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Farm Progress

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andy

Any news on the farm Paul?

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Parrothead

Man, too much to write. Far too much to write. I will try to post some highlights.
 
Been buyin' beekeeping supplies, as you may know already, like mad. I have enough stuff here now, I could start my own retail bee supply house. (I always like to have spares, in case anything happens.) 
 
Anyway, finally got the bee hives, oh, the evening of the 22nd, last Saturday. Bees were not happy, after having traveled for 7 hours from Phnom Penh, to here. I took advice to let them out and feed them, which I shouldn't have done. I should have waited until the next morning to let them out. By the time we got syrup ready to feed them, it was too dark anyway. But, lesson learned. 
 
In the mean time, I told my landlord to keep their door shut for a couple of hours, until the bees got out and settled down. Naturally, being Khmers, their curiosity got the better of them. Night time. Lights. Bees (being insects and drawn to light). Well, you can guess the rest. He ended up stung and mad at me. 
 
So, he gave me an option. Move the bees within two weeks, or rent the land from the guy who owns the property adjacent to his. You've seen it, so you know about what I am talking about here. He is scared of the bees, like a bitch boy, and feared for "liability". So, while I knew it would be fruitless, since he had probably talked with his friend who owns the adjacent property, we still rang them. They were supposed to get back with us yesterday, but, in typical Khmer fashion, failed to do so. Hurry up and wait, in this country. Not that it is a bad thing. I have grown accustomed to it. But, when it comes to business, one needs to be a bit more on the ball. 
 
After they failed to ring us back, I called them today, oh, about 3:15pm. You are NOT going to believe what they wanted to rent that piece of property for! $400 USD PER MONTH! I told the gal I could rent an entire home WITH property on it, for $120 to $150 US! She immediately went down to $200, and I bid her good day. They know I am a foreigner, but also must think I'm a feckin' idiot as well. 
 
So, now, we have a bit under 2 weeks to move. I thought about just renting another place in town, as I still need my internet connection for the next 8 months. I'm under contract until then. Afterward, I wouldn't have to rely on the internet so much. So, rather than moving somewhere, then moving again in 8 months, we are going to go ahead and move to the farm, although we still aren't quite prepared to do so. 
 
The next step is to try to find a way to get temporary internet at the farm, because we still do not have anyone who is willing to let me hang a CPE-510 on a pole at their home, and run my current ADSL internet, so we can beam our signal from the highway to the farm. 
 
I didn't know there was a WiFi router we could purchase (~$60 to $65 USD), that would connect to a local cell carrier tower, and send a local WiFi signal to the immediate area. You put a battery and SIM card in it, and away you go, supposedly? (The sales guy tells me the WiFi signal is good for about 10 meters in any given direction.) The next step is to take one of those WiFi routers out to the farm, along with a tablet, to test. (I don't want to carry a whole desktop out there just for a test run.) Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who currently owns one of them. So, I am just going to dump the money into it, to see if it will work.
 
If this little jewel has, at least a good partial signal, I'm going to purchase an antenna off eBay for it. That should increase the signal going to the router, considerably. Pictures and information below:
 
This is the WiFi router, a HUAWEI E5573s-856. It allows up to 4 simultaneous connections.
Huawei_E5573_details.jpg
 
Then, IF this works - as I hope and pray it will, I will go to eBay and buy one of three antennas to connect to it, in order to receive a better quality signal from the nearest cell tower.

Anyway, long story short, if this option works, to get internet service at the farm, we will go ahead and move there rather than renting another apartment in town. 

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syzmic

I would think that you could use your cell phone to check for signal from the nearest cell tower.  If you have a good signal (3 to 5 bars?), then you should be able to make that router work.  If you only get 1 or 2 bars of signal strength, you will need the external antenna.  You will have better results with the directional antennas.  Antenna #2 doesn't look very "directional" to me.   Look at the specs and pick the one with the most dB of gain.  Yagi type antennas work the best.

 

Good Luck

Edited by syzmic
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andy

This is the WiFi router, a HUAWEI E5573s-856. It allows up to 4 simultaneous connections.

 

Was offered the same model some time ago. They said it was good. I did not go down that route, but maybe next time.

Pity about the bee saga. Hope all goes well Paul. :)

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mollydooker

After they failed to ring us back, I called them today, oh, about 3:15pm. You are NOT going to believe what they wanted to rent that piece of property for! $400 USD PER MONTH! I told the gal I could rent an entire home WITH property on it, for $120 to $150 US! She immediately went down to $200, and I bid her good day. They know I am a foreigner, but also must think I'm a feckin' idiot as well.

 

 

Must be related to Filipinos !!

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Parrothead

I would think that you could use your cell phone to check for signal from the nearest cell tower.  If you have a good signal (3 to 5 bars?), then you should be able to make that router work.  If you only get 1 or 2 bars of signal strength, you will need the external antenna.  You will have better results with the directional antennas.  Antenna #2 doesn't look very "directional" to me.   Look at the specs and pick the one with the most dB of gain.  Yagi type antennas work the best.

 

Good Luck

 

Yeah, I've used a cell phone out there before, with one of my computers tethered to it. I don't recall how many bars signal strength it showed. Definitely not something I could work with.

 

I'm figuring that, between the WiFi SIM router, and an external antenna pointed toward the nearest tower, or by way of an omnidirectional antenna, the signal will only improve, especially at several meters above the property. 

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Parrothead

Was offered the same model some time ago. They said it was good. I did not go down that route, but maybe next time.

Pity about the bee saga. Hope all goes well Paul. :)

 

Andy, if you have the choice, it is DEFINITELY much better to go with a connection hardwired into your home, like ADSL or possibly a Fiber Optic connection, over this. To install the SIM, you have to remove the rear cover, remove the battery, then install the SIM. When your data expires, or after you have consumed it all, you have to reverse that process and remove the SIM, place it in a phone and reload it with more data credit. Crazy, really. Why wouldn't they have a way to reload the SIM while it is in the dang WiFi router? 

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Parrothead

Must be related to Filipinos !!

 

One may think. One may think.

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andy

The main reason I have no relocated yet. Is electricity, water, Wi-Fi. I have not found the right place to have all. :(

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Parrothead

The main reason I have no relocated yet. Is electricity, water, Wi-Fi. I have not found the right place to have all. :(

 

Lots of places to look, yet, I'm sure. But, I'm sure you will have fun looking around, as well. 

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