Housing for WiFi Biquad Antennas
Protect Your Outdoors Antenna
Two
types of damage can affect a working antenna.
It
can sustain physical impact and the copper wire may bend and
break the soldiered point.
If
exposed to rain the copper will oxidize which may eventually
lead to decreased performance. The antenna pictured in Fig.
1 was used outdoors for a month in almost no rain. The antenna
on the right was used for the same amount of time in the same
location but was enclosed. The difference is striking [Fig
2].
Fig. 1 Oxidation after a month of use |
Fig. 2 This biquad was housed |
Both
of these types of damage can be easily mitigated with proper
antenna housing. You can use ready made electronics enclosures
or even low end solutions like Tupperware containers. If you
use Tupperware consider sealing it with silicon to prevent
rain from getting in.
The
enclosure can not be made of metal nor can have any metal
foil decals on it. You must use a material that does not reflect
microwaves.
Some
materials may cause the signal strength to drop. You can conduct
a simple test of microwave attenuation of your desired enclosure.
Lock the antenna into a vise grip or a camera tripod and point
it towards a distant access point. Connect the antenna to
the computer and start Netstumbler.
Run Netstumbler for several minutes. Then place the antenna
housing in front of the biquad and observe the signal change
in Netstumbler. If there is no change or change is rather
small your box is acceptable as an antenna enclosure.
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