We bought a Netgear aerial extension on Ebay because upstairs doesn’t get a reliable signal. But… It looks ridiculous:
Original Aerial | Custom Aerial |
I measured the wireless signal strength on our two Squeezebox’s, one is in the room next to the router, the other is upstairs:
Original Aerial | Custom Aerial | |
---|---|---|
Downstairs signal strength: | 81%-83% | 76%-80% |
Upstairs signal strength: | 44%-49% | 56%-58% |
So it seems to have a minor decrease in signal close by but a better range. Worth the ridiculous form factor? Probably Not!
Hi guys. Aerials work by their length being linked to the expected range of frequencies of Radio Frequency (RF) energy that they are expected to propagate.
Often, a “full wave” (contraction of Full Wavelength) aerial is way, way too long for portable use, so as a compromise, a much, MUCH shorter length antenna is utilised, for example, a “quarter wave”(length) antenna may be used. Thus, for a 2 metre wave transmission (150 MHz), a half-metre, or even a one-metre length would work fairly well (a quarter-wave(length) or half-wave(length) respectively, BUT NOT just anything inbetween.
So, a 700mm aerial would probably perform VERY poorly, absorbing/cancelling-out a lot of the invisible currents running up and down the antenna rod, leaving very little clean signal to be transmitted AND received (an aerial is EQUALLY good… OR BAD at doing both).
The upshot to all this, regarding YOUR antenna adaptation, is to try taking off ONE of your extensions, or ADD a fourth extension to maintain the correct sub-multiple of length. Even if just two actually works out at a 30th-wave etc, it’s still a correct sub-multiple, increasing your range exponentially. So three antennas… N O T G O O D A T A L L !!!!! VERY INEFFICIENT.
[FOR YOUR REFERENCE, a 54 MHz Wi-Fi signal needs a 5.5 m long aerial for a full-wave matching!
So the tiny 100 mm-ish average router aerial is something like a 55th Wave antenna.]
There’s a lot of complex aerial thoery out there, but GOOD LUCK and let me know how you get on.