Converting a satellite dish to a WiFi antenna

Рет қаралды 88,595

Күн бұрын

Join David from RFShop as he embarks on a fascinating journey into the world of parabolic antennas. In this engaging video, David explores the intricacies of parabolas and their unique ability to focus wireless signals. Using real-world experiments, he demonstrates the significant improvements in signal strength achieved by harnessing parabolic dish technology.
Discover the step-by-step process as David ingeniously repurposes an old satellite dish, transforming it into a powerful Wi-Fi enhancer. Witness the impressive gains, from the initial baseline signal to the enhanced reception using the Alpha wireless adapter and directional antennas. David's experiments lead to a remarkable 23 dB improvement, showcasing the immense potential of parabolic antennas in boosting connectivity.
With insightful explanations and hands-on demonstrations, this video is a must-watch for tech enthusiasts, engineers, and anyone curious about optimizing Wi-Fi signals. Don't miss out on this exciting exploration of wireless technology! Subscribe to our channel for more innovative experiments and technical insights. #ParabolicAntennas #WiFiEnhancement #TechInnovation

Пікірлер: 109

@thebeerhunter7307 3 жыл бұрын

I live on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, it is a very high rainfall area, we have limited 4G towers, my closest one is 34km away in Westport where I can get signal (as it is built on an old TV tower on the top of the mountain), anyway I also made an 'Upside down' 4G dish made the same way as yours, at the LNB end I placed my 4G dongle with a wifi router inside a waterproof Sistema (tupperware) container, placed the antenna on the old analoge TV hockey stick which is bolted onto the chimney, I went from 1 bar slow as hell, to now 4-5 bars and I can watch streaming tv, do zoom and skype, it sure works !!!

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

Hi Richard! Great stuff...thanks for letting me know!

@lukejones1244 2 жыл бұрын

What about uploads?

@aaronlaplante179 3 жыл бұрын

This is just crazy but i have this exact same setup, have been looking around all night for info, then just happen to stumble upon your video having the EXACT same components I'm using. Just wow. I do have a question, i have there dishes to choose from. First being oval shaped and the largest of the three, the second being slightly smaller semi circle shaped, and finally the smallest of the three, a circle dish antenna. Any suggestions on which might be best? Are you planning to expand further or have you found any further useful info?

@tonyharika 3 жыл бұрын

The bigger the dish, the better. They were all designed to reflect to a particular point (where the LNB would have been).

@donoakes5965 2 жыл бұрын

RFShop, It is my belief the original WIFI was created by CSIRO using the legacy CDMA technology of mobile analogue phones. Supplied the team with their Test Equipment way back in early 80's .

@ovalwingnut 3 жыл бұрын

Very InTeReStInG 👍😎 Video was "Subscribly Delicious' ...an idea would be to spin the laptop around (on camera) to try for a better signal?.. thus showing that older laptop a little love 💕 P.S. LOVE 🇦🇺 MOVIES!! So glad I discovered them. Very COoL movie style. Thank you Australia. Cheers SoCALIF🇺🇸

@SirRCGigantana 3 жыл бұрын

The YT Algorithm perfectly worked for me and suggested this to me while I'm working for a DIY project like this.

@ahmedahmed-ux6im 3 жыл бұрын

They used your microphone to hear what you say. They used your camera to see what you are doing.

@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE 3 жыл бұрын

Interesting, useful and well explained. Thanks. At present, I'm playing with old dishes for 2 metre ham bands. At that frequency making the dish a slot antenna works. Would it be possible at 2.4GHz?

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

Hi AceStudios CoUk! I am not entirely sure I undrstand the slot antenna design you mention. Would it be possible to share some detail?

@josephbohme7917 3 жыл бұрын

can you put up a vid on how to attach an external to the new 2021 Mac mini. It is weak and won't recognize my Current usb antenna

@jeeper426 7 ай бұрын

i have an old primestar dish a friend gave me for wifi experiments, and i'd never really been able to get a solid link to a wireless AP, i'd had suspicions that inverting the dish might have fixed the issue but hadn't had time to get back into tinkering with the 2.4 Ghz spectrum, i might have to try this over the winter and see if i can make a decent PPPOE connection between work and home

@RFShop 7 ай бұрын

Could work. I found that not knowing the detail of the dish made life a bit harder for me. That's why we're now using our own dish designs

@chrishill1219 2 жыл бұрын

Wonderful tutorial. Thank you.

