Richard

I thought people here would enjoy seeing the progress so far on building a complex 'X-wing' antenna. I'm still testing and figuring it out, but this is looking good so far. I welcome any thoughts you have.

There is also an antenna called a 'Microstrip Patch Array' antenna which is enormously simple to make. https://www.rfwireless-world.com/calculators/Patch-Antenna-Calculator.html I just don't know enough about the parameters like 'dielectric constant' so if anyone here is familiar then I could model and build one of those.

Interestingly after reading a lot more on these antennas, I came across Andrew's vid for a biquad yagi antenna. He states (min3:30) that adding elements doesn't increase the gain beyond a certain point, and even hampers performance. But he doesn't remember the term for this falloff. Anyway the design looks buildable with copper tape (which I don't have) or wire (which I do have). So what I wonder is if anyone knows how the wire diameter affects the performance? I have 1.3mm steel wire and 2mm copper wire (old house wiring). He also implies that the back reflector can be curved or straight. I wonder if anyone has thoughts on that. Anyway, here are some model renderings for various biquad yagis and I can give measurements based on McNeils videos if there's a desire for that.

Thank you admin. I will review this more when I have greater internet time. I'll build the design based on your drawings with the lip on the rear element. However I will add 1-2 more 37mm disks to see how much gain I can get out of it

Thank you Eric. That looks possible. Do you have a 3D view or front view of it? Is it a circular or square profile (if 'box reflector means square then that would answer my question. It's a lot less elements then the x-wing that I built. Would it be able to boost to 25dbi or so?

So after months of trying the two above antennas at different open WiFi sources and comparing with commercial yagi design, it does not seem to offer enough to get signal more then 20m away. I've tried to get CST studio suite, REMcom or Altair software without success to examine the design. So Given that you have the software working. Would you be willing to design either x-wing or yagi-cantenna adjustment to allow the model to reach 20-25dbi (for receiving a signal 100m away). I would be willing to offer compensation or trade. I don't know of any other means to accomplish this other then to just buy an off-the-shelf design and those are always advertised as higher gain then the real-life performance. (also, I just like to build my own stuff). Thanks in advance.

Thank you. I'll look into it. FYI - I'm reading this site with my X-wing antenna about 75meters away from the building. Hopefully I can work on an antenna that will extend to 90 meters

I wonder if you know where I could find access to this as a 30day trial. It doesn't look like that program is available anymore https://cst-studio-suite.software.informer.com/download/

That's very interesting to hear. I don't see any measurements in that video as there have been in other ones that he's made. I instead used the measurements from this site - https://www.ab9il.net/wlan-projects/wifi6.html everything is connected with screws, so if I (cough) screw up, then it's easy to switch out the yagi. I took your suggstion with the dipole antenna and soldered each of the two wires one to the copper plate on top and one to the copper plate beneath. Then soldered wire btwn them forming a loop. I wasn't able to find actual metal tubing that was large enough, but found a 4in cardboard tube and rolled a cpl layers of aluminum flashing to reflect radio waves. I'll try to get measurements off the cad program if you want.

I'm really flattered that you modeled my antenna. I'm going to look into seeing if CST offers a trial version of their software. Thank you for all the input and advice. In the meantime I have another question before building a yagi-cantenna. This video that McNeil made, shows his yagi attached to a BNC connector which is then soldered to a pigtail. It seems to me that it would be more practical to solder the two ends from a disassembled dipole antenna in order to make the connection to a router. The reason that I'm asking so much, is that I don't know how easy it will be to troubleshoot a problem. I tried connecting the yagi above to a cellphone using a long a long cable with a zigzag at the end as a couple of Indian people show. But it gave no advantage that I could tell. I wont necessarily know if a problem is due to the router, the cable, or the antenna design

This looks so interesting. I would be curious to know what software you used for this. That looks like the 'Autocad' XYZ symbol, but I've never heard of Autocad doing waveguide modeling. Being able to model before building would be great in helping to build a 15dbi antenna. I might go with a yagi inside a cantenna, which McNeal has demonstrated.

Hopefully this upload will work. I still have a lot of learning. I may try to do a cantenna instead. There are a lot of options and a lot of different opinions. http://towardzeroimpact.net/WiFi-antenna.pdf

I only recently got a CAD program working on the computer. Sadly there isn't anything that I'm able to figure out for linux (so 2nd older laptop w/ windows). I'll share a 3D model and dimensions soon. Your own design is incredibly beautiful and elegent. That's a much higher level of construction skill.

Hello; I am sharing a question about checking WiFi signals nearby. After researching antennas and how Andrew McNeil does testing, I'm curious if this can be done without special equipment. I have a regular laptop running linux and an older netgear router. Since the router has regular SMA connectors, it should be possible to hook either a cantenna or yagi directly to the router and then use Cat5 cable to hook straight to a computer. What I wonder is, how can I troubleshoot wireless signal strength if there's a unit between the computer and the outside? For those with paid wifi service, I assume the router is designed to work with their signal. However if I'm just moving around a home-built antenna then I don't know if a weak signal would be due to the router or the position of the antenna. I have a USB wifi antenna ( https://images.jet.com/md5/22e0fa962eac638ffd03c7b2a7205b2d.1500 )which will allow my computer to search wifi signals, but this would need a flexible cable between the laptop and the built antenna. So far though, I'm working to figure this out without buying items. I have a philosophy of not buying stuff and so I make these things myself when it's simple enough. I thank you in advance for any advice that you have. Aaron

Thank you so much for the information about software. I found it quite intriguing. One of my friends is telling me that it is not possible to use a netgear or other router to convert the SMA antenna signal into a Cat5 signal. He suggests buying a product like this - https://www.ebay.com/itm/USED-Ubiquiti-Rocket-M2-airMAX-2-4GHz/292905224572?epid=2254392769&hash=item443283097c%3Ag%3AlIEAAOSw~5dcMTbZ%3Ark%3A2%3Apf%3A0 Do you think it's necessary to use such a product? Or would it be possible to install software via thumdrive to a router (I believe many of them run linux). Once the 2.4GHz antenna is finished, I may look to build a 5GHz one and so it would be great to not have to use two converters for the two different frequencies. McNeil managed to two antennas using a 'T' with the coax (I think). I'm hoping to connect one antenna to each of the two SMA ports on a router. Thank you in advance for your ideas.

Hello to you; I'm coming here in hopes of learning more about self-built wireless antennas. So far I've watched a great number of Andrew McNeil's videos and have largely decided on this multi-element yagi The issue for me is that I have a philosophy of avoiding money and purchases whenever possible. I build what I need out of found items and what I have nearby. So while I have plenty of copper house wiring (for the elements themselves), some wood and metal for a spine, and a soldering iron -- what I don't have is a metal SMA connector. So my first question is, would it be possible to repurpose a dipole antenna piece for this? Since there are two points which need to be soldered (like an electric outlet) there would need to be two conductive parts on the dipole. I assume that one of the two cylinders could be that part, but I don't know if it's the one on the blue arrow or the one on the red. It does seem possible that this piece could be used for a cantenna by isolating the cylinder from the can itself and I will likely try that with one of these. I thank you in advance for your expertise Aaron

Thank you very much. I did cut the piece and looked at the components. Store-brand dipole antennas use very thin wiring (magnifying glass thin), but I'll see if it can be made to work. If not, might be nec. to buy an SMA.