Wi-Fi Antennas On the Cheap [802.11 Wireless]

It should be noted right off that I intend to research information regarding unconventional wireless networking use. You probably won’t find much here that’ll help with day-to-day wireless networking. Unless, of course, you’re desperate and don’t care that your setup looks ridiculous.

Probably one of the most popular things I’ve run across when looking into wi-Fi antennas is what’s called “WOKTENNA” or “WIFRY.” Admittedly, these names aren’t used as often as the concepts that are derived from them, but I think the names are funny, and you should too.

The idea is to use any metallic parabolic device (think about what you have in your kitchen right now that fits this bill) and to place a wireless USB adapter at the focal point of the selected parabola. Its been found that Asian cookware, like various types of WOK cookware work very well for this purpose. Here is a site that shows a number of examples when people combine USB WiFi adapoters with DIY antennas to make a “poor man’s wifi,” including several variations of the WOKTENNA idea.

Another cheap option is the parabolic reflector antenna. The one I used is called the Windsurfer; a template is available at freeantennas.com. The site claims that a 1:1 scale of the template will net you about 9dbi of gain, double the size and you’ll see 12dbi of gain.

But, how do the cheapies compare to the “proper” devices available for increasing gain?

Using a stock Fonera (from FON) version 1 wireless access point with DD-WRT firmware I attached various antennas and performed simple signal trials using a laptop and Netstumler. Below, you can see a screencap of Netstumbler’s output. The first section on the left was just some testing before running the trials. The stock Fonera antenna provides a mere 1.5dbi of gain, and at approximately 111 meters, gets a signal to noice ratio of -70 to -60 dBm. A large 5dbi omni-directional antenna attached to the Fonera provides a solid -60dBm rating at 111 meters. The same antenna with a Windsurfer parabolic reflector provides slightly more gain. Using a 10dbi directional panel antenna — the “proper” way to direct wireless signals — performs equally with the 5dbi omni-antenna with the Windsurfer attatched.

WiFi Signal Stregnths of various antenna methods. (Click to view full image)

Approx. range of trials. (Click to view larger) Tests were performed at ground level, folliage was not an issue.

The most surprising result, however, is the result seen with the stock 1.5dbi Fonera antenna and the Windsurfer parabolic reflector. As Netstumbler reports it, this arrangement provides just as much gain, even a pinch more, than all previous antenna combinations, including the 10dbi directional panel and the much larger 5dbi omni-directional antenna!

So, if you’re trying to get a signal outdoors or to the other side of your home, try throwing a parabolic reflector antenna on your current setup before laying down any cash on inferior solutions!

Coming soon… additional tests with the same antennas at a larger distance, new antennas, and a dual-antenna setup (Linksys WRT-style).

100s of Free Worship Backgrounds & Graphics [Church Media]

I was recently hired by a church in my area to maintain their computers, networks, information services, and web site.  Being a poor college student, and previously, a jobless high school student, I’ve gained an appreciation for frugality. That, combined with witnessing disproportionate amounts of cash misdirected in other area ministries, I am determined to support the ministries at this church by positively affecting the most people and supporting the ministry staff while operating under one of the smallest budgets.

One of the responsibilities I took over was the creation of the Sunday morning visual presentation (lyrics, sermon notes, announcements, etc). Previously, someone purchased stock photos from iStockphoto to use as backgrounds for lyrics. Unfortunately, it seemed that this person (long gone before I arrived) had very little money with which to work. There were only a handful of images which were only in small to medium-sized web quality; certainly not something that would look any good when blown up on a large projection screen.

So, off I went on a hunt to find web sites and Flickr users that would allow me to use their photos freely. Sure, there’s plenty of sites out there that offer spectacular photos made specifically for the purpose, but it all comes at a price. After some time, I’ve discovered a few good sites, and one really good Flickr group who freely share their works with the church community. Even if you don’t need backgrounds, or any of the images found on these sites, they’re a great place to get ideas for your own graphic projects.

