Building a 2.4 GHz WiFi helical antenna

Taking way too long to talk about helical antennas and then somehow trying to build one on camera.
This was supposed to be a part of the satellite reception series of videos, but I ended up not considering it one due to the topic being so broad and applicable in everyday scenarios, such as the WiFi antenna build you will see in this video.

Links:

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:48 - Antenna polarization
04:24 - Helix examples
07:03 - Needed materials
10:14 - Making the reflector
15:58 - Winding the helix
19:57 - Attaching the connector
20:54 - Matching strip
22:59 - Finished antenna
25:00 - Performance testing
27:41 - Conclusion

Music:
Cosmic Love - Bruno E.
Hanging Out - Bruno E.
Sunny Morning - Bruno E.
(can you tell that I didn't bother browsing the audio library that much?)

[sethalump]

I'm floored by the effort + attention to detail you've put into this. You tackle the most difficult types of DIY antennas with ease. You explain it well and don't get lost in the annoying math.

[laurioxas]

This is something Im going to try this weekend. Have a garage about 70meters away from house.
Edit: Holy smokes, antenna works as a charm, tested with my phone, and about 50 meters away its still full signal. speedtest also shows same result as if I was standing near the router.

[sobi-won]

Great video. The humor peppered in cracked me up. You've had the best videos on antennas I've seen so far. I'd love a video showing a DIY double helix for wifi.

[Lampoonlongtails]

I like the use of the old fridge. And the 3D print form for holding the helix.
Another excellent project, almost complete (don't forget the weatherproofing).
👍

[Joe-ircd]

Love your videos !! Way back, when I started the FCARC ham radio club. A fellow ham and I, set-up a temporary repeater on 444.250mhz. We didn't have an outdoor cabinet to mount the gear in. But we did have an old refrigerator ! So we used it to house the radio, controller, power supply and duplexer. We dubbed it the "Fridge -a- peter" !! It worked out very well and got some laughs too !
Keep up the great work !

[JohnOverstreet]

Thank you for not cutting out your mistakes when editing the video. This is what it's REALLY like making something of your own! It's good that you know which parameters matter and which don't.

I was glad that you expanded the hole for the center conductor of the type-N connector. I was telling the screen that the hole should be the same diameter as the dielectric in the connector.

It would be interesting to see what the VSWR curve looked like. Do you have a nanoVNA?

[coreyb]

We built high gain antennas 20+ years ago trying to network our houses together, pringles cans, satelite dishes, flower pots. our ultimate problem was the ficus trees in our area acted as giant radio sponges. we were able to get up to 3/4 mile range in a straight shot.

[RinoaL]

I'm going to try to find a reason to use this in a video. I really love how you presented this. Very useful!

[MrRObot-bin]

Keep doing videos please, this a gold mine.

[chopperlw]

Dude! I completely love your video style. I don't know anything about HF and antenna voodoo, but I just could not stop watching your video. Hope you get the money to resurrect your refrigerator soon. Thanks for teaching me a little. I wish I understood more about left vs right circular polarization, that hurts my brain a little.

[thealeas]

Good job with this design, I know this is an older video but I built an helical antenna last week-end and it's really good. It's so light and has good gain. For hand tracking I think this is the perfect little antenna.

[AlexCausey]

I have been thinking about building 4 Helical antennas for, 1296MHz EME. 2 left hand and 2 right-hand polarization with one feed point for a 4.5 meter dish stacked very close together. Those printed coil supports look awesome.

[dilushasamarasekara]

Nice practical video as always, looking forward to more content like this...

[gordslater]

I am impressed you used a spider as a drilling template for a hole

[edgeeffect]

I was watching one of your other videos and thinking "why has he got a fridge outside?" and thinking you must be crazy or something... now it makes perfect sense!

[coyote]

Hey, thanks for your time and effort making this video!

[romanescu_misha]

The 995MHz antenna showed at the begining looks rather like a marine (or currently a submarine) communication equipment not the satellite 😀 You've made my day, really.

[tanasegabriel]

Biquad behaves better when there is no direct visibility to the helix. At the helix antenna, in addition to the drop in reception level from linear to circular by -3dB, the reflected signal has reversed polarization and is not received by the helix antenna. It is ideal to use helix antennas in both parts, installed in a place with direct, unobstructed visibility. You can also use a biquad or helix as the primary antenna for a parabolic antenna, which seems to be sitting next to the rack, unused.

[fotografm]

Excellent video and I love the green fridge idea 🙂

[ethonwilles]

Great video. Very informative, would love a video on your ground station, and how/if you automate the collection of sat images.