Powerful antenna fa 20 wifi do it yourself. Encyclopedia of technologies and techniques. Blank for making vibrators

but a simple user who has mastered the computer on his own, to the best of his needs and capabilities. Thus, everything described in the article is not at all complicated and can be used by any PC user.

It all started when my brother and I wanted to connect our computers to a local network in order to organize general access on the Internet, play games over the network, exchange files, chat online, etc. Actually, such a desire arises sooner or later for any computer owner; there is nothing new or surprising here, for example, if your friend is connected to a wired LAN with unlimited Internet, and you don’t have any in the house local network, no Internet The problem was that the distance between our houses is 2.5 km. You can’t stretch a wire over such a distance, so at first the solution to this problem seemed unrealistic; I’ll immediately make a reservation that we were not able to spend a lot of money on this undertaking. Then, after studying all the available information on our topic, re-reading the forums, we decided to organize a direct modem connection between our computers, using two modems and a telephone line, especially since we did not need to buy anything for this. Decided and organized. For some time, a direct modem connection suited us and seemed like the ultimate dream, despite the meager connection speed, frequent connection interruptions, busy telephone line and other shortcomings. But with the introduction of per-minute payment for the phone, such a connection hit our finances hard and we had to give it up. It was necessary to look for an alternative, but at that time we had little idea what it would be. Of course, we heard about Wi-Fi, but we considered this option technically complex and expensive for such a distance. Some time was spent studying literature and special sites on Wi-Fi, and some sites were encouraging, reporting that communication at such a distance is possible with small investments, others wrote that if possible, it would only be with expensive equipment. We were ready to donate 100-150 USD for this venture. , but not several thousand.

Things got off the ground after we found out that there are two options for building a Wi-Fi Network:

Infrastructure Wi-Fi, when computers are connected to a radio network using an access point (Access Point Wi-Fi), which manages the network and to which client PCs are connected.

Ad-hoc Wi-Fi or computer-to-computer, when there is no special device managing the network (access point), and all devices on the network are equal. Ad-hoc connection does not require a special device - just two and more cars with a Wi-Fi module, allows you to organize a connection in wireless network several PCs, laptops, PDAs with a minimum of costs.

The first option did not suit us because... purchasing an access point did not fit into the allocated budget, although it technically seemed more realistic.

The second option suited us better, because... Wi-Fi adapters costing 20 euro were within the allocated amount.

And so two were bought network adapter Wi-Fi standard in the form of PCI cards, but we only knew approximately what to do next. We bought D-link cards: DWL G520+ and DWL 520+. I’ll say right away that a little later we tried to use the DWL G510, they are perfect for the tasks set, they are available in stores and cost only 25 USD. Now you can buy them or any similar solution from other manufacturers.

Don't let what's in technical specifications devices it is written: range indoors: up to 100 m, outdoors: up to 400 m. This is based on the use of standard antennas that come with Wi-Fi card, we will use other antennas that will strengthen the signal and thereby increase the range.

Choosing antennas is not an easy task. In order to transmit and receive a signal over such a distance, external antennas are required that are several times more powerful than the standard ones included in the kit. The more powerful the antennas are, the more throughput your network. The second prerequisite: there must be direct visibility between the antennas!!! , without this nothing will work out; even not very dense foliage on the trees will interfere.

First you need to decide: will you make the antennas yourself or buy ready-made products.

The first option is for those who are at least a little familiar with a soldering iron and want to save 100-140 USD. I think the second option will also have its supporters, and quite a few.

We naturally chose the first option

I won’t dwell on branded antennas, there is enough information on the Internet, keywords to search: 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi antenna, there you will also see many links to homemade Wi-Fi antenna diagrams.

Of all possible options homemade antennas, I’ll focus on the simplest and, at first glance, even funny option. Let's make an antenna from an empty coffee can. Don't believe me? At first I also didn’t believe it, I didn’t believe that this product would work at all and work no worse than antennas for 50-70 USD.

Our network started working with such antennas, although not at the maximum possible speed. At a distance of 1 km on such antennas, the maximum possible speed was obtained with this connection option. There is a manufacturing diagram, there is also a formula for calculating the required dimensions.

I will briefly describe the manufacturing process using an empty Nescafe can with a diameter of 10.5 mm as an example. You will need: an empty can, a socket for connecting the cable (see figure), a piece of copper wire with a diameter of 2-3 mm and a length of 30 mm, a soldering iron, hands and head :-). All specified dimensions must be observed with maximum accuracy; the quality of the antenna and, consequently, the quality of communication in your network depend on this.

On the side wall of the can we drill a hole with a diameter of 9 mm, its center should be at a distance of 43.5 mm from the bottom.

We insert connector 1 into the hole, having previously soldered a waveguide made of copper wire to it. Secure it with a nut. I recommend soldering around the connector for better contact and reliability.

