Sorry if this is in the wrong section, but this section made more sense than networking, and plus more people reading here would have experience doing this. I have a D-Link 802.11G USB wireless card. I want to make a antenna for it, but unfortunately it does not have a antenna port on it, like some PCMCIA cards I've seen. I popped open its shell, and took this picture: Now, I think that black thing over the metal shield may be a socket for an antenna, but I don't know how I would connect one to it, nor do I know what kind of antenna, wire, etc. I can use for the frequency. Could anyone give me a hand making an antenna or give me some good links? Thanks! EDIT a bit of quick research shows I would need coax cable to connect between the USB dongle and the dish, so perhaps simply placing the dongle in the focal point with a small cup like reflector (to capture more of the reflected signal) would be effective.
The little metal circle in the picture is a an antenna connector. The tilted component that looks like it is at a 45 degree angle is a ceramic antenna. You can either try interfacing with the antenna connector or hard solder a connector in place of the ceramic antenna. The antenna connector might be a UFL type though I am not sure.
How would I find out if it is a UFL type, and what type of antennas can connect to that? Also, to use the ceramic antenna, would it be as simple as to unsolder it and solder wire onto the two points, making a loop?
whis is what google images is for: http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=UFL&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&sa=N&tab=wi just see if yours is the same as the ones in the pics
The UFL connector is a connector type rated for high frequency telemetry. Your best bet would be either to try to find someone who has dealt with the same connector or buy and try a mating connector. Similiar to the following . Sparkfun sells a converter from UFL to the more useful form RP-SMA connector if you wish to try. For this type of application, interfacing the pads to a loop of wire is not advisable. There is an enormous amount of theory involved in making efficient antennas for different frequencies and applications. Just buy a wireless 2.4Ghz antenna.
I see. I have been reading the site http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/ and it is very interesting how they have made excellent dishes using parabolic dishes. I think I will make one of these as well, for they are apparently much easier and require a lot less math than making a effective antenna any other way. Thanks for your help though. I'm planning on trying to make a fold-up portable one using a old vegetable steamer, it isn't exactly a perfect parabola, but it should work half decent. I'm just messing around anyway, its just a learning experience.
