Dipole Antenna for 2 4 ghz Wifi

Dipole antennas are simple to construct and can be used in many applications. In this video I will show you how to construct a dipole antenna for the 2.4GHz spectrum. Dipole antennas are normally ½ wave but I will show you how to build a dipole greater than a ½ wave and still keep it resonant to the 2.4GHz frequency by making use of a loading coil. These antennas are normally sold as an extended range 5dBi antenna.
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[@HobkinBoi]

Perfect tutorial. Thank you! I made an antenna to improve the internet connection quality of a cheap tablet. It was already partially broken, so I thought if I really break it then it really wouldn't matter. But, it all went well.

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

Amazing the difference one more wing element makes. Great work Andrew, thanks.

[@albertlawson5460]

Spot on..!!! I'm a ham radio operator and you hit every point of building a good antenna for WiFi.

[@timjachson1336]

Thanks for the tips, I made 2 of these and solder them to my NVG510 ATT Uverse router. The extra ant boosted the signal enough that I now have WIFI in my total home, and eliminated a WIFI extender.

[@abo3abid1]

Well done, Mr.McNeil I loved your Chromecast video (what brought me to your channel), and like this one too. The public needs more antenna design/implementation info. Subscribed already :-)

[@fleiteh]

I would definitely like to see some videos explaining some fundamentals on how different structures match certain radio wave lengths.

[@agentbertram4769]

Instructional / educational white board videos are always welcome Andrew. Your teaching skills are good. Use them.

[@johnbaas3117]

thank you Andrew I'm going to try this.

[@janleroux]

Very helpfull and informative. Thanks for making these videos and sharing your knowledge!

[@ministeriomundialliberando8403]

Thank you!! ThIs is not a fake, it works. I've modified some simple 2.4ghz antennas and I've gotten very good results.

[@Desertphile]

I love your antenna videos. Thank you.

[@andrewmcneil]

Thanks Desertphile much appreciated.

[@arned432]

I make one and use this on cheap wifi crap(simple dipole cost ~3-4 USD) that have problem with 1 wall(~5m to router), I get 15dBm from this and rock stable connection. Thank you for teach me how antenas work and how build them.

[@ministeriomundialliberando8403]

It really works, I've done some modifications with good results.

[@RossPotts]

Nice. Looks like the one you made, though at the same.percentage, had a more stable graph. Looked like the alpha was a bit jumpy and yours was built like a workhorse. Sweet.

[@andrewmcneil]

Hi Ross I thought that myself but i did not want to call it. :-)

[@MrJeffschefke]

Added this to a travail router I had stuck it out the top, vary nice 20-30% improvement over the internal antenna

[@joaomarson1249]

Thanks Andrew, just built antenna as per your tutorial...works fine..!!

[@andrewmcneil]

Good to know Joao

[@GlennLittleford]

I'm using a pair of ESP32's as a wifi serial bridge to a rover. This looks like a good improvement over the supplied aerials, thanks.

[@fredrikh2003]

Amazing!! This actually works a bit to my Zodiac M8000 Thanks😉

[@fredrikh2003]

Or not, it just had a problem

[@mxracer6920]

hi! your antenna works great! i made one for my x5c.....increased my range very well! thanks for the post

[@Digitaltiger123]

I saw no change in my routers wfi range,it actually dropped a bit! I did it exactly as shown exactly same measurements!

[@JansenduPlessis]

+1 For the fundamental videos

[@andrewmcneil]

hopefully as soon as I get time.

[@rh4009]

+1 also would like to understand the fundamentals. How to reverse engineer an antenna? Which frequency band is a given antenna tuned for?

[@johnbaas3117]

hello, I'm trying to make a longer version of this antenna with two coils, like the Linksys 7dbi omni antenna, I'm modifying the standard antenna, can you give some directions on how to make it work. I've copied the measurements of the Linksys but I'm not sure if I have to put the thicker part in at the bottom where the thin wire connects to the extension.

[@raylsistemlerbir6763]

Number one this work. Süper antenna

[@lydev8163]

I would definitely like to see some videos explaining some fundamentals

[@shawnperry2500]

Very nice informative video. I am very interested in you doing some white board videos with the fundamentals. This is a topic that I feel could benefit me greatly, as I install satellite systems for video and internet. Great to have an easy DIY solution to resolve wifi coverage issues.

[@ismailco]

Thank you, it works

[@djtahir7752]

Good job sir ...

[@travisweide9071]

also i have found some conflictions on the loading coil. does the size diameter and number of turns really not matter?