The length of the waveguide should be 3.07 mm, measured from the side wall of the can. The antenna is ready. The inside of the jar can be coated with varnish or grease to slow down corrosion. We close the jar with a plastic lid; it does not create any interference. completely transparent to waves at a frequency of 2.4 GHz.

If someone’s network does not work with “can” antennas, or you get insufficient speed, I recommend making more powerful antennas:

The next step is to connect our antenna to the board. Here I will immediately make a reservation: how many citizens, so many opinions. Many Wi-Fi sites recommend (and not without reason) to use a high-frequency cable for 2.4 GHz frequencies, special connectors and adapters. I couldn’t find such a cable and connectors in my provincial town, and besides, their use would significantly increase the cost of our connection. Based on the experience of other Wi-Fi users, we tried to use more affordable materials. Best Budget Option: Use coaxial cable for a local network (outwardly almost no different from television), its wave impedance is 50 Ohms, in extreme cases you can use tv cable with a resistance of 75 ohms, although the signal loss will be significantly greater. We have just such a cable (skyflex RG6U), because... They simply couldn’t find another one. It has been experimentally established that such a cable is suitable when the distance from the card to the antenna is no more than 20-25 m. In most cases, this is enough. Mount standard TV connectors at the ends of the cable, see fig.

We connect one end to our antenna without any problems. The second one must be connected to the connector on the board. But here we are faced with the following problem: the connector on the Wi-Fi board does not match the TV connector we are using. You need a special connector: male RP-SMA or adapter.

I didn’t find the required plug or adapter on sale, maybe someone will be lucky to find a ready-made one, but we had to do everything ourselves again.

To make an adapter, you can use a connector removed from the original antenna, which of course entails loss of warranty :-). To do this, you need to remove or cut off the plastic cap above the bend on the original antenna. Under it we will find a thin RF cable to which we will need to solder our coaxial cable.

We came up with another way to attach the cable to the Wi-Fi connector of the board:

I wrap foil or thin wire onto the connector on the board, directly onto the thread, until the thickness approximately matches the inner diameter of the television connector 2.

We will screw this connector, the side with which it is usually screwed onto the cable, onto the card connector with a wound wire.

I make the inner core like this: the mother connector is broken out from the original antenna or from any computer connector,

I put it on the male pin inside the card connector, having previously soldered a piece of copper wire 1-2 cm long to it,

I insulate the inner core with a few turns of electrical tape.

We do all this before screwing on the TV connector 2. When it is fully screwed on, it looks like this:

Then you connect the television cable through adapter 3.

After all the preparations described above, install the Wi-Fi cards in the PCI slot on both computers and install the drivers included in the kit. We install the antennas so that there is direct visibility between them, I repeat once again that at long distances this is a prerequisite,

the antennas must have the same polarization, preferably vertical (the waveguides in our can antennas must be positioned strictly vertically, on both sides). In our case, one antenna is installed on the roof, the other on the 8th floor balcony. Cable length 15 and 20 m.

That's it with the hardware part, let's move on to the software part, setting up our network...

For those who like to tinker Panel sector antenna FA-20 (18-22 dBi)

With the kind permission of Vladimir (VBM), we reprint his description of the design of the FA-20 panel sector antenna, which, despite its simplicity, has proven itself to be high-performance and reliable. 1. Introduction

The original description of the author is located at http://sterr.narod.ru/wifi/fa20.htm. Description from Volodya - http://vbm.lan23.ru/wifi/fa20.html. You can find a lot about this design positive feedback online, but it is noted that very great importance has precision manufacturing, especially for vibrators and mounting holes in the reflector. Maintaining the distance between the reflector and the vibrators is also of great importance. Be sure to adhere to the specified dimensions, this will allow you to achieve maximum antenna efficiency.

2. Design

The antenna consists of four structural elements: a reflector (1), two types of vibrators (2, 3) and a connecting bus (4), which serves to connect the vibrators:

the writer of the original description, Sterr, recommends using food-grade tin as a material for vibrators; VBM made these elements from double-sided foil PCB.

3. Materials

To assemble the antenna we will need:

Single-sided foil PCB (for reflector)
Double-sided foil PCB (for vibrators)
Strip of brass or copper foil (for busbar)
Aluminum corner 25×25 mm
Rivets
F-connector

4. Manufacturing

First of all, you need to make a reflector “trough”. To do this, according to the drawing, we cut out a rectangle from foil PCB 490×222 mm for the bottom, mark it (it is best to core from the foil side) and drill holes with a diameter of 2.5 mm for the stands for vibrators, tin them. After this, we make sides of the appropriate size from aluminum corner 25x25 mm, and fasten them with rivets with reverse side reflector:

The cutting map is extremely necessary so as not to confuse the elements and solder everything correctly.

