Andrew I really appreciate the videos and your no nonsense honest opinions on what works and what is bunk. I was thinking about making a parabola out of sheet tin. Need to communicate with a IP camera about 100 meters away. Bought netgear range extender to put into the closest outlet and it is spotty. Hopefully it works out and I appreciate the inspiration from you.
+Jeff Barr Hi Jeff I would start by downloading the wind surfer template: www.aegisarts.com/wifi/ez12.pdf you can make it more robust by making it from tin and thin plastic sheet.
Jeff Barr those range extenders never work. The provided antenna solutions do work as cheap solutions. But buying a wifi antenna amplifier from sunhans or a cheaper chinese brand works a lot better. especially when combined with a 15dbi tp-link omni antenna or a 14dbi yagi. The cheap chinese amps cost about 25 euro the sunhans cost about 100 euro 4w is enough for even the biggest company buildings.
Nice video Andrew! I am glad you are starting to do VS videos. I would love to see more of your designs go up against each other as well as commercial options in future shootouts.
Thanks for another great video. You don't say anything about the beamwidth of these antennas. I would expect the beamwidth of the yagi to be somewhat more narrow. Therefore it may be sensitive to alignment toward the access point. Are you doing any sort of alignment adjustments on your antennas prior to doing your test?
Hi Andrew, Thanks for another great video! I love the comparisons and agree with some others below I would love to see more comparisons of your other projects. Question - Do these adaptors add any strength installed on transmitters vs receivers?
...for the can, try some thick foil and glue stick. Have a prototype im messing with that uses the metal in duct tape outside the can as a sort of choke for added clarity when doing a less than ideal diameter can. Went to make 1 and ended up deciding to do half a dozen for comparison before deciding my home and travel one design.
Thanks for the video! I subscribed recently after following up on so old bookmarks that eventually led me here. I saw one mention of replacing the reflector element with a parabolic element. Essentially it seems you could just combine the windsurfer and the sharpie antenna ideas. Perhaps it could combine the positives of both designs, or make no difference at all. Just figured I would throw that idea out there. I like how your videos are detailed yet to the point. Keep up the good work!
I agree that the pringles cans don't do a very good job but with all due respect to you Andrew, I have done some tests on some Pringles cans and discovered that they are in fact conductive. however the foil inside the can has some sort of coating on it and continuity can only be achieved by poking the metre probes through it.
Andrew do you know how the Windsurfer performs in relation to increasing the size proportionally. Ive made a few, well 3 in total. 1st is origional size , 2nd is 2-3'' bigger and 3rd is about 12'''. I havnt got around to using the large one yet as the size makes it unstable on the 5dbi antenna(TP Link wn 722n high gain adapter) I'll have to mod the W.Surfer to give it some stability, so it doesnt flop forward with the weight!! Thanks Paul
so ive watched a few of your builds now... i like them. it seems anyone could potentially build an antenna to beat most standard equipment. my question though is this.. why build so many different types? surely by now you know which design is best for directional and which is best for omni. why not make 2 videos to let us know? test your own proven designs and come out with a real top design for each.. thats what id like to know before building something myself
Hi, i was wondering if you know what i can do for my huawei b593-s22 modem, it uses mimo antennas and i modded mine into a double biquad, well two of them since its a mimo and did increase my speeds but still insufficient compared to my mates speeds( different area), my place is kinda downhill, so would be awesome if you could help me out here. Oh and the double biquad is from your vids hehe. Hope to hear from you!!
I made two small windsurfers antenna boosters from freeantennas.com and tried them out on two small rubber duck antennas( 2 to 3 dbi each) one at 2.4Ghz and the other at 5.8Ghz ,the tin foil on the front side,used a low power rc transmitter with a video screen integrated , the fpv -video reception and remote control(rc) functions performed better with the windsurfer antenna boosters than without-hands down, they are almost no cost to build and the design can be adapted to accommodate copper, and lots of metal reflective surfaces. What these antennas do is take a isotropic or omnidirectional antenna and make it a directional antenna , in this case transmission and reception is improved much horizontally to the tune of 9 dbi or so , subscribed as well.
