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VERY highly directional antenna for Nano/Tetra?


HammerHead_0718

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Have you had a look at the HakShop lately? They've got a great selection of wireless gear, and in particular what you are looking for, there's an amazing directional Yagi Antenna: https://hakshop.com/collections/wireless-gear/products/16dbi-yagi-antenna

This thing is a BEAST to say the least, and surprisingly portable given its power. You can use it with an Alfa wireless usb adapter, or even with the Wifi Pineapple.

If you want something a lot smaller, more portable, but with much less range, than the 7dBi Panel Antenna is great too: https://hakshop.com/collections/wireless-gear/products/7dbi-panel-antenna

I used to use the following antenna for really long-range stuff, but honestly it was just WAY too bulky. I could accomplish the same exact thing with the Yagi Antenna above, and I never saw a difference in range (at least in my scenarios): https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Directional-Parabolic-Connector-TL-ANT2424B/dp/B003CFATOW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481862639&sr=8-3&keywords=tp-link+directional+antenna

Either will do you good, but if you plan to move the antenna around a lot, then the Yagi has the best portability for its range. The only scenario where I would still choose the TP-Link above is if I'm going to mount the antenna and NEVER move it again.

Hope this helps.

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I understand,

I would still recommend the 7dBi Panel Antenna, because it has a decent accuracy, given its small size and low power requirement. Take a look at the manufacturers page, has a nice map of its polarization: https://www.alfa.com.tw/products_show.php?pc=46&ps=36

Here is another one by alfa that is slightly more powerful, and has a 66 degree beam-width, and has the benefit of working on 5GHz as well: https://www.alfa.com.tw/products_show.php?pc=133&ps=206

You can of course find antennas that have much more focused beam-widths, but the issue with those is that they tend to be bulky and draw more power. The alfa parabolic antenna for example: https://www.alfa.com.tw/products_show.php?pc=47&ps=100

You didn't mention this in your original post, and I didn't ask either, but does the size of the antenna matter to you? If not, then you can definitely go with something like the parabolic antenna mentioned above. It has a nice 10 degree beam-width and is the most focused I've found in antennas.

Good Luck.

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14 hours ago, JCAG said:

I would still recommend the 7dBi Panel Antenna.

Whilst I agree that this antenna is excellent once you know which AP to target, pinpointing the direction of an AP is no good with this. The beam-width is too wide, around 100-120 degrees.

I believe what the OP is looking for is an antenna with as narrow a beam-width as possible. Yagi is the way to go, unless someone can find a panel antenna with a really narrow beam.

Another option would be DIY. Use a panel antenna and design an aluminium / copper casing that narrows the beam down.

Edited by haze1434
corrected grammatical errors
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14 hours ago, barry99705 said:

I wouldn't use a Tetra for this anyway.  Just a usb wireless adapter and a good yagi will do.  That's how I used to do it.  Actually this is how I used to do it...

https://goo.gl/photos/VpbAcw8ohYwU15dN8

https://goo.gl/photos/oxFLgcdUSuiF1g2aA

I will likely use it with the nano if I do get it. 

 

Thank you for your help.

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On 12/19/2016 at 6:23 PM, JCAG said:

I understand,

I would still recommend the 7dBi Panel Antenna, because it has a decent accuracy, given its small size and low power requirement. Take a look at the manufacturers page, has a nice map of its polarization: https://www.alfa.com.tw/products_show.php?pc=46&ps=36

Here is another one by alfa that is slightly more powerful, and has a 66 degree beam-width, and has the benefit of working on 5GHz as well: https://www.alfa.com.tw/products_show.php?pc=133&ps=206

You can of course find antennas that have much more focused beam-widths, but the issue with those is that they tend to be bulky and draw more power. The alfa parabolic antenna for example: https://www.alfa.com.tw/products_show.php?pc=47&ps=100

You didn't mention this in your original post, and I didn't ask either, but does the size of the antenna matter to you? If not, then you can definitely go with something like the parabolic antenna mentioned above. It has a nice 10 degree beam-width and is the most focused I've found in antennas.

Good Luck.

The size is a bit of a factor. I don't mind the Yagi antennas but prefer either that size or smaller. The narrower the beam-width the better. I don't need it to have a crazy gain either.

 

Thanks for your help. All of theses suggestions are great. I just need to narrow it down. No pun intended.

 

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On 12/15/2016 at 10:35 PM, JCAG said:

Have you had a look at the HakShop lately? They've got a great selection of wireless gear, and in particular what you are looking for, there's an amazing directional Yagi Antenna: https://hakshop.com/collections/wireless-gear/products/16dbi-yagi-antenna

This thing is a BEAST to say the least, and surprisingly portable given its power. You can use it with an Alfa wireless usb adapter, or even with the Wifi Pineapple.

If you want something a lot smaller, more portable, but with much less range, than the 7dBi Panel Antenna is great too: https://hakshop.com/collections/wireless-gear/products/7dbi-panel-antenna

I used to use the following antenna for really long-range stuff, but honestly it was just WAY too bulky. I could accomplish the same exact thing with the Yagi Antenna above, and I never saw a difference in range (at least in my scenarios): https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Directional-Parabolic-Connector-TL-ANT2424B/dp/B003CFATOW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481862639&sr=8-3&keywords=tp-link+directional+antenna

Either will do you good, but if you plan to move the antenna around a lot, then the Yagi has the best portability for its range. The only scenario where I would still choose the TP-Link above is if I'm going to mount the antenna and NEVER move it again.

Hope this helps.

I've made too many replies and at this point I should probably just address everyone... but thank you anyway for your suggestions. I think I am going to go with the Yagi. Decent price too and it will work with both the tetra and the Nano with or without adapters if I am correct.

Once again,

 

Thanks.

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17 hours ago, haze1434 said:

Whilst I agree that this antenna is excellent once you know which AP to target, pinpointing the direction of an AP is no good with this. The beam-width is too wide, around 100-120 degrees.

I believe what the OP is looking for is an antenna with as narrow a beam-width as possible. Yagi is the way to go, unless someone can find a panel antenna with a really narrow beam.

Another option would be DIY. Use a panel antenna and design an aluminium / copper casing that narrows the beam down.

You are correct, if he needs more focused then definitely the yagi is the way to go. I don't know why I thought the beam-width was narrower than that for the 7dBi panel antenna; I must've confused it with the other 5GHz version from alfa, thank you for pointing this out!

Also, DIY is certainly an interesting option! :)

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4 hours ago, HammerHead_0718 said:

I certainly am looking to get the Yagi antenna at this point. 30º beam width is fairly narrow and I like that.

 

That's great to hear, it is truly a great antenna (try two one of these days for double the awesome)!

Not to get geeky, but I just wanted to point out that you can use the arc length formula to estimate fairly well the width of your beam at a given distance (remember a beam is an arc, and will grow as the distance increases). The formula is actually quite simple: Arc Length = 2πR * (C/360)

Where R is the radius (but in our terms, it will be the distance you are trying to reach), and C is the central angle (E.g. 30 degrees for the Yagi antenna)

So if we take the Yagi as an example: let's say you are trying to find a "Rogue AP" as you put it, that is supposed to be 100 feet away (this is our radius), and we know that the Yagi has a 30 degree beam-width to start with (this is our central angle).

Arc Length = (2π * 100) * (30/360)
                  = (628) * (1/12)
                  = ~52.3

So the beam-width will be approximately ~ 52.3 degrees at 100 feet of distance. This formula has helped me plenty of times in the past when needing to know a certain coverage area for a given distance, so I hope this will help you as well to more accurately find the AP's you are looking for.

Good Luck!

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