[@lienmako2617]

hei, i just want to know what is d purpose of that rings like in the middle , or in short, the one that u soldered ? is it ok to make that kind of antenna with out that rings like?

[@nielsandersen6164]

This is great, thanks for sharing! :) Does the distance between the shield and the connector matter? If so, what is the minimum distance?

[@joseangchoo5812]

Excellent tutorial. Is it possible to use the hot wire of the coax cable to make the antenna instead of making it with a separate copper wire and by the way the unit will be more robust .There will be only one solder joint connecting the braided wire to the ground plane...

[@SteveWrightNZ]

It's "around the same" because it is the same. The loading coil has so much inductance that it effectively disconnects the top of the antenna.

[@jezm-l3941]

Andrew. Can you supply part numbers for you connectors please? I am going to make my own dipoles and mod my sky sr101 router as its doing my head in! If you could do a parts list that would be amazing. Brilliant informative videos. Keep up the good work.

[@SotosAlex]

Very thorough video! I have a question though: What about really long antennas (like TP-LINK ANT2415) that house lots of this half wavelength dipoles? Do the manufacturers just repeat the same thing over and over again? Or is it something else? Please, shade some light on this issue!

[@mafiopal]

Awesome. I'd love to see how much tolerance a "wifi gun" has, how much it matters to be precise, from metal disc to antenna, powered lines -- for the newb who doesn't know he can do something more. Thanks.

[@berniebeaudry8510]

Nice work Andrew. Do you know anything about UHF antennas?

[@hermannkamgue168]

hi ! thanks for the quality of your videos , those are very instructifs! Have a question please can you give me some explanation about how to do a yagi antenna for wifi connexion? thanks

[@jadedsoul1]

Hi and thanks for taking the time out to teach us. iv got a T link card in my PC. trying to get a good signal to the guy who is 3 flats above me. at the moment im using a tv signal booster with the extended pigtail with a piece of wire. now that goes into the female hole in the tv booster. there is no metal touching the outer metal, so is not correct. i have a portable tv Arial, a V type. im getting a boosted and better signal. what would be the best way and proper way to get a internet wireless antenna connected to the tv booster. also is it worth doing. Im deffo getting a better singal 3 bars 52 mbs without the booster/amp im getting a bar and pages take ages to load. look forward to your answer. cheers again.

[@lindagiovannazambanini6218]

Maybe i missed it...but which ALFA dipole antenna are you comparing it too? The 5dbi or the 9dbi? Great video btw...using the screw to make the turns is brilliant! :) Thanks...

[@josjakoornneef6810]

Hi Andrew, I want to try to build this antenna for 1.2ghz. Do you mind helping me with the dimension or better with formulas to calculate the dimension of the antenna for other frequencies? I think this will help me and other users alot!

[@matthewbarnard461]

Useful video. Is the ground plane really necessary? Some antennas I have don't appear to have that big thick black pigtail like yours.

[@jm-hb4zc]

thank you for sharing your knowledge Andrew , i'me currently trying to find the best antenna for my gate motor 330 mhz can't find anything on the web do you have any ideas ?..... regards john ..Australia

[@washingtonmarcel1090]

Muito boa sua explicação

[@TheCladi8or]

Oh my . good work! Question...i have a drone( syma x5c) id like to extend the range by adding antenna (any type of wire i hope) to the transmitter. Its 2.4 ghz. Whats my best option for this? Add to existing antenna? How long wire to add? thank you!!

[@michaelporter8289]

It would be a good idea to do a tutorial of the mathematics behind the calculations of making an aerial.

[@lemperayam6146]

awesome...job

[@anthonyalleyne8724]

I love your video. I have a2 questions. What is the material of the metal like tubing and what is the length of the metal like tubing??

[@pwgodfrey1]

VERY GOOD THANKS

[@CarlosFelipeRequiao]

Thanks for your tutorials!! Could we add another coil to the top of the antenna and another segment 3/4 wave to get a 2X 5/8?

[@thebeststooge]

I have seen them for sale on Amazon with three coils and equal space between each coil.

[@mikeylt999]

Can you add more coils for more dbi?

[@demoking1422]

Good Job Thanks !

[@andrewmcneil]

demoking1422 My pleasure, thanks for the feedback

[@neail5466]

Hello can you please explain the loading coil? Any weblink will also help. Does the gain improvement can be done with the coil? And what is the limit I mean when the impedance will be so much that it won't be able to generate sufficient radiation! Thank you very much for this guide.