I'm testing now with simple and cheap circuit. After some improvements LM358 (and other Op Amps) can detect wifi. It's dual Op Amp, 1st section picks up signal, 2nd is for highest sensitivity setting. Here is basic circuit diagram without improvements: electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/195760/why-does-this-detector-detects-wifi-signal-as-well Wifi sensitivity can be increased significantly by this: First two capacitors C1 and C2 (100nF) on input are removed and input is feeded by one 3.1cm square element of "Biquad wifi antenna". This element needs to be in series with 4.7nF capacitor (sensitivity setting doesn't work properly with both input pins 2 and 3 joined together by any loop or coil). My 10k sensitivity potentiometer works much precisely in the middle between 10k resistor from positive and 10k resistor from negative. Now I can test and tune Sharpie yagi, Windsurfer or Cantenna beaming to a large satellite dish. I don't even need wifi SWR meter. I can see transmitted signal strength (TX efficiency) and directivity of antenna in real time without lags. My AP transmitts beacon with SSID each 20ms, detector flashes very fast. I can hear small speaker too. It's really useful for antenna tuning. Change in distance or dimmensions affects signal strength and beam width immediately.
This channel is a treasure trove... Subscribed immediately. Will try each of these antennas. Bit I think the windsurfer is pretty easy to make.
Andrew I really appreciate the videos and your no nonsense honest opinions on what works and what is bunk. I was thinking about making a parabola out of sheet tin. Need to communicate with a IP camera about 100 meters away. Bought netgear range extender to put into the closest outlet and it is spotty. Hopefully it works out and I appreciate the inspiration from you.
+Jeff Barr Hi Jeff I would start by downloading the wind surfer template: www.aegisarts.com/wifi/ez12.pdf you can make it more robust by making it from tin and thin plastic sheet.
Many thanks ! Stay well and warm.
Jeff Barr those range extenders never work. The provided antenna solutions do work as cheap solutions. But buying a wifi antenna amplifier from sunhans or a cheaper chinese brand works a lot better. especially when combined with a 15dbi tp-link omni antenna or a 14dbi yagi. The cheap chinese amps cost about 25 euro the sunhans cost about 100 euro 4w is enough for even the biggest company buildings.
Nice video Andrew!
I am glad you are starting to do VS videos. I would love to see more of your designs go up against each other as well as commercial options in future shootouts.
+xMRavenx Hi yes I have got a few ideas for when the weather gets better.
+andrew mcneil Glad to hear Andrew. I hope kinder weather is headed your way.
Thanks for another great video. You don't say anything about the beamwidth of these antennas. I would expect the beamwidth of the yagi to be somewhat more narrow. Therefore it may be sensitive to alignment toward the access point. Are you doing any sort of alignment adjustments on your antennas prior to doing your test?
Would you increase signal, adding the windsurfer to the sharpie antenna?
Hi Andrew, Thanks for another great video! I love the comparisons and agree with some others below I would love to see more comparisons of your other projects. Question - Do these adaptors add any strength installed on transmitters vs receivers?
another show to watch, cant wait for the next one
...for the can, try some thick foil and glue stick. Have a prototype im messing with that uses the metal in duct tape outside the can as a sort of choke for added clarity when doing a less than ideal diameter can. Went to make 1 and ended up deciding to do half a dozen for comparison before deciding my home and travel one design.
Thanks for the video! I subscribed recently after following up on so old bookmarks that eventually led me here. I saw one mention of replacing the reflector element with a parabolic element. Essentially it seems you could just combine the windsurfer and the sharpie antenna ideas. Perhaps it could combine the positives of both designs, or make no difference at all. Just figured I would throw that idea out there.
I like how your videos are detailed yet to the point. Keep up the good work!
