DIY heavy-duty wifi antennas. Powerful Wi-Fi antenna-gun. Which, in turn, are

This is an easy to manufacture and very powerful Wi-Fi antenna like a cannon. With its help, you can receive and transmit a Wi-Fi signal not only over hundreds of meters, but over several kilometers!
The antenna-gun resembles the appearance of a space blaster and, just like this fantastic weapon, has a directional and very powerful effect.

This is a directional antenna. And it is this property that gives a long reception distance due to the high concentration of the signal in one direction.

Antenna diagram

To make an antenna you will need

• Long stud with nuts.
• Metal sheet, I took copper because it is very easy to cut. In general, you can take tin from cans.
• . But you can connect to an existing router.

Making a powerful Wi-Fi gun antenna

Result

A good gift is one that is made with your own hands (provided they are sufficiently “straightforward”). Well, the best router, probably, can only be homemade. Now there are many components that meet the mini-ITX standard. And in a compact case that you buy in a store, you can assemble a WiFi router with your own hands, working with only one screwdriver, and your head too. Here we would like to list tips that will protect the developer from common mistakes made when choosing hardware components.

Storage

The task looks like this: you need to assemble a computer consisting of a motherboard with a processor, a case with a power supply, and one expansion card (wired network card). It is better to buy memory of the minimum possible volume (1 Gb), and let those cases whose design does not allow installing an expansion card be left with the seller. You also need to take care of proper cooling. The instructions for the case may indicate the TDP value of the CPU, for which it is not necessary to use fans, but if the TDP of your processor is higher, then the recommendation cannot be neglected. It is better to use the following options as a hard drive:

• m-SATA (mini-SATA) SSD drive, if the motherboard is compatible with them.
• A device of the Intel Z-U130 class or its analogues from other companies (if you find it). Please note that such a drive cannot be installed on some boards due to mechanical incompatibility.

The most optimal SSD volume is 4 GB, and now we will talk about choosing a processor and board.

Choosing a mini-ITX motherboard

Our requirements would best be met by such a “motherboard”:

• The processor is already soldered, its TDP does not exceed 10 Watts (the choice of CPU will be discussed later)
• Compatible with m-SATA drives
• Power is supplied to the motherboard through a standard ATX connector (now there are power supplies with a power of 60-120 Watts that are fanless)
• The PCI-E x1 connector, or better yet just PCI, is present in at least one.

You will laugh, but there are no products that meet all the requirements at once, and never have been. There are similar options, for example, Intel D525mw (and D525mwv) boards do not support m-SATA, but they fully meet the other requirements. That is, for them you will have to find an Intel Z-U130 drive, which is very difficult to do today. In general, use the Yandex. Market”, carefully reviewing all the characteristics.

We bought D525mwv, ssd, hdd...

There are cases that resemble a sieve in appearance, and they use power supplies of the following format:

Power supply pico-PSU 80Wt

Please note that if the “12V-ATX” connector is on the motherboard, then it must also be included in the power supply kit. The point of buying such a case is that you can assemble a fanless system. Only the instructions may indicate that when using a processor with a TDP of 10 Wt or more, a fan must be installed. Table with characteristics of Intel processors:

• D525 – “atom” of the previous generation, fast, TDP equal to 13 Wt, ideal compatibility with Linux
• D2700 - even faster than the previous one, TDP is 10 Wt, Linux was promised to be upgraded to it (we are talking about integrated graphics)
• N2800 – low TDP value (6.5 Wt), but noticeably slower than the “old man” D525, although it is newer
• N2600 – ultra-low TDP, slower than the Atom N2800, used in thin mini-ITX boards, which will be “too fancy” for our purposes.

We leave the choice to the future owner.

"Network Affairs": WAN, Wi-Fi

It is always advised to make this choice: if you already have an access point equipped with a LAN port, buy a motherboard with two LAN controllers. In other cases, it is better to buy an external access point connected to USB, and a pair of Ethernet ports on the back of the board will be overkill. We said that you will connect the provider's cable to a port soldered on an additional network card. And this is no coincidence. The network card port used as a WAN port may well burn out. In general, a network card connected to a provider should be considered a kind of “consumable” (a joke, but with some truth).

The WAN will burn out - down with the router?

