Found this WLAN antenna on a website (thanks for the link Jason ;) )

Free antennas

As it looked REALLY simple, I decided to give it a try. Downloaded the picture from the website and printed it out on a bit of heavier paper.

And cut the bits out.

Get a bit of aluminum foil and glue the paper down.

And cut the shape again. Then make small cuts on the line using a knife.

And cut the two crosses with the same knife.

And put both parts together.

I started up my netbook and looked in Wicd Network Manager what the signal strength for my network (Lightning Network) is before the modification.

So about 72% during the snapshot or 68% for the live value at the bottom of the screen. This is through a 30cm concrete reinforced wall.

Now put the antenna in place.

And take a look at the screen again.

So we’re up from 72% to 80% and from 68% to 77%. Repeated this a few times and it seems consistent. Also when you rotate the antenna away from the wireless client, the signal strength drops. Should probably be better for accespoints with more antenna’s. Nice upgrade for virtually no costs and 30 minutes of time including the photo’s and writing this blog entry :)