NCAAbbs

yes i know its not an 'acctual death ray' but when looking for crap to paint on it someone on IRC suggested "deathray schematics" the schematics wouldnt have fit. and i liked the skull. so i put the name on. its actually a wifi 'antenna'. anyway who doesnt want something that says death ray pointed out a campus dorm window.

parents had dish network for a while, then switched to comcrap. so i took down the dish off the side of the house the other day. Since the wired network in the dorms blows, and im close to engineering and campus is wireless i thought i should make a wireless reciever for those times when internet dies. that and its summer and im bored.


First, I was ganna paint it. So I had to take appart the dish.



Since the txt/skull was to be white. i painted the dish white.




Then taped off the area i wanted to keep white. with exacto knife and painters tape.



tomorow, ganna give it a few coats of black. then order the directional antenna to put on the dish. +8dbi antenna.

thurs, is clear coat.

friday, sand/clear coat again.

let dry on weekend. and find/make a tripod for it so it can be free standing.
then assemble monday when i get the reciever.

costs:
-dish: free
-paint: 5$ for 2cans black 1 can white 1 can clear.
-tape: 5$
-exacto knife: 2$
-wifi card (msi, wifi/bluetooth): 23$
-directional antenna: 14$
-cord to connect antenna/wifi card: Freebie - 30$

Its a beautiful thing

If you can't beat my $4 Wal-Mart stainer uber wifi dish.... you should post pictures of the deathray burning in flames :)

how does one calculate a db gain? i see all these pictures (http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/68.jpg for example) that say a ~24db gain with a usb key... if i used something that already had a +6 gain +dish i'd be pushing FCC limits.... wouldnt i?

picture doesnt show it but there is black between skull and bone where the 'teeth' are. similar to the blue taped version. just got washed tahts why its a lil off colored in some areas

Have you finished this yet? I'm interested to see how it turned out.

oh yea, its done kinda, still need to find a good usb wifi adapter that will work with linux (SMP), and mac. and a tripod for the dish. but paint and stuff is done. the clear coat made it come out rather darkish, which looks nice. ill bring it to the next meeting probably.