Homemade Parabolic
Wifi Reflector Antenna

We live in an RV park that offers WiFi, but the location of our 5th wheel trailer is far enough from the access point, that our laptops could not get a strong enough signal to get us on the Internet. So in order to get a strong Internet connection, I built my own homemade parabolic wifi reflector.

For the Internet adapter I selected the EDIMAX EW-7318USG USB 2.0 Wireless Adapter and I match that with the XTERASYS AN-8db 2.4GHz 8dBi Range Extender Antenna . This antenna has the same connector is required for the adapter which makes these a matched set. If you intend on making your own setup you need to make sure that the antenna you have has the proper connector to match your computer or your wireless adapter. There are also adapter is available so you can hook some antennas up with wireless adapters with a different connector on them. However it's a lot less headache if you get the correct connector to begin with

Before buying the components and making our own homemade parabolic wifi reflector antenna we had no reception at all, but with the new Internet adapter I had a quality of 55% and a signal strength of under 20%. (See image 1). This is with the stock 4 DBI antenna.

image 1

I went with the Xterasys 8 Dbi antenna for $10, because it is relatively inexpensive. If you have done any searching for high gain antenna's, you will generally spend $50 or more, some even cost hundreds, so here for $10 I have an antenna that will fit my new adapter quickly and easily. The gain improvement was immediate as you can see by image 2. My link quality jumped to over 70% and my signal strength was now running between 25 and 30 percent, and this is still before making the homemade parabolic wifi reflector antenna.

image 2

I still wanted more, as you can see, the signal strength is still weak, so here is where the real tutorial begins.

For $1.59 at my local hardware store, I purchased a 4" X 10" piece of thin aluminum. Next I went online to Binary Wolf and downloaded their Parabolic reflector template and printed it out. Be sure to set your printer or graphics page set up program to print 100% size. After you print it, get a ruler with metric measurements to insure that your image printed out to 20 Centimeters. If the size is enlarged or shrunk by your computer/printer combination, it will no longer be tuned to the proper wavelength. While I was at the hardware store, they gave me a couple small pieces of Plexiglas that were cut-off scraps.

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