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I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

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51–60 of 181 posts

Re: I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

#51
post #49

I don't think this is working the way he thinks it does. What he's likely do is shielding the wifi receiver from co-channel interference, which is likely reducing the noise floor at the AP - which is giving him effectively more range, because now the AP can hear stations that are further away with greater ease. I don't think this is giving expanded tx coverage lobes as his diagram indicates, its likely a function of…

Will changing the Channel help in this case?

Re: I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

#53
post #49

I don't think this is working the way he thinks it does. What he's likely do is shielding the wifi receiver from co-channel interference, which is likely reducing the noise floor at the AP - which is giving him effectively more range, because now the AP can hear stations that are further away with greater ease. I don't think this is giving expanded tx coverage lobes as his diagram indicates, its likely a function of…

Yeah, something so imprecise isn't likely to work as he thinks. Proper shielding can do a lot more. If you made your house/apartment a Faraday cage and eliminated neighbors' AP's that would already solve most problems.

> If you made your house/apartment a Faraday cage

Might put a crimp on your cell phone reception ...

Re: I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

#54
post #37

It can work surprisingly well, I made a "dish" with an aluminum foil that was able to connect to a Romanian Wi-Fi hotspot from Bulgaria, according to Google Maps it should be something like 20KM distance. I should note that I had direct view of the town as I had significantly higher altitude. The hotspot was some kind of public service provided by the Romanian town as it's name suggested. The ip WhoIs also confirmed…

Are you from Svishtov? Cheers buddy. I did something similar to OMV free wi-fi from my balcony :)

Re: I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, something so imprecise isn't likely to work as he thinks. Proper shielding can do a lot more. If you made your house/apartment a Faraday cage and eliminated neighbors' AP's that would already solve most problems.

> If you made your house/apartment a Faraday cage Might put a crimp on your cell phone reception ...

Is there a way to build your Faraday cage to block out wifi wavelengths but not cell phone ones? How far apart are they?

Re: I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

#57
post #49

I don't think this is working the way he thinks it does. What he's likely do is shielding the wifi receiver from co-channel interference, which is likely reducing the noise floor at the AP - which is giving him effectively more range, because now the AP can hear stations that are further away with greater ease. I don't think this is giving expanded tx coverage lobes as his diagram indicates, its likely a function of…

It is unconnected, so it will not dissipate anything (shield). Depending on whether or not it is positioned on a wave node, it will either be a passive reflector or director.

It won't be a satellite dish as the comment thread on the page mentions, though, which is both a passive reflector and a focusing device, whose curvature requires at least some level of precision to be of any help.

For something much more helpful, see http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/wifiyagi.htm

Re: I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

#58
post #49

I don't think this is working the way he thinks it does. What he's likely do is shielding the wifi receiver from co-channel interference, which is likely reducing the noise floor at the AP - which is giving him effectively more range, because now the AP can hear stations that are further away with greater ease. I don't think this is giving expanded tx coverage lobes as his diagram indicates, its likely a function of…

Yeah, some devices can be extremely noisy. If you have a Chromecast or Google Home, for instance, turn Guest Mode off -- it creates a hidden network on the same channel as your AP.

Re: I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

#59
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you made your house/apartment a Faraday cage Might put a crimp on your cell phone reception ...

Is there a way to build your Faraday cage to block out wifi wavelengths but not cell phone ones? How far apart are they?

You could likely block anything over 2.3 GHz and get away with it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_frequencies_in_the_US

Re: I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

#60
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

speed of light / 5 GHz / 4 ~= 1.5 cm. If you can keep the size of the largest crease/feature/defect in your foil smaller than this, you should be okay.

It’s always fun when you get to use the speed of light in a commonplace application!

it's really speed of radio.
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