Directional Antenna.
Outline:
Having seen these for sale at various shops I decided to save a lot of money and build one of these for my home wireless network and what with the clamp down on the misuse of work e-mail, internet and other utilities given to the employees for work related use rather than personal use I decided to build my own so that I could be a shinning example of how to beat the system and to gain maximum bragging rights at work before anyone else in the IT dept. thought of it.
I set out by reading up on wireless networks and protecting them from “War Drivers” or illegal usage and hacking and found directional aerials more secure than omni-directional aerials as the directional aerials only have a area coverage of 30 rather than 360. Also it meant that the signal would be more focused and stronger than an omni-directional. Any way with a bit of research you can work out what’s best for your needs, so lets get on with what you need and how to build it!
First off you will need to find out what aerial connections your wireless router uses whether it be TNC or SMA (Most Linksys and Cisco are TNC while DLink and Netgear tend to be SMA) But it’s best to check with your manufacture if your not sure about what connector it uses.
Ok the First thing you need to do is find a can ….yes that right a can! Now the bigger the can the better! You’re looking for a can at least 3 inches in diameter and 11 inches long, again the bigger the better. For this Job I selected a can of Pineapple pieces that I emptied into a bowl and eat while building the Antenna. Yummy! (If you use a pet food can I don’t recommend doing the same!)
Ok now on to the other bits and pieces, you will need to buy:
Pigtail cable with an N-male and the connector
(This is to attach to your access point at the other. Now remember to make note of your TNC or SMA socket on your access point it male or female as this will save you both money and a unwanted journey back to where you bought the cable!)
N-type chassis socket
12 Gauge Copper Wire
Solder and other bits and pieces
Method
The first thing you should do is remove the contense of your can and either eat it or give it to any pets you might have lying around! And then wash it out. You may even wish to remove the label but as this is a ghetto mod you might opt to have “Chunky Chops” or what ever brand you decided on as your wireless logo! The next thing to do is to either punch or drill a hole for the N-type chassis socket, I drilled mine as I didn’t want to run the risk of denting my can.
Now before you make that hole you will have to work out where to put it.
Can Diameter:
3 3¹/8 3²/8 3³/8 34/8 3⅞ 3⅝ 3⅞ 4
Distance from bottom of can
3⅞ 2⅞ 24/8 2²/8 2 2 1⅞ 16/8 16/8
Length of Can
11²/8 86/8 74/8 66/8 6²/8 5⅞ 54/8 5³/8 5¹/8
All measurements are in inches
Once you have marked where your N-type chassis socket will go make your hole just big enough for it to go through.
Now the next thing to do is to cut a piece of 12 Gauge Copper Wire to 1¹/8 of an inch I used a pencil sharpener to make one end into a point….. Don’t ask me why! Just looks good! And then solder it into the N-type chassis socket.
Now to affix it you can use a strong bonding agent like super glue, Screw it into place or solder it. It should now look like this:
Now basically you have your finished antenna although you will need to mount it on to something! I used an old Logitech web camera mount.
The other thing you can do is make it look more professional if you don’t like the ghetto look.
I bought some blue sheet plastic and cut a piece to the dimensions of the can and also removed a notch for where the N-type chassis socket joins the can.
Outline:
Having seen these for sale at various shops I decided to save a lot of money and build one of these for my home wireless network and what with the clamp down on the misuse of work e-mail, internet and other utilities given to the employees for work related use rather than personal use I decided to build my own so that I could be a shinning example of how to beat the system and to gain maximum bragging rights at work before anyone else in the IT dept. thought of it.
I set out by reading up on wireless networks and protecting them from “War Drivers” or illegal usage and hacking and found directional aerials more secure than omni-directional aerials as the directional aerials only have a area coverage of 30 rather than 360. Also it meant that the signal would be more focused and stronger than an omni-directional. Any way with a bit of research you can work out what’s best for your needs, so lets get on with what you need and how to build it!
First off you will need to find out what aerial connections your wireless router uses whether it be TNC or SMA (Most Linksys and Cisco are TNC while DLink and Netgear tend to be SMA) But it’s best to check with your manufacture if your not sure about what connector it uses.
Ok the First thing you need to do is find a can ….yes that right a can! Now the bigger the can the better! You’re looking for a can at least 3 inches in diameter and 11 inches long, again the bigger the better. For this Job I selected a can of Pineapple pieces that I emptied into a bowl and eat while building the Antenna. Yummy! (If you use a pet food can I don’t recommend doing the same!)
Ok now on to the other bits and pieces, you will need to buy:
Pigtail cable with an N-male and the connector
(This is to attach to your access point at the other. Now remember to make note of your TNC or SMA socket on your access point it male or female as this will save you both money and a unwanted journey back to where you bought the cable!)
N-type chassis socket
12 Gauge Copper Wire
Solder and other bits and pieces
Method
The first thing you should do is remove the contense of your can and either eat it or give it to any pets you might have lying around! And then wash it out. You may even wish to remove the label but as this is a ghetto mod you might opt to have “Chunky Chops” or what ever brand you decided on as your wireless logo! The next thing to do is to either punch or drill a hole for the N-type chassis socket, I drilled mine as I didn’t want to run the risk of denting my can.
Now before you make that hole you will have to work out where to put it.
Can Diameter:
3 3¹/8 3²/8 3³/8 34/8 3⅞ 3⅝ 3⅞ 4
Distance from bottom of can
3⅞ 2⅞ 24/8 2²/8 2 2 1⅞ 16/8 16/8
Length of Can
11²/8 86/8 74/8 66/8 6²/8 5⅞ 54/8 5³/8 5¹/8
All measurements are in inches
Once you have marked where your N-type chassis socket will go make your hole just big enough for it to go through.
Now the next thing to do is to cut a piece of 12 Gauge Copper Wire to 1¹/8 of an inch I used a pencil sharpener to make one end into a point….. Don’t ask me why! Just looks good! And then solder it into the N-type chassis socket.
Now to affix it you can use a strong bonding agent like super glue, Screw it into place or solder it. It should now look like this:
Now basically you have your finished antenna although you will need to mount it on to something! I used an old Logitech web camera mount.
The other thing you can do is make it look more professional if you don’t like the ghetto look.
I bought some blue sheet plastic and cut a piece to the dimensions of the can and also removed a notch for where the N-type chassis socket joins the can.
