boomerbubba
join:2001-06-15
Austin, TX
| These Ducks Quack !!!
I built these reflectors for the stock Rubber Duck antennas on my Linksys BEFW11S4. After fooling around with my own designs, I found that Michael Erskine had already produced an excellent template, so I used his. »osiris.urbanna.net/antenna_desig···emplate/ Thanks 
The twin reflectors are parabolic in only two dimensions, so they are relatively easy to shape. Michael produced the generalized template, but materials and design are left up to the implementor. I used thin-gauge sheet aluminum in 6-inch squares, a balsa center and epoxy.
The twin reflectors preserve and enhance the "diversity" logic of the Linksys twin antennas. And between the rotation of the reflectors and the tilting of the Rubber Ducks they sit on, there is ample flexibility to use the combination to handle many indoor radiation problems.
I have tested the resulting design using the ORiNOCO client Link Test utility, and the results were very pleasing. I didn't have an open space to do a simple test, so I just measured on-site. In my real-world test, including a couple of walls, windows and blinds to introduce plenty of multipath, the reflectors added 8-10 dB to the Rubber Duck dipoles, for an overall gain of 10-12 dBi! These results are consitent with those predicted on Michael's website.
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A good lock will keep an honest man out. |
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ikarus1
Premium
join:2002-10-23
Urbanna, VA | That is sweet. May I copy the picture for the web site?
-m- |
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boomerbubba
join:2001-06-15
Austin, TX
| said by ikarus1  :
May I copy the picture for the web site?
Feel free. It's the least I could do.
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A good lock will keep an honest man out. |
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NUT7
join:2002-05-12
Norman, OK | That is amazing. Talk about modding out a router. Very nice boomer. |
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stimulation
join:2003-01-13
Argyle, TX | very nice.
can you provide step by step instructions? |
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boomerbubba
join:2001-06-15
Austin, TX
| The vital instructions are contained within Michael's site (linked above).
The construction steps I followed:
•Sized the .jpg template file in MS Paint and Word so that it printed out at the scale I wanted.
•Printed out several copies of the template.
•Squared out the balsa blocks to the exterior lines of the template.
•Glued a copy of the template top-and-bottom to the blocks.
•Rough-cut the balsa blocks to be just larger than the template curve.
•Freehand-sanded the block to fit the curve. I used a stationary belt sander and moved the pieces by hand.
•Cut the thin aluminum sheet to squares.
•Formed the aluminum into curves. (This is the second-hardest part.)
•Drilled holes the right size and depth to insert the rubber ducks.
•Epoxied the curved metal pieces to the balsa forms. I used packing tape and light clamps to hold them in place. (This was the hardest part. If I were doing it again I would first make some kind of a clamping jig first.)
•Painted.
•Gloated.
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A good lock will keep an honest man out. |
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kb6183
Oh The Corruption
Premium
join:2000-09-27
Virginia Beach, VA
| reply to boomerbubba
No pictures yet, but I just made a couple of these for my 614+ using cardboard, tinfoil, and a glue gun. They aren't pretty and are only 12cm-side squares, but for no real cost and a small amount of time I'm sitting in a former dead zone posting this
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Try Team Starfire or Team Discovery orTeam Helix |
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kb6183
Oh The Corruption
Premium
join:2000-09-27
Virginia Beach, VA
| OK, I took a couple of snaps. Not great quality, but you get the picture pun intended
I was going for small size because I'm already in trouble for putting the AP somewhere it doesn't belong 
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Try Team Starfire or Team Discovery orTeam Helix |
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nelsong
join:2001-11-03
Lafayette, LA |  Thanks a lot guys, this solved my downstairs problem, and didn't cost me a cent! |
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dandeman
join:2001-12-05
Chapel Hill, NC
 ·AT&T Southeast
| reply to boomerbubba
My basement machine needed a little help getting the signal two floors up to the wireless AP.
The reflector shown here was "tuned" while watching the signal strength meter. Helps the crappy little patch antenna on the PC card sticking out the back of the machine do it's thing! Fairly significant improvement is signal strength.. |
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Rygel
Learn How To Use Reply
Premium
join:2001-11-17
Malone, NY
clubs: | reply to kb6183
Nice lunchbox. |
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Stubert
join:2002-03-27
Ames, IA
| reply to kb6183
said by kb6183 :
I'm already in trouble for putting the AP somewhere it doesn't belong
I'm sure the card-board and aluminum foil helps...
HEE HEE HEE just kidding
That is pretty sweet! I should try that. Does the signal send only in the direction of the reflectors now? or- does it still broadcast everywhich angle?
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AMD ATHLON 1.2GHz MEDIACOM ONLINE 1.5mbps |
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kb6183
Oh The Corruption
Premium
join:2000-09-27
Virginia Beach, VA
| Looking at the pics on boomer's original link : »osiris.urbanna.net/antenna_desig···emplate/ using these should make the beam more directional. The canted one is pointing close to directly (by eyeball gauge)at the downstairs room I needed better coverage in. I haven't tried the only other room I really use the notebook in (upstairs bedroom) yet, but it's in the same general direction anyway so I think it will be OK.
