On 3/27/2016 4:34 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sun, 27 Mar 2016 14:11:42 -0400, rickman wrote:

On 3/27/2016 1:39 PM, John S wrote:
You could maybe try one of those very large metal salad bowls from
WalMart as sort of a dish reflector.. It helped me considerably in one
situation. Good luck.

I used a reflector from a work lite and it seemed to help. I was able
to pick up the signal from a restaurant across the street maybe 200 feet
away. One of these. I think it was under $10. Knowing how cheap I am,
it may have only been $5.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bayco-8.5-...Light/14003467

Good enough. I'm partial to misusing my Coleman lantern reflector:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/antennas/Misc/slides/lantern-reflector.html
However, using something that might be part of the evil petrochemical
conspiracy is politically incorrect in some circles. For a more
organic and sustainable reflector, I suggest a salad bowl:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/antennas/Salad-Dish/index.html
Instead of stuggling with the exact location of the USB dongle, you
just tune for maximum signal by sliding the dongle in and out of the
PVC tube.

Also, unless you have a properly matched feed and accurate parabolic
shape, a flat plate or corner reflector will have about equal gains.

Fullwave flat plate reflector at 2.4GHz:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/antennas/FullWavePlateReflector/index.html
8.3dBi gain

Same diameter parabolic dish:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/antennas/HawkDish08/index.html
7.7dBi gain

In other words, you can do as well (or theoretically better) with a
flat plat reflector, as with an approximated parabolic.

More abominations:
http://www.freeantennas.com
https://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+wok+wifi+antenna&biw=1511&bih=859 &tbm=isch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WokFi
etc...

Remember: The uglier the antenna, the better it works.

Which of those can be bought off the shelf for ~$5? I don't care so
much about ugly, I care about easy. Heck, the shop lamp reflector gives
you a spare electric socket and includes a mounting clamp! Hard to beat...

--

Rick