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Main Laptop Mini Wireless Antenna

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Glossary A small antenna to boost the signal of a laptop
About wireless card, that can be stuck to the back of the Ads by Goooooogle

laptop screen. Wireless Antenna

Shop for Wireless Access
Popular Points! Find, Compare
and Buy
Homemade www.Shopping.com
Antenna
Antenna
Connectors Wave Solder Machines
Manufacturer of single &
Laptop Mini The design is the same as for the larger homemade dual wave lead free solder
Wireless antenna, but uses thin RG58 cable and is only 2 machines
Antenna www.novastarinc.com
sectors long. The size was chosen so it could be
Long Range
How-To
housed inside the tube of an old pen, to provide rigidity
and protection to the antenna. Wireless Antenna
Great Deals on Antennas
Your Favorite Stores in
Articles I also tried building it with One Search!
www.FatLens.com
Public Wifi even less tools than last
Safety time, so all you really need is
The State of Nearson Inc.
WiMAX 300mm (1 foot) or rg58 Antenna Design &
Manufacturing OEM &
Pre-N Wireless cable Customized Antennas
Roundup www.nearson.com
pen knife
Review - USR
MAXg Router
ruler
Review - Linksys
small wirecutters Free PCB Design S/W
Online PCB design and
WAG354G masking tape (any adhesive tape should do) fab. Instant pricing, low
Securing Your soldering iron and solder cost, dependable svc
Pad2pad.com
Wireless
Network The rg58 cable has a velocity factor of 0.66 , which is Advertise on this site
Hardware for the same as for the rg213 cable I used to make the
Point-to-point original larger antenna. This means that I can reuse all
links of the dimensions I had previously calculated of 41mm
MIMO Wireless for each half wave sector and 31mm for the quarter
Guide
wave whip.
Highspeed
Wireless Bridge
The first step is to make the 1/4 wave whip, you need
Linux Based AP
to cut off 31mm of the outside covering and shielding.
Access Point
Comparison
Limiting Shared
I've left the insulation on for
Bandwidth now, so that the wire for the
Antenna Cabling whip doesn't get too bent,
while I working on the
sector, but it will be removed
Hardware later, just before all the
insides sectors are soldered together.
Inside a Buffalo
WBRG54 Next up is the other end of the sector that is attached
Inside a Linksys to the quarter wave whip, and the rest of the sectors (if
Wag54g you want more) Once joined togeter, each sector
Inside a Belkin needs to be 40.5mm long, so I make the main body of
F5D7130
each sector 37mm with 4mm of central wire sticking
Inside a Buffalo
Airstation out each end, to be used to solder to the sectors either
Inside a Linksys side.
Wap11

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Laptop Mini Wireless Antenna - Gumph http://wireless.gumph.org/content/4/3/011-mini-wireless-antenna.html

Books
Wireless Hacks
Building
Wireless
Community
Networks I found the easiest way to cut the sectors was to hold
802.11 Security the knife still and roll the cable on the worktop, so it
Wireless rotates along the knife blade, cutting through the outer
Network Starter
plastic and the wire shielding. Then carefully cut into
Kit
the central insulation paying special attention to not
Hardware
Hacking for cutting the central wire. I used the wire cutters to snip
Geeks the sectors apart. You should then end up with the
pieces as shown below.
poll
What do you
want from
wireless
hotspots?
j free
k
l
m
n access
j cheap
k
l
m
n access
j fast
k
l
m
n access Now we just need to join all the parts together. You
j access
k
l
m
n need to cut a small v shaped notch into the outer
anywhere
plastic to reveal the wire shielding below, being careful
j bypass
k
l
m
n
not to cut the shielding. For the larger antenna I built a
telco's
custom jig to hold the pieces together while soldering,
j what's a
k
l
m
n
hotspot? but for this small antenna I've found just taping the
parts down to the surface seems adequate for the job.
vote
Remember that the overall length of each sector
needs to be 40.5mm. I measure from the end of one
sector to the same point on the next.
Appendix
Changelog
Privacy policy

All you need now is to put a connector on the other

end that is compatible with the connector on your
wireless card. If you can't find a suitable connector,
you may have to buy a short pigtail for your wireless
card, which is a short cable designed for connecting
the card to an antenna, and either put an N-connector
on the end of your mini antenna, or as I did, cut up the
pigtail, and solder it directly to the antenna cable. To
protect your mini antenna from damage, you may want
to house it in the body of an old felt tip pen. Find one
that fits the assembled antenna snugly, and glue or
stick them together.

Disclaimer I should point out now that I don't claim

that the above design is fit for any purpose, and don't
accept any liability for use of the design, or any
antenna based on this design. If you want to build an
antenna using this design, then you are responsible for
ensuring that it doesn't breach any laws where you
are, and is compatible with any hardware you connect
it to. If in doubt, buy a commercial antenna.

Comments

2 of 6 4/14/2006 5:02 PM