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jesruiz's avatar
jesruiz
Explorer
Sep 16, 2015

Possible to use Omni-Directional Antenna to boost WiFi?

I'm looking to boost my Wi-Fi signal on a budget. On top of my travel trailer I already have a Magnadyne Omni-Directional Amplified AM/FM TV Antenna.

http://www.magnadyne.com/catalog/part.cfm?PID=729937&CID=25919

I'm wondering if I can somehow take that incoming signal and run it to a router antenna input in my TT. Not sure if that would work or not but its easier then mounting a separate wifi booster to the roof or my flag pole which is my next option.

Thanks,
Jesse
  • Remember your wifi still depends on the campgrounds service provider.

    This past summer while using my Netgear N300 Wi-Fi Range extender I was getting 5 bars, but everything was very slow and I couldn't stream any videos. The campground now has a new service provider, everything working good and I'm stream videos without buffering. We'll see what happen when campground fills up for the Halloween Weekends.
  • jesruiz wrote:
    Yeah that makes sense. Thanks for you quick helpful replies!

    I will start shopping around for a wifi booster. I was going to do a NanoStation Loco M2 on my flag pole but being that we're more of a weekend trip family I'd like to not add one more thing I have to setup and take down. I'm going to look into something I can permanently mount on the roof and hopefully fish down through where the Omni Antenna is mounted.


    Here is one option that I did. It is a permanent setup. The write up also includes adding a cell amp as well, I just decided if doing one why not do both
    Link
  • The Loco M2 is in the $100 range with WiFi and you can go up the Ubiquiti food chain from there. One option is a short vertical antenna and bullet amplifier and WiFi.

    I've been considering a batwing mounted Yagi and bullet amplifier. This would result in a very high gain setup but very directional. It's involves setup in the sense of raising/rotating the batwing. Flagpole mounting would be a option but with even more setup involved.
  • You could try a wifi adapter that plugs into a USB port if you are using a laptop and that will give you an external rubber ducky antenna which will have much better gain than the internal antenna.
  • Yeah that makes sense. Thanks for you quick helpful replies!

    I will start shopping around for a wifi booster. I was going to do a NanoStation Loco M2 on my flag pole but being that we're more of a weekend trip family I'd like to not add one more thing I have to setup and take down. I'm going to look into something I can permanently mount on the roof and hopefully fish down through where the Omni Antenna is mounted.
  • jrp wrote:
    antennas are designed to work with specific frequency bands. your am/fm TV antenna is designed for frequencies requiring a license to operate within. WiFi uses "public" frequencies requiring no license, typically either 2.4GHz or 5 GHz freq bands. So, the short answer is no, your TV antenna won't help with wifi signals.


    Looks like we were on the same "wave length" JRP!
  • Antennas are tuned to the frequency they will receive. The formula is: wave length = 1/frequency. Wi-Fi runs either 2.4GHz or 5GHz. UHF television channels range from 300MHz to 3GHz. So there is a little bit of crossover, but you will find that the gain using a TV antenna is very poor for Wi-Fi signal reception.
  • antennas are designed to work with specific frequency bands. your am/fm TV antenna is designed for frequencies requiring a license to operate within. WiFi uses "public" frequencies requiring no license, typically either 2.4GHz or 5 GHz freq bands. So, the short answer is no, your TV antenna won't help with wifi signals.

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