Cantenna style antenna

My first foray into building wifi antennas started with a satellite dish and a biquad antenna I fabricated. It worked fairly well at long distances. Very difficult to aim. Blow is my proposed design for my second long range setup. My design criteria are as follows:

• Durable Design; take wind, water, and vibration
• Ease of fabrication; time, money factors
• Ease of duplication
• Availability of materials

I have done research into 3rd world wifi setups and I have come across some ideas that may help people trying to set these things up in their countries.

This is the first design as per criteria.

I have seen 20 dBi of gain from properly designed cantennas. You can check my links below for design credit.

Materials:
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4"x2ft steel dryer tube
1/4" rivets
metal coffee can lid
aluminum tape
n-female chassis connector
n-male to rp-tnc male pigtail

Antenna Body
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I utilized dryer vent material purchased from local builder superstore. I dont have welding skills, so to create the cylinder, pop rivets were utilized.
Dimensions:
Diameter: 3.25"
Length: 9.5 "
Element hole: 2.75" from back

 

 

To close off the bottom, a coffee can lid trimmed to the proper dimensions was taped with aluminum tape.

I originally used screws with nylon bolts to affix the n-connector to the tube, but they were difficult to tighten properly. I used a healthy amount of permatex white gasket material instead.

Antenna Element:

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Solder a piece of romex (service entry electrical wire) cut to 30 mm or 1.21" long into the n-connector. The total exposed length should be 30mm or 1.21"

The finished antennas were sprayed with automotive primer on the outside. They were affixed with pipe clamps to a 2x4" piece of pressure treated wood.

WAP

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Linksys WRT54G v2.0 Flashed with DD-WRT v

Modified with heatsinks for increased Tx power and overclocking if necessary

I wanted to create a weatherproof setup without having to purchase a weatherproof enclosure. To sum it up, dont. Way to much hassle with the foam. One could maybe use expanding foam and forms...but hey buy a weatherproof WAP if you can get one in your area. Otherwise pics below.

OXO brand plastic food container with rubberized seal. Painted grey for asthetics.

As you can see i cut stiff foam pieces and covered them with tape to keep the balls from coming off. A bit of hotglue to adhere them to the box. Next I fabricated a motherboard backing from a piece of high-impact abs plastic I had lying around. I drilled 1.8" holes in it after marking the motherboard screw holes. I then threaded motherboard standouts into the holes.

The next step was to mock up the motherboard and the weatherproofing foam in the weatherproof box.

With the motherboard and weatherproofing fitted correctly, I drilled holes at the top and bottom of the enclosure to allow for cabling. I used 1" piping and a t fitting at the top to accommodate larger LMR-400 cable at a later time. Grommets will be installed at that time. For now, I created small foam plugs to go into the ends to resist weather entering the enclosure.

The final Product:

Conclusion:

With a bit of internet research and basic tools, a setup like this can be made in a few hours time. This particular antenna would be used in a point-to-point deployment. I will post testing results next.

Links:
Tin Can Waveguide Antenna: http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html (has calculator for can length and element length)
Pringles Cantenna : http://www.seattlewireless.net/PringlesCantenna