Converting a satellite dish to a WiFi antenna
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- Опубликовано: 6 июн 2024
- Join David from RFShop as he embarks on a fascinating journey into the world of parabolic antennas. In this engaging video, David explores the intricacies of parabolas and their unique ability to focus wireless signals. Using real-world experiments, he demonstrates the significant improvements in signal strength achieved by harnessing parabolic dish technology.
Discover the step-by-step process as David ingeniously repurposes an old satellite dish, transforming it into a powerful Wi-Fi enhancer. Witness the impressive gains, from the initial baseline signal to the enhanced reception using the Alpha wireless adapter and directional antennas. David's experiments lead to a remarkable 23 dB improvement, showcasing the immense potential of parabolic antennas in boosting connectivity.
With insightful explanations and hands-on demonstrations, this video is a must-watch for tech enthusiasts, engineers, and anyone curious about optimizing Wi-Fi signals. Don't miss out on this exciting exploration of wireless technology! Subscribe to our channel for more innovative experiments and technical insights. #ParabolicAntennas #WiFiEnhancement #TechInnovation 
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I live on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, it is a very high rainfall area, we have limited 4G towers, my closest one is 34km away in Westport where I can get signal (as it is built on an old TV tower on the top of the mountain), anyway I also made an 'Upside down' 4G dish made the same way as yours, at the LNB end I placed my 4G dongle with a wifi router inside a waterproof Sistema (tupperware) container, placed the antenna on the old analoge TV hockey stick which is bolted onto the chimney, I went from 1 bar slow as hell, to now 4-5 bars and I can watch streaming tv, do zoom and skype, it sure works !!!
Hi Richard!
Great stuff...thanks for letting me know!
What about uploads?
RFShop, It is my belief the original WIFI was created by CSIRO using the legacy CDMA technology of mobile analogue phones. Supplied the team with their Test Equipment way back in early 80's .
The YT Algorithm perfectly worked for me and suggested this to me while I'm working for a DIY project like this.
They used your microphone to hear what you say.
They used your camera to see what you are doing.
This is just crazy but i have this exact same setup, have been looking around all night for info, then just happen to stumble upon your video having the EXACT same components I'm using. Just wow. I do have a question, i have there dishes to choose from. First being oval shaped and the largest of the three, the second being slightly smaller semi circle shaped, and finally the smallest of the three, a circle dish antenna. Any suggestions on which might be best? Are you planning to expand further or have you found any further useful info?
The bigger the dish, the better. They were all designed to reflect to a particular point (where the LNB would have been).
Wonderful tutorial. Thank you.
Thanks Chris...been a while since I've done that one. Think I learned a thing or two more since then about making videos for RUclips :D
Saving this for future reference
Very InTeReStInG 👍😎
Video was "Subscribly Delicious'
...an idea would be to spin the laptop around (on camera) to try for a better signal?.. thus showing that older laptop a little love 💕
P.S.
LOVE 🇦🇺 MOVIES!! So glad I discovered them. Very COoL movie style. Thank you Australia.
Cheers
SoCALIF🇺🇸
i have an old primestar dish a friend gave me for wifi experiments, and i'd never really been able to get a solid link to a wireless AP, i'd had suspicions that inverting the dish might have fixed the issue but hadn't had time to get back into tinkering with the 2.4 Ghz spectrum, i might have to try this over the winter and see if i can make a decent PPPOE connection between work and home
Could work. I found that not knowing the detail of the dish made life a bit harder for me. That's why we're now using our own dish designs
Interesting, useful and well explained. Thanks. At present, I'm playing with old dishes for 2 metre ham bands. At that frequency making the dish a slot antenna works. Would it be possible at 2.4GHz?
Hi AceStudios CoUk!
I am not entirely sure I undrstand the slot antenna design you mention. Would it be possible to share some detail?
Thanks for showing installation great help
Thanks for that :)
can you put up a vid on how to attach an external to the new 2021 Mac mini. It is weak and won't recognize my Current usb antenna
Hi can i put Tenda 03 router to this to boost wifi repetator mode?
how useful would this be for receiving video from an fpv drone? 5.8ghz
billy goff although I think tbe gain and reach would be phenomenal, I had lots of trouble aligning the high gain / directive antenna. If the trouble of setting-up the antenna is not a problem then this would be great.
Thanks a lot for making this video, I purchased a 24 dbi parabolic antenna for 2.4GHz WiFi and I've had almost no luck in finding a way to connect it to my laptop, I tried a small USB WiFi adapter that I could find locally but it's made with a detachable 3 dbi antenna and it literally got fried when I attached the 24 dbi antenna to it.
I've been searching for a more professional USB WiFi adapter to stick the antenna to without luck... up until I saw this video, could you maybe recommend me some adapter to use?
