Mussels makes some crappy wifi cantennas!

Since people love summaries, i can give my preliminary results here:

1. anything 'parabolic' will work better than random crap like pringles cans, or pineapple tins. THE SHAPE MATTERS.

2. those takeaway containers lids ARE metal. go figure.

3. No matter what you do, a weak adaptor will remain a weak adaptor. If you want to boost wifi, dont neglect the three important parts: Adaptor, antenna, takeaway container lids.



So to make a long, boring work night less boring me and a co-worker decided two things.


1. we want to set up a long range wifi network

2. we want to make stupid, passive wifi boosters the cheapest and easiest way possible.


I figured i'd document my findings and designs, so that people can laugh/join in.


Current design ideas/equipment:

1. Metal 3KG pineapple tin. first attempt will be 'cantenna' style, second will be to hacksaw it in half and make it somewhat parabolic.

2. aluminium foil take-away containers (rectangles should work, yeah? )

3. "metallic" take away lids

4. Empty coke/pepsi cans with cutouts (anyone mature enough to use scissors should be able to achieve this one)


I will be using a freeware program called "wirelessnetview" for results, since its easy to read and gives average signal strength %'s


Photos of the equipment:











short USB extension forced into the hole in the tin







This is the arts and craft version, and its quite simple: bend the "foil" lid, use tape to make it stay bent, and either stick it to, or sit it behind, the aerial.

this post reserved for results of future designs


test 1: crappy nano adpator, without external aerial




same adaptor, generic 'high gain' 5db aerial (common on more expensive routers)
My neighbours router makes an appearance here.



same adaptor, shoved up the butt of a pineapple tin (the connection was very loose)
This taught me that the tin was simply too thick for connecting this way. i need to get the USB stick inside the can as one good wiggle made them fall apart.



Take away-Fi
This one was very fussy with the angle it needed, but it did cut out the signal from the neighbours - this could be used to reduce interference from other devices on the same channel.



Pine-Fi:

tricky to keep pointed straight (you know, its a tin. so it kept rolling around and waving the aerial all over the place)
worked well however, and much more durable than the foil container. lots of blutack was needed to hold the USB in place and cover up all the sharp edges you get when you bang a screwdriver into tin to make a hole.


Now for a windowsill test:

Nano + 5dbi, up against window


nano + 5dbi + takeaway tin
Looks like a 4% boost to 'adams' to the loss of everything else, facing straight at the window. this kinda gives away what direction that house is in.




Same test, pointed to the left:


to the right:


and ass-backwards



The results of those clearly show you can expect a 5-10% difference in the angle of your cantenna, and that putting it backwards is a dumb idea.

Arts and Witchcraft: (the stick taped lid design)

Facing out:
Well, i guess we have a clear winner :/


to see if it made a difference, i stuck a second lid in there as well to make it taller, and this is the result:
.... 2 more networks? sweet!


backwards:
zero impact on the regular networks, but notice how the 'foreign' networks no longer appear? despite the dubious metallic content, this seems to actually work to reduce interference.


if at first you dont succeed, try again.

If at first you succeed, DO IT AGAIN BUT BIGGER:


so in conclusion:
Nano adaptor + huge aerial + 2 take away "foil" lids = even more networks, and the difference between a non usable signal, and a workable one. The adams network is actually a friend of mine and i *can* connect with this setup and have reliable internet (<10ms ping to his router)



Now i cracked out a bigger wifi adaptor, the most powerful i have right now with a detachable aerial:



(forgot to test this adaptor without the lids. can do later)

so ummm.... holy shit



i also have a chinese wifi adaptor + panel antenna all in one, which blows my fancy work out of the water to net me this:

(its about 2/3 the height of the huge omnidirectional)

images of the first aerials are up.


oh and the co-worker i mentioned actually is getting a satellite dish on his roof to try and reach my place :/

so you know, going from 2 networks to 16 is somewhat considered an 'improvement'

(and 0% on a known network to 70%)

i technically cheated by using multiple adaptors and aerials, but the silly lids boosted all of them slightly. to some, that 10-15% increase (15% to 18% is about a 15% increase) from what might as well be a free piece of paper could be the difference between no network and a workable network to some.

hell, you can even do the opposite and guide it so that your dirty neighbours cant mooch off it.

remixedcat said:

All the poor ppl in Detroit just noticed this thread and are gonna leach off mussles

Click to expand...

pity they dont have amped wireless routers. i'd have far stronger signals. be a shame if somebody hacked them and went to didney worl with all the wiffies.

jsfitz54 said:

To Mussels:

I'm aimin this at your house now.

http://img.techpowerup.org/130516/Capture068-20130516-103836.jpg

Click to expand...

you're gunna need a bigger wifi dongle.