Has anyone used a pizza box dish on 2.4G WiFi?

[Rosey1]

I've got a few useless dishes sitting around. Wonder if anyone has tried to use with WiFi? Like to get an 8 mile link but probably never will.

Has anyone tried a pringles ant pointing at the dish to increase gain? How do you figure the focal point? Dish to end of ant or to internal ant stub or to front of tube?

Like to hear of any results (good or bad).

Thanks!

 

[Smith P.]

I saw in Internet whole site dedicated to such things, included how to build it using 18" DTV dish.

 

[voomvoom]

If you search, you will find something. Maybe even on this site, I know I've read it somewhere? I haven't done it myself, but I've read of people getting WiFi at 125+ miles, but mostly around the neighborhood. I remember one where they used a USB WiFi and put it at the Focal Point of the Pizza Dish an hooked it to the Laptop or Notebook and got signal. There are even some YouTube Videos about doing it. Good Luck..!!

 

[Rosey1]

I was thinking about a USB as well. Figured a pringles would be directional. An omni ant tends to preform equally poorly in all directions ;~). At -20db I need all the gain I can get!

 

[Anole]

I think there is an annual competition (possibly sponsored by some universities) in the USA.
If I remember or find the site, I'll post later.
The long range guys used big BUD dishes to get the serious miles (as I recall).
And I think they went hill-top to hill-top.

However, others used everything from a wok to a lamp shade as a "dish" to focus the energy (usually supplied by a USB WiFi adapter)
A more realistic range is up to about 10 miles, I think.

As for the Pringle can, coffee can, et al, I looked into all that some years ago.
But eventually I realized I had no use for a 2..5 mile wifi link.
That was when I focused (yes, a little pun there) my attention on Ku satellite. -
It brings me way more pleasure. - :up

edit: here is the site in New Zealand I was thinking about.
Good place to get started. Should have links to more.

 

[Rosey1]

I think you saw the WiFi shootout. But that was a bunch of Hams with a 12' dish. I'd have better things to do with that dish as well! But what do you do with a DirecTV 18"er? Thought somebody may have given WiFi a shot. We have a hot spot at the University and it's really fast at night. May have to experiment a bit.

 

[primestar31]

How-To: Build a WiFi biquad dish antenna - Engadget

Lincomatic's Homebrew WiFi Antennae

Biquad Antenna Construction

TREVOR MARSHALL - Biquad feed for primestar dish


The small dish model is very hard to aim, as it's a very tight beam. Flip the mount upside down, so you can aim the dish more at the horizon (since the dish's have a built-in 22degree "up-view" when looking at sats). It's really much cheaper to buy a good wi-fi antenna, such as this:

2.4 GHz 24 dBi Wi FI Wireless Lan Outdoor Grid Antenna - eBay (item 250293253782 end time Sep-16-08 23:18:40 PDT)

 

[Rosey1]

Thanks primestar31! That gives me a starting point. I know the beam width is tight. But that is the function of gain antennas.

It would be a poor choice for anything other than point to point. For "stumbling" you would miss about 95% of the signals and I'm not into stealing signals anyway. This is a spot I am authorized on, just too far away.

The antenna on the Bay looks interesting but may just be 13cm dipoles and may be a problem with polarization, don't know. The Bi-quad would be less susceptible as any loop would be.

The idea of using a USB TX/RX hard wired to a bi-quad would be about the lowest loss way to go. Mounting the transceiver under the feed support would eliminate N connectors and long feedlines which are loss hogs at 2.4G.

Thanks for all your ideas, keep them coming!

 

[cracklincrotch]

I've successfully built several cantennas, as they're also known, from the large Heinz ketchup cans. The range was impressive. 300' through fog with 100' visibility was pretty cool at a full 54Mbps. Not bad for $10 worth of ketchup, some twist-on and chassis mount BNC connectors, and some RG6.

 

[Rosey1]

cracklincrotch I've gotten good results from that type of ant as well. My property is 300 meters long and flat as a pancake. Not a problem connecting and might not be at the highest speed but good enough for me.

I was thinking that style of ant would achieve additional gain into a dish. Hopefully by at least 1 order of magnitude which might get me connected. Maybe not at n speed but worth the effort.

