Homemade Yagi WiFi Antenna
Scientists Shintaro Uda and Hidetsugu Yagi invented the Yagi antenna in 1926. It was successfully used in 1928 wireless radar and has been effective for radio, television and other radio frequency antenna designs ever since. The Yagi antenna is a simple dipole design, i.e., the antenna elements extend to both sides of the mast. In a classic Yagi design, the antenna elements are the driver, the reflector and the director. For the do-it-yourselfer, all you need to know is that it works as a simple, effective homemade antenna for free WiFi.
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Things You'll Need
- Empty potato chip can
- Nail
- Power drill
- Drill bits
- 12-gauge solid wire
- Soldering iron
- Solder
- N-connector
- Coaxial cable
- Pigtail
- WiFi card
Instructions
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A design that can be portable, too
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1
Start with an empty potato chip can, such the kind containing Pringles or Lays Stax. The can will act as your receptor.
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2
Clean a potato chip can with soap and water.
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3
Measure one inch up the exterior closed side of the can. Mark this point with a pencil.
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4
Make an opening in the can at the marked point. Use a nail first, then a punch so as not to dent the can's exterior. The final size of the opening depends on the type of N-connector you are using.
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5
Cut a ½-inch length of 12-gauge wire. This is will be your antenna element.
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6
Solder the length of wire to the solder end of an N-connector.
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7
Secure the N-connector to the potato chip can with the wire length inside the can. If you are using screws and bolts, attach the screws from inside the can.
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8
Attach the male end of a 75-ohm coaxial cable to the N-connector that is outside the can. Connect a pigtail (reducing cable) to the other end of the coaxial cable.
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9
Connect the pigtail to a WiFi card. The external connection on the WiFi card must match the pigtail end.
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10
Adjust your new antenna manually for strongest reception. The wire element in the can should point up or down.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Radio waves are directional. Adjust the antenna in small increments until maximum signal strength is reached. Monitor signal strength via your computer's wireless control panel.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit antenna 2 image by Madrider from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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patroad99
Dec 10, 2010
Give us a break the cantenna you described making is not a yagi. A yagi is a log periodic array that directs the signal on the log of the first directer to the second and third and so on until the signal is received at the driver dipole. The reflector is used to reflect back any signals to the driver element. The cantenna does not have a dipole the yagi is based on. if you do not know what a Yagi antenna is please do not post to try and impress some of us.