Further. We take the tube that we want to use as the basis for the boom and make a notch on it with the edge of a triangular file at a distance of approximately 5mm from the beginning of the boom. Next, using the marking map, you need to mark the entire boom using a caliper. If possible, both the marking of the boom and the cutting of elements should be done as accurately as possible. The operation of the entire antenna depends on this.

To see it in a large window, just click on the picture with the mouse.

After everything has been done, we should have such a boom. We carefully clean the notched areas and solder them under flux for soldering chrome and aluminum products.

Next, we take one director at a time, find the middle and solder it to the boom. Here, to ensure the mechanical strength of tin, there is no need to spare! The only requirement is that all directors, vibrator and reflector be positioned STRICTLY perpendicular to the boom and go in one line without distortion relative to each other. As a result, you should get something like this.

To see it in a large window, just click on the picture with the mouse.

All directors, vibrator and reflector must be well thawed and clearly secured in the recesses on the boom.

Let's start making the U-elbow.

We take a coaxial cable in fluoroplastic insulation and cut 60 mm from it. After that, from both ends we cut off the outer insulation together with the braid to a length of 8 mm, only the outer insulation to a length of 10 mm and immediately solder the braid to avoid fraying. To a length of 6 mm, we remove the inner insulation from both ends and expose the inner conductor, which we also solder. Soldering should be done ONLY in rosin without using any fluxes. We solder the central conductors to the ends of the vibrator, and the braid to the boom in a previously cleaned and tinned place. The result should look something like this:

To see it in a large window, just click on the picture with the mouse.

When sealing the incoming cable, it is necessary to take into account that the braid must also be soldered to the boom, and the central conductor to one of the ends of the vibrator, right at the place where the end of the U elbow is sealed. A program for calculating antennas is attached. Runs under DOS.

WI-FI antenna FA-20 (FA-20) we make the most powerful directional panel antenna ourselves!

This article describes how you can make your own powerful FA-20 panel antenna with vibrators made by etching on foil PCB.
The manufacturing technology of the FA-20 is similar to the panel antenna we made earlier. When building this antenna, you can safely follow this article, the only difference is that this antenna is DC closed.
Important! The more carefully the WI-FI antenna is assembled, the more efficiently it will work.

What you will need for this:

A piece of foil PCB 430x200 mm, thickness 1.5 mm;
- bolts - O 3 mm and nuts for them (8 bolts for the vibrators + 3 nuts per bolt, 4 bolts for fastening the connector. Total: 12 bolts, 32 nuts);
- a piece of tin 435x205 mm (for the reflector);
- a set of RF connectors 50 Ohm (N type male-female set for antenna, connector for access point);
- 50 Ohm cable (RG-8X);
- ferric chloride for etching boards;
- a can of paint (for painting tin) and non-conductive varnish for textolite;
- antenna stencil on vinyl self-adhesive film and mounting film for transferring the antenna to textolite.

I ordered the antenna stencil from a company that specializes in plotter cutting, and as many as 4 antenna patterns fit onto a piece of vinyl, the price did not change because of this, and all this together with cutting and mounting film cost a very modest amount.

By the way, here is the stencil itself [FA-20], ready for cutting.

The remaining items, except for the spray paint, were obtained on the radio market.

Antenna stencil on PCB.

After this, you can proceed directly to the manufacture of the antenna. First, we clean and degrease the foil surface of the PCB with acetone or solvent. Then we cut off one stencil from the common piece and glue the mounting film on top of it. It is most convenient to stick vinyl onto PCB and remove the mounting film at an angle of 45° (The piece of PCB I bought was slightly larger, but nothing prevents me from cutting it off later?).

The stencil is carefully rubbed into the textolite.

Then you need to find a container in which the antenna will be etched. (I couldn’t find a container of that size, so I used a lid from an old Soviet TV in which I placed plastic film, poured warm water into it and poured in ferric chloride).

Reflector blank and vibrators on PCB.

Now you need to screw the connector and paint the tin plate, not forgetting to protect the connector from getting paint on it.

While the paint is drying, you can screw the bolts into the vibrators and tighten them from the back side (!) with two nuts. Why two? Let's look: the PCB thickness is 1.5 mm, two nuts are 4.5 mm. In total, the required distance from the reflector to the vibrator was obtained.

The gap between the reflector and the vibrators must be strictly observed! Although there is another option, use brass screws with which the motherboard is screwed to the case system unit

, their height is 6 mm. This option is suitable for cases where the vibrator is made of tin, brass or other sheet metals.

The gap between the reflector and vibrators.

When the paint has dried, you can begin assembling the antenna, twist the PCB to the base, solder the central core of the connector, varnish the vibrators on the PCB, and assemble the cord.

FA-20 antenna assembly, pigtail, wall mount with clamps.

Antenna FA-20. Back view.
That's all! The antenna is ready to go!

