Makeshift mobile parabolic antenna

10 thoughts on “Makeshift mobile parabolic antenna”

1. I’ve always felt that camping was a good way to get away from electronics.

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2. Wok-Fi meets tethering!

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3. This reminds me of a project I made back in the 90s when we used to CB chat amongst friends. Some kids were in their dad’s camper talking trash to us, no matter where we went on the CB dial. So I made a parabolic dish antenna (directional antenna) and spliced it into my CB antenna with an A-B switch. As soon as the kids keyed up, I would switch to the dish and get the strongest signal in one direction. I found the kids in the camper as I drove down the alley and saw them in the parked camper. I announced I had found them at such-n-such street and the kids bolted, never heard from them again.
   This leads to ‘foxhunting’ which is a game played by several friends to find a transmitter at regular intervals. Triangulating a signal with a compass and lines on a map is more fun than geo-cache if you ask me.

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4. Gain producers: big area and directional focus.

   Gain reducers: geometry is only vaguely ideal (possible multipath and non-optimal energy focus), books/paper are absorbing some of the signal and blocking some of the dish.

   Despite the verbiage ratio, I bet the former outweighs the latter pretty well, and I’d also say the improv factor just adds coolness.

   Also, given that the original antenna is in a cell phone and small, the comparative advantage is pretty big, so conservatively I’d wildly guess about 8-10 dbi? Maybe even better?

   I need to find an old cable dish that nobody’s using…

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5. I built a similar wi-fi antenna from a $2 steel strainer, cutting a hole in the middle to hold the modem. Works purty good.

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