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yzy-oui-fi
You are misunderstanding...
I know how to remove a cable.
I want to remove the socket, so I disconnect the internal antennas!
@Mico
Murata is a company name
U.Fl is connector norm...
Murata should sell connectors U.fl compliant norm... this is all it meant i guess.
@yzy-oui-fi
I guess what I was trying to say is why you did not have to solder and others are using the soldering method? Thanks.
I did the mod today with the solder method, and cutted the internal antennas with a stanley knife.
Everything went smooth, but reception after this mod, has gone worse!
Tomato reports lower signal on all my wifi gear, and wifi speed have dropped dramatically :(
I have double checked the soldering, and ohm the connections, to make sure that part are allright.
The antennas I've used are 9dbi like this ones:
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230524198307&ssPageNam...
All I can say is - I have to buy a new router now, perhaps the new Asus RT-N66U.
Has any sucedded this mod with good results??
Maybe the antennas I've used are too big?
I've now disconnected the WNR3500, and I enabled the internal router/wifi access point in my internet gateway (Cisco).
Guess what - my ip camera located in the garden works now, and it did not with the WNR3500 in same place, with original antennas... I think that is thought-provoking ;o)
@Mico
I opened the box and saw that internal antenna was connect to th mainboard with U.Fl connectors, so i removed the three small Antennas an replace it with U.Fl pigtail that allow me to connect Rp-Sma antennas. I did not solder anything cause it is not necessary.
I think this is SMA Male Jack. But still Im not really sure.
OK guys. Here are the results.
I bought three 10dbi antennas and U.FLs.
I do not know how but I could PUSH the U.FLs in/on the internal antennas of the 3500. NO SOLDERING. It is not a perfect fit but it stays there pretty sturdy. Then of course made the holes and put the antennas.
Result: WORSE speed. I switched back to my old Belkin Pre-N router to test and it is 10 times faster than 3500L. (checked two different speed test sites)
I guess I will set up the 3500L as wireless bridge/adapter and use my Belkin which is pretty good for what it is, UNLESS I am doing something wrong with this antenna thing!
There is two important points...
- Becarefull with chinese Antennas, lot of have very bad rendering. What you could do is to get Fontena antennas from Fon, it is cheap and rocks. If you try to get your Antenna through E-bay, select a german, or swiss seller(Usualy,even if home made, the device have been made following Art rules)
- Be sure that your U.fl connectors are well plugged. If you are old like me do not forget to wear your glasses! ;)
I wish I had known this before. I got Chinese antenna. Where do we get the Fontena, what is Fon's website? I may try it again.
Edit: I guess this is the site????
http://corp.fon.com/en/products
Fon is a worldwide hotspot community(Love it, or not:) ). What is interesting is that they sell routers and antena on their website.
Here is the fontena url:
http://corp.fon.com/fr/products/fontenna/
This antena is ~10 DBi Rp-sma patch kind with ~3m lowloss coaxial wire.
Bit of a necro.. anyways..
Am I correct in understanding this board does NOT use the standard Hirose U.FL connectors?
Rather, the connectors are Murata MM8430-2610 RF test connectors which are physically incompatible with U.FL's?
I don't have this router yet (it's on it's way) but I'm doing homework on it before it arrives.
Some internets-reading showed while people have stuck U.FL-RPSMA pigtails in it, it's not clear if they replaced the onboard connector or whether that connector will physically mate to a U.FL pigtail yet be electrically incompatible.
I would unfortunately suspect this to be case - most of the onboard connectors for internal-antenna routers I've seen aren't connectors at all - they're RF test points which incorporate tiny switching contacts. And they don't work with U.FL's.
Anyhow you couldn't just plug in a pigtail to these jacks, you'd have to cut the PCB track to the onboard antenna otherwise you'll have all sorts of problems with impedance and VSWR.
Hope someone knows the real story of this router's antennas!
Cheers
Hi All,
Just to stir up some interest in this topic.....
I thought it is time for someone to update on the wireless performance on this
kind of antenna modification.
A few years back I did a project like this, however got stuck and did not finish
it. Please see my link which I posted my thread at dd-wrt forum:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=44192&postdays=0&postorder=...
But now, got my act together and got this project finished.
Ok, here is my result, according to my findings after doing the modification:
1) There isn't any improvement in dBm gain when I managed to install RP-SMA type
of omni-directional dual band antenna. Actually I had 2 pcs of WNDR3300 router.
One has its internal antenna modified to accept external antenna. And one unit
left in its original state-no modification at all.
When external antennae are attached to the router(antenna modification), the
actual gain / power received by my wireless client adapter in my laptop was
degraded. In fact having no modification, will have a better gain than the
router which has antenna modification.
2) Now, this part is what puzzled me..................
