Friday, April 3, 2009

Rubber Duck

I decided I wanted to control my robot from a greater distance, so I looked at easy fixes: new antennas! The antennas I were using were 1/4 wave antennas meaning that they are 1/4 the length of the radio wave they're transmitting. Well, it turns out that if you move up to a 1/2 wave antenna (1/2 the length of the radio wave), you get a 3dB gain, or a signal that is "twice as strong." Well, I went with a 1/2 wave antenna for my robot control signals and a full-wave antenna (5dB gain) for my video link... Hopefully it works :-)

OK! PICTURE! I guess these are called "Duck antennas:"
And, if they're rubber, they're called "Rubber duck antennas."

Oh, and it is Beth's birthday, so be sure to wish her a happy birthday :-) I know, no embarrassing videos like last year.

6 comments:

An old person said...

Why would you link to that!? WHY!?

Thanks...now everybody won't forget. Yay.

Sweet antennas, btw(coughexcusepostformentioningmy birthdaycough)...

:-\

Ben&Brit said...

Um... Because I'm evil? Hey, what would you do if you had a perfectly good video and it was someone's birthday? Waste it? :-D

Ok, ok... I can remove the link if you want :-)

The same old person as before said...

Lol...
Ok, that explains it, but I disagree with the "perfectly good" part. :-D

Oh, and I meant now everybody won't forget about my birthday -- no one ever forgot about the video, so the link doesn't matter... :-P

Ben&Brit said...

Man, you still hate me for making that video, don't you :-\

And as far as "perfectly good," I was just copying, "I mean, if you have a perfectly good snake, what else can you do with it but to put it in someone's bed? Otherwise, you waste it!"

Jowy H said...

SWEET! I wonder if you hooked it up to the "I beams" in a skyscraper, if you would have a giant microwave antenna. :D HEY!!! You could melt all the snow in Denver all at once!

Ben&Brit said...

LOL! I wish!

What actually happens is the signal gets more directional. So, a 3dB gain is actually a "focusing" of radio waves so it appears to be a signal twice as strong if you're looking at the side of the antenna, not the top or bottom.