Right! So for a summer project, I decided that I was going to build a wireless network that reaches across this lake at my summer home.

Heres a satellite view, to give you some idea of  scale.

This whole plan was nothing more then a pipe dream until I was driving to work and found this laying on the side of the road in a garbage pile.

In case you couldn't tell, this is an old model Dish Network satellite dish.  They don't make them like this anymore, (they're smaller these days) and  Dish Network is currently phasing this particular model out. You can probably find one yourself if you're interested in duplicating this project, Check your local junkyard.
You might have noticed the ethernet cable hanging out of the front weather cover. To see if the idea would work at all, I initially mounted an 802.11b AP inside the housing, with it's antenna placed at the focal point of the dish.  This worked, giving me a range of around 500 meters, but had 3 major flaws. Firstly, The housing was not weatherproof at all. If it rained, I had to bring it inside, or have the AP short out.  Secondly, The antenna for the AP was omnidirectional, Greatly reducing my maximum range. Finally, 500 meters wasn't far enough to reach across the lake.

Enter the cantenna! This is a home made wave guide antenna, made from a can of Libbies Juicy Juice (cherry flavored) And a cantenna kit from Fleeman Anderson and Bird.

I chose a can of Juicy Juice because it is almost the same width as the amplitude of an 2.4 Ghz wave. I chose the flavor cherry because it tastes the best. This next picture is a close up of the N-connector and pin inside the cantenna.  I used a Dremel to cut the hole in the side of the can, and a can opener to cut off the top.

In order to connect the cantenna to the AP, Some minor modifications were nessicary, namely, cutting a hole with my Dremel for the pigtail to run through.

And this is just a close up of the connector the AP uses for the pigtail.

I've yet to test the cantenna connected with the satellite dish, but the cantenna alone has provided me with a usable range of about 750-800 meters. There is no doubt in my mind I will reach my goal and then some.