As you know 1 unit of my WNDR3300 router has got its internal modified. This
means that I hacked the router and disconnected its circuitry of not using is
own PCB internal active antennae (the ones that is being amplified) and I also
disconnect its 3 passive PCB antenna.
If you turn on the power on the router, with no internal & external antenna
being used, my wifi client adapter still able to pick up the signal and got
associated with the router and the gain was approx. -40 dBm gain which is
really surprising.
So in my conclusion, and also in my opinion, certain
Netgear routers which does not provide the option of
upgrading to external antenna (that is it is originally
hard wired to use internal antenna).
These model of Netgear routers are not
suitable to be hacked and modified to accept external
antenna, by doing so, it will be a waste of time and money.
Why? it does provide better wireless performance in terms
of dBm gain. In fact in my finding, it will make it worse.
Unless of course, if you refer to WNDR3700 v2 internal
circuitry which does U.FL connectors to have it upgraded to
use an external antenna.
Thank you.
My conclusion is also clear - it's waste of money upgrading the internal antennas to external...
FWIW I tried snapping the u.fl pigtails onto the WNR3500L's internal connectors every which way and, unlike Mico, I have not been successful!!!
But given the discouraging results reported in the preceding posts from those who successfully installed the external antennas, I don't feel like I am missing out :-)
First of all your first comment about snapping in the U.FL connectors into the
WNDR3500 RF testing switch connectors is not possible.
They are not U.FL and CANNOT "MATE" U.FL pigtail connectors.
You need to desolder it with "ChipQuik" remove the RF testing switch connectors, and solder the same spot with tiny U.FL connectors:
See this link below about U.FL connectors:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IPX-U-FL-RF-Coaxial-Connector-SMD-SMT-solder-PCB...
Hi All,
Just want to share my project on my antenna modification.
I am just submitted 2 pictures for you all to have a look on what I have done with
my WNDR3300 antenna modification.
See the 2 pictures below:
Thanks.
Best regards.
I can't tell from the photos, but you will need to drill/cut the track immediately after where you have soldered the pigtails on. If you have any "stub" length there will be SWR reflections and impedance problems.
Otherwise, great job :) Interested to see if you made any measurements pre/post mod..
Hi Benryanau,
Thanks for your comment and advice.
I am much appreciated.
I have submitted another picture.
This picture will show you the yellow spots on the PCB is where I am going to cut a
hole to eliminate the SWR reflections.
Is that you mean in your last message?
If indeed, the position of the hole cutting is correct, then how big the hole is going be???
2mm? or 6mm diameter will do???
Thank you again.
Best regards.
Yes you're understanding what I mean.
I'd drill as close to your pigtail soldered attachments as possible - don't leave any PCB track after the pigtail.
Just a 2mm will do, so long as it completely cuts the track. You don't want to drill a hole, just drill deep enough so it cuts the track. You could use a craft knife blade to cut a section out instead of a drill.
See if you can take some measurements - maybe use Vistubmbler or similar to get dBm measurements at a fixed location (perhaps with some walls between the router and PC to get a decent dBm figure, readings don't always seem accurate at close range). Then repeat the measurements post-mod, making sure the router and PC are in exactly the same locations for each measurement.
Remember that dBm is a logarithmic scale!
Hi Benryanau,
Good advice!
I attached a close up picture (see below) of the pigtail soldering the RF emitting point.
Since the RF switches (connecting bridges to the antenna on the PCB edges)are removed,
there is tiny gap of about 1mm wide.
So, is this the point(see the yellow dot on the gap) where I should drill enough to disconnect the track???
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Okay I've had a good look at your pic, and you've done well - no more drilling/cutting needed. Your yellow spots are actully marked over GND tracks which you don't want to cut.
I can see where you removed the copper trace for the RF feed, it's a brown colour. Spot on. They look good, removed all the way back to the pigtail.
Nice neat soldering job by the way!
Has anyone attempted to solder U.FL connectors directly to the board?
The MuRata test-point connectors are "Coaxial Connectors with Switches" according to the data sheet. That's why the trace underneath the connector is not continuous. When the test-probe is connected, the onboard antenna is switched out of the circuit.
The footprint of the MuRata connector is very similar to the footprint of a U.FL connector. My thought is to de-solder the MuRata connector and solder a U.FL connector down in its place. The MuRata has a signal-in and a signal-out, but the U.FL only has only a signal-in connection on one side, so the onboard antenna would remain disconnected from the circuit.
MuRata datasheet:
http://www.murata.com/products/catalog/pdf/k99/k99e_l0390.pdf
U.FL datasheet:
http://www.hirose.co.jp/cataloge_hp/e32119372.pdf
U.FL Digikey Part # H9161CT-ND
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/U.FL-R-SMT(10)/H9161CT-ND/2135256
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