Official BlueProton GSKY Wireless Thread

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Hulk

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This is going to be a thread sharing information about the BlueProton GSKY Wireless G USB 2.0 500mW 27dBm High-Power 802.11g Adapter. I recently purchased one for $25. It's supposed to be one of the most powerful adapters on the market. It hasn't arrived yet, but I am looking forward to testing it out once it does.

So, what kinds of mods have you guys done to this little device? :D
 
they are supposed to be very high powered (500 mw) and not hard to throw on a new antenna. there is a bit of discussion already at the deals forum.

i'm wondering if there's any reason i shouldn't get this over the pci external antenna wireless card i just ordered, which i can cancel.
 
Cool, i thought the wireless card inside my new laptop was good compared to what i used before. Wireless range is not an issue for me though, but maybe it may be useful for some. Do they make them to actually fit inside laptops ?
 
DoomzDayz said:
they are supposed to be very high powered (500 mw) and not hard to throw on a new antenna. there is a bit of discussion already at the deals forum.

i'm wondering if there's any reason i shouldn't get this over the pci external antenna wireless card i just ordered, which i can cancel.
Click to expand...
Gonna link the deal forum discussion since it's too much info to cut and paste but...

IMHO i would get the Blue-Proton simply because it is much more powerful and more flexible in it's potential use. Then one day when you want more range you can hook up one of the dozens of aftermarket antennas (including cantennas and grids).

For reference purposes the blue-proton would need an antenna with an RP-SMA male connector...and yes i know the naming system is very confusing :confused:

I let my coworker borrow mine today. He lives in a large and dense condo complex and "claims" his internal laptop wifi pulls in nearly 20 networks. He can't wait to see how many more he can find with the blue-proton :D
 
Hulk said:
So, what kinds of mods have you guys done to this little device? :D
Click to expand...
Built the Nalley Cantenna. I had all the parts already, was just waiting for the Blue Proton to arrive yesterday. After i installed and tested it using the stock antenna i set out to build the Nalley cantenna...and in less than twenty minutes it was finished. I would guess the nalley cantenna is about 3 times more powerful than the stock antenna (or more focused anyway).

Somewhere down the line i'm going to purchase some sort of ultra-powerful grid or yagi antenna. The grid antennas are less expensive so i may go that route. My ultimate purpose would be to create a network with my cousin for the usual file sharing and shits and giggles. He's lives about 3/4 of a mile away and we have line of sight on our roofs. In the meantime i'm going to expand the Nalley cantenna into a Bazooka Cantenna.

And as i mentioned before, there's more project info in the deal discussion thread and tons more on google.
 
Just got this wifi adapter in the mail a few days ago but I was struggling to make it detectable in BT3.

Then I realized that using lsusb shows that it has a RTL8189 chipset rather then the assumed Alfa AWUS036H which has the RTL8187. Does this mean that this G-sky isnt the Alfa AWUS036H at all? dmesg does not show anything useful and iwconfig/ifconfig doesnt list the card either.
 
You may want to google for more info, everything i've seen/read says that the GSKY USB has the RTL8187B chipset. Even when i google the MFR model numbers all the webpages i pull up also claim the 8187B chipset.

Unless there was a hidden revision we don't know about, i'd say that there's some other issue going on here (wrong drivers etc?)

Perhaps your driver CD has some read-me notes that'll lend a clue?
 
When you look at the power, it is only:

11g : 15 2dBm@54Mbps, EVM<-24dB
11b : 25 2dBm, EVM <35%

Sensitivity - The most important!

Operating at 11Mbps:&#65308;-82dBm@8%PER,
54Mbps:&#65308;-65dBm@10%PER


So, it is a marketing play on words on how they are advertising this product as ERP of 500mW.

1) They are using this figure for 11b, which hardly nobody uses.
2) Only 15dBm on 11g.
3) The sensitivity of this device is terrible. (The ability to pick-up fringe signals)

Sensitivity is more important than power. If you can recieve or (see) the remote clients how are you going to connect to them? The Linksys and Buffalo products offer higher sensitity than this thing.

Let's not be mislead.

This item has to be internally cheap, as the price for what it offers is too good.

My back-haul client system uses a 1 Watt Amp, ($230) with a 24dB gain parabolic antenna. Know if you look at the ERP is over 272 Watts. Anybody can play the numbers game. My sensitivty is at -96dBm.

http://blueproton.com/BlueProton-GSKY-Wireless-G-USB-2.0/M/B001GQK8FO.htm
 
EVGA-Team said:
When you look at the power, it is only:

11g : 15 2dBm@54Mbps, EVM<-24dB
11b : 25 2dBm, EVM <35%

Sensitivity - The most important!

Operating at 11Mbps:&#65308;-82dBm@8%PER,
54Mbps:&#65308;-65dBm@10%PER


So, it is a marketing play on words on how they are advertising this product as ERP of 500mW.

1) They are using this figure for 11b, which hardly nobody uses.
2) Only 15dBm on 11g.
3) The sensitivity of this device is terrible. (The ability to pick-up fringe signals)

Sensitivity is more important than power. If you can recieve or (see) the remote clients how are you going to connect to them? The Linksys and Buffalo products offer higher sensitity than this thing.

