Wireless Antennae
Wireless networks are great, when they work. A weak wireless signal can mean real trouble. One of the best ways to improve a wireless signal is to replace the antenna on one or both ends of the connection with a better wireless antenna.
Types of Wireless Antennae
Wireless antennae fall into five general categories:
- Omni
- Parabolic or Dish
- Yagi
- Patch
- Sector
Omnidirectional Antenna
An omnidirectional antenna works equally well in picking up signals from every direction. Omni's make excellent general purpose and mobile antenna's. The longer an omnidirectional antenna is, the better performance it will have.
Parabolic or Dish Antenna
A parabolic antenna will give you the greatest range for your signal. The trade-off is that they are more difficult to aim. A parabolic antenna is the obvious choice for a point-to-point fixed wireless installation.
Yagi Antenna
A Yagi antenna is a good choice for point-to-point transmission, or point-to-multipoint where the destination antenna are all close together or in a straight line.
Patch Antenna and Sector Antenna
The most common use of the patch and sector antenna designs is as the customer antenna in a point-to-point wireless broadband system.
Where can I Purchase a Good Quality Wireless antenna?
You can purchase a wireless antenna from one of these antenna vendors:
Build a Wireless Antenna
You can also build your own wireless antenna. Read what these ingenious hackers have built working wireless antenna from:
- Use a Surplus Primestar Dish as an IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networking Antenna
- How To Build A Tin Can Waveguide Antenna for 802.11(b or g) Wireless Networks or other 2.4GHz Applications
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