bobkoure;401985 Wrote: > I just ran across ' a free antenna project' > (http://freeantennas.com/projects/template/) that some folks here might > find of interest. > I've not done this for myself (hardwires all through the house) but > have built reflectors (not of this design) for friends. These look as > though they'd work better.
In principle these designs all tend to improve signal strength to a specific area that the antenna is pointed at with the drawback being a decrease in overall coverage due to directionality and poor backside coverage due to front to back ratios. I do see several issues with the article. The first is that painting the project is something that should be avoided. Also the article says that one reason for doing this was to improve WiFi security, which this antenna will not do. For any security gained from the poor backside performance is far out weighed by the new front side signature. The antenna is actually making it easier for somebody that is WarDriving to access the signal with the directional high gain antennas they use. On the positive side, the use of these type antennas can help when one can't put the access point in the center of the area to be covered. In an example where the access point is at one end of the house these antennas are a means to get signal to the other side of the home. They also help the neighbor to the backside of the antenna by lowering any possible interference to other WiFi networks again because of the poor backside pattern. The new pattern from the parabolic will not be reaching outside the house into the neighbors yard/house, as would an omni antenna located near an outside wall. Of course, if one has a short house length wise the opposite is true of the other neighbor as one would be blasting them with WiFi coverage. Personally, before I would undertake one of these antenna projects, I would look into what it would take to place the WiFi Router/AP at the proper central point to cover the area required. In my case, it was as simple as running coax cable to the closet under the stairs, putting in a shelf to set my cable modem and wireless router on, and now my AP is in the center of the house. Remember, there is no requirement to have ones DSL/Cable Modem right next to ones computer. A simple Ethernet cable run or WiFi card is all that is needed to get that PC in the bedroom online. I have built many of these antennas (not for WiFi use but other projects) as well as used commercial versions to light up building interiors that had poor network coverage due to poor line of site with data network towers. The solution is to point a Yagi antenna on the roof at the nearest network tower, run low loss coax down to the problem floor, attach the coax to a BDA (bi-directional RF amplifier), attach a coax to the other side of the BDA and attach that feedline to a parabolic or panel antenna to light up the floor with coverage. The handheld data units now see the outside network and can send and receive data. -- iPhone *iPhone* 'Last.FM' (http://www.last.fm/user/mephone) Media Room: Transporter, VTL TL-6.5 Signature Pre-Amp, Ayre MX-R Mono's, Vandersteen Quatro, VeraStarr 6.4SE 6-channel Amp, VCC-5 Reference Center, four VSM-1 Signatures, Runco RS 900 CineWide AutoScope 2.35:1 Living Room: Duet, ADCOM GTP-870HD, Cinepro 3K6SE III Gold, Vandersteen Model 3A Signature, Two 2Wq subs, VCC-2, Two VSM-1 Kitchen: Squeezebox BOOM Bedroom: SB3, GFR-700HD, Thiel 2.3, Second Boom Home Office: SB3, NAD C370, two VSM-1 Home Gym: SB3, Parasound Vamp v.3, Thiel PowerPoint 1.2 Mobile: SB3, Audioengine A5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ iPhone's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13622 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=60801
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