I have a wifi AP and a network camera some distance away (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31s5oAd3j%2BL._AC_.jpg ). The network camera has 2 antennas which can be pointed in different directions. The AP has no visible (movable) antennas. Relative to the line defined by the AP and the camera, how should the antennas be pointed? In other words, should I point an antenna directly toward the AP, or perpendicular to that, or something else?
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Perhaps this is a Physics.SE question!– JosephCommented Feb 22, 2021 at 10:22
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What type are the camera's antennas? Are they omnidirectional like an AP's? Do you have photos and/or model numbers?– grawity_u1686Commented Feb 22, 2021 at 10:29
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It looks like this: images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31s5oAd3j%2BL._AC_.jpg– Mike LevinCommented Feb 22, 2021 at 15:48
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1 Answer
That kind of antenna radiates in a flat disk shape out the sides of the stick. Much less power goes out the "ends" of the stick. So you want the sides of the stick to face the AP. You definitely don't want to point the stick at the AP like you would point a finger, because that would provide the worst coverage.
The typical plastic stick antennas on many Wi-Fi APs (wireless routers) and on the camera in the picture you posted, is a plastic shell protecting an omnidirectional dipole antenna. Please note that in antenna terminology, "omnidirectional" means equal coverage in all 360° of a flat disk, not a full 3D sphere. Equal coverage across an entire 3D sphere is called "isotropic".
Generally, it's not safe to say much about the RF characteristics of an antenna you can't see (the plastic shell conceals the actual metal antenna inside), and even a seasoned antenna engineer wouldn't want to say too much about an antenna they can see without testing it first, but these cheap, relatively low-gain omnidirectional dipoles are so common in the Wi-Fi industry that it's pretty safe, when seeing a short stick like that, to assume it's something like a 3dB omnidirectional dipole.