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Chris...been a while since I've done that one. Think I learned a thing or two more since then about making videos for KZfaq :D

@FilipMKD 3 жыл бұрын

Hi can i put Tenda 03 router to this to boost wifi repetator mode?

@FilipMakaroni_xD 5 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot for making this video, I purchased a 24 dbi parabolic antenna for 2.4GHz WiFi and I've had almost no luck in finding a way to connect it to my laptop, I tried a small USB WiFi adapter that I could find locally but it's made with a detachable 3 dbi antenna and it literally got fried when I attached the 24 dbi antenna to it. I've been searching for a more professional USB WiFi adapter to stick the antenna to without luck... up until I saw this video, could you maybe recommend me some adapter to use?

@RFShop 5 ай бұрын

Anyone of the ALFA units should work well. I currently use the AWUS036ACS

@bookcrazy001 2 жыл бұрын

Saving this for future reference

@rybeenali4371 2 жыл бұрын

I want to ask a question if put a a repeater in the place of the that device, will the repeater capture more WiFi networks or far networks?

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

If you connect a repeater to the antenna it will indeed feed the stronger received signal from the antenna into the repeater. Not sure if that is what you are asking though?

@rybeenali4371 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks sir, I was asking for this.

@ridzuanibrahim6447 4 жыл бұрын

Hi mate, one suggestion could you also try what the signal effect if we drill mimo feedhorn at the center of the dish?

@aaronlaplante179 3 жыл бұрын

Spectacular idea! They should really expand and take advantage of this subject. Not a whole lot of content out there.

@vintagechemist9427 2 жыл бұрын

Hi, would this sort of concept be applicable to improving the performance of an LDPA type antenna? i.e paly about with a dish behind the ldpa? Just curious about what you think.....

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

Hi. Actually it gets done a lot, but in reverse. You need to radiate the LPDA into the dish

@vintagechemist9427 2 жыл бұрын

@@RFShop Thanks for the quick reply!!!. Been watching a load of your stuff to try to learn more about antenna to improve our mobile reception. For the ldpa in front thing, is the dish best offset kinda like you have done in this vid??? ( I live in the middle of nowhere.... very weak signal)

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

@@vintagechemist9427 I'll always prefer the classic center fed style of antenna since they are easier to manage and review. I have a 2.4m dish, and will take it to Rapid Bay in the coming weeks to do a test for a 4G setup and will talk through that demonstration then ;)

@vintagechemist9427 2 жыл бұрын

@@RFShop Thanks, will give it a go when I can get hold of an old dish. Will look out for that next video - that thing sounds more like a radio telescope, rather than a wifi dish....

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

@@vintagechemist9427 Yes...aim is to provide WiFi to the ISS :)

@johnmichael1220 Жыл бұрын

Good evening'm buying a new dish for my TV were remote in Wales. Would it be possible to do a conversation and still use the dish for TV and WiFi or should I buy an additional. Cheers

@RFShop Жыл бұрын

Given it's an old 2nd-hand dish, I guess it's simplest to simply use another dish for this purpose

@dontsaynothing 3 жыл бұрын

we can use alfa with the gari antenna

@tonyneville476 Жыл бұрын

So if I take the old dish out front of my “new to me” home I can do this and use on my flat screen TVs and my iPhone to harness WiFi signal

@RFShop Жыл бұрын

In theory it would be possible, but it's going to be a challenge to align it well

@billygoff8345 3 жыл бұрын

how useful would this be for receiving video from an fpv drone? 5.8ghz

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

billy goff although I think tbe gain and reach would be phenomenal, I had lots of trouble aligning the high gain / directive antenna. If the trouble of setting-up the antenna is not a problem then this would be great.

@danielequihua2805 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for showing installation great help

@RFShop 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for that :)

@bdgsxr1000 Жыл бұрын

Would I be able to use one of the three dishes I have around the house I just bought.. there is a dish hd company one, dish direct company one & a Hughesnet style dish.. I’m merely trying to be able to pickup a Wi-Fi connection that’s a 1/2 mile away over a small hill because they don’t run their service past that point yet.. thanks in advance

@RFShop Жыл бұрын

Yes, any parabolic shape should work well

@dennygoethe6590 2 жыл бұрын

I am very interested in making something like this work. I need to boost my signal enough to reach 3/4 mile. Use a dish at the router and at the remote.

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Denny, Yes, that could work. However, 3/4 mile is not impossible. You can't use a new external antenna, can you ?

@marlonvillanea3532 3 жыл бұрын

I have a old TV antenna here in my house and a wireless router, I want to use the satellite dish to boost my wireless router signal?, what should I do?

