Homemade 16dbi antenna improvement

Oroka Sempai · Jan 29, 2008

I found a 'how-to' over at www.diylife.com to make a 16dbi directional antenna. I plan on building this thing, but the materials used in teh tutorial are somewhat... flimsey (polyethylene). I would like to build the same thing, but to be mounted outside possiably, so foam and scotch tape really isnt going to do it.

I am looking for ideas to improve the weathering capacity of this design, and maybe even improve on it. I also want to mention that I have a satellite dish that can be sacrificed to this effort if possible.

http://www.diylife.com/2008/01/24/the-10-super-wireless-internet-antenna/

DirtSandwich · Jan 29, 2008

Well it uses foam to cut down on costs so it can be $10. You may just want to spend more and buy one of these. don't have to worry about it falling apart or not working.

EmAn · Jan 29, 2008

could you please link to the actual article?

Niku-Sama · Jan 29, 2008

$70 for a antenna not including shipping, i dont think so.

this is why we have DIY things. what about a pringles cantenna?

antenna link on the site posted above:
http://www.diylife.com/2008/01/24/the-10-super-wireless-internet-antenna/

nd4spdbh2 · Jan 29, 2008

check out this site for DIY antennas... some are VERY easy and yeild VERY good results.

http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Antennas/WiFi/

Oroka Sempai · Jan 29, 2008

DirtSandwich said:
Well it uses foam to cut down on costs so it can be $10. You may just want to spend more and buy one of these. don't have to worry about it falling apart or not working.

Half the fun is building it myself. I added an external antenna jack to my laptop just for these kinda projects. Also, this is not for home use, it will be mounted at work (without the bosses permission

), and can be abandoned if needed.

I added the link to the project to the first post. Oops!

=ACID RAIN= · Jan 29, 2008

DirtSandwich said:
Well it uses foam to cut down on costs so it can be $10. You may just want to spend more and buy one of these. don't have to worry about it falling apart or not working.

HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING FROM THIS SITE?

Just giving ya crap man :bday:

AMD Phreak · Jan 29, 2008

This thing will probably work better than the homebrew yagi......

http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/hg2414d.php

As for homebrewing, use teflon blocks instead of the foam. Then put some kind of thin plastic box around the whole thing and seal it up. Finally drill a weep hole in the bottom so moisture can drain out should any get in.

Oroka Sempai · Jan 30, 2008

After some research, I think I might do 2 projets at once. First is the 'yagi'(?) foam antenna, and a biquad dish antenna, a biquad antenna enhanced with a satellite dish.

JaY_III · Jan 31, 2008

if you plan to use it outdoors when you are done making the yagi but the foam in PVC piping (the white stuff not black) as the 2.4GHz spectrum can pass strait through it.

It will make it more rugged and you will be able to mount it outside without the elements damaging your antenna

Oroka Sempai · Feb 1, 2008

Thanks, that is exactly what I will need. Funny thing is that 8 years ago I worked at a factory that made PVC piping. Watching 1000m of it wind onto a spool for 7 hours really sucked

One thing that is confusing me a bit with both of these projects, is the connectors and cables. I have been reading that most people us 'Type N Connectors', which is used with coaxial cable (great cause I have a 30m length of good coax), but how the heck am I supposed to connect that to a SMA connection on my laptop?

JigPu · Feb 1, 2008

Best of luck with the biquad-dish! I was going to build the same thing (different tutorial), but had to stop when I couldn't find a connector for my laptop (a teeny-tiny "U.FL" connector)

To get your cable with an N-connector to work with your SMA, you'll want to buy an adapter. You should be able to find what you need here (toward the bottom is where you'll find adapters -- just search the page for SMA

)

JigPu

Oroka Sempai · Feb 1, 2008

JigPu said:
Best of luck with the biquad-dish! I was going to build the same thing (different tutorial), but had to stop when I*couldn't find a connector for my laptop (a teeny-tiny "U.FL" connector)

Ahead of you there

I bought a U.FL to SMA cable and now have a SMA antenna jack on my lappy. It cost me $8 and about and about 30 mins of installation. Also bought a 10dbi antena, but it still isnt enough, I suspect the lights, steel roof, and brick walls are hampering me, so it is time to run some cables and put something on the roof

Oroka Sempai · Feb 2, 2008

Im still confused about the cable to use over a longish distance. N type connectors, do they use standard RG6 coax or a diffrent cable? The Wikipedia article about coax shows a pic with the diffrent kinds of connectors, they all seem to be variations of SMA and N-type. The 'R-SMA' looks like the standared cable TV coax connector... but I dont know for sure. It would make my life 10x times easier if I could use the existing connectors some how as they were professionally installed.

