In this pictorial I'm showing you how to make a 16dBi very powerful wifi antenna for under 10 dollars. I've already posted a movie about this but a lot of people asked or a pictorial, so I've made another one so I could make pictures.
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Signing UpStep 1: Materials needed
This picture shows you what you need.
A 12x12cm brass, copper or tinned metal plate, a BNC chassis connector, a BNC cable connector, 35mm thick PE or styrofoam (can also be thicker) and some 1.5mm2 single core wire. This stuff is used in the netherlands in 220V in house cabling.
Other possible materials:
I can imagine that people want to use other materials, like a pipe to mount the antenna wire on. If you could get a pipe with roughly a 35mm diameter, you can use that IF the material is good for radiowaves. There is a very simple way to find out. Place a piece of styrofoam in your microwave, together with a piece of the material you want to use. Turn on the microwave for 30 seconds. Stop the microwave immedeately if you see the other material melt. Now check out how warm the other material is, if it's not warmer, or a little warmer than the styrofoam, you have found suitable material, if it has melted or is very hot,that you're dealing with lossy material which absorbes microwave radiation and turns it into heat, this material is useless for making high performance antenna's. This trick works so well because the WIFI band is at 2.45GHz and microwaves also radiate at that frequency, so it's a perfect test. Some very good materials are PE tubes, teflon tubes (if you can afford them) and PolyProlylene tubes.
A 12x12cm brass, copper or tinned metal plate, a BNC chassis connector, a BNC cable connector, 35mm thick PE or styrofoam (can also be thicker) and some 1.5mm2 single core wire. This stuff is used in the netherlands in 220V in house cabling.
Other possible materials:
I can imagine that people want to use other materials, like a pipe to mount the antenna wire on. If you could get a pipe with roughly a 35mm diameter, you can use that IF the material is good for radiowaves. There is a very simple way to find out. Place a piece of styrofoam in your microwave, together with a piece of the material you want to use. Turn on the microwave for 30 seconds. Stop the microwave immedeately if you see the other material melt. Now check out how warm the other material is, if it's not warmer, or a little warmer than the styrofoam, you have found suitable material, if it has melted or is very hot,that you're dealing with lossy material which absorbes microwave radiation and turns it into heat, this material is useless for making high performance antenna's. This trick works so well because the WIFI band is at 2.45GHz and microwaves also radiate at that frequency, so it's a perfect test. Some very good materials are PE tubes, teflon tubes (if you can afford them) and PolyProlylene tubes.
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Dutch maybe ?
here is another alternative, but the cable really needs to be replaced with decent cable. http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2-4ghz-8dbi-sma-high-gain-dish-directional-antenna-for-wifi-wireless-network-2400-2483mhz-32023
What I'm trying to do is to adapt your design to 2.1GHz(UMTS).
also can a PCB be used instead of copper plate??
I wanted a way to mount the plate & aim it
a refinement I opted for is to put a .060" aluminum 2"x12" bracket in between the Copper plate & the N-50 connector. drilled & used a countersink bit to bed it in till solidly placed.
bend the ends 90 degrees. drill holes as needed & mount.
I am planning on getting a Students gooseneck lamp & mounting my antenna in place of the lamp.
this extra metal has a benifit of keeping the soldering nub/hub down below the surface.
just trimmed the soldered part down to 1 mm high.
Slim49
I built this antenna last year "from" the video. had to replay a few times! :-)
but got it in 1st pass.I used 14gu. copper I stripped out of some Duplex house wiring.
a packing /shipping company gave me teh foam, I had to put an extra piece 1/2 length underneath to support it.
I used the Copper clad "ROOf" material you see on the finer houses.
the Roofing co. gave me a free scrap. I have made 5 antennas from it! still plenty left.
it is a super Hi-gain antenna!!
it is circular polorized, so what!!
it gets the signals in, for My rural buddy, it is THE only one of the 4 types I built that works. its a complete wave length antenna, I think that is alot of its sucess.
it is HIGHLY directional!! and I mean 1/2 degrees can make or break you.
easier to use than the 15 element Yagi. that is Sick directional, though easier to DIY.
I have been meaning to make of this conical Foam antenna for myself.
I tip my hat Dude.
Steve
<name unknown>
SpeedTouchCED8.....
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they have no signal change what so ever.
Seems that maybe this is just the sure size that is picking the signal, not that it is directional, or increasing db, if a beam it should have some type of side to side rejection.