I am trying to extend the range of my bluetooth.

[roon4660]

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I bought this device a long time ago and it didn't seem to work.
I plug it into my Macbook pro and would like to listen to videos or music with bluetooth on my front or back patio of my apartment that is built like a street car. The question is is this supposed to work?

[Ender5r]

I thought we covered this subject. You plug the transmitter into your Macbook's headphone jack, then pair your bluetooth speader to the transmitter. So, bluetooth speaker connects to transmitter, transmitter connects to Macbook's headphone jack.

[roon4660]

I tried everything. But theoretically it should work. I must hunt it down and try it again. I think I understand how it works better now.

[Geit]

Bluetooth is not WiFi. It was never not made for long range communication, but recently is getting more and more used for that. Initially it was made for simple and easy to use data transfer (usually picture and music files) from and to mobile phones without the need of a cable as well as wireless ear phones.

As usual hardware developers found ways to create use cases, that work on paper, but are practical not 100% possible.

The 15meter range specified on the amazon page you linked is such an cheesy argument. It means 15 meters on sight and antennas towards each other. With having two ear buds this means you need to look toward the sender or away from it, depending on the construction of the buds or at least on receiver gets a significantly loser signal.

A simple wall in between already reduces the distance significantly. A person (or just the head) between the antennas easily eats 30-40% (depending in the signal strength at that point) due to the water humans are made off. Air humidity is also a factor. The signals travel far better on dry days with low humidity.

You may remember people having problems with their iPhone's and Earbuds in the early years of wireless head phones. "It works with the phone in my shirt pocket, but fails in my trouser pocket." Same reason. In the trousers the phone is more shielded by water and there is no efficient and direct way to get the signal to the ears. The transmitters back then just had not as much output power and error correction, than today.

All these factors also count for WiFi, Satellite mobile phones and other signals and their signal strength. That is why sometimes the WiFi is better than on other days. Because the weather is affecting the air inside your home, too. Water is deflecting the signals. In winter with snow on your roof, this can even increase the range of all signals as all beams send upwards are reflected back into your home, while snow on trees block signals to reach your garage due to the same reflection.

With Bluetooth this is just harder to track and notice, as there is usually no signal strength display. WiFi has also more transmitting power and bigger antennas, as it is required for the high amount of data traffic it was designed for.

If you want to optimize the range of any device, there are some basic rules.

1) Do not place the sending device next to a wall or into a shelf. Put it into the open. No shelf or anything around it for at least a feet or so. This way the signal can spread before hitting something.
2) place it as high as possible. The signals are send as a sphere and this helps to get more waves out at the same time. (see 1.)
3) place the sender as close as possible to the receiver (too close would be an issue. e.g. WiFi next to the router may not work as the signal may be too strong for the receiver. Same applies to the BT, but only on very close range which makes so sense anyway.)
4) avoid any obstetrical between sender and receiver. European walls already have a huge impact. Not sure about US dry walls type, due to the metal under construction. Classic Asian homes with their parchment walls and slide doors clearly win in this context.
5) use a rainy day to setup/optimize your hardware position. This ensures an even better connection on days with low humidity and guarantees it to work on any weather condition.

[roon4660]

Thanks for the advice Geit. I will try to see what I can do with it.