Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs Forum

Hi Scott-

I found this BiQuad wireless adapter several years ago. Most of these types of antenna setups have a problem. They make use of this wire that loses several decibels of gain per foot. Another problem is they cost about $10/foot which doesn't help either.

Here's some pictures of it:

This one I found has a little USB wireless adapter glued to it. I think that the guy who put it together found a little wireless adapter and studied it carefully. He took out the antenna part of it and figured out where to connect it to an external antenna. Then he just soldered a little two inch shielded cable to the adapter and then the other end to the BiQuad. He used the remains of the adapters housing to hold what was left of the circuitry and glued it to the back of the copper plate on the antenna.

These antennas are really great. They seem to be one of the highest gain antennas around. What's great about them is you don't need the lossy cables, a 6 foot USB cable works just fine.

Also, I've heard they can be mounted onto satellite dishes to pickup access points miles around. This one has a bolt welded to the copper backplate that is the same thread as a standard camera tripod mount.

I have this "Joby" tripod that is designed as a tripod for hikers. It's designed to be wrapped around a tree or anything handy so you can mount your camera on it and take pictures without lugging around a heavy tripod. When I'm travelling and I stop at a library to pickup some wifi, I wrap the Joby around my rear view mirror and mount the antenna to it. I get a pretty good signal and I don't have to get out into the cold.

The only problem is this is a G standard device. My computer tells me it's a Realtek RTL8187 wireless adapter.

I figure if I could find a similiar N standard device, I could take it apart, figure out where the antenna is attached, remove it, hire someone to microsolder the antenna on it, modify the housing a little to accomodate the wire, and glue the housing to the backplate of the antenna.

Are you familiar enough with any of the wireless adapters out there to recommend anything to me? Any other suggestions on how to proceed?

With no links or pictures and the fact that what you are describing seems to be "homemade", I'm not sure exactly what you have there. However, that is not important since I am sure that you can get something commercially produced that is far superior in operation.

I recommend getting a high power USB wireless adapter along with a very high gain parabolic grid antenna, which will offer up to several miles of range. CyberGuys has a package deal that includes everything you need for an excellent price.

Note that because "n" devices require multiple antennas to achieve higher speeds and very few if any public hotspots use "n" access points, you are much better off sticking with a high powered "g" adapter instead. Let me know what you end up using, and how well it works out. Scott.

You always seem to be one step ahead of me. I'm a little short right now, but I'll probably go with the package deal that you showed me. If I put the proper connector on my BiQuad, I should be able to use it with that USB adapter too. So I'll be able to use it from within my car. I didn't know that about public networks using mostly "g", that's good to know. That product looks better than anything I could have ever found. When I get it, I'll let you know how it works, I have a feeling it will work just great, thanks.