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WGR614v5 added new antenna

I'm trying to increase the range of my wireless connection using the Netgear 802.11G router and PC card.

I started by cutting up two pigtails and splicing them together to make a U.FL to SMA pigtail. This let me replace the fixed antenna on my router with a stronger antenna from airlink. But my signal range hasn't improved.

Here's the background:

I just bought a WGR614v5 wireless router for $9.99 after rebates from CompUSA. The first thing I noticed is that I didn't get signal through much of my house.

I wanted to start by replacing the antenna on the router with a $6.00 airlink 7dB antenna that I just purchages at Frys.

As far as I can tell, the non-detachable antenna for my WGR614v5 wireless router is 2dB, so 7dB should be a good increase, right?

I took the router apart, and found that the antenna was attached to the board in the router by a connector that appears to be U.FL (IPEX/HIROSE).

I clipped the wire leading into the U.FL connector and also clipped the wire on the SMA to TNC pigtail provided with the new antenna. After soldering the two wires together and securing the joint with heat-shrink insulation, I put the router back together and hooked up the antenna.

The signal is definitely not better, and may be worse! I get down to

20% signal in the next room about 40 feet away.

There is a round cylinder in the wire of the U.FL pigtail that I left in when doing the soldering. I don't know if this cylindar is some sort of resistor or other item. It's black and it says 'T-2' on it. Could this be impeding the signal coming from my new antenna?

Also, do I need to upgrade the antennas on both ends in order to increase the range? The literature for the airlink antenna says I also need to provide a better antenna on the client side if I want to increase range. I assumed that a better antenna on the router would improve both broadcast and receive strength, but maybe this is not true?

Lastly, does DrTCP really work? Should I be able to 'tweak' my settings and get a better connection when the wireless signal is moderate?

Note: I did purchase a TORX #8 to make it easier to take the screws off the back of the router.

Thanks!

Todd

Reply to
spammenow99
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Splicing cables is almost guaranteed going to be a problem. Best advice is to just go buy a pigtail.

Well... maybe 5 dB. It might extend your range a little. But frankly if you have a -90 dBm signal, it doesn't do much to increase it to -85 dBm. What you had was worse, but what you get is still bad!

Whatever you gained with the better antenna, you probably have lost with 1) the longer cable, 2) the splice, 3) the heat-shrink material.

And if the wall is the wrong material, it just doesn't make much difference what you do.

A ferrite bead, with the cable running through it? If it is on a portion of the cable where the outer shield has not been damaged, it should not harm anything. If it is located where you have peeled back the braided shield to splice the cable, it's is absolute death to your signal!

No, though it wouldn't hurt. The gain is additive, and a 6 dB better antenna at either end is a 6 dB better signal.

It would, but consider that you might want the router to have omni-directional coverage, allowing multiple clients to access it from various directions. That leaves out most of the really high gain antennas for use by the router. On the other hand the multiple clients can have very high gain antennas if they only connect to one AP and are never moved. (It would still work to have a high gain antenna for the client, but it requires careful aiming after any change in locations.)

Of course, if you have only one client... high gain antennas at both ends will help equally.

I can't answer that.

Reply to
Floyd L. Davidson

First guess is that the problem is in the splice. At this frequency and power level splicing RF cable is dicey even if you know what you are doing.

FWIW I *know* how to do it and even if I had the right equipment I would hesitate not except there were no other options.

Reply to
Not Me

As an update, I bought a U.FL to reverse SMA pigtail from wisp-router.com and used it to replace the spliced pigtail. The signal definitely improved, and it's now back up to where it was before I started. So the new (cheap) antenna with a fairly long cable and the new pigtail combination have managed to about equal the usefulness of the original antenna built into the router.

I may try buying a higher quality antenna to see how much of a difference that makes, but that's a future endeavor.

Thanks for the comments.

Todd

Reply to
spammenow99

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