Here is a pic of my semi professionally made (that is I spent time in the wood shop) dish setup for my D-Link DWL-122 802.11b 11 Mbps USB Adapter:

To develop this dish setup, I did the following:

1. Used ideas from http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/
2. Mostly the focal point math from http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/usbscoop.jpg
3. Took a wok lid and removed the wooden handle
4. Cut a small length of wood (a) (this gets the USB dongle to the calculated focal point)
5. Cut a small block of wood (b) (this connects the dish to the camera stand)
6. Drilled the appropriate holes into the the two pieces of wood
7. Put a long screw into the block of wood (b) that extends through the other side (this joins the length of wood (a), dish, and block together)
8. Embedded a nut the size of the camera stand’s butterfly bolt into the block of wood (b) and used a hardening putty to keep it there
9. Put two thumb tacks into the length of wood (a) to hold bands around the usb dongle

The whole setup collapses in seconds, is aimable, portable, and gave me terrific gain… though I don’t have comparison screenshots. This is a great setup for a laptop on the go trying to get the distant wifi access.

Here, the woktenna is seen by the Cantenna. I had the Cantenna hooked up to a wrt54g running dd-wrt as a wireless bridge to another access point.

See also:

• Wireless Antenna Booster
• WiFi Antenna