Which way does my laptop aerial face?

[ChrisGreaves]

OK, I grew up with AM radios and seem to recall that you had to have the aerial oriented properly to get the signal (from the low-powered country station 140 miles away).

Does it matter which way my laptop is facing when I sit here in McDonalds (*) connecting to the Second Cup network across the street?

The Second Cup connection is more robust/stronger/faster right here in McD's than McD's own network.

(*) The coffee is cheaper in McDs (**)
(**) Although I sometimes take a Second Cup cup of my own coffee into Second Cup, drink it, and take home a half-cup of cream for Saturday morning's coffee treat at home.

[Claude]

I have a WI-FI analyzer which shows the same signal strength no matter which orientation I hold the unit, I don't think it matters with that technology which way your laptop is pointing.

[ChrisGreaves]

I have a WI-FI analyzer which shows the same signal strength no matter which orientation I hold the unit, I don't think it matters with that technology which way your laptop is pointing.

Thanks Claude.
I had hoped that aerial technology had advanced since the mid-50s, but then, I also suspected that transmitters for WiFi networks were probably different from radio signals.

Also, I can't recall ever seeing anyone's response (to a problem) along the lines of "try rotating your laptop".

Now I think of it, I suppose the AM radio signals were just sent out as a sphere of waves emanating from the top of the mast.

Does anyone (here) know if a WiFi signal can be configured to "fit" into a specific shape?
For example, could Second Cup tell their signal to be strong for only twenty feet across the width of the store, but 100 feet along the length.
And no more than ten feet high so that people in the hotel above the store can't "steal" the signal?

[StuartR]

The antenna in your laptop is probably oriented to point straight up (if you have Wireless N then you may have multiple aerials with different orientations).

Rotating the laptop could make a difference, not because of aerial orientation, but because you may move the aerial further from an interfering signal, or you may put more of your laptop in between the transmitter and the aerial.

Edited to add
Here is a description of some different transmitter aerial configurations used to shape the wireless signal

[BobH]

Thanks, Chris!

I haven't seen or heard the word "aerial" used in quite a long time. It seems that it was replaced by "antenna" in common usage here.

Hmmm! I wonder if they are the same thing or different is some respect?

[John Gray]

I haven't seen or heard the word "aerial" used in quite a long time. It seems that it was replaced by "antenna" in common usage here. Hmmm! I wonder if they are the same thing or different is some respect?

I would suggest the probable reasons why the word 'aerial' has gone out of fashion are:
a) because quite a few people seem unable to speall it properly
b) to avoid confusion with the Arial font

[viking33]

Thanks, Chris!

I haven't seen or heard the word "aerial" used in quite a long time. It seems that it was replaced by "antenna" in common usage here.

Hmmm! I wonder if they are the same thing or different is some respect?

From an old Radio Physics Course by Alfred A. Ghirardi (page362).

Quote
Note: The words aerial and antenna are used interchangeably by the layman, although accurately speaking, the top or elevated portion of the antenna is the aerial, and that portion which completes the electrical connection between the elevated aerial portion and the instruments is the lead-in. The antenna is the entire system consisting of the aerial and lead-in together.

[BobH]

Thanks, Viking Bob!

I had some long-hidden recollection that we have come to mis-use the word "antenna."

As John said, we probably gave up on "aerial" because we distrust our spelling.

[Bigaldoc]

From an old New Yorker's perspective...

In my younger days, everyone referred to the radio thingie on the car fender as an aerial. Even those of us who used to experiment with our in-home radios, table or otherwise, called it an aerial.

I think the word antenna fell into common use in the new-era of television. As a high school boy, I once had a part-time job installing TV antennae on customer rooftops... (did I get that plural correct?)

[jonwallace]

Does it matter which way my laptop is facing when I sit here in McDonalds (*) connecting to the Second Cup network across the street?

What you really need is one of these...
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That should improve your reception (wifi, if not social) enormously.

[viking33]

Does it matter which way my laptop is facing when I sit here in McDonalds (*) connecting to the Second Cup network across the street?

What you really need is one of these...
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That should improve your reception (wifi, if not social) enormously.

Why does this remind me of those useless AM radio antenna "boosters" of some years back?
A Pringles can? Really?

[BobH]

From an old New Yorker's perspective...

In my younger days, everyone referred to the radio thingie on the car fender as an aerial. Even those of us who used to experiment with our in-home radios, table or otherwise, called it an aerial.

I think the word antenna fell into common use in the new-era of television. As a high school boy, I once had a part-time job installing TV antennae on customer rooftops... (did I get that plural correct?)

You and I are surely from the same era, Big Al! And, come to think of it, I never heard of a TV aerial; so I agree that the old, correct word died with the advent of the new technology.

You should see the look on my late 20's daughter's face when I call the thing on the car fender and aerial. At first she thought I was calling it a mermaid.

[viking33]

BobH,
You mean it's NOT a mermaid?????

[stuck]

...I never heard of a TV aerial...

Meanwhile here in the UK I've never heard a TV aerial called anything other than a TV aerial!

Ken