How to Make a Cantenna (2013) • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#31

Post by Scoundreller » Tue, Oct 10, 2023, 4:16 PM UTC

teeray wrote: post #30

I would imagine that you’d probably need to build two these days—one for 2.4 GHz and one for 5 GHz—then bond them together with a diplexer.

Chances are, at long ranges, one will be much better than the other. 2.4ghz if you have some obstructions. 5ghz if you have lots of height on one or both sides (it’s less tolerant of line of sight and ground obstructions but more gain for the same size)

At least wireless ISPs don’t bother with spectral diversity on consumer fixed links.

Predicting constructive/destructive interference… you’ll need to do some radio-mobile plots (I think that was the software with topographic maps built in).

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#32

Post by mxuribe » Tue, Oct 10, 2023, 4:41 PM UTC

at_a_remove wrote: post #28

mxuribe wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was originally going to be a mechanical engineer...but the early time of the digital age put its (more immediacy-driven or maybe dopamine-driven?) hooks into my brain...and, so I finished my university major in the realm of computers. I can NOT complain, as i have made a great life for my family through my career...But now, as i am in my late 40s/early 50s...i wonder if maybe instead I should have had either a non-…

I would like to hear of this saying about this age's greatest engineers. I have never heard it, but I have often thought of the tremendous amounts of brainpower wasted on the silly and ephemeral in IT.

Apologies it's not specifically engineers...it refers to "great minds", and is attributed Jeff Hammerbacher: "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks." (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/747678-the-best-minds-of-my...)

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#33

Post by at_a_remove » Tue, Oct 10, 2023, 5:56 PM UTC

mxuribe wrote: post #32

at_a_remove wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to hear of this saying about this age's greatest engineers. I have never heard it, but I have often thought of the tremendous amounts of brainpower wasted on the silly and ephemeral in IT.

Apologies it's not specifically engineers...it refers to "great minds", and is attributed Jeff Hammerbacher: "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks." ( https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/747678-the-best-minds-of-my... )

Ah. I have a similar, if longer, itch about the tech brain drain, where we have taken people who might have been scientists, or physicians, or non-computing engineers and we have them doing any number of, at the space of five years or so things which are wasteful. We have brilliant people reporting to the mediocre and attempting to appease the foolish.

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#34

Post by adfm » Wed, Oct 11, 2023, 5:14 AM UTC

thelastparadise wrote: post #18

adfm wrote: post #3

Wow! We built that thing 22 years ago! Fun to see it pop up like this periodically. Here's a link to the 10th anniversary: https://makezine.com/article/home/food-beverage/pringles-can...

Are you still into antenna making? Where I live, we only have wireless internet options, so antennas are critical infra. Interestingly, its sort of hard to find antennas optimized for specific frequencies. Most affordable options seem to be "wide band" generalist antennas, e.g. 900mhz-6ghz. Meanwhile the nearby tower might have the best signal on a specific band. I looked into making log periodic/yagi antennas and it…

I haven't in a while, but LoRa looks appealing, so maybe in the not too distant future.

If you can't find what you're looking for, scratch that itch.

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#35

Post by arilotter » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

thelastparadise wrote: post #19

arilotter wrote: post #16

Built one of these with my dad when I was about 8, and this was one of the things that got me bitten by the "working with computers" bug.

> this was one of the things that got me bitten by the "working with computers" bug. Do you ever regret being bitten by this bug? I was bitten by it as well, at an early age. It worked out OK for me in that I've made lots of money, but I feel that it's come at the expense of possible greater impact and glory should this neurodivergent mind have latched onto something more "real" instead. I wonder how this experience…

Yes, but only for the stress it causes me in thinking really really hard all day and then being exhausted at night, which i think is not unique to a computers career. I don't regret it in that it's an incredibly high paying job with very low social barriers to entry.