Anyone of the ALFA units should work well. I currently use the AWUS036ACS
I want to ask a question if put a a repeater in the place of the that device, will the repeater capture more WiFi networks or far networks?
If you connect a repeater to the antenna it will indeed feed the stronger received signal from the antenna into the repeater. Not sure if that is what you are asking though?
Thanks sir, I was asking for this.
Hi, How does the two small devices function in the process??
Sadesh, you mean the USB adapters? The green unit is the USB WiFi receiver, and picks-up the remote network. The unit connected via USB cable is a new WiFi hub
Hi mate, one suggestion could you also try what the signal effect if we drill mimo feedhorn at the center of the dish?
Spectacular idea! They should really expand and take advantage of this subject. Not a whole lot of content out there.
So if I take the old dish out front of my “new to me” home I can do this and use on my flat screen TVs and my iPhone to harness WiFi signal
In theory it would be possible, but it's going to be a challenge to align it well
Hi, would this sort of concept be applicable to improving the performance of an LDPA type antenna? i.e paly about with a dish behind the ldpa? Just curious about what you think.....
Hi. Actually it gets done a lot, but in reverse. You need to radiate the LPDA into the dish
@@RFShop Thanks for the quick reply!!!. Been watching a load of your stuff to try to learn more about antenna to improve our mobile reception. For the ldpa in front thing, is the dish best offset kinda like you have done in this vid??? ( I live in the middle of nowhere.... very weak signal)
@@vintagechemist9427 I'll always prefer the classic center fed style of antenna since they are easier to manage and review. I have a 2.4m dish, and will take it to Rapid Bay in the coming weeks to do a test for a 4G setup and will talk through that demonstration then ;)
@@RFShop Thanks, will give it a go when I can get hold of an old dish. Will look out for that next video - that thing sounds more like a radio telescope, rather than a wifi dish....
@@vintagechemist9427 Yes...aim is to provide WiFi to the ISS :)
I have a old TV antenna here in my house and a wireless router, I want to use the satellite dish to boost my wireless router signal?, what should I do?
Watch the video?
Thanks for this video. I am trying to ditch paid broadband and connect to free WiFi nearby. I probably just need that directional antenna.
It's true that this solution could get you that remote WiFi connection. We, however, focus on onsite solutions and fixes so this was a fun project but may not be practical for many people
What about using a satellite tv dish for this sort of thing that is around half a meter across?
Paul, I purchased a 2nd hand 1.8m dia dish a while ago and was planning to play with it this summer holiday.
So in short my answer is “YES” … and I think more to come on this topic (and way more than just WiFi)
we can use alfa with the gari antenna
I like this video, can it be done with the big dish, I got one
Hi!
Yes, the principle of a parabolic dish is always applicable. If you have a bigger dish, the gain would increase and it should work really well (i.e. even better)
Good evening'm buying a new dish for my TV were remote in Wales. Would it be possible to do a conversation and still use the dish for TV and WiFi or should I buy an additional.
Cheers
Given it's an old 2nd-hand dish, I guess it's simplest to simply use another dish for this purpose
I am very interested in making something like this work. I need to boost my signal enough to reach 3/4 mile. Use a dish at the router and at the remote.
Hi Denny,
Yes, that could work. However, 3/4 mile is not impossible. You can't use a new external antenna, can you ?
What about adding a a radio speaker and athernet cable conect to the lap ? I will try that .
Yes, that will help a lot but not for what we want here ;)
Would I be able to use one of the three dishes I have around the house I just bought.. there is a dish hd company one, dish direct company one & a Hughesnet style dish.. I’m merely trying to be able to pickup a Wi-Fi connection that’s a 1/2 mile away over a small hill because they don’t run their service past that point yet.. thanks in advance
Yes, any parabolic shape should work well
How about tv dish/ariel connected to the antenna, then to the laptop? Would it give better results?
Ahmed Ahmed, I believe you are putting in words what I have done here, right?
If so, yes…it works
@@RFShop
No, i mean the tv antenna, what if we use it for wifi?
@@ahmedahmed-ux6im you need to have the same frequency and impedance. A TV antenna won’t work, unfortunately
@@RFShop i saw tutorials on this, and it seems people said that it works.
I mean, it looks the same as parabolic antennas.
And did you try it before? A tv antenna?
@@ahmedahmed-ux6im a TV antenna has different frequencies. For WiFi you need 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz.
You may pick something up, but it simply won’t be great or by design.
Please what is the name of this software. I need it for my project.
It's actually software I downloaded from ALFA. Have a look on their website under the resources.
well done
WB5MZO
does a bigger dish ex. 1.8m diameter work better? I was thinking about It because I got a problem with the upload speed in a mountainous area where I used a 90cm dish! I got the signal from “no service” to -108 dbi and got a download speed of 40 Mbs but only 1 mbs or less for upload! So plz tell me will the bigger dish help?
