what do I solder onto the antenna lead in my wifi card to extend the range?

[ilikemonkeys]

I took my wifi card apart and the antenna squiggles on the board are right there and beg to be mod'd.

Suggestions.

BILL

 

[PinkFloyd]

A one inch strip of Rainbow Foil would make that baby rock like ****

 

[ilikemonkeys]

seriously?

man that sounds way too easy!

I'm gonna do it anyway. Cant hurt!

Thanks so much!

BILL

EDIT: I went to look up what "Rainbow Foil" was....nevermind. I"m gonna qualify the suggestion before I respond next time.

OK, laugh. You won this time!

BILL

 

[jpelg]

Link: here

Never used one, but it looks interesting.

 

[ilikemonkeys]

thanks, btu I dont have and exteranl out on this card and I'm interested in getting better reception at my local coffee shop, so I figured I could just mod the card itself instead of attaching a pringles can.

Thanks for the REAL suggestion!

BILL

 

[Demolition]

Bill,

You could try to solder an external antenna connector (such as a BNC or MCX jack) onto your card's antenna pads. There's a description of how to do this (for certain types of cards) at this website. Then, once the lead is attached, you could use an omnidirectional GPS antenna or something similar.

By the way, don't forget to check out a wireless networking forum. Some of them have threads discussing how to mod Wi-Fi cards. For example, NetStumbler.org has a decent hardware forum where people often discuss exactly what you're asking here. For example, here's a thread about adding an external antenna to an off-brand cheapo Edimax card.

Also, many of the NetStumbler members have webpages describing their own mods. For example, Lincomatic describes his mods to a USR 2140 802.11b card on his page.

Anyway, that's just a few examples. Lots more on the site itself, of course. Go have a look.

D.

 

[Paragon]

I'm tired.. but let me take a shot at this.

I doub't anything would help since you would most likely need a signal amplifier or something. Antennae are made at a specific length for the signal they are trying to receive/broadcast. The higher the frequency, the smaller the antenna.
Antenna size does not determine broadcast range.. the signal strength/power does.

Anyhoo.. are you talking about the network card for you computer or the access point/wifi router or whatever you have? If it is the card, you will only get signal in the area that it is broadcasted in. The card has to be in the area of the signal in order to work. You could have a card that can broadcast five miles, but the wifi router can only go 50 feet.. so it is useless.
You have to make sure both are capable of transmitting at the distance you are hoping to get.



Is it possible to get another node for the network?

 

[gsferrari]

Your signal strength makes more difference than antenna dimensions. Try to upgrade the power supply on the Router and on your wireless card

LOL