[TriLUG] OT: WiFi Cantennas and more

[Neil Little]

Ian,

Making the cantenna isnt really too hard. You just have to learn to 
solder, be able to follow instructions and have a tape measure. To the 
novice Making up an N connector may be a little tricky but there is no 
great skill needed for constructing one of these antennas.

For materials like the connectors youre lucky that the Cary Midsummer 
Swapfest is  this Saturday. There will be vendors there where you can 
buy all the connectors and coaxial cable you want.

http://www.qsl.net/n4nc/swapfest.html

If you miss that there is a good place to get the LMR400 (a low-loss 
type of coaxial cable) you will need. The place is called Comark 
Distributing Inc and the guy who runs the business name is Larry. He 
usually will has good prices. Its located off of HWY 401 South near 
Garner, 829 Purser Drive. Telephone is 919-779-2708. He doesnt carry the 
belden cable so it will be an equivalent type of cable equal to the 
Times microwave type of cable.

Neil
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 >Ian:
 >
 >You're going to have quite a time hooking up a cantenna to a TiBook .
 >The only way I can figure to do that is to drill through the body to
 >allow pigtail to enter the TiBook at some point then route through the
 >book to the card.  If you don't mind risking that, I'd say go for it
 >(because the reception on 15" TiBooks is horrible - but do see the note
 >at the end of this e-mail).
 >
 >The good news is the Airport connector is the same as the
 >Lucent/Agere/Proxim Orinoco, so there are plenty of pigtails to work
 >with.  Check out Fleeman, Anderson, and Bird Corp - they have pigtails
 >with N-Female and N-Male ends in different lengths
 >(http://www.fab-corp.com).  FAB-corp also carries a "cantenna kit" that
 >takes nearly all the guess work out of building a cantenna (but the kit
 >is about $20.00 so you'll have to weigh the "do-it-yourself" vs "paying
 >a lot of a connector I might be able to build" approach).   For
 >assembly instructions for a cantenna check out:
 >
 >http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html
 >
 >Otherwise, that's about it.  You're a brave man for drilling through
 >your TiBook, if you do indeed take that route.  I'd really suggest
 >checking to see if a standard Lucent Orinoco card would work in your
 >TiBook's PCMCIA slot before drilling - they are, after all, the same
 >chipset as the 802.11b airport cards.
 >
 >Greg
 >
On Monday, July 14, 2003, at 07:51 PM, Ian Meyer wrote:
 >> Good day everyone. I just got an AIrport card for my Powerbook (a 15"
 >> one, so its regular old 802.11b) and was wondering if someone would be
 >> interested in helping me out with something. I would like to build a
 >> cantenna, but don't want to go it alone if theres someone here that
 >> knows a bit about it and wouldn't mind helping me out. Not only would
 >> I have to get the cantenna, but also rig up a way to connect to the
 >> Airport card inside the Ti, although I have an idea about that.
 >>
 >> If anyone would be willing to help me out, let me know.
 >>
 >> Thanks,
 >> Ian
 >>
 >> p.s.: sorry bout the OT-ness, but I figured that you guys know a lot,
 >> so I might as well ask. I will also send this to the InternetWorkers
 >> list.
-- 

        73!

   WA4AZL        JARS Forever! TRILUG Too!
   Neil Little
   Fuquay-Varina, NC