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Old 01-18-2011, 11:37 PM   #1
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DIY WiFi antenna from Satellite dish

Okay, I was bored and the parks wi-fi keeps flipping out on me. A search using the phrase "DIY WiFi antenna from Satellite dish" turned up several sites. Here are just three

http://www.ehow.com/how_6457485_turn...i-antenna.html USB Wifi (text)
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-ha...ooster-257436/ biquad WiFi antenna (video)
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-ma...ternet-291730/ EZ Wifi Antenna (video)



Now to get an old Sat dish. I don't want to use the dish I have as I may be getting sat again since they have a month-by-month/no contract service now.
http://www.dishformyrv.com/

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Old 01-19-2011, 07:15 AM   #2
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Re: DIY WiFi antenna from Satellite dish

Nice info, thanks! The apartment we're in at moment has several on the roof and no one using them. Wonder if they're up for grabs. Never done sat service so no clue how it works or why they're sitting there with no neighbors in next door and one upstairs has cable.
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Old 01-19-2011, 11:31 AM   #3
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Re: DIY WiFi antenna from Satellite dish

The dishes themselves seem to be "throwaway" items. When you move, you take the "box" and leave the dish get to your new location and the company will set you up a new dish. When you change from Dish to Direct (and vice versa) the new company gives you the new set up and the old is just left to sit. We bought our setup so we own it outright. you can often find the dishes at flea markets, yard sales and the trash.
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Old 01-19-2011, 01:34 PM   #4
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Re: DIY WiFi antenna from Satellite dish

Quote:
Originally Posted by lornaschinske
The dishes themselves seem to be "throwaway" items. When you move, you take the "box" and leave the dish get to your new location and the company will set you up a new dish. When you change from Dish to Direct (and vice versa) the new company gives you the new set up and the old is just left to sit. We bought our setup so we own it outright. you can often find the dishes at flea markets, yard sales and the trash.
I was big into the FTA Satellite stuff for a while and just told the park maintenance man I was interested in any dishes left behind. I had 4 delivered to my doorstep in about as many months. I use a USB wifi dongle on mine up where the feed-horn used to be and run a USB extension back to the computer and also mount it upside down on the pipe so it looks at the horizon instead of up towards space. Funny this topic just came up as I was searching craigslist today for an antenna rotor for just this project.
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Old 01-20-2011, 10:40 PM   #5
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Re: DIY WiFi antenna from Satellite dish

I lose the park wi-fi signal every time an RV pulls in to register and parks in front of the wi-fi antenna on the registration building!!!
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Old 03-25-2011, 11:11 PM   #6
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Re: DIY WiFi antenna from Satellite dish

One point to remember in aiming your creation: the dishes with offset feed points used for Dish and DirecTV reflect waves at equal angles like a mirror reflects a flashlight. For example, if the dish is mounted so the reflector is vertical, and the pick-up is mounted about 20° below horizontal, the dish's beam will be focused about 20° above the horizon. If you do not allow for this, you might point the beam up over the WiFi hot spot instead of at it. With a standard angle for the pick-up support arm, a properly aimed dish will be tipped somewhat toward the ground to bring the beam down toward the hot spot antenna. In the 20° example, the dish would be tipped down 20° with the feed down 40° to create a horizontal beam. Alternately, mount it upside-down so the pickup is above the dish, use the same upward angles to make the beam leave the dish horizontally. In the same example, the feed would look down 40° into a dish tipped up 20° to make a horizontal beam.

Other types of dishes with the pick-up directly in front of the center of the dish with zero degrees offset must be aimed so that the dish reflector points directly toward the signal location, like the old 10-foot satellite dishes of the last century. The small TV dishes can be aimed by adjusting either the feeds or the reflector.
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