+wrathofsocrus Thanks Wrathofsocrus, if you did you would effectively have something like this: goo.gl/R0AGJ6
I agree that the pringles cans don't do a very good job but with all due respect to you Andrew, I have done some tests on some Pringles cans and discovered that they are in fact conductive. however the foil inside the can has some sort of coating on it and continuity can only be achieved by poking the metre probes through it.
Great video as always Andrew.. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
+Harasi No problem Harasi
Andrew do you know how the Windsurfer performs in relation to increasing the size proportionally. Ive made a few, well 3 in total.
1st is origional size , 2nd is 2-3'' bigger and 3rd is about 12'''.
I havnt got around to using the large one yet as the size makes it unstable on the 5dbi antenna(TP Link wn 722n high gain adapter)
I'll have to mod the W.Surfer to give it some stability, so it doesnt flop forward with the weight!!
Thanks Paul
Hello Andrew, nice videos. What is the best kind of antenna to be used like a feed to a 90 cm dish/parabolic reflector? Thank you in advance.
so ive watched a few of your builds now... i like them. it seems anyone could potentially build an antenna to beat most standard equipment. my question though is this.. why build so many different types? surely by now you know which design is best for directional and which is best for omni. why not make 2 videos to let us know? test your own proven designs and come out with a real top design for each.. thats what id like to know before building something myself
Heck i made one with foil and a pool noodle. Its made for fun little projects to exercise my brain.
Could you do a shootout of your proper versions of these antennas.
What's the name of software used to monitor the range?
thanks for the video, I would like to know what program you are using for scanning?
+Izzam Uchiha www.vistumbler.net/
andrew mcneil Thanks!
Sir... may I ask, How to make a can antenna with 2 polarized antenna?
I currently use 2 yagi pens with a 2x mimo atheros repeater... ill share a picture soon
How would a poster sized sheet of foil work?
Hi, i was wondering if you know what i can do for my huawei b593-s22 modem, it uses mimo antennas and i modded mine into a double biquad, well two of them since its a mimo and did increase my speeds but still insufficient compared to my mates speeds( different area), my place is kinda downhill, so would be awesome if you could help me out here. Oh and the double biquad is from your vids hehe. Hope to hear from you!!
loved it
I made two small windsurfers antenna boosters from freeantennas.com and tried them out on two small rubber duck antennas( 2 to 3 dbi each) one at 2.4Ghz and the other at 5.8Ghz ,the tin foil on the front side,used a low power rc transmitter with a video screen integrated , the fpv -video reception and remote control(rc) functions performed better with the windsurfer antenna boosters than without-hands down, they are almost no cost to build and the design can be adapted to accommodate copper, and lots of metal reflective surfaces. What these antennas do is take a isotropic or omnidirectional antenna and make it a directional antenna , in this case transmission and reception is improved much horizontally to the tune of 9 dbi or so , subscribed as well.
so now, add the wind surfer to the yagi pen :-)
I'm testing now with simple and cheap circuit. After some improvements LM358 (and other Op Amps) can detect wifi. It's dual Op Amp, 1st section picks up signal, 2nd is for highest sensitivity setting. Here is basic circuit diagram without improvements: electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/195760/why-does-this-detector-detects-wifi-signal-as-well Wifi sensitivity can be increased significantly by this: First two capacitors C1 and C2 (100nF) on input are removed and input is feeded by one 3.1cm square element of "Biquad wifi antenna". This element needs to be in series with 4.7nF capacitor (sensitivity setting doesn't work properly with both input pins 2 and 3 joined together by any loop or coil). My 10k sensitivity potentiometer works much precisely in the middle between 10k resistor from positive and 10k resistor from negative. Now I can test and tune Sharpie yagi, Windsurfer or Cantenna beaming to a large satellite dish. I don't even need wifi SWR meter. I can see transmitted signal strength (TX efficiency) and directivity of antenna in real time without lags. My AP transmitts beacon with SSID each 20ms, detector flashes very fast. I can hear small speaker too. It's really useful for antenna tuning. Change in distance or dimmensions affects signal strength and beam width immediately.
Oh man your videos are brain candy..