[jpk]

This reminds me of a class in college where one project was to make a waveguide WiFi antenna. You know the ones; often built out of a Pringles can.

On the day the project was due, we each demo'd our antennas and the instructor recorded their range, SNR, etc. Most in the class followed the Pringles can tutorials, but I was always kinda extra. So I used some kind of roof flashing coiled into a cylinder to get the length and radius tuned just right, and I fashioned a comfy handle to aim it using some scrap aluminum flat, and round wood stock.

Mine did really well, but it also had the widest variance in performance. We figured out that my wood handle could be held in a way in which you didn't actually touch any metal, but if you put your thumb up on the aluminum part of the handle, it instantly got way better SNR!

The instructor told us that touching the housing improved the quality of the ground because the capacitance of our meat acts like a short at those high frequencies.

[Aloha]

Yes - and not surprising, it's functionally acting like a ground plane.