Oh. My.

Ionotter gave me a code, so now I have a LJ. Yay.

I was told to go rent and watch “Mystery Men”. It’s a spoof on superhero movies, featuring three nerds out to be superheroes, a potential female sidekick called the “PMS Avenger”, and a real superhero who does not fare well at all. Haven’t seen it, but will. Rutledge Dingo makes for a good advisor when it comes to wacky movies. ^.^

I’m pondering the merits of cantennas. Wireless Designs (or maybe they are called Securiflex Networks?) sells these babies on eBay, when you look for “war driving”, at between $50 and $85 a pop. Inside are, I kid you not, cans. What looks like bean cans, actually. Closed at the rear end, near where the connector is, and open the other side. And a bit of a copper rod sticking out of the connector into the can, rod looks like it is 1/4 wavelength. They are described as “yagi” antennas and are, of course not. Cans do not make yagi. “Securiflex Super Yagi patent pending” … it’s a cantenna. You heard it here, folks, though I’m not sure you heard it here first ^.^

But, and here comes the big but: These things actually work. The happy owner used one to pick up an open access point two floors above us in an office building. It was directional enough to pinpoint the signal … point the tube at the ceiling, and sure enough, the signal gets stronger. So now here’s the pondering: Maybe the fat lobes on these babies help in war driving? Maybe you want a cantenna rather than a real bona-fide yagi. Sure, the yagi is directional, and polarized (if true yagi and not the rod-and-washer design ), so it’ll go a longer distance. But, maybe, you don’t want it that directional, and not that polarized, so you can pick up lots of stuff around you.

Which means a cantenna is neat for this application. Maybe. The resident RF geek is building a yagi. We’ll do comparisons.

Still, paying $85 for a cantenna must suck ). And Wireless Designs are still scum for selling a cantenna as a yagi. Smart scum with an idea I wish I had had first, but scum nonetheless ).

Lesson learnt: This stuff is so easy it is scary. Orinoco card for $45, cantenna and pigtail for $85, plus some shipping and handling. Stick it in a laptop, load some freeware, and find 38 open access points downtown in an hour. I’ve read about the threat to business by war driving. It’s one thing to read it, and another to see it in low-cost, so-simple-even-an-AOL-subscriber-can-handle-it action.

Someone recommend a card for me? I am intrigued now and wish to play. Get an Orinoco, or better a D-Link or Linksys?