4 ms·

Wow! We built that thing 22 years ago! Fun to see it pop up like this periodically. Here's a link to the 10th anniversary: https://makezine.com/article/home/fo

by adfm 3y ago

Wow! We built that thing 22 years ago! Fun to see it pop up like this periodically. Here's a link to the 10th anniversary: https://makezine.com/article/home/food-beverage/pringles-can-antenna-turns-10/ https://makezine.com/article/home/food-beverage/pringles-can...

adfm 3y ago
It’s kind of a trip seeing people noodling around with stuff I hacked together 20+ years ago showing up on the HN front page at the same time. i enjoy kismet. Currently #27: The anatomy of a smart bulb https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37808230 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37808230 The OG smart bulb I made back in March of 2003 https://web.archive.org/web/20090923154300/http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/h/352 https://web.archive.org/web/20090923154300/http://www.oreill...
thelastparadise 3y ago
Are you still into antenna making? Where I live, we only have wireless internet options, so antennas are critical infra. Interestingly, its sort of hard to find antennas optimized for specific frequencies. Most affordable options seem to be "wide band" generalist antennas, e.g. 900mhz-6ghz. Meanwhile the nearby tower might have the best signal on a specific band. I looked into making log periodic/yagi antennas and it seems surprisingly simple and cheap. It seems possible to make something out of PVC and copper wire that can outperform a commercial antenna costing several hundred or more.
- adfm 3y ago
  I haven't in a while, but LoRa looks appealing, so maybe in the not too distant future. If you can't find what you're looking for, scratch that itch.
- PaulHoule 3y ago
  This one is my favorite homemade antenna project https://w5nor.org/tape/ https://w5nor.org/tape/ which I think makes very clear the principle of a Yagi-Uda antenna which is that different sized antennas are above or below resonance so they are behind or above the input signal in phase. The central antenna is driven, the other two are not, but when the frequency is right the phasing of the antennas is such that the signals reinforce each other in the desired direction. What threw me the first time I built one is the "hairpin" impedance matching network which is a single-turn coil that looks to me (from the viewpoint of DC electronics) like a short circuit so it took a bit of faith to hook my radio up to it and hit the "transmit" button. Amazingly though I was able to talk to people in Rochester, NY with my 5 watt handheld and that antenna using a repeater on top of a ski resort mountain 80 miles away.

by adfm 3y ago

adfm 3y ago

It’s kind of a trip seeing people noodling around with stuff I hacked together 20+ years ago showing up on the HN front page at the same time. i enjoy kismet. Currently #27: The anatomy of a smart bulb https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37808230 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37808230 The OG smart bulb I made back in March of 2003 https://web.archive.org/web/20090923154300/http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/h/352 https://web.archive.org/web/20090923154300/http://www.oreill...

thelastparadise 3y ago

Are you still into antenna making? Where I live, we only have wireless internet options, so antennas are critical infra. Interestingly, its sort of hard to find antennas optimized for specific frequencies. Most affordable options seem to be "wide band" generalist antennas, e.g. 900mhz-6ghz. Meanwhile the nearby tower might have the best signal on a specific band. I looked into making log periodic/yagi antennas and it seems surprisingly simple and cheap. It seems possible to make something out of PVC and copper wire that can outperform a commercial antenna costing several hundred or more.

adfm 3y ago
I haven't in a while, but LoRa looks appealing, so maybe in the not too distant future. If you can't find what you're looking for, scratch that itch.
PaulHoule 3y ago
This one is my favorite homemade antenna project https://w5nor.org/tape/ https://w5nor.org/tape/ which I think makes very clear the principle of a Yagi-Uda antenna which is that different sized antennas are above or below resonance so they are behind or above the input signal in phase. The central antenna is driven, the other two are not, but when the frequency is right the phasing of the antennas is such that the signals reinforce each other in the desired direction. What threw me the first time I built one is the "hairpin" impedance matching network which is a single-turn coil that looks to me (from the viewpoint of DC electronics) like a short circuit so it took a bit of faith to hook my radio up to it and hit the "transmit" button. Amazingly though I was able to talk to people in Rochester, NY with my 5 watt handheld and that antenna using a repeater on top of a ski resort mountain 80 miles away.