@baseddoggie 17 күн бұрын

Watch the video?

@kargandarr 2 жыл бұрын

What about using a satellite tv dish for this sort of thing that is around half a meter across?

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

Paul, I purchased a 2nd hand 1.8m dia dish a while ago and was planning to play with it this summer holiday. So in short my answer is “YES” … and I think more to come on this topic (and way more than just WiFi)

@rja5748 2 жыл бұрын

What about adding a a radio speaker and athernet cable conect to the lap ? I will try that .

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, that will help a lot but not for what we want here ;)

@newsgetsold Жыл бұрын

Thanks for this video. I am trying to ditch paid broadband and connect to free WiFi nearby. I probably just need that directional antenna.

@RFShop Жыл бұрын

It's true that this solution could get you that remote WiFi connection. We, however, focus on onsite solutions and fixes so this was a fun project but may not be practical for many people

@bader-28 8 ай бұрын

⁠does a bigger dish ex. 1.8m diameter work better? I was thinking about It because I got a problem with the upload speed in a mountainous area where I used a 90cm dish! I got the signal from “no service” to -108 dbi and got a download speed of 40 Mbs but only 1 mbs or less for upload! So plz tell me will the bigger dish help?

@RFShop 8 ай бұрын

Yes, a bigger dish will indeed increase the antenna gain. The only thing to be mindful of is that the bigger dish / higher gain will also lead to a much narrow beamwidth, and that means very precise alignment will be required. It may be best to find something a little-bit larger but not 3x the diameter :)

@bader-28 8 ай бұрын

@@RFShop amazing, thank you 👍🏼 already working on it and will let you know how it goes 👍🏼

@sandeshshivalkar5366 2 жыл бұрын

Hi, How does the two small devices function in the process??

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

Sadesh, you mean the USB adapters? The green unit is the USB WiFi receiver, and picks-up the remote network. The unit connected via USB cable is a new WiFi hub

@ahmedahmed-ux6im 3 жыл бұрын

How about tv dish/ariel connected to the antenna, then to the laptop? Would it give better results?

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

Ahmed Ahmed, I believe you are putting in words what I have done here, right? If so, yes…it works

@ahmedahmed-ux6im 3 жыл бұрын

@@RFShop No, i mean the tv antenna, what if we use it for wifi?

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

@@ahmedahmed-ux6im you need to have the same frequency and impedance. A TV antenna won’t work, unfortunately

@ahmedahmed-ux6im 3 жыл бұрын

@@RFShop i saw tutorials on this, and it seems people said that it works. I mean, it looks the same as parabolic antennas. And did you try it before? A tv antenna?

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

@@ahmedahmed-ux6im a TV antenna has different frequencies. For WiFi you need 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz. You may pick something up, but it simply won’t be great or by design.

@ThinkB4UAct 3 жыл бұрын

I like this video, can it be done with the big dish, I got one

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

Hi! Yes, the principle of a parabolic dish is always applicable. If you have a bigger dish, the gain would increase and it should work really well (i.e. even better)

@lukejones1244 2 жыл бұрын

But it needs to be tested for uploads. the signal is travelling the opposite way, diffusing the signal bigger...

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Luke! Antennas work on the principle of reciprocity. It looks / behaves the same way in transmit and receive mode

@DaveyBlue32 3 жыл бұрын

I’m thinking about adding this WiFi booster to the same dish that I want to use for a TV antenna... if I have a tv antenna signal booster Outside antenna and the WiFi on the same dish will they interfere with each other and have distortion or interference with each other????

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

Hi David. Good question. I think the key problem would be that the directions of the two systems (WiFi and TV) will have to be exact as the antenna gain / directivity for the 2.4GHz would be very specific. Are you looking at a satellite or a TV (i.e. UHF or VHF) system?

@rockeymicky789 Жыл бұрын

Hi Mate, can you use this ALFA network with a viasat satellite? Thanks

@RFShop Жыл бұрын

I would indeed say that's possible. It's just about the shape of the dish, which will nearly always be parabolic

@rockeymicky789 Жыл бұрын

@@RFShop Any specific adapter model to fix perfectly with Viatsat dish? Thanks.!

@robertoler3795 3 жыл бұрын

well done WB5MZO

@edwardmati9958 Жыл бұрын

Please what is the name of this software. I need it for my project.

@RFShop Жыл бұрын

It's actually software I downloaded from ALFA. Have a look on their website under the resources.