Yeah Rygel, the lunchbox is one of the many Pooh items my wife has collected over the years. Makes her happy
When I told her how much money I saved by not having to buy commercial antennas, she figured she could live with them as long as they stay in that spare room!
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Try Team Starfire or Team Discovery orTeam Helix |
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Thin1
Premium
join:2001-09-29
Wallingford, CT | If you put enough pooh stickers on your AP and reflectors it might become acceptable anywhere you want it
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This information is free, keep that in mind |
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kb6183
Oh The Corruption
Premium
join:2000-09-27
Virginia Beach, VA
| said by Thin1 :
If you put enough pooh stickers on your AP and reflectors it might become acceptable anywhere you want it
LOL I'll keep that in mind 
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Try Team Starfire or Team Discovery orTeam Helix |
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ikarus1
Premium
join:2002-10-23
Urbanna, VA
| reply to boomerbubba
There have been quite a few people reporting in and sending pictures. Since this thread seems dedicated to that:
»osiris.urbanna.net/antenna_desig···/gallery
Here are some pics (some already seen here, some not yet seen).
Thanks again Texas.
-m-
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»osiris.urbanna.net |
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stimulation
join:2003-01-13
Argyle, TX | reply to boomerbubba
Yes, I did for the second one, and it worked quite well.
The first one was .... well.... not good. |
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BBACIS
Premium,VIP
join:2002-11-23
Raleigh, NC | reply to boomerbubba
This is getting pretty ghettofabulous |
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ikarus1
Premium
join:2002-10-23
Urbanna, VA
| reply to stimulation
I have to hand it to you stimulation, you are honest with yourself.
You make me smile and frustrate me at the same time. I raised two sons and a daughter. I think understand you. I could be wrong, but I have you pegged as a young man who knows what he wants and isn't about to let anyone get in his way. When I was your age, I was much the same. Now I am an old man and I just don't hardly give a &$^t, but that is my problem.
If you have a problem (and we all do) it is that you are so confident in your abilities that you fail to realize that every persons efforts are built largely upon the efforts of people who came before them. That antenna design is just something that was generated from the studies that other people did to explain how parabolic antennas worked. The genius was Maxwel and Morse and not even the people that wrote the information on how parabolics worked. The moron who drew a little curve on a piece of paper and told you, "make it this way" only told you that because someone else told him that. On the other hand, that moron, did read a few thousand pages of documentation about antennas to get to the point where he could begin (begin mind you) to understand what is happening with that funny little curve. Here is a link to his personal web page:
»osiris.urbanna.net
Your problem, if you have one (and we all do), is that you think you can deviate from the learning process and jump straight into genius. You can't do that. You have to have mentors, tutors, and teachers. Sometimes they will bore you, most of mine did. But every now and then you will find one like my Calculus professor at University of Texas. That old fart came to class in overalls and a T-Shirt. He walked into the room on the first day and asked if anyone was interested in being able to figure out how much water was in a mud puddle... I was hooked. Bottom line is when you find someone who doesn't bore you, LISTEN to them. Most of us old folks don't like repeating ourselves, we figure if you make us do that you don't respect our opinion. Why would we bother? It frustrates us and bores you.
Your first design was a corner reflector. Now if you find the spot between the arms of that corner reflector where the dipole is precisely 1.25 inchs from the very corner and dead center of the arms, you'll have a pretty good reflector. So you see your first effort wasn't really bad, you just didn't know how to use it. Make the arms longer and it works better. Here's a link to a similar (but smaller) design of my own. Look at the "minicorner":
»osiris.urbanna.net/antenna_desig···dex.html
Well, while I have you, let me tell you about evesdropping because that is what a keylogger is... I spent a good part of my life evesdropping, it was my job you see. It feels really powerfull to know things about people that they don't know you know, but in the end it can make you very sad. There are things which you REALLY don't want to know. A President once said, "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail." In the context in which he said it, he was being naieve. Gentlemen don't, but nations do.
Here is the best piece of advice I can give you, something that will help you the rest of your life, but you are going to think it is stupid. So just mark it down and think of it from time to time, my father used to say it to me after he got back from Viet-Nam (the second time), "While the apple is on the tree it grows and becomes sweeter, when it decides it is ripe, it falls from the tree and begins to rot." It took me a long time to figure that one out.
Peace little brother.
-m-
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»osiris.urbanna.net |
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stimulation
join:2003-01-13
Argyle, TX
| reply to boomerbubba
I thank you for that post ikarus. Although a tad bit verbose, thank you. It helped.
I am not spying on anything with the keylogger. I am the only one using this computer. It is just that if I type something very long (an essay, post, long email), and something happens, the keylogger logs in realtime and I never lose anything.
It is quite useful.
Thanks for your help buddy.
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DW4000(SRS)|G4R-117W-1250| DAK403_P8|Sig 89|Sony VAIO RX560 XP Home (512MB-1.7GHz)Microsoft WAP (Bridging Mode--ICS)|Laptop Client: (2.4 GHz XP HOME Microsoft PCMCIA Card | Desktop Client: (733 MHz 98SE Microsoft USB Wireless Adapter) | Tweaked with LCCU |
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