Is a Pringles potato chip can good for warscanning?
In a word, no. That is, it may work, but it won’t work as well as a “cantenna” made of a metal can like a coffee can or (my favorite) a spaghetti sauce can. If you’re going to go the distance to make an antenna yourself, make one that works well, not one that works so-so. Pringle’s cans are nonconductive cardboard, and thus do not operate in waveguide mode, as a metal can does. Rob Flickenger’s shotgun yagi adaptation of the “classic” Pringle’s antenna works, but it’s a lot more work, and in my experiments doesn’t do as well as a single tin can without the yagi elements. I don’t do a lot of warscanning, but I’ve tried several different things. At right is a handheld waveguide antenna made from a tin can that once contained a bottle of spiced rum. (And yes, it’s propped up on an old Tom Swift book!) It works, but it’s extremely directional. A shorter can would make it less directional.
In a word, no. That is, it may work, but it won’t work as well as a “cantenna” made of a metal can like a coffee can or (my favorite) a spaghetti sauce can. If you’re going to go the distance to make an antenna yourself, make one that works well, not one that works so-so. Pringle’s cans are nonconductive cardboard, and thus do not operate in waveguide mode, as a metal can does. Rob Flickenger’s shotgun yagi adaptation of the “classic” Pringle’s antenna works, but it’s a lot more work, and in my experiments doesn’t do as well as a single tin can without the yagi elements. I don’t do a lot of warscanning, but I’ve tried several different things. At right is a handheld waveguide antenna made from a tin can that once contained a bottle of spiced rum. (And yes, it’s propped up on an old Tom Swift book!) It works, but it’s extremely directional. A shorter can would make it less directional. I’ve had better results in warscanning by mounting a directional antenna on a camera tripod, and steer
