Wifi Router external Antenna mod.

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alpar26

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Nov 24, 2015
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Hello,
I have a portable router. After my first holiday at a Hotel and low wifi signal experience, i have decided to add an external antenna to my mini router.
Here it is:
router.jpg


But i can not find where is the antenna on this device.
Where to soldier antenna cable and any more information i should know?
Thank you.
 
Solution
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Unless you get lucky and they label something ant or similar it will be close to impossible to find. All a antenna is wire with a certain resistance and certain optimum length leads. It can just be a pattern of copper traces on a circuit board. Used to be that you could find things like amplifiers and those would connect to antenna but they are so small now you can barely even see the parts much less figure out what they are. Some wireless chips have the amplifiers build into the chips.

The old days of being able to get info on chips is long gone. They want large amounts of money to provide even simple technical data about there products.

The boards is more than 2 layers so it likely not be possible. Still the first...
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bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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If you are very lucky this device will use a separate antenna connector that is on the other side.

What it likely is using is a surface mount antenna similar to those used in cell phones. Now in theory you could connect a external antenna to these but most people do not have the equipment to make any modification to a device using surface mount technology. Long gone are the days of using a hand held soldering iron to most electronic work.

Now if this device has a FCC or CE registration number you may get more information from the filing they must make to government. They many times will document what types of antenna are used and their locations. But the first step is finding the number and the somewhat larger one is searching the databases to get the documents they filed.
 
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bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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If it uses a standard antenna connection ...similar to the ones used in laptops.... it is just a special cable that snaps into the connector.

I doubt a electrician can do this, likely a place that repairs cellphones is your best bet. It may be cheaper to just buy a different device that has a way to connect antenna from the factory.
 
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kanewolf

kanewolf

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If soldering is beyond your technical skills, then don't unscrew the four screws holding that circuit board. This is not the right product for you. You should find a different commercial product.
 
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alpar26

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Nov 24, 2015
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I have already unscrewed and looked otherside :) There was cables connects to batteries. Yesterday I couldn't see anything looks like antenna. Today when I will back home I will check more carefully and make a photo of it.
Anyway I will buy a new hardware this will be trash device for me. So I am taking chance to break it down while trying.
Thank you.
 
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bill001g

Titan
Aug 9, 2012
28,365
2,766
125,640
Unless you get lucky and they label something ant or similar it will be close to impossible to find. All a antenna is wire with a certain resistance and certain optimum length leads. It can just be a pattern of copper traces on a circuit board. Used to be that you could find things like amplifiers and those would connect to antenna but they are so small now you can barely even see the parts much less figure out what they are. Some wireless chips have the amplifiers build into the chips.

The old days of being able to get info on chips is long gone. They want large amounts of money to provide even simple technical data about there products.

The boards is more than 2 layers so it likely not be possible. Still the first step is to find the output pin on the ralink chip. That I know is the wireless radio chip and it will lead to the antenna eventually.

I see nothing obvious and there is little to no documentation on this device.
 
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Solution
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alpar26

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Nov 24, 2015
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4,510
Yea thank you all. I thought it will be simple like in youtube videos with usb wifi dongles.But my router has no obvious antenna that i could solder an antenna. I don't have guide documentation with this router also.
Thanks.
 
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