The dishes are too curved to bake pizza and too shallow for a bird bath!

Thanks!

 

[cracklincrotch]

I've seen photos of primestar dishes that have a soup can on the end of it along with claims of 25 miles. I'll believe it when I do it myself. YMMV.

 

[primestar31]

Here's 1000ft using 2 Primestar dishes with biquads, through a woods, with NO visible line of site.

Mark LaPierre's Primestar link


I'd say the Primestar could easily go well over 15 miles, if you have perfect line of site, perfect focus, and are aiming at another dish at least that size, with higher powered wireless cards. The difference with the Primestar, is the fact that it's elliptical, and is a very good dish to start with. DaveTV dishes converted to wifi have been reported as going 8 miles, so at least 15 with Primestar isn't that hard to believe. You should use a biquad antenna, instead of a cantenna at the focus point.

 

[satcom1]

There's an installation down the street from me. He has a 100' tower with a DN Pizza dish inverted (Feedhorn Arm at top of dish) and a small bow tie on a 6" X 5" grondplane plate. Oh yes, there is a H H Motor also.

 

[olliec420]

this should help

Practically Free DIY WiFi Antennas — Systm — Revision3

i you can watch the flash video stream but i suggest you download the high def one from the right to see more detail

 

[Dale_Gribble]

I have made a few of the cantennas myself. The coax cables most people use are problem because a 2.4 gig signal will have loss if it's more than a few feet long. I use a USB wireless with an antenna that is about 2 inches long (it came with the card). Then I cut a hole about the size of a USA quarter in the side of the can about one inch from the back. Then I just taped the USB card to the can with the antenna sticking through the hole. Now you can use a USB extention cable as long as you want without any loss at at all. You just need to weather proof it somehow. With a clear line of sight I have good results up to about a mile. I tried attaching the can to an 18 inch dish. This improved it some, but not a lot. Then I tried using a 40 inch primestar dish, now that makes a dramatic improvement! I never tried any long distance tests, but just testing it on the nieghbors about a block away, here's the results: Signal strength with just stock antenna: about 10%, with a cantenna, about 30-40%, with 40 inch dish, 100%. The can is about 4 inches wide and 5 inches long.

All of the small satellite dishes, Direct TV, Dish Network, Primestar, etc. are offset dishes. So if you use them to try and get a signal that is parrellel to the ground, you might think that you should have the face of the dish at a straight right angle to the ground. But because of the offset, the dish will have to face the ground somewhat to work well. Just like when you see a Direct TV dish it may look as if it's pointed at a satallite that's low in the southern sky, it actually is receiving it's signal from a satallite much higher than it would apprear. That's assuming you mount your can in the same place as the original LNB that came with your dish.

 

[kuernodechivo]

I have been considering chrome plating one of my pizza dishes to try to make a little search-light for when we have parties.

 

[Rosey1]

Great information everybody and thanks for the awesome links! Have been a bit busy with the harvest lately (tis the season) but hope to get a break soon. That will give me some time to try out some of your ideas.

I did see a similar small dish set up by a college student aimed right at the med school. So between you guys and the one I spotted, I know it's doable. Will I get enough gain for the link?, maybe. Or maybe 1/2 doz search lights ;~).

 

[Anole]

- You would want to put your antenna (can) at the exact location of the feedhorn of the previous LNB
Should not be hard to do ; we've had many LNB mounting ideas posted on the forum, and they'd apply to your cans.
To do otherwise would be to misuse the curvature of the dish and you'd get lower gain.
Even being off an inch at Ku would create a loss, but maybe at 2.4ghz it's less touchy.

- If you will take your offset dish and mount it with the LNB arm at the top instead of the bottom, then to shoot your wifi signal horizontally along ground, the dish would be tilted back around 24°
That's usually easier to mount than having the dish tilt forward 24° -
(I think this was mentioned above, but worth repeating)

 

[rv1pop]

The local wireless provide here uses a 20" dish with their own LNBF. They get 7 to 10 miles! Unfortunately I am out 12 miles.... And I am not LOS either :<(

 

[Smith P.]

So, using P* (36"+) will help you.