A couple of commands from Linux

Let's say Linux is used as the operating system of our router. We hope that the kernel has correctly identified all hardware Ethernet controllers. You can set up a connection to your provider, but first you often need to change the MAC address of at least one network card. This would be easy to do on Windows, but on Linux you would have to write a couple of commands.

Network card 100 Mbit/s

You can override the MAC so that the new value is used only until a reboot. To do this, the controller is first disabled:

• # ifconfig eth2 down//we configure exactly “eth2”, you may have a different number
• # ifconfig eth2 hw ether 01:02:03:04:dd:ff//new value assigned
• # ifconfig eth2 up//enabled controller "eth2".

The new MAC value can be assigned to the network card “forever”; more precisely, we will force the OS to emulate the required value all the time. But to do the latter, you won’t be able to get away with just console commands:

• nano /etc/network/interfaces//you need to open the “interfaces” file for editing.

Now we look in the file for lines with the name of the desired controller (for us it is “eth2”), and after the line “iface eth2 inet...” we added the following:

• hwaddress ether 01:02:03:04:dd:ff.

We saved the file, and that’s it (after a reboot, “our” value will be used).

In general, we note that MAC emulation is bad by definition.

The statement applies equally to all operating systems, and even to those that are firmware in a “regular” router. Emulation is performed in software, which, at a minimum, takes up unnecessary computing resources (memory, processor time). The best solution is to get the provider to change the value in its MAC address database to the one you need. In short, MAC cloning can be used as a temporary measure, but nothing more.

How to set up Wi-Fi USB?

Many people think that if Linux has such a miracle as Hostapd, then any Wi-Fi adapter can be switched to “Access Point” mode. In reality, this is not the case. Almost nothing depends on the interface for connecting to a PC (USB, PCI-E, etc.), and the main criterion is the name of the chipset and the driver intended for it. If the driver actually supports "Access Point" mode, it will be displayed on the "wireless.kernel.org" website. Go to the specified page, go to “USERS” -> “Devices”.

Screenshot of the website page

Screenshot of the table with devices

On the page that appears, you need to search for the word “mode”. If you see that “AP Mode” is really supported, then everything is fine. Otherwise, forcing the adapter to become an access point can only be done using non-standard methods (or not at all). We wish you good luck.

Homemade WI-FI antenna

Good afternoon, dear readers of the blog site. Quite recently, I talked about the possibility of increasing the coverage area by installing . However, not everyone likes this situation, and many simply do not want to give extra money. That is why I decided to describe what an amplified wifi antenna for a router is with my own hands.

The need to increase the coverage area or achieve a more stable signal comes precisely at the moment when the user simply cannot connect to a remote part of his apartment or via a wireless network several times. The most affordable way to solve this problem is to move the wireless router closer to the receiver. However, we are not looking for easy ways and will make an enhanced wifi antenna for the router with our own hands.

Unfortunately, this method is only suitable for models with external antennas.

In my arsenal there are several ways to make an improved antenna for a wifi router. I will try to talk in detail about three options for homemade Wi-Fi amplifiers.

Amplified wifi antenna from a CD box

No matter how ridiculous it may sound, this option of making an antenna for a router with your own hands really gives a pretty good result. For production we will need:

• Box for discs for 25 pieces
• Unnecessary CD
• Copper wire, 30 centimeters, cross-section 2 sq/mm (more is possible, but do not overdo it with thickness)
• Coaxial cable for connection
• Tools (soldering iron, pliers, glue and file)
• Additional SMA connector

Open the box and cut off the guide at a distance of about 20 mm

Then, using a file, we make indentations in the form of a cross, for the subsequent installation of a diamond.

Using pliers, we create a double diamond shape from copper wire prepared in advance. The length of each side of a separate rhombus should not exceed three centimeters. The resulting product can be seen in the figure below.

The ends of the wire should meet in the middle.

At the junction of the ends, we solder the wires and the ends themselves, respectively.

The next step is to insert the coaxial cable through the guide hole in the box. Then, using the adhesive, fix the resulting diamond in the grooves of the guide.

For better fixation, I advise you to fix all freely movable parts with glue.

We close the resulting structure of the amplified antenna of the wireless router with a lid and use the SMA connector to connect it to the router itself.

This completes our wifi antenna for the router. When I personally decided to test the result, I was very pleasantly surprised. Signal strength in remote areas has increased noticeably.

