I opened my USB 802.11b adapter - help me locate the antenna!

Can anybody help me find the antenna inside my MSI-branded 802.11b USB adapter? I am going to insert the thing into a can as the probe for a cantenna, and want to make sure I orient the antenna along a radial line inside the cylinder.

Is it the gold square in the second picture? Or maybe the gold nodule in the upper-left corner of that picture?

Pictures are here:

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Thanks!! Tim

Reply to
Tim Haynes
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It's the blue rectangular thing in the lower left (labelled WTC).] It's a multilayer ceramic strip line antenna. My guess it's a "blue chip" antenna made by Centurion.

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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

That's my hunch, too.

I'll have to check when I get home.

The model number is UB11B.

Thanks for the advice - I think you are right about the front face radiation. I'm going to orient mine the way you have done yours and see how things turn out.

Thanks for the advice!! Tim

Reply to
Tim Haynes

It's definitely the same one (of course, I took the plastic casing off so I could photo the innards).

I have uploaded higher resolution photos (the ones I had posted had been resized down to save bandwidth). See anything interesting anew?

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Thanks Tim

Reply to
Tim Haynes

Wow - awesome bit of analysis there Jeff. That is really helpful to know, and something I would never have thought of myself. Do you think that if I position it in the centre of the can (the appropriate distance from the back as per the cantenna calculations page) that that would be the best positioning of it?

Thanks again!! Tim

Reply to
Tim Haynes

The lump in the upper left looks like what has been discussed before as a test connector, deliberately filled with potting gunk to make it unusable once the device leaves the factory.

The foil loop looks like it might be the antenna.

What is the FCC-ID of this widget? That might lead to more information on the

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pages.

The

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page has "Parts & Accessories" that looks a lot like my "DLink" 802.11b-mini-USB.

I don't see your gadget there, though. What's the model number?

In any event, the radiation is probably off the front face. I would suggest an orientation like mine, using the cantenna page to decide where to position it, based on the Inner Diameter of your can.

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Reply to
dold

I might think 4906 lower left is a ceramic antenna, but there are suspicious elements that look like interruptions in the gold foil loop, like the black blob between the blue chip and black chip, on the line.

Reply to
dold

: Is it the gold square in the second picture? Or maybe the gold nodule in : the upper-left corner of that picture? : : Pictures are here: :

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Photo 4906, upper-left. But I'm not quite sure as you're photos are not precise enough..

m.

Reply to
Marcin £ukasik

I don't see that

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like your photo at all. The FCC ID might be informative.

Reply to
dold

I think it's a u-FL connector. See:

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to tell from your photo. More detail required.

Orinoco uses a different connector.

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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

No analysis. It just helps to have some experience with the components. Each antenna vendor seems to have their own favorite product color.

Actually, it really doesn't matter much if the radiation centroid is in the exact middle of the can or off to a side. The can antennas that have a 1/4 wave antenna on a coax connector bashed in through the side, are certainly not in the exact center. The boresight antenna alignment might be a bit off if the feed isn't quite centered, but everything else will be roughly the same.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

: It's the blue rectangular thing in the lower left (labelled WTC).] : It's a multilayer ceramic strip line antenna. My guess it's a "blue : chip" antenna made by Centurion. :

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Oh, you may be right. Didn't know that they're manufacturing on-chip antennas... Well ;-) Anyway, as I wrote before - I think that it is a connector in a upper-left corner of the board. Looks like the one from Orinoco a/b combo pcmcia card.

m.

Reply to
Marcin Lukasik

: I think it's a u-FL connector. See: :

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Difficult to tell from your photo. More detail required. : : Orinoco uses a different connector. :
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Yes, it's uFL. Orinoco a/b combocard pcmcia uses EXACTLY the same, not MCCard. But as I wrote, combo cards only..

m.

Reply to
Marcin Lukasik

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