Best bang for the buck with outdoor attennae?

Hello
I am getting into wireless internet with the local WISP. Last week they made me their primary CPE installer. I started out mearly working in trade for the equipment to relay their signal over a ridge on our property. I have installed many Roo Tennas with Router Board 112 installed internally. Also, I have installed several Motorola Canopy I also find myself modifying all sorts of equipment as we have more installations than we can keep up with. I really like this work, even though I am overqualified to be crawling over and under buildings. It's not too hard on the noodle, so that's cool.

While I do the mundane tasks before me I often think how I might make my job easier and work better for less cash. One of the things I'd like to do is see if I can make some prototype antenna systems which would house the Router Board in a simple weather proof case. I did make one or two bi-quad antennas back when my interest in Wi Fi started, four years ago. Also, I took a course in the local university covering microwave theory & wave guides. I also took a course in plastic fabrication and have done lots of projects.

So now that we have all the gettin' to know me bs is out of the way, my question is: What kind of antennas are you making and what works and what doesn't. We are getting ready to set up a country club way up in the mountains with wireless. The area in hilly if not mountainous with many Ponderosa Pine trees. I have heard the needles interfere with 2.4ghz. We also have 5.7ghz systems is this better for the forest installations? I see the Roo Tennas are around $50US. Is it possible to make them cheaper than this?
Sincerely,
Brian Rodgers

I find the Rootennas very hard to beat for value for money. It's just a pity they look so ugly.

You can get slightly cheaper antennas from some asian suppliers but the quality is not as good as Pacific Wireless. The Rootenna means you don't have to fork up any extra for a case as well; they do a good job of protecting the electronics, plus you get the bonus of minimal antenna cabling and connectors to help preserve the signal.

I have made biquads with mixed results before, but I find the cost of the Rootenna over obtaining a weatherproof case, decent mountings, then the time to actually get it all inside in a tidy fashion and test the antenna performance properly often makes it a more attractive option.

Waveguides like Trevor Marshal's work extremely well, but are costly and time consuming to build (unless you have friends in the industry).

While building antennas is fun and great for experimenting or building low cost community networks, I think it's best to stick with commercial designs for WISP stuff as the end cost is often lower.

__________________
Jeremy

Marlborough WiFi Project

Thanks
This is what I was thinking as well. I was talking with one of the owners of the WISP after work on Tuesday about antennas. His brother makes some sort of antenna inside a 4" PVC pipe. He spends a lot of effort weather proofing. I'd have to guess he has two or more hours into his prototypes, which is why I brought this up. I have fair fabrication skills and was wondering if I could get it down to less than an hour with assembly line tactics. Who knows? I don't really need more projects - hobbies right now anyway.

I did get line of sight to my house yesterday. Yippee! I was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen. I got permission from my neighbor to cut a few trees on his place, which we did, and bingo bango there was a perfect view of my antenna from a mile of forest away. So cool. Now, I will focus on building a tower. I have assorted square steel tubing that I bought years ago. I am thinking of making a tripod base out of three twenty foot one inch square tubes. Welding up a bracket for the top which will hold an extend able mast made of three inch tube. Throw in a few guy wire hangers up high so it stays in place up there on the ridge in the wind.
Anyway, I just writing what I am thinking. Once I get an idea formed where I can write about it and draw it I usually get after it pretty quick. Especially when I plan a project using equipment and resources I have on hand. I even visualize a peg ladder running up the tripod for access to the mast.

Oh boy this is looking like it is going to come together.
Sincerely,
Brian Rodgers

Helical Antenna for the 2.425GHz Wireless Networking Cards

There is a run down of the How to make your own antenna using the 4" PVC pipe.

Yeah that's a great antenna design. The PHP Helix calculator is sweet too. I finally got a look inside one of the PVC antennas.
Inside there is a foil can soldered to a lead for the cable. Another cool feature is there is enough room for the MIcroTic Router. Self contained man! I installed a few of these and they look like a cannon. Not sure of the gain yet because I don't have the equipment to test this yet.

I am getting very close with my remote tower. I have all the solar stuff in my yard and am doing load testing as we speak. Also, my brother and I built the tower from 2 inch square steel tube. We welded rungs and a mast to the top. Last weekend we poured concrete for the guy wire tie downs and a base for the 28 foot tower. All the trees are out of the way and we have perfect line of sight to the nearby WiFi tower on the other side of the ridge and back down the mountain to my house. Tomorrow we stand the tower up and lock it down.
I can't wait to get wireless to the house here. This 5kbs dialup is making me crazy.
Brian Rodgers