The disc box can always be replaced with sheet metal. And instead of a plastic guide, use a soldered metal tube. There are a lot of opportunities for improvement.

DIY amplified antenna for a router from a tin can

From the name you can already understand that this method is primitive to the point of disgrace and there is no need to spend money on purchasing additional materials.

In the store, you just need to buy a can of soda (or beer) and after it is empty, you can start making a homemade wifi amplifier for your router.

First, you should rinse and dry it to get rid of any remaining contents. Then, using scissors, we pierce the jar at the bottom, next to the bend turning into the bottom, and cut it off. Then we make a cut along the entire length until the bend passes into the upper part. Then we cut off the cover along the circumference on both sides of the longitudinal section almost to the very end, but at the same time leaving a small area for the stability of our screen. It will be clearer if you look at the figure below.

To make our design more rigid, we can not cut off the bottom of the jar, but do the same as we did with the lid, which will not allow the screen to bend arbitrarily.

The next step is to mount the antenna. We place our structure on the antenna, and for better fixation we take plasticine. He will not allow all this stuff to move in space.

If your router has not one, but two transmitters, then such an amplifier needs to be made for each, which will allow you to send a more powerful signal in several directions at the same time.

At first glance, such a device looks very elementary and unreliable. However, the amplification effect makes it clear that even a simple design can give excellent results.

Unfortunately, the two methods above are intended for directional signal improvements. This scheme is suitable for those users who have installed a wireless router in the corner of the room and there is no need to “distribute wifi” to neighbors.

Homemade reinforcing attachment for the router

Another fairly simple way to strengthen the Wi-Fi signal with your own hands is to use the so-called attachment. The manufacturing principle is incredibly simple. You should have on hand a wire with a cross-section of 1.5 - 2.5 mm, a piece of cardboard, pliers and scissors.

First of all, we cut several pieces of wire of different lengths (starting with the shorter one and gradually increasing by 4 mm). The number of such pieces will depend on what kind of wifi antenna you want to get.

We cut a piece of cardboard of such length and width that it will not bend under the weight of the wire. Next, we attach the wire to the cardboard by piercing it in equal sections.

Using scissors, cut a hole for mounting. The appearance of the resulting structure is very similar to .

Naturally, if your router has several transmitters, then we make such an attachment for each of them.

This design will really help increase the coverage area and enhance signal transmission.

All the described methods for making an antenna for a router with your own hands are quite simple and do not require additional skills. However, if during the work any questions arise or there is a proposal to supplement this article, then do not hesitate to leave them in the comments.

To better consolidate the material you have read, I suggest watching the corresponding video.

Wireless Wi-Fi technologies are present everywhere today. This radio standard provides for signal transmission at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. For practical purposes, it is used to switch the interactive connection between the access point and the subscriber’s device. The quality of the transmitted signal directly depends on the built-in or external repeater. You can expand the capabilities of your router if you know how to make a Wi-Fi antenna with your own hands. Next, we will consider several methods and step-by-step instructions for them.

Amplifier from CD packaging

It is quite simple to make it from available materials, subject to the main rule: the distance from the copper elements to the reflective surface of the disk must be strictly 15 millimeters.

The procedure consists of several stages:

1. Take a regular plastic package for 25 discs.
2. The fixing protrusion must be cut at a distance of 16-18 mm.
3. Using a file, slotted sockets are made on a plastic spindle to fix the double diamond.
4. Biquadrat (rhombus) is made of copper wire with a diameter of 2.5 millimeters.
5. You need to be careful at this stage because it is the most important. Take 300 mm of copper cable, protect the surface, and bend the wire into a rhombus. The distance between centers is strictly maintained within 30 mm. If the entire procedure is carried out correctly, the result will be a double geometric figure.
6. Then the ends of the wire are sealed, and a place is prepared for fastening the coaxial cable.

Antenna for Wi-Fi router: assembly and testing

At the next stage, you will need to attach the resulting biquadrat to the spindle, maintaining a vertical distance of 16 mm at all points. Using a soldering iron, the ends of the wire are fixed. Using silicone glue, attach a standard CD to the bottom of the box. Using the same adhesive, the double diamond is fixed to the spindle.

Then the Wi-Fi antenna is connected to the router (router) with your own hands. The photo below shows a diagram of how to do this. Experienced craftsmen can unsolder the standard antenna and attach a new amplifier, however, you need to be very careful here, since thin conductors can peel off from the board when exposed to high temperatures. An easier way is to install a new device using the The result obtained, despite the simplicity of the process, will pleasantly please you.

