On Mar 12, 12:19*am, Jason wrote:
Has anyone had any luck with these? the ones from Wireless Garden
I got one, and no matter how i turn it, I get very weak signal. my
target is about 400' away line of sight, except my friends ap is not
right in the window (i can see the window from my window).

I'm using an ALFA AWUS036H 500mW usb adaper with a RP-SMA.
the cantenna claims 12 dBi, and has a 3' cable with RP-SMA
the ap, has just the built in antennas (belkin)

I can get a week signal, but I get just as good or better with my 2
dBi omni!

do to the card being hi power the ap can hear everything but the ALPA
Rx SNR must be very low.

I'm sorry, no answer to your question, I just think it's funny,
remembering the Heath Cantenna, that someone expects a Cantenna to
actually radiate a signal.

Back 30 years ago when I was a novice, I remember accidentally leaving
my Cantenna hooked up instead of my real antenna and working a couple
of JA's with it. 15M really was wide-open to Japan every afternoon
back then!

Tim.

On Mar 12, 11:57*am, Tim Shoppa wrote:

I'm sorry, no answer to your question, I just think it's funny,
remembering the Heath Cantenna, that someone expects a Cantenna to
actually radiate a signal.

I have a Heath Cantenna too, but the WiFi folks mean a different thing
with
that term -- a 2.4 GHz waveguide antenna made from a Pringles (tm)
can.
Unfortunately, that cantenna of the second kind has almost no gain.
It needs
a much larger aperture to make that gain than the 3-inch diameter of a
foil-
covered paper tube. That can be had by attaching a larger, metallic
funnel
to the mouth of the antenna to form the typical microwave horn
antenna.
See any reputable antenna text book for design details.

Jim, K7JEB, Glendale, AZ

a much larger aperture to make that gain than the 3-inch diameter of a
foil-
covered paper tube. *That can be had by attaching a larger, metallic
funnel

Its odd because the dia. is only 85mm where the homemade ones say
100mm +/- 10mm.
also the 3' wire is very skinny (don't know what one it is). About a
thin as a pencil lead.
and also there's a tripod mount that has a bolt inside that blocks the
lower 7-8mm of the antenna.

as for the windows, tested (on my end), there not making any
difference. Kismet & Netstumbler don't seem to report noise level with
this card, just rx level. but the app that came with the Alfa shows
"Signal Str" and "Link Quality". No differnce betewen a 2 dBi omni and
the cantenna.

On Mar 12, 6:39*pm, "Jim, K7JEB" wrote:
On Mar 12, 11:57*am, Tim Shoppa wrote:

I'm sorry, no answer to your question, I just think it's funny,
remembering the Heath Cantenna, that someone expects a Cantenna to
actually radiate a signal.

I have a Heath Cantenna too, but the WiFi folks mean a different thing
with
that term -- a 2.4 GHz waveguide antenna made from a Pringles (tm)
can.
Unfortunately, that cantenna of the second kind has almost no gain.
It needs
a much larger aperture to make that gain than the 3-inch diameter of a
foil-
covered paper tube. *That can be had by attaching a larger, metallic
funnel
to the mouth of the antenna to form the typical microwave horn
antenna.
See any reputable antenna text book for design details.

Jim, K7JEB, Glendale, AZ

Just about anything works better than the Pringles(tm) can that made
the antennas famous. I made one with a large fruit juice can and it
worked fairly decent. I picked up about 10 db compared to the stock
antenna.


Jimmie

Just about anything works better than the Pringles(tm) can that made
the antennas famous. I made one with a large fruit juice can and it
worked fairly decent. I picked up about 10 db compared to the stock
antenna.


Jimmie

Ditto,but mine was a clam-chowder can,IIRC. Got funny looks walking down
the soup aisle with a tape measure..but I found a can with
nearly-perfect diameter.

"PhattyMo" wrote in message
...


Just about anything works better than the Pringles(tm) can that made
the antennas famous. I made one with a large fruit juice can and it
worked fairly decent. I picked up about 10 db compared to the stock
antenna.


Jimmie

Ditto,but mine was a clam-chowder can,IIRC. Got funny looks walking down
the soup aisle with a tape measure..but I found a can with
nearly-perfect diameter.

The 2.4 GHz Multipoint Distribution System (MDS) pirate receivers from the
1980's used a coffee can. The circuit board parts kit was sized to fit
inside the standard 1-lb coffee can, so you knew (without the tape measure
;-).

I still have one overhead in the garage. It worked much better with a big
cone of screenwire out in front. Maybe the experimentors should work in
that direction. The cone acted just like a funnel.

Since the MDS signals are/were NTSC television, improvements could be
evaluated real-time.

"Sal"