Introduction: Build Your Own BiQuad 4G Antenna With Speed Test

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In this instructable i'm goint to show you how i made a BiQuad 4G antenna. Signal reception is poor at my home due to mountains around my home. Signal tower is 4.5km far from house. At Colombo district my service provider give 20mbps speed. but at my house maximum 1mbps i can reach. With this antenna i can receive upto 15mbps . Now I'm using this antenna more than 6 months.

BiQuad antenna is a Omni Directional antenna. it can catch signals comming from wider directions. But has lower gain compared to Yagi Antenna. I made a yagi antenna too. but there were some complications.

Supplies

  1. Copper wire
  2. Galvanized metal sheet
  3. Suitable connector for your Router
  4. 50ohm/ 75ohm antenna wire
  5. Any type of flange and Conector
  6. Solder

Step 1: Video Demonstration

Step 2: Dimensions of Antenna

Dimensions of antenna and wire gauge of driven element depends on frequency your router using for transmission. Above image contain some commonly used 4G bands. If your frequency band not shown there this website has dimension calculator.

Dimension Calculator

Step 3: Making Driven Element

First i made a sketch on paper and apply nailes on wooden plate. Start from mid point mid point of wire bend over nails to get correct geometry. After you can bend precicely using plier or any other tool. Solder mid point to the flange tip. If there are any metal coating prevent to soldering process sanding them could make soldering process easier. Round the end points of wire around flange body. Use a multimeter to check continuity of driven element. Solder those end points too. Now you successfully made the driven element.

Step 4: Reflector

I think best material for reflector is copper sheet. But they are expensive. I used a galvanized metal sheet found in local hardware store. You can add lips if you want. I made few reflectors with and without lips. I drilled center hole for flange and filed to make perfect fit. I used a old tv antenna casing to attach reflector to galvanized pipe. Now you can assemble driven element to reflector.

Step 5: Connectors and Cables

My router has two SMA antenna ports. Unfortunately 2nd antenna port not working. I bought SMA connectors from aliexpress. Cause they were harder to find in my city. You have to solder SMA connectors into cable. Other end need to connect to flange connector

50ohm cables are recommended. But i also made using tv antenna 3C2V 75ohm cable. Due to high reactance set in over cable when flowing high frequency signal loss is considerably high. So make cable length as short as possible. My first antenna has a RG213U 50ohm cable. In will show speed test using both cables.

Step 6: Finishing

You can apply varnish over copper cable to prevent corrosion. You can see my old antenna now began to corrode. TV antenna casing used to attach to Aluminium bar.

In antenna setting of tour router setup you can see if your antenna working correctly or not. Choose auto mode. If antenna working properly Antenna 1 turns into External

Step 7: Speed Test

1st image showing speed test without antenna when router placed on water tank. It can varely reach to 1mbps. 2nd image speed test is done by using 3C2V cable. It can easily reach 15mbps as you can see. 3rd image speed test done using RG213U cale, As you can see there was not much of speed difference. But using RG cables are always recommended.

In youtube video above contain several speed tests . Watch them if you can.

If you have any questions or suggestions please leave them below. Hope this help anyone who has trouble connecting to internet.

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