@09nanox 3 жыл бұрын

Hi is it possible to use the dish/es for a Point to point wifi link 2 km away with a few buildings and trees (obstruction) in between?

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

In principle it should be possible. The fundamentals of the parabolic dish would certainly allow you to have a very high gain antenna in place...something you'd need for the long-range comms

@09nanox 3 жыл бұрын

@@RFShop Hi thanks for the prompt reply. I live in SA. I would like to setup two dishes using the 2.4Ghz band that allows better penetration through buildings and trees. Any recommendations maybe :-) ?

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

@@09nanox I guess you picked-up on my accent? I certainly do like the ALFA antenna I used in this setup. It's a medium gain option, allowing you to get a good coverage of the dish itself. Not sure if you can get your hand on some old dishes? Once you have them, see what the design is like (i.e. where is the focal point) and test this concept as well. One will need to be very careful to align these antennas. As high gain antennas it will be very interesting (difficult?) to get them to point exactly at each other. If you miss the target the gain could actually be really weak. If you think it's better to continue this conversation on email please feel free to email me direct via our website. Cheers, David

@09nanox 3 жыл бұрын

@@RFShop Thanks David. Yes picked it up immediately :-) Thank you for the valuable info. Yes I will send a mail. Regards

@djaafarsassi5003 3 жыл бұрын

Can i transforme it to 4g with this 2.4 GHz and dish ...thanks ffor test

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

Hi! Yes, have played with that and it works quite well

@djaafarsassi5003 3 жыл бұрын

@@RFShop thanks

@Kilroy_5150 Жыл бұрын

What i'm confused about is the lack of "power" going to the dish. How is he getting signal (of any kind) from the dish with no actual power going to the directional antenna? Antenna, no matter how basic they are, need a symbolance of current to run through them to transmit or recieve. The laptop ALFA has the 5v USB but what is the directional antenna (connected to the dish) using for power? Since there's no actual "parts" list, what did he use to power the directional antenna? Someone please explain this to me. I mean, i totally get the idea but no mention of power to the M04 is where i get lost.

@RFShop Жыл бұрын

Kilroy, that's really the beauty of antennas. It's completely passive. Think in terms of lights and reflectors. You can play with mirrors and change the directional and shape of light beams just by putting shaped mirrors on one side of the light...focusing it all in the opposing direction. It's exactly the same with radio waves, just at a different frequency / wave length. The dish is indeed completely powerless, yet it reflects everything in that particular direction. It's physics, and hence my passion.

@COLDoCLINCHER37 Жыл бұрын

Is there a way to use an antenna to completely block the Wi-Fi transmission from going backwards. In which devices at the back of the antenna won't even be able to receive a strong signal.

@RFShop Жыл бұрын

Good question. There's always some back lobe (i.e. front to back ration). In a directional antenna the goal is indeed always to reduce what goes in the "wrong" direction, but simple a bigger and bigger surface behind will help. Also, if you can try to introduce a "null" to the rear that will be of use.

@COLDoCLINCHER37 Жыл бұрын

@@RFShop so essentially the bigger the reflective surface the lower the back lobe will be? Because I plant to use a 60Cm 90° sheet to block the Wi-Fi in the back direction.

@RFShop Жыл бұрын

@@COLDoCLINCHER37 yes, in essence that is true. Just need to make sure the distance is correct and it will make a huge difference

@CarmineOw 11 ай бұрын

could i use this to somehow get the waves to get free internet

@RFShop 11 ай бұрын

There would be better antennas to use. This was a fun experiment, but there is a better unit coming. Keep watching this channel, I'm actually working on something

@amareshiferaw9939 3 жыл бұрын

i like this is

@thedavesofourlives1 2 жыл бұрын

turn the laptop screen 90 degrees for better signal

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

That implies polarisation :)

@DancingSkeleton7014 3 жыл бұрын

This video is unnecessary to long. I still couldn’t find how to turn it into a wifi

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

Noted. The idea was to improve an antenna

@elementalstudioyt 2 жыл бұрын

This guy is South African lol

@RFShop 2 жыл бұрын

Can't hide it, so might as well use it ;)

@bagasardiasama6692 3 жыл бұрын

I have 6ft solid satellite dish and I'd like to try this way but do you think it will work? this is a pic of my dish prnt.sc/vqyho5

@RFShop 3 жыл бұрын

That would be an awesome test to do. You may just need to be really careful with the alignment, as the gain will be so high that it's going to be very challenging to hit the target