Hi folks!
I have a laptop with built-in wifi (Centrino) and I would like to extend its wireless range. I would like to be able to hook up an external wifi antenna to my laptop to do this without destroying it. I
realize this will void the warranty but that ended months ago and is not a concern.
Are there any forums or web sites that have such hacks or mods?
FYI, the specs on the laptop are:
- Acer TM 2420
- Pentium-M with Centrino Mobile techlology
- blah, blah, blah,...
TIA
On 23 Nov 2006 13:19:23 -0800, "Blue Streak" wrote in :
Simple, non-violent solution: Get a Wi-Fi PC Card with an external antenna connector; e.g., Buffalo WLI-CB-G54S Wireless-G High Speed Notebook Adapter
Complex violent solution: Connecting your Linksys to your microwave oven for 200 million gigawatts.
decaturtxcowboy hath wroth:
Would you settle for about 800 watts average CW power?
John Navas hath wroth:
Semi-violent solution. Drill and hole and add a pigtail to the internal MiniPCI card:
Thanks, dude!
I think I might even avoid drilling a hole and use some unassigned pins in the VGA port like this guy, Red Scorpion, did.
"Blue Streak" hath wroth:
Retch. Using the VGA connector for 2.4GHz will probably be rather lossy. That will work if you have an external amplfier to compensate for the loss, but not if you just connect an antenna to the VGA connector.
My preference is to use a u-FL to R-SMA (or R-TNC) bulkhead pigtail and mount it somewhere on the back end of the laptop.
Make sure the pigtail goes to the "Main" connector on the MiniPCI card and not the "AUX" connector. The u-FL connector is not made for a large number of insertion/removal cycles and will eventually break. The R-SMA connector mount should be reinforced as just drilling the plastic is probably not strong enough. Something like this:
but hopefully neater.
Thank you.
Very helpful.
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