5ghz cantenna as satellite dish feed-horn

A cantenna (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordswaveguide A waveguide is a structure that guides waves, such as electromagnetic waves or sound, with minimal loss of energy by restricting the transmission of energy to one direction. Without the physical constraint of a waveguide, wave intensities de ...

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

, made out of an open-ended metal can. Cantennas are typically used to increase the range (or discovery) of

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...

networks.

Construction

The cylinder portion of the can may consist of metal-coated

paperboard Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 points) than paper and has certain superior attributes ...

. Although some designs are based on a

Pringles Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based crisps. Originally sold by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips", the brand was sold in 2012 to the current owner, Kellogg's. As of 2011, Pri ...

potato chips can, this tube is too narrow to increase the 2.4 GHz signal by a useful amount, although at 5 GHz it would be about the right size. However, a cantenna can be made from various cans or tubes of an appropriate diameter. Some designs include a pole mount to elevate the cantenna. At 2.4 GHz, losses can occur if the cable from the cantenna to the Wi-Fi circuitry is too long. A more efficient cantenna can be made by minimising this length or connecting the cantenna directly to the Wi-Fi circuitry.

Use

Cantennas are typically used for extending a

wireless local area network A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office buildi ...

(WLAN). The tiny design makes them ideal for mobile applications such as

wardriving Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks, usually from a moving vehicle, using a laptop or smartphone. Software for wardriving is freely available on the internet. Warbiking, warcycling, warwalking and similar use the sam ...

. Cantennas can be used to increase cell phone range, improve reception, and decrease noise. A cantenna can be used as a

satellite dish A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive or transmit information by radio waves to or from a communication satellite. The term most commonly means a dish which receives direct-broadcast satellite televisio ...

feed horn A feed horn (or feedhorn) is a small horn antenna used to couple a waveguide to e.g. a parabolic dish antenna or offset dish antenna for reception or transmission of microwave. A typical application is the use for satellite television ...

. The 5.5 GHz cantenna dimensions are almost perfect in that they make a good fit for the standard TV

. The resulting setup is a low-cost high-quality high-gain antenna. Such setups are widely used in

wireless community network Wireless community networks (WCNs) or wireless community projects or simply community networks, are non-centralized, self-managed and collaborative networks organized in a grassroots fashion by communities, NGO's and cooperatives in order to provi ...

s for long-distance links. Cantennas may be used with other RF devices such as wireless security cameras.Cantenna.com User Guide
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References

External links

Extend your wireless network by building a Wi-Fi cantenna

Amateurlogic Episode 3 (Construction details for a more efficient cantenna)

Waveguide Can-tenna

Youtube video on How To Build A low loss Cantenna

Cantenna Calculator
{{Antenna Types Wireless networking Radio frequency antenna types Antennas (radio)

Construction

Use

See also

References

External links