I stayed in a motel last week and had a hard time getting a good signal to the wireless internet the establishment had. My room was pretty far from the front desk and I’m sure they had no repeater. What’s a good, inexpensive booster antenna out there to help remedy this problem? I currently use a Linksys card for WIFI.
Also, is there anything out there for boosting the signal while in a car, like a window antenna?
I am currently piggybacking a signal some distance away. I found that tinfoil makes a good passive antenna. I tried placing tinfoil between two manila folders and stapling it for security. You can cut a slot in the folder and form a funnel shape (parabola). Try various sizes and configurations and check the signal strength. My best results are with the antenna below the receiver.
I made one of those just yesterday! I’d bought a cheap IP webcam with wifi, but it was having trouble from out in my garage. Some white glue, an empty cereal box out of the recycling bin, and some tinfoil later, it’s working pretty good.
I’d also perused DealExtreme’s antennas, which I have no experience with, but seemed reasonably priced. IIRC, some seem to be made for wardriving, which would fit with your application.
I got one of these for a long road trip and they work great at pulling in from distances:
I bought one on Ebay. The seller included an additional 9 inch antenna. Tonight I tested it on my lap top in my living room. Using my Linsys card I pick up no signals in the area at all.
Using the Alfa I not only picked up 19 strong (75% or more) signals, I logged onto the web via a Starbucks that (according to Google maps) is 2.3 miles from my house.
Jeebus Kripes!:eek:
I’m wildly impressed! I absolutely love products that exceed expectations!:)
Color me ignorant, but if you build this, what do you do with it. I take it it is not an antenna. Do you just put it by the computer or what? Usually, I have my laptop on my lap or maybe on a table in a place with a very weak signal that sometimes connects, sometimes doesn’t.
Another simple question: How do you download the template? I saved the html file, but mspaint would not open it. I copied the template to the clipboard, but mspaint did not offer the option of copying from the clipboard (the copy button was grayed out). So I am at a loss.
It modifies the exiting antenna. It is a parabolic reflector. It increases the signal from some directions and also decreases the signal from others. At the top of the link there is a picture with the reflector on an antenna.
Hari, right click on the image and save it as a jpeg image. you should be able to do what you want from there.
Oh, so you can’t attach it to your computer. My problem is this. Every February I spend two weeks in Barbados. The place I stay is in a house that is some distance from the antenna and, most of the time, just cannot quite get a signal. Sometimes I can. I cannot attach anything to the antenna which is, in any case, high up on a building and not under my control. So I go sit near the antenna and all is well. But it would be very convenient if I could attach something to the computer that would somehow amplify the signal.
In this case you would need to disable the internal wireless and use and external powered antenna type device like was linked above. Such devices would also enable one to use parabolic reflectors like what I linked. Since laptop antennas are internal you could still use a reflector but it would need to kinda point at edge of the screen as well as the wireless access point which could be kinda inconvenient positioning.