Hi David, I'm actually using a PCLine four port thumb drive(unfortunately it is only USB 1.1 spec so I'm getting regular nags about how USB2 is so much faster .. lol ..) and tests, here at home this morning, have been very successful - I've even managed to get a decent '3' signal (quite unusually), although the dongles are probably at least a couple of metres higher than previously.
The fact that I'm also using a 5 metre powered USB2.0 active extension cable, immediately before the thumb hub, might also have something to do with that. Power supply to the dongles *was* a concern, before the tests, and I'd found some 'Y' cables on Ebay - luckily I seem to be able to manage without one :-) Everything is mounted onto a length of dowelling which then goes into a white plastic pipe (black pipe isn't usually successful, I'm told - although I haven't tried it personally - that this is due to the inclusion of graphite to provide the black colour) on the advice of some members of CARC who, apparently, often use this idea when building aerials for their rigs which they want to keep neat and dry! The pipe itself is actually the leg from an old, and now defunct, patio table and the whole assembly is going to be attached to the outside bulkhead of the saloon, close by the side doors, using a number of small, though extremely powerful, magnets - which I discovered whilst rummaging through a box of bits that I discovered after taking over 'Wyrd'! Doing it this way allows me to demount, and bring inside, the aerial assembly if I am leaving the boat for any significant period of time. So, all the parts are OK - individually - I just need to put it all together to make the finished product :-) Many thanks for the feedback - it is always appreciated! Trevor nb.Wyrd - on the K&A On 21/01/2010 09:54, David Morris wrote: > Two USB peripherals on the same physical port? Were you planning on > using some sort of Y cable? That's not going to work. Two USB dongles > plugged in to a USB hub would - the hub would handle contention and > 'routing' between the two dongles. 500ma is the correct number, but it > would need to be a powered hub. Some USB ports on desktops / laptops > can supply 500ma - some fail dismally and use a Y cable simply to > double up on the power availability. It's not uncommon to see these in > use on USB 2.5 HD enclosures for instance. My Sony eBook reader > shipped with one for the same reason - for charging. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