Let's not be mislead.

This item has to be internally cheap, as the price for what it offers is too good.

My back-haul client system uses a 1 Watt Amp, ($230) with a 24dB gain parabolic antenna. Know if you look at the ERP is over 272 Watts. Anybody can play the numbers game. My sensitivty is at -96dBm.

http://blueproton.com/BlueProton-GSKY-Wireless-G-USB-2.0/M/B001GQK8FO.htm
Click to expand...

Wow, and Ugh...

A bunch of us were thinking it was a rebadged alpha AWUSO36H. I'm trying to compare the numbers you posted to the Alfa's numbers (PDF file) but my noobness with Wifi is showing, i'm having trouble with the numbers game they're playing.

I guess what i'm trying to ask is, are the Alfa's and Blue Proton's numbers close, or even comparable? Upon closer examination it doesn't appear that they are.

I'm sorry i ever posted this in the hot deal forum :(
 
EVGA-Team said:
From my research on the web, it is a signaficant difference.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wireless-IEEE-802-11g-USB-2-0-High-Gain-Adapter-500mW_W0QQitemZ110321595618QQcmdZViewItem

Now, if someone can confirm it is a Alfa, I would purchase it. I think it is just a rebranded unit that does not have the same spec's.
Click to expand...
No reason to doubt the published specs, especially if they claim they're lower than the Alfa. Sneaky bastards, they caught a noob like me off guard.

Any idea if this or this little amp would be worthy to to pair with the blue-proton? (since some of us already have the Blue-proton that is).

Thanks for looking into the matter for us, i just wish i would have posted here before the deal forum...
 
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yeah i just got it and my laptop picks up more, and it is a RTL8187B.. I kinda wish i didn't return the pci 18dBm wirelesscard that was going into my desktop for it.. oh well. :-\
 
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that product is GARBAGE. And not to be rude, I told you so.
 
I would hardly call this thing garbage. It may not be exactly what he thought, but so far its worked 10x better then other similar priced adapters. I can pick up 3 networks I have NEVER seen before (I live in the middle of no where.) However I do feel with the same antenna on a PCI card I would see the same thing.
 
On what do you make your basis?

This product is garbage. The sensitivity is below industry standards.

How much experience do you really have with wireless?

I install back haul sytems which work in excess of 25 miiles.

This thing is junk.
 
I posted this in the deal forum, forgot we have a thread in the Networking section. The white arrow points to the source of the blue line signal. I was fairly impressed /shrug

inSSIDer-1.jpg


WAP.jpg


Ð
 
Just got mine. I'm picking up way more singnals then my $50 linksys card and my laptops built in one. Might not live up to specs but I'm pretty damn happy for $25, going to throw a cantenna on this soon.
 
Seems there are better options.
Can you tell me what they are and the cost of each?
Thanks in advance!
 
I've pretty happy with my gsky.

I can pick up about ten more wireless connections then my laptop could.
 
I've had 2 of these and the second is getting much better signal strength than the first. It's possible there is a newer revision. The label on the newer one now high gloss instead of a plain aluminum sheet with print.

I also found that that using an improvised wind surfer type device it adds about 20 points to the signal strength and link quality in the Reatek utility. I attached a cut piece of aluminum dryer pipe bent to the windsurfer angle at the same offset distance of the wind surfer.

http://www.aegisarts.com/wifi/ez12.pdf

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=51617-131-229
 
Even if this is "garbage" as EVGA-Team says, I haven't seen anything better at the same price point. Sure, the kit he's working with can do 25+ miles, but I'm certain that sort of gear costs a hell of a lot more than $25 :rolleyes:

This BlueProton adapter is working better than any of my previous USB WiFi adapters (mostly from Linksys and Netgear), it cost half as much, and it has an easily upgradable antenna. Seems like a winner to me even if it isn't the Alfa we thought it was.
 
I haven't delved too deeply into the details of this particular wireless adapter yet, but I wanted to at least share some knowledge about wireless power ratings in general:

RF power is often given in units of dBm, meaning decibels referenced to 1 mW. This is a logarithmic scale, so:

0 dBm = 1 mW
10 dBm = 10 mW
20 dBm = 100 mW
27 dBm = 500 mW
30 dBm = 1000 mW

Antenna gain is given in units of dBi, meaning decibels reference to an isotropic antenna. An isotropic antenna is one that radiates power equally in all directions. The only way for an antenna to have gain is to focus that power in certain directions, at the expense of decreasing the power in other directions. Thus, a 2.2 dBi antenna (your typical "rubber duck" omni) radiates as much peak power as an isotropic antenna would radiate if you fed it with a signal that was 2.2dB stronger. However, the rubber duck has absolutely minimal radiated power directly above and below it to make up for this. Also, gain falls off as you deviate from the angle at which peak gain occurs. Your antenna only has 2.2 dBi of gain in one very narrow direction. Off of that angle, gain will vary from 2.2 dBi to -10 dBi, -20 dBi, etc. Higher gain antennas (such as the 5 dBi on this adapter) have narrower beam widths.

