Attaching parabolic grid antenna to linksys router

Hey Sup Forums, my friend and I are trying to hook up this:

criterioncellular.com/antennas/wifi-ism-safety-band/24ghz_grid.html

To a linksys wrt54gs that we bought at goodwill. We stripped the antenna wire and alligator clipped it to the input wire on the antenna. We also tried attaching it directly to the circuit board. Unfortunately there is no noticeable difference when it is attached or detached. Any idea what we need to do differently or change?

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tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=93682
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dont do this itll fry your brain

Pics of antenna connection? Your best bet would be to add SMA connectors to the end of the coax and the antenna. That antenna is highly directional, which means that in most cases, you need to be within 7.5 degrees of the antenna's front to pick up a signal. It's really meant for longer range microwave links and not access point use.

Here's the end of the parabolic antenna. We alligator clipped this to the board on the router with no results. We had standing directly in front of the dish compared to on the sides, but it didn't seem to effect the connection at all.

I've done this before, you need to buy an adapter for the router to connect it to normal connectors since lynksys uses proprietary ones, then you connect the antenna to a normal pigtail and into the router using the adapter.

Don't use alligator clips. Look up how to put SMA connectors onto coaxial cable and do that, although that cable looks like LMR-400, so you might need an adapter.

Too short antenna wire
Fucked up ground
Not soldered properly, or no proper connectors

Complaining it's not working...

No balun either.

Hey man, we're obviously not experts and it's pretty hard to google this shit. We tried looking for quite a while before resorting to Sup Forums. We didn't want to solder anything if it wasn't going to work in the first place obviously.

Thanks, that sounds like something we need to look into.

whats on the other end of the radio link? a starbucks?

Yeah, the braided shield and center conductor both need to be connected - it's better to re-attach a connector to avoid a discontinuity that messes up the impedance of the transmission network.

You should also check with the stock antenna again to make sure that... you didn't fry the transceiver on the AP doing these tests.

We had checked again after we tried all these tests, nothing is fried. I guess we should be thankful.

According to TFWS, it had an N type connector. Did you cut it off or were you expected to crimp it down? You should be able to find a type N to male SMA connector which is most likely what you will need to connect to the router.

whoops that is the wrong image.
tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=93682

Don't expect to get much help if you aren't a HAM but you can read and learn.
hsmm-mesh.org/hsmm-mesh-forums/view-topiclist/forum-42-antennae.html

We didn't purchase the antenna directly. Our networking teacher was throwing one of these out back in high school, and we haven't touched it since. That was four years ago, otherwise we'd ask him. Hopefully we can crimp a new end on it.

Okay, just so everyone knows we're not completely retarded: there is no SMA connection for an external antenna on this model router we have. That's why we went the direct route. Sounds like we'll need to get a different router that supports an external antenna and also crimp a proper ending on this coax cable.

Its not the right shape for 2.4GHz. Try a 5 inch PVC pipe lined with aluminum foil. Attach the antenna at one side at the end. Don't put aluminum foil over the other end. I forgot the best length, but you can figure it out.

I got a mile range with this. Don't do this in cities.

What is the point of this?

For fun.

Hopefully it works m8, godspeed user.
I am actually kinda interested in this.

Stop wasting your time and just get an Ubiquiti AirGrid M2HP for $70.

But we got these parts for free, user. No harm in trying.

How well would these work through dense trees at a range of around 1 mile?