The diagram, is to show the technical reach limits.
I'm not telling you to "go out and buy all those cables".
Just showing how to sling the cables, to get the
most reach.
If I had a basement computer, maybe
the cabling would allow me to reach a first floor
window somehow.
With my house, the best place to run the cable,
would be up an unused fireplace chimney :-) No, that's
not all that clever...
The "average" Bluetooth adapter, is this style. This might
be a Class 3, with only enough range to work within the room.
One problem with these, is bumping into plastic shroud
around the USB2 connector. And if the PC has lots of metal
around the connector area, the signal may not leave
the PC area very well. That's why a small piece
of passive USB2 cable can be enough to make one
of these work acceptably... within a single room.
But this is a Class 3 and not a Class 1 (100 meter).
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-USB-BT400-3Mbps-Bluetooth-Dongle/dp/B00CM83SC0
The Class 1 adapter on the other hand, should go a bit
further, especially if positioned so the signal can
leave the house.
Paul
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