There are many different types of wireless antennas and one of the most underused is the directional wi-fi antenna. It will be used for shooting a wireless signal down a hall way or creating a point-to-point link. Directional wi-fi antennas can be directional such as a panel antenna or semi-directional like a yagi antenna and even highly directional like a grid antenna.
It should be used in areas where you need to cover like a 60 degree horizontal zone. This provides you with two benefits, first you are focusing your wireless signal in the area that you need it and two, this will increase your security because half of you signal is not going out of your building. Omni-directional antennas emit signals in a circle pattern with usually half of your signal leaving the building. If you signal isn't out side your area of operations then you won't have war drivers knocking at your dooor.
Yagi antennas narrow your beam even more; this can be used for short distance point to point links or to blast through obstacles. Point to point links can be buildings that are a couple blocks apart or in a smaller campus environment like a campus. Use Yagi antennas if you have some links that need to get through some sort of obstacles like trees or thin walls.
Highly directional antennas serve one purpose and that is to provide point-to-point links at longer distances. Grid antennas are very popular for point-to-point links because the perforations let the wind go through it. IF they didn't have the perforations then every time the wind blew the directional antenna would mover causing the link to drop.
If you are setting a up home and or small to medium business you should focus on using directional antennas. They will save you money and give you a more secure network.
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Source: www.articlecity.com