Now as for power output of your radio (access point, wireless adapter, etc.):
The power quoted by manufacturers is almost always peak power. Average power is less than peak power by anywhere from 3dB (802.11b) to 10dB (for 802.11g signals). Generally speaking, average power matters more, but you will not see these measurements anywhere. Actually, I can't remember the last time I saw a cheap access point or radio (less than $100) actually put out the rated peak power, but that's another matter.

The reason this adapter is quoted as "up to 500mW" is, it seems, due to some creative math. The manufacturer is adding the antenna gain to the rated peak output power to effectively say that the radio with attached 5 dBi antenna outputs as much power as a 27 dBm (or 500 mW) radio would with a normal antenna, albeit in a narrower beam width. Again, I haven't read the documents but just wanted to explain the reasoning further.

By the way, it takes some beefy hardware to do 802.11g at 500 mW. Take a look at some of the 802.11b/g amplifiers out there to see how it's done properly.

Bottom line, however, is that this adapter is probably pretty good for the price. At range, your adapter is going to fall back into 802.11b or the simpler 802.11g modulations anyway, so don't worry too much about it. Every AP I've ever measured puts out far less power for 64QAM packets (54 Mbps) than for simple 802.11b packets.

Is this helpful? I could start a thread in the Networking forum with more generalized information if you guys would like.
 
I've had two of these that have both pretty much died. They both were working pretty decently but after a couple of weeks they both suddenly lost almost all their functionality and only receive wireless signals at about a 20 foot range. Both were used with a fairly new Presario laptop. Does anyone have any ideas on handling such as changing antennas or USB issues that may cause this type of problem? I'd like to give the Alpha adapter but would like to have a better idea whether it's a GSKY issue or related to my laptop or handling first.
 
I follow RBWilton here.
I had a Alfa USB for some month, it worked well for weeks and then has been very week. Luckily I had a refund. I think that if the antenna is a bit unplugged it can be damaged, but I always took care of that, having my antenna well tightened.
So now I am looking for a similar product (I kept the antenna). If the GSky is less sensitive that is not a top choice but if it is tougher may be it is worth it.
Any advice is welcome.
 
i was thinking the same thing. The first adapter i thought may have blown because I changed antennas with it plugged to the USB. The second I handled much more carefully and ended up with the same result.
 
1. Links to a USB Manual pdf, along with the Specs and Win7 pdf files below, can be found on the GSKY website at http://www.gsky-link.com/en/product...=38&catTitle=High Power 802.11b/g USB Adapter

2. The "How To Work With Windows7" pdf file at http://www.gsky-link.com/downloads/PDFs/How to install Win7 on Gsky USB4NWB13tM_.pdf speaks of a RTL8187L driver. When I located Realtek RTL8187L drivers for Macs, Linux and Windows98 through Windows7 at http://www.wireless-driver.com/download/realtek/realtek-rtl8187l-wireless-usb-adapter-driver.htm (Download_2 links are the fastest), I found it is the same build (6.1316.1209.2009 for Win7) as the RTL8187 drivers downloaded automatically by Windows when the USB cord is first inserted.

3. I bought the GSKY GS-27USB-50 on eBay for $17.98 shipped and tried it on three different computers: one with Windows XP, one with Vista, One with Win7HP64. The Realtek RTL8187 driver (version 6.1316.1209.2009, 9 December 09) downloads automatically from the Internet when the USB cable is plugged in on all three operating systems as recommended in the USB Manual pdf. However, that manual indicates there is some utility software that should also be installed. I did not install the full software package from the CD that came with the GS-27USB-50 since the only instruction file on the disk was in Chinese, there was no setup.exe file and I wasn't willing to blindly start install stuff. Does anyone know where I can find the English version of the utility file?

With the RTL8187 driver alone the signal increases from 1 to 4 bars out of 5. My initial speed tests to a router 150' away on the other side of a 4 story building can be seen at http://www.dslreports.com/im/89371136/7117.png and http://www.dslreports.com/im/89371105/8860.png . Unfortunately, the data flow is spotty and seems to get slower over time. The link between the router and the DSL provider fails frequently, though that is not the case when using not using the Realtek driver+GSKY. There seems to be other settings that need to be adjusted to maximize data transfer with the GS-27USB. On the other hand, as EVGA-Team has indicated, perhaps GSKY just built a cheap toy that projects 4 bars, but has no staying power.:confused:

4. On the GSKY website at the last page of the Specifications pdf at http://www.gsky-link.com/downloads/PDFs/GS-27USB spec_5JyNLRAx.pdf it indicates the transmitter power for 801.11g and 801.11b of 15dBm ± 2dBm @54Mbps and 25dBm ± 2dBm, respectively. I didn't see anything for sensitivity. What reading gives us the sensitivity? Are the bars a measure of power, sensitivity or neither?

5. Somewhere it would be nice to set up a GSKY GS-27USB forum where we can post specific issue threads to share problems, knowledge and lessons learned to maximize the value of the GSKY adapters, if they are actually worth a hoot. If we can get the settings to make it work well, GS-27USB could be a huge range extender for a very low cost.
 
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