WokFi is a term now commonly used to indicate a style of Wi-Fi antenna made out of simple low-cost Asian cookware scoop

Scoop (utensil)

In common usage, a scoop is any specialized spoon used to serve food.In the technical terms used by the food service industry and in the retail and wholsale food utensil industries, there is a clear distinction between two types of scoop: the disher, which is used to serve ice cream, measure a...

s, or similar easy-to-find household metallic reflective items.

Description

WokFi antennas can be fabricated out of commonly available scoop-shaped utensils (which need not be perfectly parabolic

Parabolic antenna

A parabolic antenna is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflector, a curved surface with the cross-sectional shape of a parabola, to direct the radio waves. The most common form is shaped like a dish and is popularly called a dish antenna or parabolic dish...

) in conjunction with a USB

Universal Serial Bus

USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

 Wi-Fi dongle

Dongle

A software protection dongle is a small piece of hardware that plugs into an electrical connector on a computer and serves as an electronic "key" for a piece of software; the program will only run when the dongle is plugged in...

. This approach is considered simpler and cheaper than classical home-built antenna projects (such as the popular cantenna

Cantenna

A cantenna is a directional waveguide antenna for long-range Wi-Fi used to increase the range of a wireless network.- Origin of the name:...

), but is a very effective method to boost the Wi-Fi connection quality, audit access point

Wireless access point

In computer networking, a wireless access point is a device that allows wireless devices to connect to a wired network using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or related standards...

 coverage, and even quickly establish WLAN

Wireless LAN

A wireless local area network links two or more devices using some wireless distribution method , and usually providing a connection through an access point to the wider internet. This gives users the mobility to move around within a local coverage area and still be connected to the network...

 viability – perhaps if a more professional setup is eventually intended.

Advantages

A significant advantage is that regular cheap USB passive extension cables can be used for five-meter (and sometimes greater) runs, with no concerns over proprietary fittings or microwave signal

Signal (electrical engineering)

In the fields of communications, signal processing, and in electrical engineering more generally, a signal is any time-varying or spatial-varying quantity....

 losses (such as when costly coaxial cable

Coaxial cable

Coaxial cable, or coax, has an inner conductor surrounded by a flexible, tubular insulating layer, surrounded by a tubular conducting shield. The term coaxial comes from the inner conductor and the outer shield sharing the same geometric axis...

 is used), since the USB communication operates in the 'slower' digital domain with standardised connectors. Chaining active USB repeaters and passive cables, it is possible to extend the connection even more (tens of metres), which is especially useful with Wi-Fi's microwave frequencies when line-of-sight

Line-of-sight propagation

Line-of-sight propagation refers to electro-magnetic radiation or acoustic wave propagation. Electromagnetic transmission includes light emissions traveling in a straight line...

 (LOS) obstacles (such as vegetation and walls) need to be cleared. If using mesh reflectors, usually with a grid under 5 mm, the antenna will be lighter and less wind-prone than larger dishes.

Performance

WokFi gains are typically 12–15 dB

Decibel

The decibel is a logarithmic unit that indicates the ratio of a physical quantity relative to a specified or implied reference level. A ratio in decibels is ten times the logarithm to base 10 of the ratio of two power quantities...

, with range boosts, thus 4–6 times over a bare USB adapter. Ranges (LoS) are typically 3–5 km, although an aligned pair of similar point-to-point transceiver setups may approach 10 km over a clear path. In addition, certain improved WokFi antennas, and antennae made using surplus 2-foot- to 3-foot-diameter round or oval satellite TV dishes, allow even far greater range, up to 20 km. Interference from nearby 2.4 GHz signals (perhaps from cordless phones, AV links, leaky microwave ovens, other APs or Bluetooth) can also be nulled out—a useful feature in this increasingly crowded spectrum portion. Additionally, the performance of abundant low-powered Wi-Fi "dongles", typically selling for approximately US$15–20, but of only 30–40 mW

Watt

The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...

transmitter power and modest receiver sensitivity, can be easily boosted with little more than cheap cookware or pot lids. The "sweet spot" on such ad hoc reflectors can readily be found by bringing the Sun's rays to a focal point, by taping a little ~ 1" mirror bit on the surface of the dish, to see where the sun's rays focus.

External links

• USB adaptors & DIY antenna = "Poor Man's WiFi" ? — Kiwi Stan Swan's site, where the whole WokFi thing sparked
• Urban Wireless - Dish with USB Feed — Parabolic Dish with USB Feed
• WokFi Instructables #1 — based around the web site above.
• WokFi Instructables #2 — Step by step instructions on making a WokFi.
• $10 wok keeps TV station on air — A Wokfi which spans 20 km
• Quickee WokFi — pictorial outline of a quickly made ≈13dB gain WokFi
• how to wokfi — Instrucciones en español con fotografias.