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How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

jacobsalmela.com

11–20 of 35 posts

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#11
I built one of these when at university in 2008. The AP was up the other end of a long hallway and through many rebar concrete walls. Whenever I needed to download a dataset I would stick it out in the corridor.

It was the first time I purchased Pringles.

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#14
I built one of these in ~2004 to get internet from a Flying J a little over a mile from a house we were renting. Used a pringles can for a bit but a large can of yams worked much better. Used it for a few months until our neighborhood got actual internet service (and we lost line of sight to the truck stop)

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#15

Is there any way to increase 4g LTE reception like this without using any "active" devices?

If you have an LTE modem or hotspot with a removable antenna, you can do this sort of thing nearly exactly the same, just need to tune the antenna for different frequencies.

Phones tend to not have swappable antennas so you’re limited to doing something like using a parabolic dish to concentrate signals, and positioning the phone at the focal point.

Maybe you could construct something like a yagi antenna using a phone as the driven element…

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#17

Is there any way to increase 4g LTE reception like this without using any "active" devices?

If you have an LTE modem or hotspot with a removable antenna, you can do this sort of thing nearly exactly the same, just need to tune the antenna for different frequencies. Phones tend to not have swappable antennas so you’re limited to doing something like using a parabolic dish to concentrate signals, and positioning the phone at the focal point. Maybe you could construct something like a yagi antenna using a phon…

mPCIe LTE modems with antenna connectors are readily available.

The Pinephone also has one, IIRC.

Here's another one: https://piped.video/watch?v=X2oImlGIviE

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#18
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 seems surprisingly simple and cheap. It seems possible to make something out of PVC and copper wire that can outperform a commercial antenna costing several hundred or more.

Re: How to Make a Cantenna (2013)

#19

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 has been for others.

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