Hawking HAI15SC 15dBi Hi-Gain Directional Corner Antenna

Average customer rating: 3.5

Rip it apart!
location location location
sorry - big step back
Not completly worthless
Amazing...

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Hawking HAI15SC 15dBi Hi-Gain Directional Corner Antenna

Manufacturer: Hawking Technology
Product Group: CE
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B0000DIET2

Related Categories:

External Modems

External Modems

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Wireless Networking

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Antennas

Product Description

Hawking Technology's HAI15SC, 2.4GHz Hi-Gain Wireless Corner Antenna, boosts your wireless signal strength from 2dBi (standard) to 15dBi! A large problem with many wireless networks is the poor coverage area of standard Wireless networks. Hawking solves this problem with a Hi-Gain antenna that attaches directly to the external antenna connector of your Wireless Access Point or Wireless Network Adapter. By increasing the strength of your external wireless antenna, your Wireless Network distance, signal strength and performance is significantly improved. Simply point your Wireless Directional Antenna in the direction of your Access Point or Network Adapter and easily extend your signal range and quality. The Hi-Gain Corner Antenna is the perfect solution for providing Wireless coverage in very large rooms, conference halls or buildings. The high power level of the antenna ensures that every corner of your application will be covered. The Hi-Gain Corner Antenna has been specifically designed for easy installation in the corner of a wall. This also allows for easier coverage of an entire building, room or hall. Hawking's Hi-Gain Antennae are designed to work with all Wireless Access Points, Wireless Routers and Wireless Network Adapters that have removable external antennae. By using the popular Reverse-SMA connector, the Hawking Hi-Gain Antenna can be used on most wireless devices. This means you are not restricted to just Hawking Wireless products. If you have another brand's Wireless Device with the same connector you may still attach the Hawking Hi-Gain antenna to it. Hawking has also provided added support by including two antenna connectors for specialized wireless devices. Simply unscrew your current antenna and screw on Hawking's Hi-Gain antenna and you're ready to go!

Customer Reviews:

Rip it apart!.......2007-05-10

This is a "deconstructive" review of Hawking's corner reflector. Basically I took it apart so you don't have to! BTW - I am an RF engineer, so I apologize if it gets too technical.

First let me provide a explanation of what a "corner reflector antenna" is. A corner reflector antenna is a very simple, but high gain type of antenna. It consists of a dipole antenna (a dipole is just a straight piece of wire cut in a precise way) and behind the dipole is an angled metal screen or plate which is called the reflector. The angle of the reflector is typically 90 degrees, which forms a corner and thus the name. The reflector focuses the signal so it is more concentrated, which results in higher gain versus a simple dipole.

Taking apart the corner reflector is straightforward, but it does take some time and muscle. I carefully but forcefully pulled on the gray plastic end caps. After some time, the end caps finally came off. This revealed an unlabeled, rather ordinary black "stick" antenna inside the white plastic pipe. It's probably a 5dBi collinear dipole. The antenna is connected to the coax cable via a panel mount SMA connector. I was able to remove this antenna, but it does take some torque because Hawking applied thread locking glue.

Based on it's construction, I have no reason to doubt the 15dbi gain claim. However, I seriously doubt the 90 degree vertical and horizontal beamwidths that the manual seems to claim. I guesstimate that 3dB beamwidths are in the order of 40 degrees horizontal and 30 degrees vertical, based on my experience with similar corner reflectors. This makes orientation MUCH more critical. If you are 15-20 degrees off, you could be losing half (3dB) of your signal! On the other hand, such a narrow beamwidth is a good thing if other people's AP's/client's are interfering. Any other transmitters outside of the main beam will be weakened, reducing your noise and improving signal quality.

Now to analyze the coax cable. The outer jacket is unlabeled white plastic, so you can't tell who made it or what type of cable it is. It's thin, about 1/8" thick . I cut off one end to see what's inside. The shielding is quite good. It's a dual shield, foil plus braid. The foil provides complete coverage. The braid is tin plated copper and has excellent coverage, probably 95%. The center conductor looks and cuts like pure solid copper, not copper clad steel. The center insulator (the dielectric) is a clear translucent, solid (not foam) plastic. When I soldered on an SMA pin, the dielectric easily melted! It's probably NOT teflon, but cheaper, higher loss polyethylene. Based on this, it's probably a RG-174 type cable, not the lower loss RG-316. Cables of this type generally have a loss of 0.6dB per foot at 2.4Ghz. The cable is 6 feet long , so you lose more than half (3.6dB) of your signal in the coax! Making a shorter cable and/or using better cable would help.

Considering how it's made, a lot of the negative reviews make sense. It's a 15dBi antenna, but you lose 3.6dBi in the cable so effectively it's only 11.4dBi. Plus if you don't point it within 15 to 20 degrees of your target (both horizontally AND vertically), you will lose even more signal. Used indoors, there is so much RF scatter that the actual direction of maximum signal can very often NOT be in the direction of the target due to signals being bounced around. You'll have to rotate the antenna in different directions vertically and horizontally to find the maximum signal. Used outdoors or in unobstructed area, just point it at the target and you're done. However, keep in mind that this IS NOT a weatherproof antenna, so don't leave out outside where the rain and sun will beat down on it.

Used properly, this antenna really shines. It provides a tremendous value for under $50. Antennas with similar gain will cost MUCH more.

location location location.......2007-05-07

it was either this product or the anntenna that looked like a telescope. the nice thing about this one is that the cord/connector cable is long enough to try out lots of different angles. we found one that might have been impossible with the cantenna. if you place this antenna in the same location as a decent unidirectional antenna it gets about the same signal strength but by placing it in many differ locations we found one that gives us a signal that is more reliable and faster than with a 9dBi unidirectional antenna

it even looks like a light which helps it blend in :-)

sorry - big step back.......2007-04-13

Service from Amazon was great,better than expected. This antenna however was useless to me. Standard omni ant gave 1 to 2 bars. My 7 dB Omni ant gave solid 3 bar reading. This one went from 1 bar to complete loss of signal when aimed at source and peaked.. I had hoped being directional would help.

Not completly worthless.......2007-03-10

after changing this antenna out several times with the motorola stock antenna on my wifi card,the results are, this antenna was a complete waste of money and is not as good as the stock antenna that came with the card.

Amazing..........2007-03-08

My house floorplan is extremely spunky. That also means that setting up my WiFi network was going to be extremely difficult.

Up until the point that I bought this antenna, I spent a total of $400 trying to get all my signal strength bars up to max, but rather, ended up getting mediocre connectivity, with occasional connection drops.

After installing the antenna, I get perfect signal, without the use of any repeaters in between. Hawkings is truly the best IMHO, especially when the quality of home/office networking gear is going to sh**. I just hope that the frequencies don't cause any long term health effects :)

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