4 sale: 2 IPWireless pigtails

buffalobill

buffalobill

Senior Member
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Location
Joburg, South Africa.
A while back I sourced two pigtails directly from IPWireless in the UK (don't ask how) but I've since stayed with the aerial I bought off the shelf and they're just gathering dust. One is a shorty (32cm) but using the connection into the modem as it was designed with two tiny little nipples to click in.

The other is 50 cm and comes with a mostly complete Pringles cantenna. I couldn't get the right size washers, used the nearest I could get but gained no difference. All the can dimensions are right - the input and the washer spacings - just the washers are too big. I did something a bit different using a screwed bolt all the way through and then fastening the washers with bolts either side. I guess it's easier to picture or see than describe.

Anyway, what offers?
 
WELL, I plugged the cantenna in, and it seemed to perform slightly worse than my good-ol jam can on top of the modem. [evil grin, rubbing hands]

Then i stripped it all (no offence), and used a downloaded javascript calculator to give me a starting point. (bad idea) After the adjustments, i managed to create a very effective signal shield which should have been the "collector". DOH!

Calculated the wave length from scratch and readjusted everything again, which brought the spacing back closer to what it was. I guess I put about 70% effort in to save some time and loose out on tolerances. Even so it works a lot better now!

My rough calculations show about 10dbi gain, compared to my 6dbi jamcan_on_top_of_modem antenna. Hmmm, so i should still be able to squeeze another 2dbi out of it with proper sized washers (or reinforced tinfoil?) and some more tuning...

Hehe, another x amount of hours has disappeared playing with a product that should have worked fine (and did), from the box. sigh.

Oh, strangely, my ping tests yesterday showed that the average pings have increased by about 40ms, but the minimum pings have decreased by 14ms.. Weird. Could have been a network issue. BER is up to 43%.

I just about have the same signal strength now bouncing a signal to Horizon, than what I had to Helderkruin before sentech de-tuned their towers, oh, wait, they did not do that....

I seem to be getting a connection to Helderkruin a little easier now, but its still a weaker signal than Horizon, and previous experience showed that pings were a lot better on Horizon for some strange reason.

It was fun though. Thanks.
 
bHOLDher said:
Calculated the wave length from scratch and readjusted everything again, which brought the spacing back closer to what it was. I guess I put about 70% effort in to save some time and loose out on tolerances. Even so it works a lot better now!

My rough calculations show about 10dbi gain, compared to my 6dbi jamcan_on_top_of_modem antenna. Hmmm, so i should still be able to squeeze another 2dbi out of it with proper sized washers (or reinforced tinfoil?) and some more tuning...
Click to expand...
Trust me. Rightsize the washers first before monkeying around with the rest. Otherwise, enjoy.
 
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