For testing purposes I used a program called netstumbler.It is a free download at www.netstumbler.com.I used a Lucent Orinoco Silver card.Here is a screen shot of it in action.I first used my wireless card without the antenna.After I plugged in my new antenna there was a solid 5 decibel gain.Throughout testing I intially did not have the metal protective cover on the zip disk.I put the cover on the disk and tested it out and there was no discernible difference in signal.