Even with an ordinary, cheap Chinese adapter you can “catch” remote WiFi points at a distance of about 1-3 km. But for this, the WiFi adapter needs to be modified with a small antenna, which can be made from trash found in almost every home.
The gain of the built-in antennas of WiFi modules is rarely higher than 1-2 dBi. Even for whip-remote antennas, this figure does not exceed 3 dBi. The homemade antenna presented below is built according to the Kharchenko double biquadrat type and has a gain of 12 dBi. It is not difficult to calculate the approximate distance and how much the reception range will increase.
Materials:
- Chinese USB WiFi adapter - http://alii.pub/65d0bm
- Copper wire with a diameter of 1-3 mm;
- sheet metal;
- plastic ballpoint pen;
- nylon ties;
- airtight food container.
WiFi antenna manufacturing process
To make an antenna, you need to take a copper wire and mark the distance on it in increments of L(30 mm) and 2L(60 mm), as shown in the drawing.
An antenna in the form of four squares is bent from the blank.Please note that the wire on the outer squares intersects, but not in the center. Its ends are soldered together. At the crosshair the wire is insulated.
Next, a reflector measuring 120x240 mm is cut out of thin sheet metal. Its center is drilled for the cable, then 6 holes are made for attaching the antenna.
To install the antenna, you need to make 17 mm long stands from the body of a plastic ballpoint pen. You can secure it to the reflector with nylon ties.
To the center of the antenna you need to solder a short piece of braided cable, as in the photo. The braid is soldered to one end, and the central core to the other.
A WiFi adapter is glued to the back of the reflector.
It can be glued with hot glue. To keep it elevated, place a plastic cap from a bottle or medicine bottle between it and the reflector. Then the free end of the wire is equal to the adapter.
The antenna is placed in a sealed food container. It can be fixed with glue on glued stands cut from the marker body or something similar.
All that remains is to insert a USB extension cable into the container and connect it to a computer or laptop.
It is best for the antenna to be located outdoors.
