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How to Make Your Own Directional Antenna

A directional antenna will transmit a signal to a greater distance, but have a limited angle. The signal will propagate further because the field is being directed at the receiver with a reflective surface, or puts out a directional field due to design. The average technician can build a directional antenna in about an hour.

Things You'll Need

Full set of tools Soldering equipment Used satellite dish Antenna cable OEM omnidirectional antenna

Instructions

Building a directional antenna
- 1
  Remove the transmitter from the used satellite dish. The primary node at the end of the extension arm can be removed by unscrewing it at it's base. The arm should be left intact.
- 2
  Mount the transmitting equipment's omnidirectional antenna onto the dish's arm, pointed at the center of the dish. The OEM antenna should not touch the dish. The OEM antenna can be surrounded with foil or light metal, with the only opening pointed at the dish. This will direct the signal at the dish, which will reflect it with greater efficiency.
- 3
  Mount the dish and point it at the desired receiver. The dish will have an effective angle of thirty degrees. The original dish mounting hardware can be re-used to secure the assembly in a fixed location.

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