Tin can amplifier

This DIY Wi-Fi antenna is no more difficult to make than the previous version. The device will strengthen the signal, which is weakened by partitions and furniture in the apartment. The design in question is simple and inexpensive.

To manufacture the device you will need the following elements:

• wardrobe trempel;
• a couple of liter cans of beer or soft drinks;
• regular soldering iron and solder;
• wire (50 Ohm);
• connecting connector.

The trempel can be replaced with a metal-plastic tube, which is used both indoors and outdoors, since it is little exposed to atmospheric influences.

Step by step instructions

In the future, the antenna amplifier is manufactured following the following steps:

1. Holes are made in the bottom of the cans, after which they are put on the lower part of the trempel or pipe.
2. The slots in the cans are made in such a way as to avoid excessive tension or slipping of the part. The pipe is looped and equipped with a suitable clamp.
3. A similar antenna for a Wi-Fi router, located on a trempel, requires stripping the soldering area, after which the ends of the wire are soldered to the cans one at a time. The other end of the cable is fixed to the connector used to connect to the access point.
4. If a metal-plastic pipe is used as a base, both cans are soldered to the main wire. You can install an adapter between them and fix the feeder on one of the cans. The antenna screen will be a metal foil located in the cavity of the tube. In order to solder the braid to the foil, you need to carefully make a cut and remove the protective film. The mounting location should be secured and insulated.

from sheet metal

To make this structure, you will need a tin sheet measuring 222 by 490 millimeters. It must be bent into the shape of a trough. Then eight holes are made with a core around the perimeter at the same distance. At the edges they should be 8*2 mm in diameter, and in the middle 8*8 mm. These sockets will serve as places for vibrators. The easiest way to make these elements is from tinned food-grade sheet metal, and then solder them into prepared sockets.

An amplifier for a tin antenna requires maximum precision while maintaining dimensions. Don't forget to also make holes for the posts. Their diameter depends on the thickness and characteristics of the material used as a holder. On the vibrator side, it is advisable to fill the connecting joints with varnish or wax to prevent moisture from entering. Any connector can be used for connection (BNC, N, F). The last element is the easiest to insulate. A homemade Wi-Fi antenna is connected to the router with the second end of the wire to the corresponding connector.

During installation, it is advisable to achieve direct visibility of the transmitting and receiving amplifier. Please note that deciduous trees jam the signal. The connecting cable should be as short as possible. If this cannot be done, you should not use PCI cards.

As a rule, it will be enough to use a regular white cable with dense insulation (RG-6U), since more expensive options have the same effect. If the air is very polluted and the WI-FI zone is saturated, it is permissible to change the polarization of the amplifier if the connection is made between two identical points. Several ways have been discussed above on how to make a Wi-Fi antenna with your own hands? Consumer reviews indicate that such a device has almost the same effect as the factory device, while its cost is an order of magnitude lower.

We have already shared with you several times ways to strengthen the router’s wi-fi signal using improvised means: and. But if you need something truly powerful, the homemade antenna described in this post will help significantly expand your wireless Internet “home zone”.

Of course, you can just go to the store and buy everything you need. But a real life hacker doesn’t give up so easily! Thus, a craftsman from Italy, Danilo Larizza, recently shared on his blog the story of how he managed to save on buying a wi-fi signal amplifier and made his own 2.4 GHz antenna, which raises the data transmission channel between two points over a considerable distance.

Materials

You will need: copper wire (or iron wire), aluminum foil, a plastic container for storing food, and a soldering iron.

Assembly

From the wire you need to make 2 squares with sides of 31 mm, as shown in the figure below.

Installation

We connect the copper core of the coaxial cable to one corner of the resulting structure, and the metal braid to the other.

The device must be protected from bad weather. To do this, place it in a lightweight, airtight plastic container with a lid.

According to the author, the service life of such an antenna is at least 6 months. To further enhance the signal strength and directionality, you can add a reflective screen. They can use ordinary aluminum foil.

Next time, before buying an antenna in the store to boost the wi-fi signal, try making such a device yourself. The result will pleasantly surprise you!

Perhaps you have your own interesting experience or idea on how to strengthen the wi-fi signal? Tell us about it in the comments!