like to see what everyone uses for their Wifi. DIY only of course. here are some types of samples.

http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/

Joe

Anyone????

Well for my one pc , it has a wifi (cheap belkin) adapter and router is in other room. It would cut out all the time so I called to my son upstairs and said ,get me one of those silver small bowls and don't let mom see ya. I just propped it behind the belkin and pointed it toward the wireless router and gets great reception now and also picks up a couple of more neighbours wifi.. It's funny to see what other people are naming there wireless ... including mine..I was also looking on youtube ,i think i started on make mag. but ended up on youtube and saw the one about the lid from a pot and propping it in center standing up . I will try that one up north this summer to see what I can find..

I have been lookin into this since last summer. I bought a thinkpad ($102)from fleabay. got a 10' usb extension cable ($5)there too. Found a 12" strainer at a valu village for $1. I just need the the dongle and the time to put it together so that my dad can have the net at his house(a mile from the closest hot spot). After that I'll try my brother's place(2.5 miles) and my sis's(3.5 miles)

Edit- added the cost amounts.

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachmentbuilt one similar to this using aluminum flashing and a spare antenna I had laying around. This one is easy and I got 12db or so out of it.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-WIFI-A...eption-Booster/

forgot how to post my pics in replies - pic of mine is attached.

I scavenged an old rca dish from the inlaws when they moved into thier new place - the others left it behind - its complete mount and all. just for this reason - if I ever actually get around to it heh.

like to see some actual pictures of that you are using now what other have done. internet is easy to search, but would be interesting to see someone here doing it.

this is the dish I salvaged, the pj has priority however

Why can't a DIY'er just expand the pickup range from the router?I don't want to put funky add-ons on my laptop.It seems to me that the router needs more pickup strength.Or should I just buy a router with a stronger/longer range?

Hacking the Netgear WRT54G wireless router with custom firmware that allows you to almost triple the signal strength is done all the time :


http://lifehacker.com/software/router/hack...uter-178132.php

Diy wi fi antennas are referred to as "Cantennas" because of there use of a tin can to pick up single direction frequency for miles. my buddy built one of these, and we didnt think it worked at first until he climbed on the roof while I sat at his computer shouting back to him when we picked up a signal. we ended finding one, and he lives in the middle of nowhere, so just out of curiosity, i grapped my windows mobile phone which has a wifi finder in it, and drove around until we found the siganl we were using. it turned out to be an apartment complex almost three blocks. It was interesting.. if ytou would like to find out more type in "cantenna" on instructables.com. id provide you with pics and such bu the websites plocked at my work cus of there hacking instructions most likely.