::update::

Seems like RG6 uses 'F-type' connectors. Im just wondering if it would be easier to just use N-type connectors instead of the F-type. Yeah I will have to recrimp, but tracking down the adaptors (specifically F-type to SMA) sucks. Otherwise, I would have to go F-type to N-type to SMA on the laptop end using 2 adaptors.

JigPu · Feb 2, 2008

RG6 is probably the smallest cable you'd want to use for any reasonable length at microwave frequencies. Cables aren't perfect, and will attenuate a signal passing through them -- the higher frequency they are, the more signal will be lost. Any gain you get from your antenna will be offset to some extent by the cable connecting it to your laptop (as well as any losses in the pigtail, connectors, etc).

http://www.antennasystems.com/afcatv.html said:
RG59 - 42.78 db/100m @ 2200MHz
RG6 - 32.15 dB/100m @ 2200MHz

If the distance between your laptop and your antenna is about 30 feet, you'll loose about 4dB with RG59 and 3dB with RG6. Higher-quality cable exists if you're willing to pay for it (e.g., there's super-expensive and super-unwieldy cable capable of 9.58 dB/100m @ 2400MHz

). RG6 should work for short runs like 30 feet, but you'll want to invest in better cable for long distances.

As for adapters/connectors, use whatever is most convenient and will need the fewest adapters. Just like cable introduces loss, so will each adapter. Ideally you'd want to use a cable which has an SMA connector on one end for your laptop, and whatever connector your antenna has on the other.

JigPu

JaY_III · Feb 3, 2008

JigPu said:
Best of luck with the biquad-dish!

JigPu

Yagi is WAY better, who doesn't want a giant phallic symbol mounted to the side of their house

Check out this site
www.mroelectronics.com/
Speaking from experience if you call the Vancouver shop they are more than happy to answer questions too.

They sell everything you could need to make QUALITY antennas or you could just but one strait up

.
If you dont order from them, they do have an RF adapter builder and cable builder that should help you so you DO know what to buy.
Oh WiFi cards normally are reverse SMA connectors, so make sure not to get that mixxed up when you buy
Also you should look into LMR cable If memory servers correct you will get lower loss than R6.
Lastly i would STRONGLY recommend you get a right angle SMA connector if its going to be a perm fixture at the back of your PC

Oroka Sempai · Feb 4, 2008

I dont think I can get the same power with a Yagi (of reasonable size) and I can with a biquad dish antenna. I am hoping to get in the low 20s dbi, and I dont see any Yagi antennas, even pro made ones, with that much strength. In the tutorial they were picking up APs from 8 miles away! My town isnt even 8 miles wide...

Thanks for the link. Makes me feel better to have a Canadian retailer... I get a stomach ach every time I have to order something from the US (slow shipping because of customs).

I want to go with RG6 because I already have a long section of the cable. They had to put my satellite dish on the other side of my apartment building, so I got a pretty long peice of RG6 still attached to my satellite dish.

This antenna will be disconnected on a nightly basis (from my lappy when I go home for the night), unless I hook it up to a router and use it as a repeater.

AMD Phreak · Feb 4, 2008

A dish will have more gain than a yagi any day, not to mention better front-to-back ratio.

Jolly-Swagman · Feb 4, 2008

You can make a really good Biquad as shown here for next to nothing

http://martybugs.net/wireless/biquad/

JaY_III · Feb 4, 2008

With a Yagi if you build yourself you can always add more segments for more gain...
Then again you can do the same with the Biquad as i am sure you must be doing...

20 dBi is a LARGE goal, so what is your plan?
Triple or Quad Biquad antenna?
Problem if you are going to need a large dish at this point so you dont block the signal with your Biquad.

All i am saying is IMHO your going to have a VERY WIDE Biquad to get close to 20 dBi.

Best up luck and keep us updated

Homemade 16dbi antenna improvement

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