In today’s world, where all the people of this world are busy in their own hectic life, busy schedule, and they are so busy that they do not even have time to look at themselves and their health. This can make them earn more money, but at the end of the day, after following a busy schedule and completing one of the hectic schedules, what they lose is their state of peace.
They become mentally stressed and tired that they do not have time for their families, for friends, even for themselves. There is no source of entertainment in their lives. They go early from the house, and when they come home, they feel tired, and at this stage, nobody will be energetic enough to boost up the family members and cheer them up.
Whether a small interval or a full hour, entertainment is essential to everyone’s life. Nowadays the source of entertainment has increased a lot. Television, smartphones, radio, and many more such things are there. We should take some time out of our busy schedule to get the required amount of entertainment every day.
But sometimes, what happens is that we do not get the required results from our antenna of different devices. It can make us angry, and sometimes we release this anger to our people. Therefore, rather than hurting someone, we should know how to fix that problem. In this article, we are going to discuss how an aluminum foil can affect your antenna signal. Let us begin now.
Does Aluminum foil help to Enhance the Antenna’s Performance Anyhow
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This is the question we all have wondered and even heard about it at least once in our lifetime. You may have seen your parents or your grandparents experimenting with your TV antenna when you do not get better picture quality.
This was very common at the time of our grandparents and parents. Our elders have told us that wrapping Aluminum foil or tin foil can help to get better results. But, at that time, there was no such evidence to prove this fact. Now, we have the proof of Aluminum foil increasing the antenna’s performance.
A university named Dartmouth University has claimed that Aluminum foil does improve your antenna’s performance. Researchers at Dartmouth University have successfully demonstrated their experiment, and they have gotten positive results as well. They have started their research to know what Aluminum does and how it can improvise an antenna’s performance.
What they did is that they first penned out some of the shapes of antennas and receptors also. This was done to make the signal of any wireless connection directional. They have contacted their experiment for all the wireless devices like TVs, radios, wifis, and many more. They have selected wifi as a testing device as wifi is small to handle, and its results can be observed easily.
After a lot of effort, they have ended up getting the perfect shape of the reflector, which can make a place of your house full of signals while some places where there will be no signal at all. After selecting the shape, they made a program named Wiprint, which will be a blueprint of the design, and when asked to print it, it can make the exact shape using a 3D printer.
The material used for its manufacturing was plastic, and when they printed their required shape, they covered it with Aluminum foil, as this was their main aim, and then placed it on the wifi router. The results were very astonishing. Researchers were pleased as their work has been successful.
“With a simple investment of about $35 and specifying coverage requirements, a wireless reflector can be custom-built to outperform antennae that cost thousands of dollars,” said Xia Zhou, a Dartmouth assistant professor.
How Aluminum increases the Antenna’s Signal Catching Capabilities
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Now, let us understand what Aluminum does to your antenna, which enhances your antenna’s performance and its signals strength. Till now, we have concluded that if we wrap Aluminum foil around the antenna of any wireless operating devices, then signal strength increases, and we get the best results out of it. But how it works? What Aluminum do and why wrap around antennas only? We will answer all questions which may have come up in your head. So let us begin.
Most people don’t pay attention to the antennas and praise only the body of the devices and think that this is important than the antennas. This is wrong; antennas are the essential part of any device which are wireless and receive signals from the air in the form of waves. What antenna have to do is that they catch the waves of the required frequency to perform their further work. Antenna’s surface is used to catch all those frequencies.
What happens when we wrap Aluminum foil around it is that the surface area of the antenna increases to a great extent. This will make it to receive more signals, which in turn generates more and more signal strength as well. That’s how you can enhance the antenna’s performance. We wrap Aluminum only around antennas because it is only those antennas that receive signals, and to increase the performance of our devices, our antennas should have capabilities to catch signals as much as possible.
That is how Aluminum foil increases the signal strength at your antenna, and as a result, you get a better experience from your wireless devices. Usage of Aluminum may have raised a question on your mind that why only Aluminum and not other metals.
The question is very scientific, and therefore rather than going into the science behind it, we will answer it as the Aluminum is the most fitted and suitable metal for this purpose. That’s why researchers at Dartmouth University have used this metal rather than any other metals.
Other Methods to Improve Antenna Signals and What to keep in Mind
If the antennas of your device are located in a perfect position, then there is no need to make any modifications to your antennas. Therefore, your priority should be to fix your antennas at a place where your antennas receive the maximum possible signals.
Once you have achieved this goal, then there will be no need to think about the ways to increase your antenna’s performance anymore. We all know that prevention is better than cure, and it suits this scenario as well. Therefore try to get the perfect location for your antenna and to make it possible to keep these following pro tips in your Mind.
- While setting up your antenna, try to experiment with the locations. Change the locations often so that you get the perfect location.
- Must have a long wire in case the location you find is far from the cable’s reach.
- Always lay down your antenna in a horizontal position if you want to fix a digital antenna.
- Always keep your antennas in the direction of the tower, in which your antennas will receive the signals to operate. This will help it to catch signals as much as possible. This is what should be the first and most important priority while setting up the antennas, which is to increase the signal strength at your antenna.
- Keep it as high as possible. It is the major drawback of every house. They just check the location around their houses and still do not receive the best signal strength. Your antennas should be at a higher place so that it can receive signals quickly, and there is nothing in between the tower and your antenna. Anything between them is only going to decrease the signal strength as a barrier. Therefore mount it as high as possible, and it is highly recommended by the experts also.
Another option to get the best signal strength is to use an antenna amplifier. It will cost you more, but its results worth its price as well. You will be satisfied with its work, and if used correctly, then it will work way beyond your expectations.
They stick with your antennas to catch signals as much as possible. One antenna amplifier is enough for you, but sometimes it happens that your antennas are placed at such a position where chances of getting high-quality signal strength are very less than at that scenario using two antenna amplifiers will do the magic for you. But, if you are getting the best from only one antenna amplifier, then don’t go for the second one to get the more.
Conclusion
We have discussed a lot about the use of Aluminum and can increase the antenna’s performance, and if it does increase, then how it does. We have also discussed how Aluminum to help antenna and what are other options as well to enhance your antenna’s performance.
All this information and tips we have discussed in this article are enough to give you a better insight into your wireless connections and what you can do to get the best out of it. Talking about the device, Dartmouth University’s researchers have made, it will cost you a lot of money if you don’t have a 3D printer.
Researchers are finding ways to make the device more compatible and more directional, as well. So, that you can save your signals from going outside of your house and keep it inside of your house only, hopefully, this article has helped you a lot, and you will leave with some better experience as well.
