Cantenna Project - Stage 1 Complete!

The Cantenna project is coming along smoothly, and as promised, I have included some pictures of the project.  Remember that this is simply a prototype, so it is meant to be effective, not pretty; I will likely add some shielding to give it a better appearance later on, but as a proof of concept it should work well.

The "Pigtail" antenna connector. This is made to connect to a normal antenna port that is found on most desktop wireless cards.  It should set you back three or four bucks at most; check Radio Shack or google "pigtail connector" for an online source.

The pigtail connector, attached coaxial cable, and tomato soup can.


 A hole cut a specified length from the base of the can.  The guys over at http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html have a good calculator to determine hole placement.  Just measure the diameter of the can, plug it in the first box, and the result in "1/4 Guide wavelength" is the length, in inches, you want to put the hole from the base.  In my case, a 3.25" diameter can requires a hole about 2.5 inches from the base.


 The antenna inserted into the hole.  Note: You will want to permanently attach yours.  However, I am doing some experimentation with placement so I won't be soldering mine to the can until I am sure that it will get the best signal possible.


The inside of the can, with the antenna attached.  Note that one wire of the antenna is attached to the metal of the can (the outside ground wire) and the center wire is hanging bare in the center.  Make sure these wires do not touch, or you will short out the antenna (similar to the issue found on the new iPhone 4 design).

You'll want to place your antenna about 1.25" inside the can.  Play around with this and see if you find a better result by changing how far the antenna sticks into the can; the size of the can may cause you to need a slightly different result.

Making your own cantenna? Send pictures and I will publish them here to help you show off your work!

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