"Don W. McCollough" hath wroth:
Well, the numbers I calculated are for an idea dish antenna. My guess(tm) is that this thing is anything but idea. Did you read my Google Groups reference to what happens when you use a USB dongle as a feed for a parabolic 18" satellite dish? The illumination pattern of the feed (i.e. the dongle) is VERY lossy, with much of the signal going off in useless directions. My guess(tm) is only about 15% of the RF that leaves the USB dongle, hits the reflector and goes in the general direction of the access point. 0.15 is about: 10 log (0.15) = -8dB of loss. That makes the antenna gain about: 8dBi (theory max gain) - 8dB (illum loss) = 0dB In other words, this contrivance is slightly better than the USB dongle by itself.