wifi signal amplifier - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 10, 2013, 10:39:25 pm
content: Hello..my workstation if about 100 meters away from my house..i use a satellite dish with an wifi antenna and im geting 3 bars of 5..is there any way that i can boost the signal? my dish is a ovale shape so i flipt it over to get better signal cuz that shape is made to point the sattelite's..My point is...Is there any circuit that can amplify 2.4 Ghz?

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2013, 11:06:42 pm
content: Commercial wifi signal boosters. Check your local computer store.

author: MinK
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2013, 08:18:52 pm
content: 100m for WiFi isn't so far.First make sure you are using free wifi channel. I personally like to use 1, 6 or 14 channel.Make sure antennas isn't blocked by any metal or big wall. Put antennas higher. Make sure polarity matches.Before buying amplifier try higher dB antennas, or maybe "Cantena" solution.Too much radiation emitted by amplifier is not good for your neighborhoods and for your brain

author: PokemonCookies
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 25, 2013, 12:59:15 am
content: If your router has an external antenna adapter you can buy a pretty large antenna online. I've had one before and it boosted my signal half way across my block which is a pretty decent distance. I'm also pretty sure that If you rig one of these large antennas into your dish that it will boost in immensely.I wish you the best of luck.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 25, 2013, 01:28:58 am
content: Putting an amplifier at your house only helps the signal from your house to your workstation. Amplifying the return signal will also amplify noise. So for best effect you would also need an amplifier at your workstation. In general a bigger / more directional antenna works better, since it improves both the transmitted and received signal. There are also some designs available for decent DIY directional 2.4 GHz antennas if you want to save money.Keep in mind that both an amplifier or a bigger antenna than the radio was designed for can cause you to exceed legal limits. Since you don't specify location, so I'm assuming it's French Polynesia, in which case the limit for 2.4 GHz is +20 dBm EIRP. To arrive at this figure, take the transmit power from the radio, subtract cable loss and then add any amplification and antenna gain.

author: F4CPY
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2013, 09:15:55 am
content: +1 for the previous post!don't know your whole configuration (link budget), but the main problem with dish is the feed. It's very important to choose the right feed with the F/D of your dish, if not the efficiency drops dramatically.For my configuration, I can hook to a free spot at about 300m without any failprime focus dish dia 90cmhorn W2IMUUbiquiti bullet 30dBm

author: ConKbot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2013, 12:27:11 pm
content: Nice work there, is that a USB dongle broken out to a connector feeding a cantenna made from real metal™?

author: alxnik
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2013, 01:03:05 pm
content: Quote from: F4CPY on October 25, 2013, 09:15:55 amWith this setup, you should be able to connect to 3km, not just 300m!30dBm + this dish/antenna, isn't it wildly over the legal limit?

author: F4CPY
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2013, 01:30:00 pm
content: It is not a USB dongle. The advantage of this puppy is that you can directly plug to your LAN (well, not excatly direct plug because of the supply up to 24V via POE mode), and also plug your antenna via the N connector. It can serves as an Access Point, DHCP server, bridge... documentation at:http://www.ubnt.com/bullet.The system is now more ruggedized because it don't like HF especially when you transmit with a wire antenna aboveThe "cantenna" is home made in aluminium 5000 (Al Mg) and welded (I know... I am not a professional welder).The whip inside can be tuned for min SWRFor construction look at :http://www.lincomatic.com/wireless/homebrewant.html.There are other descriptions.

author: ConKbot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2013, 10:33:45 pm
content: Ahh didnt look up the adapter, thats very slick, especially with the integrated cable gland! I was just wondering it it was a usual coffee can waveguide type or a yagi/stacked element type of antenna, obviously just waveguide if its just a stub. Nice work!As for the EIRP, if youre close enough to have 1W of power do any damage, you'd de-tune the antenna enough it wouldnt be radiating anyway, so its not a safety hazard. Just an interference/compliance problem.

author: Goophy629
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2013, 12:16:46 am
content: for home-use wifi, i rather like a repeater rather than doing crazy stuff... maybe power-line or so... anyway, these are considerable options

author: F4CPY
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2013, 01:21:05 pm
content: @Goophy629: Agree with you, for Zorkwan's installation probably a double quad would have been enough, but he tried a dish, and there are some rules that you can't escape.For this project, I only wanted to try to build this kind of dish (geodesic), because I have another project: tropo antenna for 1.2GHz/2.4GHz., based on an idea of a japaneese ham :http://www.terra.dti.ne.jp/~takeyasu/.With minimun tools, the result is not so bad in efficiency.@ConKbot: The LAN cable was poor quality (poor shielded), and the housing of the dongle is only plastic (not very good for interference). the problem is fixed now.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2013, 01:29:47 pm
content: Have a play with antenna orientation. I dunno what your current setup is but it can make a big difference if your using linear polarization to get both antennas parallel.You could also look at a higher gain antenna.Could build a high gain 2.4Ghz yagi or helicalAn option that might work is a passive directional relay at work.If your allowed to you could put two directional antennas at work. (Not connected to the work Wifi at all, just sitting at your office window or something).Have two antennas directly connected to each other with a short cable. Point one at your work wifi access point and one towards home to boost the signal