Earlier today, Antony informed me that I hadn't yet shown the world my cheapskate version of a high-gain 2.4GHz antenna for 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth. So here's the antenna in all its duct taped, rabbit ear pole glory:
So it may not be the most attractive antenna up there, but I can get roughly +5dBi off this when it's fully extended and properly positioned (it's directional, unfortunately). I pulled one of the poles off an unused pair of television rabbit ears, lashed it up to the side of my monitor with duct tape, and then connected it to the antenna pad on the bottom using coax. The concept is pretty simple - 2.4GHz has a wavelength of roughly 12.5cm. This particular sort of antenna picks up wavelengths λ/4 and 3λ/4, in this case 3.125cm + (6.25cm*n). The antenna is 64cm long, so I usually have to shorten the length a bit after extending it full way to achieve maximum gain.
It's also brought me some sort of strange cult following, especially among the ranks of the science department, and to a lesser and stranger extent, the history department.
In other news, I'm getting rid of some of my useless stuff on Craigslist. If you want an analog phone that's still good as an address book and day planner, a digital wristwatch sans band, 1GB of DDR2, a Casio fx-115MS scientific calculator, or an HP ze4xxx/Compaq 21xx port replicator, let me know.