Good source of 2.4GHz directional antenna?

[Jason Hecker]

> > I'm looking for something cheap I'd even MAKE it so long as it's
> > simple, quick to build, and robust/weatherproof.
> 
> I guess you've seen Jason Hecker's DIY Helical Antenna?
> http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/
> It's designed to have a gain of approximately 20dB.
> (Think he might even live in the ACT???)

I _used_ to live in Canberra, though moved to Melbourne quite a while ago.  
Though a mate is in the process of putting the two featured helical
antennas into service in Tuggeranong, as he was able to get a 3km link
happening with them last week.

In the links section on my page there is a link to a fellow named Darren 
who enclosed the helical as I originally intended.  It's being used mainly 
for getting video off a 2.4GHz feed from a hobbyist rocket.

Though there is a caveat which I am slowly investigating.  It seems that
not all PVC is created equal.  The PVC I used appears to not load the
antenna too much at 2.4GHz, as can be seen from the charts I made.  
Others have found it works better at 1.8GHz and one guy designed the
antenna for closer to 3GHz and with the PVC he used got good results at 
2.4GHz.  From looking around on the net, PVC has a dielectric constant 
between 2 and 8, depending on additive content.  I guess this could be 
fillers like glass or other chemicals.

-- 
Cheers,
jASON
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