[@travisweide9071]

i hope your still active on here. so far i love the channel. a couple questions. can you explain the wave length of 2.4 ghz. i think i am doing my math wrong. can you explain why there is the "ground plane" shielding? what each part of the antenna is doing? the 1/4 wave passed the grounding... what the loading coil does? and what and why the end of the antenna is shorter then 3/4 wave length... im pretty new to this stuff so sorry for that

[@matthewhall9692]

Also I have two male SMA ports on the back of my pc coming off the motherboard. It came with a dual band wifi antenna but it got ripped off. I was hoping I could make these and increase the length of the pig tails so I can find an optimal place to mount the antenna. I'm assuming one sma port is for 2.4ghz and other for 5ghz?

[@lorinrandall3508]

I'm all for the white board fundimentals Andrew.

[@davidjames9935]

It may have been better if you showed split screen of you actually removing the one antenna and installing the other. Also for reference it would have been informative and interesting to screw in a 3rd antenna which is a 1/2 wave dipole antenna (the short 50mm one) for comparison. I noticed you received one more AP signal with the 2nd antenna and the average # of active APs detected seemed higher than with the first antenna but that could be a "fluke".

[@matthewhall9692]

I had some electrical wire laying around but us must use thicker stuff because I couldn't just bend it around a bolt like u did so easily. What gauge wire are u using?

[@O.B.K]

thank you sir

[@irishguy200007]

If your not using an sma connector and are soldering it direct to the board, will you be soldering two wires? One for the central antenna and the second for the outer shield? I have watched loads of videos and they just solder one wire to the board

[@ralph9987]

Brilliant video. I would love to see the maths for this antenna for VHF marine at 156.8MHz. I want to build a vertical that has a bit more gain than a dipole at 2.15db. can you please help me?

[@starchaser2489]

I want to do this Antenna mod on a 2.4g wireless camera, any idea as to what length the wire should be? The camera antenna wire is only 1" long now. Any help would be great. It's going in a R.C. glider. Should the mod be done on the receiver or the little antenna wire on the camera?

[@huge0004]

Absolutely wonderful videos, especially because of their simplicity. However, could you kindly explain the reason for the 60 mm and 70 mm lengths? I am trying to construct a similar antenna for 2100 MHz (for my mobile GSM Broadband modem).

[@markcorden]

Hi Andrew, I am looking to build some Radio Control 2.4GHz dipole antenna and need a UK source of the ground plane shields as per your video, any info on where to buy them would be appreciated

[@Aluminata]

I have a discontinued Futaba radio control transmitter 2.4 ghz. I wonder if this might work - it is missing the antenna!

[@mustafaawadelseed1962]

can do a fundamental video specially on the smaller antenna

[@rj540]

Could you make a 9dbi 5.8ghz dipole? what would the measurements be?

[@89oi]

I desire to make the "longest" bluetooth antenna that is still optimal. The bluetooth pcb antenna is a short squarewave shaped pattern. Should I cut off most of the antenna so that only a stub remains and then solder a wire to the stub to act as my antenna? I am building a bluetooth speaker and I would like to inlay copper wire into the wood that would act as the antenna. A 32mm length copper would not be aesthetically pleasing. Is it possible to use a longer wire without diminishing the antenna's sensitivity? What is the longest length wire that I can use?

[@stevefox3763]

Is the loading coil necessary, what if size is not a concern? Can we just run a straight section instead of the coil or does it affect how the antenna works after the 1/4 sections? If not, is there any reason why a full wave dipole would not work?

[@bjornahh87]

is it possible to use this method to make a gsm antenna ?? and how long/short should the antenna be at fex: 1800mhz or 2100mhz ??

[@goneflin]

Could you share specs for constructing a 465 Mhz collinear walkie talkie antenna , 5db gain with a bnc connector?

[@Ryuuken24]

Just made a similar antenna for my quadcopter that runs on the 2.4G band. The antenna that came with it was 27mm, I cut it down to 25mm, I don't know why but, I got way more interference because of Wifi signals around here. Also, there is a Celltower 500 meters, does that cause interference? I swear, every time I'm 15 meters up in the air, and I seem to lose control of whatever I'm flying.

[@joco137]

Could this be used on the wifi jammer as well? to add range? Or is it pointless?

[@Bush_Fam]

Hello. Need some antenna help. Is there any way I can send some documentation on what I am trying to do.

[@naafiabdulnaafi7476]

I heard that incresing lenght of antenna of 2.4 ghz should be 31mm or 27mm changing the lenth then this cause problem then y 5db antenna is longer

[@lorinrandall3508]

Question Andrew? What gauge wire would you suggest, 20?