Good luck! The Internet today is as necessary as air, and modern life
without him it is simply unthinkable. And how joyful it is to realize that there are more and more free access points using Wi-Fi technology. But not everyone manages to use them, because the signal is not strong enough. In such a situation, the FA-20 panel antenna will help out, which today we will suggest you make with your own hands.

In fact, this device is quite simple and will not cause any difficulties in manufacturing even in an ordinary apartment. But the benefits from it will be quite noticeable, and maybe even some radio amateurs will be encouraged to take up the manufacture of such equipment seriously.
Antenna characteristics The panel antenna consists of 2 main parts - a reflector and vibrators. The line of vibrators is connected by a common contact, from which a coaxial cable leads to the socket external antenna
Wi FI router attached to the back of the device. The antenna works as an amplifier, which can be judged by comparing the signal power from the standard antenna of the router (the author used tp-link TL-WN722N) - 5db, and from FA-20 - 22db.

Necessary materials:
Foil textolite one-sided or getinax, 430x200 mm, thickness - 1.5 mm;
A piece of sheet metal (best galvanized), 435x205 mm, thickness 0.5-1 mm;
TV coaxial cable RG-8X 50 Ohm;
Drawing template of antenna vibrators printed on vinyl film;
Ferric chloride for etching boards;
A can of aerosol varnish for textolite;
Soda, acetone or alcohol;
Hardware: 3 mm bolts – 12 pcs., nuts – 32 pcs.

Tools:

A drill with a cutting disc for cutting getinax;
Drill with drill 3-3.5 mm;
Soldering iron with solder;
Painting knife, scissors;
Pliers, metal scissors;
Construction rubber roller for rolling films;
Bath for etching the antenna board;
A piece of glass and an ultraviolet lamp for photolithography;
Hairdryer or iron to warm up the photoresist;
Sandpaper-zero;
Hot glue gun;
Core, hammer;
Metal ruler for marking holes.

Making a Wi-Fi antenna
Stage one - making a panel of vibrators
We mark a sheet of foil PCB to the size of our antenna, and cut it out with a cutting disc of a drill. This procedure can also be performed with a regular paint knife, making cuts along the marking line on both sides of the sheet, and then breaking them off by hand.

On transparent film for inkjet printers print out a template for the antenna vibrators. It will come out of two sheets, which are then easily connected to each other.

To etch using photoresist technology, it is necessary to prepare the foil side of the getinax by cleaning it with a zero. You can degrease surfaces using acetone or alcohol.

We place the photoresist film on the getinax, cutting it to size with scissors. We remove the protective layer and glue the photoresist, getting rid of air bubbles by rolling with a rubber wallpaper roller.

After this, we apply the vibrator template film and cover it with ordinary glass. We use an ultraviolet lamp to illuminate the photoresist. The holding time for different manufacturers of this material differs. The author needed 5 seconds for his film, ordered from China. for each processed area of the board.

Now it is necessary to additionally heat the photoresist so that it firmly adheres to the surface of the getinax. We remove the template, a sheet of glass, and heat the film with a hairdryer or iron through the paper. Remove the top protective layer of photoresist.

We wash off the unexposed photoresist in a baking soda solution, placing the getinax plate in the bath. After a few minutes, remove any remaining film with a used toothbrush.

Getinax is ready for pickling. We dilute ferric chloride in warm water and dip the plate into a container with the solution. It must be stirred periodically.

We saturate the old lye solution with soda ash and place the plate in it to get rid of the remaining photoresist. We wash the resulting board with plain water.

We mark the centers of the rectangles of the vibrators on the board, and use a core to drill them. The hole must be made for the mounting bolts 3 mm. The author used a step or precision conical drill, which is convenient for removing burrs.

Stage two - preparing the reflector
From a piece of galvanized sheet metal, which is the most resistant to corrosion, we cut out a copy of our vibrator plate. The holes for fastening the bolts can be easily transferred to the sheet metal by making notches with the same drill. We drill holes on the tin through a wooden lining.

We tighten the bolts with two nuts on the back side of the plate, making the required gap between the reflector 3 mm, and the total distance between the vibrators and the reflector 6 mm. We secure the tin using the third nut.

In the upper part of the reflector we make a hole for a coaxial cable, the central core of which must be soldered to the vibrator plate, and the braid to the reflector.
We solder the second end of the cable in place of the external antenna to the router. We attach it to the reflector from the back of the antenna using hot glue.

We protect the front side of the vibrator board from oxidation with aerosol colorless varnish.

For home use, this antenna can be placed on a windowsill or balcony. If you plan to use it outdoors, any bracket leading to a mast on the roof or outside the window can easily be attached to the reflector.

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Powerful antenna fa 20 wifi do it yourself. Encyclopedia of technologies and techniques. Blank for making vibrators

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