• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Wireless Can-tenna

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
Wow, that is a great price for a omni-directional antenna. Proably be cheaper to buy that than build a can-tenna!

::edit::
I take all that back. I now know why he is selling those items for so cheap... he is making a mint on the shipping. He wants $25usd to ship to Canada via USPS! :bang head :shrug:
 
Last edited:
hmm i have a question about this. is there a way to take an idea like this and maybe make a cell phone signal booster? my house is kind of a deadspot as far as cell phones go, its the only place i've been to where i get 0-1 bars all the time. and its my HOUSE!! its so frustrating. all those creative minds out there, get to work! :p
 
su root said:
A cantenna is a home-made yagi, not an omni.
Cell towers generally use a bunch of omni's for connection to cell users, and high-gain yagi's for point to point links

im a bit confused...are you correcting me...or just saying that as an fyi
 
Bit of both. If you were looking to build a cantenna(yagi), but bought a omni instead, then you aren't getting the same thing.. omni and yagi antennas are built for two different purposes.

Yagi has a higher gain, and is used for point-to-point links between two locations. Omni have a lower gain, and are used to cover a larger amount of area.

The example I used was a cell tower. 4 Omni antennas are generally used, one in each direction, to connect to subscribers. Each of these omnis has about a 90 degree yield, which allows them to spread the signal over a wide area. The Yagi on the cell tower has a much more focused signal and is used to connect to cell towers that are farther away.

If you were looking to build a point to point link and bought an omni, then notice that they are not the same thing, and your link will not be able to go as far due to the lower gain.
 
ok...im a bit confused about the actual purpose of a cantenna now...i could put it on my router and point it at a friends house and be able to pick up the signal there provided everything works? my cantenna isnt working very well...probably becasue it has too long of a waveguide

also...does anybody know what the wave pattern inside the cantenna would be? and how long that wire inside should be?

thanks
 
Point to point connections is what the cantenna is for. Omnis are for connecting users that are a fair distance away within a certain area, and dipoles (what comes with your router) is for connecting users that are close any direction.

I dumped these bookmarks on an earlier page, but here they are again:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/elepal/antenna2calc.php
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html
http://www.seattlewireless.net/inde...ingYagiAntennas
http://www.andrewhakman.dhs.org/yagi/
http://www.wwc.edu/~frohro/Airport/.../Primestar.html
http://www.wifi-shootout.com/

In there you will find all the calculations that you need in order to build it, including can length and the transmitter height.
 
Thanks for the all the links su root! I definatly have to build one of these cantennas. I get a signal strenght of "low" currently on my 802.11b linksys network.
 
Oh god, I tried this and it did not work well. I followed the specifications exactly and it worked, but not well at all. The result was worse then my omni antenna. I'm not trying this again for a long time. Don't mean to discourage anyone, I'm just sharing my experiance. :(
 
Hi.
Does the can for this "Cantenna" have to be made of metal, or can a plastic container be used.
I have been finding it difficult to find a metal can, however I have plenty of plastic containers that I could use instead.
Thoughts?????
Thx.
 
it would have to be a metal can as to focus the signal... a plastic container is similar to what is protecting the copper antenna on your router.. it does not focus the signal

once i can get some things together i plan to build and shoot it down to my friends house on the other side of the neighborhood ~.5 miles
 
eternaljammer said:
Wow, I m=ust invest the time to put one of these together everyone agree's it is worth it.

careful though, I tried and it failed. A lot of time waisted for me, but if you get it working, it should be well worth it.

Ok, it wasn't that much time, just enough to discourage me for a while.
 
Theoretically you could get a better effect making a small cantenna, and pointing it at an eliptical reflecting dish, but for that you would basically need to custom make the dish knowing exactly where you were shooting it down to a few feet, and/or having a recieving dish, which would be very difficult...

-considers the possibilities-
 
Back