[@paulohonestman]

good video man

[@gordonreeder3451]

Very nice. Just what I needed. I need to add a better antenna to a TP-Link TL702 travel router and this antenna looks like it will do the trick. I'll take measurements and take pictures as I go along.

[@bioskahabinivous9906]

5:15 How do I know how many turns I need? Im planning to make a VHF balun to match the impedance, thanks

[@iver.1010]

Hi. I'm messing around at work with antennas and I would like to test my own antenna on 3420MHz omni. I have some troubles figuring out the dimensions. Could you help me in any way?

[@tnap1979]

would this also work for 2.4ghz rc transmitter ? FrSky QX7S 2.4ghz

[@danosdotnl]

whats your video showing how to make a diy wifi dipole?

[@vorkev1]

HAVEING A LOADING COIL ACTULY GIVES BETTER RECEPTION OR I SHOULD SAY IT GIVES BETTER SIGNEL

[@simonsullivan8344]

Will this antenna improve Bluetooth performance? my Bluetooth headphones die after ~ 10 metres

[@da4270000]

a full wave or larger I would like to learn about besides just length if you even have time think you

[@irishguy200007]

It has to have an outer shield and inner core which means two connections to a router board etc, so how come I see people soldering one wire to the board. I understand this video because I expected the antenna to have two points of contact but I don't understand the router antennas with one grey wire comming from the antenna.

[@wensz1]

is 1 mm in diameter copper wire good?

[@arymascoo]

What a meter tool instaled to windows computer to see the performance of this job compare with industries generally have. I see in common 2.4 Ghz is 6 loop, and 5 GHz 4. What you have is 4 loop and work for 2.4 GHz. How can it be explained

[@Calypso993]

why didnt you use the core of the coax as your active element?

[@md.sabbirhossain4596]

I am speaking from Bangladesh.What materials are made in the WiFi Router Antenna, Please let me know

[@shanetillery254]

Is that 14-2 house wire or 12-2?

[@SpudGuns]

+1 for fundamentals video please!

[@anthonyalleyne8724]

And what dbi is your finished antenna??

[@GurpreetSingh-eu7mr]

Can we use it on transmitter

[@alunroberts1439]

The number of turns maters from a Ham Radio guy just like in a transformer

[@mrdr9534]

Nice video, as always. And if You ever find the time to make some tutorial on the basics that would be great :O)

[@jamyschoby]

WOW JUST WOW, I JUST CAN'T SAY ANYTHING ELSE BUT wowowowowowoowowowowowowowow

[@ramosel]

What factors am I missing? Speed of light 299,792,458 m/s divided by 2.4 GHz gives you a wavelength of .1249 m or 124.9mm. Wouldn't a 1/4wave be closer to 31.2mm? Is there some factor for propagation through air or diameter of wire or...?

[@athertop]

I am keen also to hear a response to this question from @andrew mcneil I just pulled apart a 2.4GHz whip antenna (dipole) from my RC transmitter and it was 26mm long with 26mm ground plane/shield, but as calculated 2.4GHz full wavelength is 125mm, so a quarter wave would work out as 31.25mm. So why 25-26mm on the dipole for 2.4GHz? I also pulled apart a 5dbi 2.4GHz antenna, and the design is almost identical to the antenna being built in this video, aside from the dimensions - mine has a 25mm ground plane, followed by 22mm straight, then the coil, then finally 56mm straight. I only get SWR readings of around 15 with all these antennas. Wondering if the lengths could be better to improve SWR

[@jamesxdreyes5051]

sir Andrew .. my Wifi is Tattoo and there's no router can i use dipole .. you built can i make it .. what materials needed ? if you see this . Please Reply . :)

[@hotel-undinfoportalaschaff1798]

Thank you for this Tutorial. But there is one mystery left: WHAT is that "chewbin"...? "Chewin"..? Is it a part of a pen? At the one end it looks like metallic..? Thanks

[@eknaap8800]

@Hotel-und Infoportal Aschaffenburg: In his dialect he means: 'tubing'. ('Schlauch' in Deutsch).

[@prakashgp3160]

Hey, can I use two such antennas connected to two ends of a cable and use it to bypass large concrete wall, by placing antennas at each sides of the wall ? (as a medium for signal to pass through)

[@orangepickel2]

Yes you can however you should use rg8 cable which will have the lowest signal loss. This is what is called a "Passive Repeater". I have built several of these over the years in the marine VHF 168.0 . Works best using a Omni directional and directional. The U.S. Military has been using these for years. In your case a biquad aimed at the router and the Omni on the other side.

[@myown8934]

orangepickel2 can i use this for RC transmitter, thanks