Yes, a bigger dish will indeed increase the antenna gain. The only thing to be mindful of is that the bigger dish / higher gain will also lead to a much narrow beamwidth, and that means very precise alignment will be required. It may be best to find something a little-bit larger but not 3x the diameter :)
@@RFShop amazing, thank you 👍🏼 already working on it and will let you know how it goes 👍🏼
But it needs to be tested for uploads. the signal is travelling the opposite way, diffusing the signal bigger...
Hi Luke! Antennas work on the principle of reciprocity. It looks / behaves the same way in transmit and receive mode
Can i transforme it to 4g with this 2.4 GHz and dish ...thanks ffor test
Hi! Yes, have played with that and it works quite well
@@RFShop thanks
Hi Mate, can you use this ALFA network with a viasat satellite? Thanks
I would indeed say that's possible. It's just about the shape of the dish, which will nearly always be parabolic
@@RFShop Any specific adapter model to fix perfectly with Viatsat dish? Thanks.!
I’m thinking about adding this WiFi booster to the same dish that I want to use for a TV antenna... if I have a tv antenna signal booster Outside antenna and the WiFi on the same dish will they interfere with each other and have distortion or interference with each other????
Hi David. Good question. I think the key problem would be that the directions of the two systems (WiFi and TV) will have to be exact as the antenna gain / directivity for the 2.4GHz would be very specific.
Are you looking at a satellite or a TV (i.e. UHF or VHF) system?
could i use this to somehow get the waves to get free internet
There would be better antennas to use. This was a fun experiment, but there is a better unit coming. Keep watching this channel, I'm actually working on something
Hi is it possible to use the dish/es for a Point to point wifi link 2 km away with a few buildings and trees (obstruction) in between?
In principle it should be possible. The fundamentals of the parabolic dish would certainly allow you to have a very high gain antenna in place...something you'd need for the long-range comms
@@RFShop Hi thanks for the prompt reply. I live in SA. I would like to setup two dishes using the 2.4Ghz band that allows better penetration through buildings and trees. Any recommendations maybe :-) ?
@@09nanox I guess you picked-up on my accent?
I certainly do like the ALFA antenna I used in this setup. It's a medium gain option, allowing you to get a good coverage of the dish itself. Not sure if you can get your hand on some old dishes? Once you have them, see what the design is like (i.e. where is the focal point) and test this concept as well.
One will need to be very careful to align these antennas. As high gain antennas it will be very interesting (difficult?) to get them to point exactly at each other. If you miss the target the gain could actually be really weak.
If you think it's better to continue this conversation on email please feel free to email me direct via our website.
Cheers,
David
@@RFShop Thanks David. Yes picked it up immediately :-) Thank you for the valuable info. Yes I will send a mail. Regards
What i'm confused about is the lack of "power" going to the dish. How is he getting signal (of any kind) from the dish with no actual power going to the directional antenna? Antenna, no matter how basic they are, need a symbolance of current to run through them to transmit or recieve. The laptop ALFA has the 5v USB but what is the directional antenna (connected to the dish) using for power?
Since there's no actual "parts" list, what did he use to power the directional antenna? Someone please explain this to me. I mean, i totally get the idea but no mention of power to the M04 is where i get lost.
Kilroy, that's really the beauty of antennas. It's completely passive. Think in terms of lights and reflectors. You can play with mirrors and change the directional and shape of light beams just by putting shaped mirrors on one side of the light...focusing it all in the opposing direction. It's exactly the same with radio waves, just at a different frequency / wave length. The dish is indeed completely powerless, yet it reflects everything in that particular direction. It's physics, and hence my passion.
Is there a way to use an antenna to completely block the Wi-Fi transmission from going backwards. In which devices at the back of the antenna won't even be able to receive a strong signal.
Good question. There's always some back lobe (i.e. front to back ration). In a directional antenna the goal is indeed always to reduce what goes in the "wrong" direction, but simple a bigger and bigger surface behind will help. Also, if you can try to introduce a "null" to the rear that will be of use.
@@RFShop so essentially the bigger the reflective surface the lower the back lobe will be? Because I plant to use a 60Cm 90° sheet to block the Wi-Fi in the back direction.
@@COLDoCLINCHER37 yes, in essence that is true. Just need to make sure the distance is correct and it will make a huge difference
i like this is
turn the laptop screen 90 degrees for better signal
That implies polarisation :)
This video is unnecessary to long. I still couldn’t find how to turn it into a wifi
Noted. The idea was to improve an antenna
This guy is South African lol
Can't hide it, so might as well use it ;)
I have 6ft solid satellite dish and I'd like to try this way but do you think it will work? this is a pic of my dish prnt.sc/vqyho5
That would be an awesome test to do. You may just need to be really careful with the alignment, as the gain will be so high that it's going to be very challenging to hit the target
hi
Good day