Free worship and church backgrounds, graphics, and media:

• Shared Worship Background Graphics (a Flickr group pool)
• CreativeMYK Gallery (community dedicated to sharing resources)
  
• Background 4 Christian
• Church Worship Graphics (Flickr set by dtchristner)
• Christian Wallpaper (Flickr set by David Gunter)
• E-Water (offers simple, yet inspiring videos available in flash, PPT, or avi format) (Added 7/19/09)
• kineticFaith (focuses on providing a full suite of images and videos for central themes) (Added 8/20/09)
• VintageChurch.cc (web site dedicated to connecting churches with substantial resources to those with less) (Added 1/24/11)
• Free Presentation and Worship Backgrounds
  

Also, if you’re looking for videos or motion backgrounds, here’s a web site that gives them away for simply registering. They’re the real deal, and they’re doing a wonderful thing. Consider sharing your media with them if you have any to share:

• Muddy River Media

This web site provides a small selection of free video backgrounds in return for registering:

• Videos2Worship – Motion Background Loops (Added 11/30/10)

Speeding Up Web Sites with Flushing [PHP Speed Tweak]

Though, you should be careful when using it because it may or may not be helpful, depending on your application.

When a client requests a php (or any other server-side page) the server parses the whole page, then sends the resulting code to the client when it’s finished. Once the client receives the page, it can begin fetching images, or whatever media is on the page.

Using the following flush code could speed up the process for the client:

< ?php flush(); ?>

Be sure to remove the space between the right angled bracket “<” and the question mark “?”.

When the server encounters this tag, it will immediately send everything it’s already processed to the client before continuing on the rest of the page. For example, I use this code on another site right after the 3 codes for the 3 random header images are processed. This way, the client can begin fetching the images while the server processes and sends the rest of the page, which is mostly text.

Ultimately, we’re talking about milliseconds here, but its hundreds of milliseconds we might be shaving off. Again, with the site I mentioned above, it seems that by time the header images have loaded, the rest of the web site has completed it’s load. Not only did this save time for the user, but it gives the appearance that everything loaded at once rather than the page appearing with the header images appearing a few moments later.

Code responsibly.

Sounds Effects on the Cheap [Free]

What blew me away is that I hadn’t come across this web site before! I’ve done a few sound projects before and I always had to deal with what I could find, what I was given, or have to make the sound effects myself.

Usually the web sites that offer sound effects offer low quality stuff, or preview only. Other professional sites will offer a small free collection and keep the good stuff under lock and key. Still other sound effect sites look like a high school project hastily thrown togther with excessive animated GIFs and too many text colors.

Well, I was delightfully surprised to find Soundsnap. Soundsnap is a community web site where users upload, share, and download sound effects and music loops. Best of all, it’s all free and most of the stuff I previewed where of good or high quality. This isn’t a small collection either, there’s something like 80,000 different sounds. Though, 50,000 clips are music loops, but I suppose if that’s what you’re looking for, you’re in luck!

Here are some samples of stuff I was looking for:

127 BPM Monkey (I wasn’t really looking for this, but came across it, thought it sounded neat…)

Monkey

Powerful Thunder and Rain

Also, according to the FAQ and the Terms of Service, everything is offered at no cost and users are free to use for any purpose, commercial or not.

How to Find Your Server Path [Path to Folder]

Usually, one can just look up their absolute server paths in the help files of their web host. Sometimes your host isn’t so helpful. Just put the following code in a .page and drop it in the folder you want to know the server path to and tada!

< ?php echo getcwd(); ?>

Don’t forget to remove the space between the angled left bracket “<” and the question mark “?”.

Once you do that, send a complaint to your host.

Google’s New Blue Fav Icon [Favicon.ico]

So… A new blue fav icon adorned my Firefox location bar this afternoon when I fired up my iGoogle homepage.

New Google Fav icon:

Old Google Fav icon:

Is Google redesigning their logo or was someone at Google just having a slow Friday?

Perhaps it’ll just change back on Monday and the world will never know!! No. No. Never. I refuse to believe it!

Maybe changing the Fav icon was just a little nugget of nothing for the blogging community to chew on and create buzz… simply a clever ruse…

EDIT: Apparently the new icon isn’t yet appearing on localized versions of Google, but this is normal of anything Google rolls out anyway.

SEO Page and File Names

Just  a quick note because I thought this was a really good piece of information to know.

As far as search engine optimization (SEO) goes, a file or page name like this_is_a_file_name.htm will appear as one word to search engines like thisisafilename. So its unlikely it’ll be picked up in searches.

However, if you use hyphens instead of underscores like this-is-a-better-file-name.htm search engines will read it as this is a better file name thereby greatly increasing readability and searchabilty (yeah, it’s not a word, but I like making words here at 365D)

I have a lot of good stuff coming and lots of stuff in drafts. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get back to daily posting this next week.