yagi Self built 'X-wing' yagi antenna

[Richard 6]

I thought people here would enjoy seeing the progress so far on building a complex 'X-wing' antenna. I'm still testing and figuring it out, but this is looking good so far.  I welcome any thoughts you have.

[Admin 2421]

Yes, it is an interesting antenna, but you can also give the size ... ??? !!!

For this antenna would be interesting to do a simulation ... ???

[Admin 2421]

"I think the most interesting thing would be this kind of antenna ...

[Richard 6]

I only recently got a CAD program working on the computer.  Sadly there isn't anything that I'm able to figure out for linux (so 2nd older laptop w/ windows).  I'll share a 3D model and dimensions soon.

Your own design is incredibly beautiful and elegent.  That's a much higher level of construction skill.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Richard

[Richard 6]

Hopefully this upload will work. I still have a lot of learning.  I may try to do a cantenna instead.  There are a lot of options and a lot of different opinions.

http://towardzeroimpact.net/WiFi-antenna.pdf
 

Edited February 28, 2019 by Richard

[Admin 2421]

"I tried an X-Yagi with 15 elements...

[Richard 6]

This looks so interesting. I would be curious to know what software you used for this.  That looks like the 'Autocad' XYZ symbol, but I've never heard of Autocad doing waveguide modeling.  Being able to model before building would be great in helping to build a 15dbi antenna.
I might go with a yagi inside a cantenna, which McNeal has demonstrated.

[Admin 2421]

It"s CST STUDIO SUITE  - modeling three-dimensional electromagnetic structures.

[Richard 6]

I'm really flattered that you modeled my antenna.  I'm going to look into seeing if CST offers a trial version of their software.  Thank you for all the input and advice.

In the meantime I have another question before building a yagi-cantenna.
This video that McNeil made, shows his yagi attached to a BNC connector which is then soldered to a pigtail.

It seems to me that it would be more practical to solder the two ends from a disassembled dipole antenna in order to make the connection to a router.  The reason that I'm asking so much, is that I don't know how easy it will be to troubleshoot a problem. I tried connecting the yagi above to a cellphone using a long a long cable with a zigzag at the end as a couple of Indian people show.  But it gave no advantage that I could tell.  I wont necessarily know if a problem is due to the router, the cable, or the antenna design

[Admin 2421]

Yagi-Cantena of McNeil is not exactly a good antenna --- a few years ago I did such a simulation and was not conforming

[Richard 6]

That's very interesting to hear.  I don't see any measurements in that video as there have been in other ones that he's made.

I instead used the measurements from this site - https://www.ab9il.net/wlan-projects/wifi6.html

everything is connected with screws, so if I (cough) screw up, then it's easy to switch out the yagi.

I took your suggstion with the dipole antenna and soldered each of the two wires one to the copper plate on top and one to the copper plate beneath. Then soldered wire btwn them forming a loop. I wasn't able to find actual metal tubing that was large enough, but found a 4in cardboard tube and rolled a cpl layers of aluminum flashing to reflect radio waves.  I'll try to get measurements off the cad program if you want.

[Richard 6]

On 2/28/2019 at 10:13 PM, Admin said:

It"s CST STUDIO SUITE  - modeling three-dimensional electromagnetic structures.

I wonder if you know where I could find access to this as a 30day trial.  It doesn't look like that program is available anymore

https://cst-studio-suite.software.informer.com/download/

[Admin 2421]

Richard,try this...https://downloadly.ir/software/engineering-specialized/cst-studio-suite/

,,,or this...https://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5373753

[Richard 6]

Thank you.  I'll look into it.

FYI - I'm reading this site with my X-wing antenna about 75meters away from the building.  Hopefully I can work on an antenna that will extend to 90 meters

[Richard 6]

So after months of trying the two above antennas at different open WiFi sources and comparing with commercial yagi design, it does not seem to offer enough to get signal more then 20m away.  I've tried to get CST studio suite, REMcom or Altair software without success to examine the design.

So

Given that you have the software working.  Would you be willing to design either x-wing or yagi-cantenna adjustment to allow the model to reach 20-25dbi (for receiving a signal 100m away).  I would be willing to offer compensation or trade.  I don't know of any other means to accomplish this other then to just buy an off-the-shelf design and those are always advertised as higher gain then the real-life performance. (also, I just like to build my own stuff).
Thanks in advance.

[Eric 7]

try to build this one..

[Richard 6]

Thank you Eric.

That looks possible.  Do you have a 3D view or front view of it?  Is it a circular or square profile (if 'box reflector means square then that would answer my question. 

It's a lot less elements then the x-wing that I built.  Would it be able to boost to 25dbi or so?

[Admin 2421]

,,,see this...

,,, to obtain an X-yagi antenna with a gain of 25dBi directivity, you must have at least 25 X-elements...!!!

[Richard 6]

Thank you admin.

I will review this more when I have greater internet time.  I'll build the design based on your drawings with the lip on the rear element.  However I will add 1-2 more 37mm disks to see how much gain I can get out of it

[Eric 7]

i build this antenna but with no lid on the reflector and add 1 director (37dia) .. i was able to connect to 288mtrs AP thats according to google distance measurement..

Edited August 9, 2019 by Eric

[Richard 6]

Interestingly after reading a lot more on these antennas, I came across Andrew's vid for a biquad yagi antenna. 

He states (min3:30) that adding elements doesn't increase the gain beyond a certain point, and even hampers performance.  But he doesn't remember the term for  this falloff.  Anyway the design looks buildable with copper tape (which I don't have) or wire (which I do have).  So what I wonder is if anyone knows how the wire diameter affects the performance? I have 1.3mm steel wire and 2mm copper wire (old house wiring).  He also implies that the back reflector can be curved or straight.  I wonder if anyone has thoughts on that.
Anyway, here are some model renderings for various biquad yagis and I can give measurements based on McNeils videos if there's a desire for that.
 

[Richard 6]

There is also an antenna called a 'Microstrip Patch Array' antenna which is enormously simple to make.

https://www.rfwireless-world.com/calculators/Patch-Antenna-Calculator.html

I just don't know enough about the parameters like 'dielectric constant' so if anyone here is familiar then I could model and build one of those.