Legit Reviews

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/837885/wifi_antenna_hack/

I want to try this!

I saw two other Wifi tricks that I actually tried and know work. One is to punch a 1/2 inch hole into the bottom of a metal colander, hot glue (or gorilla glue) a 802.11g wifi usb stick into the 1/2" drilled hole with the usb connector at the bottom of the colander, use a usb male to female cable to connect it and you have a directional wifi receiver with much improved range. I did it with junk from around the house (the colander I used was the collapsible type metal one) and went from no wifi to 2 wifi nets available (one a commercial truck stop net). Not that I'd ever hack a wifi net using "Lightning Storm" or some despicable hacker program like that (cough).

The colander idea set my last three brain cells on fire and I came up with this one on my own, I have an old huge Sat dish in the yard, one of the old EchoStar dishes, so I used the same premise, put the usb stick where the LNB used to be positioned, swiveled the dish to sweep for wifi, found 7 wifi nets. Pretty good considering I live 5 miles outside town. If you get as bored as I was give it a try, all I was out was 15 bucks for an 802.11g wifi stick I needed anyway. They have usb extenders that will extend the connection a pretty good distance these days (like inside to your easy chair LOL).

Wish I had known a while back cause I'm on wildblue now and woulda been a lot cheaper if I had.

I'm going to have to give this video a try. Anybody out there tried it yet and what were your results?

It works

here is a detailed USB Antenna howto also

http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/

This thread would be a good sticky under a Peripherals/Accessories section in the forums.

I'm sure Ken will weigh in here...

Or maybe a Switch/router/wireless section?

Darkstar wrote:Or maybe a Switch/router/wireless section?

I suggested a networking type one over here, so same difference

Dan

DMB2000uk wrote:

Darkstar wrote:Or maybe a Switch/router/wireless section?

I suggested a networking type one over here, so same difference

Dan

good spot for it too!

Darkstar wrote:

DMB2000uk wrote:

Darkstar wrote:Or maybe a Switch/router/wireless section?

I suggested a networking type one over here, so same difference

Dan

good spot for it too!

I've wanted a networking section here for a long time!
Part of me secretly also doesn't want it though as I get enough networking stuff @ work.

Some people say "There's no place like 127.0.0.1" - For me, it's got the stage where "Networking is now 255.255.255.255"

kenc51 wrote:I've wanted a networking section here for a long time!
Part of me secretly also doesn't want it though as I get enough networking stuff @ work.

Did you just volunteer being the new moderator for the WIFI network forum?

Darkstar wrote:It works

here is a detailed USB Antenna howto also

http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/

The neighbors just tossed out a Dish Network setup. So, now I have a really nice light weight dish with the adjustable mount and mounting arm.


Belkin sells a USB wireless-N at Wal*Mart for about $70+tax.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=6339405

or the

Belkin sells a USB wireless-G for about $30+tax.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=3756936

Hey! those prices are good compared to even NewEgg right now.

Looking at the NZ website, the plastic baby bottle covering would be ideal for the USB device.

Wow, nice find.

What size is that dish? And how much gain do you think it'd give?

Dan

I don't know about that dish but when I play with the 5 foot dish (old EchoStar) I pick up the truck stop wifi from 2 miles away with enough signal strength to reliably connect. (40 to 50%) My better half is the book keeper there so once in a while I crack it and send her errr you get the idea.

Darkstar wrote:

DMB2000uk wrote:

Darkstar wrote:Or maybe a Switch/router/wireless section?

I suggested a networking type one over here, so same difference

Dan

good spot for it too!

I'm working on it, just waiting for the OK from Nate to do it.

DMB2000uk wrote:Wow, nice find.

What size is that dish? And how much gain do you think it'd give?

Dan

Well, the dish itself is a commercial 600mm (23.62-in) as you can see in the posted picture in my last post. According to the NZ website, a solid dish will out perform a wired mesh dish. However, the solid dishes are prone to wind problems if not permanently mounted.

This dish has the ability of reaching an amazing ~24dB gain while connecting to WiFi up to ~10km (6.21miles) away.

The longest USB cable to use is about 5m (16.4-ft). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Cables

Methious, how long of a USB cable are you using???

lol, i read that as 600cm first time round >_<

60cm is still a pretty nice size for the wifi-dish setup ^_^

You can get active repeater USB cables, and if you have passive 5ft to active (say 5ft again) and so on then you can route it pretty far.

Dan

another cheap one is the Pringles can antenna or the "cantenna"

http://www.seattlewireless.net/Pringles ... antenna%29

I'm running active repeater cable about 24 feet, to an old laptop I was given with a dead screen, then I share it's connection. I think the total cost was 30 bucks, most of the stuff was gimme and trade from a local computer shop I do some repairs for.

I'm working up repair credit for a Gateway 36 inch monitor to play with right now. Would be great to sit back in the recliner and game.