On: I amplified my home's Wi-Fi with aluminum foil

[pjc50]

I don't know why people are arguing so much with this when it's straight out of textbook antenna theory. Evidently it's very HN to work things out inaccurately from first principles.

Edit: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/course/astr534/AntennaTheory.html

"An antenna can be treated either as a receiving device, gathering the incoming radiation field and conducting electrical signals to the output terminals, or as a transmitting system, launching electromagnetic waves outward. These two cases are equivalent because of time reversibility: the solutions of Maxwell's equations are valid when time is reversed."

[Obi_Juan_Kenobi → pjc50]

> Evidently it's very HN to work things out inaccurately from first principles.

I find this quite common among people that consider themselves technically minded. One of the key indicators I have for truly 'smart' people is an inclination toward curiosity with new things, and perhaps a degree of humility.

[aylons → pjc50]

Thanks for the reply. I'm on the move, in my phone, and has regretted on posting the comment as it is hard to elaborate further given the situation.