High Gain WIFI Antenna?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Grimmer, Aug 9, 2012.

  1. Grimmer

    Grimmer Corporal

    Hi,
    I'm looking to buy a long range WIFI antenna to connect to a coffee shop about a mile away. What is the best long range antenna out there? I found an article about some people using a homemade biquad dish antenna that you can bolt to the horn of a small sattelite dish, is this currently the best way to get the highest gain or is there something better out there?
     
  2. pclover

    pclover MajorGeek

    Both have to be using high gain i believe.

    Buying a high gain wont allow you to get wifi form the coffee shop most likely.
     
  3. satrow

    satrow Major Geek Extraordinaire

    A single high gain antenna works both ways, pushes and pulls, so providing you are line of sight and can increase the gain enough, it'll work fine - unlike boosting the output power, which only increases the push - that must be used on both sides for best results.

    Try using a wireless dongle in the satellite dish to test with.
     
  4. hrlow2

    hrlow2 MajorGeek

    Didn't think wifi would work at that distance.
     
  5. satrow

    satrow Major Geek Extraordinaire

  6. Colemanguy

    Colemanguy MajorGeek

    With proper equiment you can do 25-30 meg across a mile or two on wifi, right now i have a wifi link setup between our radio station to the local community access tv station for the purpose of streaming hd video to our distribution system.
     
  7. hrlow2

    hrlow2 MajorGeek

    Looks like I have some researching to do.
    About 3 miles? Really?
     
  8. Grimmer

    Grimmer Corporal

    not sure how accurate this is but this antenna claims to get 8 mile range los http://www.simplewifi.com/parabolicgrid.html. gonna mess around with my dish and usb dongle see how much of a boost i can get from that. thanks for the info gives me some ideas.

    one other question though, i hear of people being able to amplify an existing wifi antenna how exactly is this done? what hardware would one need to accomplish this?
     
  9. hrlow2

    hrlow2 MajorGeek

    Key words in that ad are "up to" 8 miles.
    Your usage quite likely won't extend to that.
     
  10. pclover

    pclover MajorGeek

    It's very possible. How do you think satellites work? They use high gain and all the power is focused on a line instead of omnidirectional. However break this line of sight slightly and it will crap out and not work.
     
  11. The Shadow

    The Shadow Specialist

    In doing research on a topic like this.... Google is your best friend.
    I've personally done a lot of research on hi gain Wi-Fi antennas.

    I've tried several designs:
    [​IMG]

    This 7db Gain vertical works a treat on my little Netbook.

    [​IMG]

    I built this variation on the dish, and it worked, but not as well as I would have liked. A 3' dish would be best if you can find one.

    The best I've seen is a professional built Yagi (beam type) antenna inside of a clear plastic tube (for protection). I found that during a Google search.

    One mile is not hard if the Wi-Fi transmitter is putting out a good signal.
    Type N300 is far better than type B or G.

    Good Luck!
    :cool
     
  12. Grimmer

    Grimmer Corporal

    Just playing around I pulled the old dish I wasn't using off my roof and screwed a piece of metal flashing to hold the usb adapter to satellite horn. I do manage to get a stronger signal with my wireless router but it does not pick up any more ap's in fact it picks up less than trying to use just a metal soup can. Gonna look around for a better adapter with a longer range.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Grimmer

    Grimmer Corporal

    if this don't work think I will just save the hassle and buy a yagi antenna. thanks
     
  14. hrlow2

    hrlow2 MajorGeek


MajorGeeks.Com Menu

Downloads All In One Tweaks \ Android \ Anti-Malware \ Anti-Virus \ Appearance \ Backup \ Browsers \ CD\DVD\Blu-Ray \ Covert Ops \ Drive Utilities \ Drivers \ Graphics \ Internet Tools \ Multimedia \ Networking \ Office Tools \ PC Games \ System Tools \ Mac/Apple/Ipad Downloads

Other News: Top Downloads \ News (Tech) \ Off Base (Other Websites News) \ Way Off Base (Offbeat Stories and Pics)

Social: Facebook \ YouTube \ Twitter \ Tumblr \ Pintrest \ RSS Feeds