Wi-Fi antenna upgrade

[Loftus]

I'm going under the hood again to explore the possibility of improving the wifi reception. I have pulled out the wifi antennas from an old IBM laptop that appear to use the same connector type. When you look at the inside of the adam (3g version) only the main antenna is being used from the 3g card for WWAN and not the Aux. Since the IBM laptop uses both Main and Aux I figure why would'nt adam benifit from both. The laptop antennas also attached to the metal frame of the LCD housing in the laptop but in adams case they are noted mounted together, I will try both. Should be a couple of days out in testing and will post followup.

- I will take pics and collect/compare data using a wifi analyzer app.
- I will test to make sure my GPS is not affected by the modifications
- 3g will not be tested as I have never used a sim card and will not be able to test any concerns in that area.
- I'll try not to make the same mistake as apple with the iphone 4 antenna design/placement

Just a call out, has anyone done this yet that I may have missed a post about ? if so let me know of anything I should be aware of.

[RodneyLee]

Great Idea, I look forward to a new and improved wifi, wish we had wifi driver for the myvix USB 5ghz wifi antenna

[kwilson73]

Also test the direction in which the antenna functions the best.

[dawcx]

Can't wait to hear the results

Sent from my Adam using Tapatalk

[gib72]

Loftus, excellent work, i'm sure the adam should be miles better than a phone because of its size, it should have a superior antenna but i think its just been chucked in there and i dont think the software is well written for it either (unfortunately have to wait for notion ink for that bit) i was thinking of doing the same with a laptop cable but didn't want to open my adam just yet, but if you have success then it is definitely getting opened!

[Mycophiles]

I'm also waiting on these results. Also, pictures of the antenna you used and models of the computer they were taken out of if possible.


Thks... the wifi stinks in these things. This is something I am definitely undertaking.

[TheHardware]

fingers crossed, good luck.

[dsvet]

I'm no developer, but ... Oh sorry wrong thread. On a serious note, what about power? Doesn't most of the Adam's reception issues (or lack there of) stem from needing a little extra "juice?" The addition of an aux antenna should help, but being able to adjust the output (like a modem) would help immensely.

Just a thought ....

Good luck and I can't wait to see the test results.

Sent from my Adam using Tapatalk

[Loftus]

First off it was not a success but I did learn more about the motherboard than I did first time round. Here's a link to pictures of my testing of antenna.
http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/a...view=slideshow

-Things to point out for general notes. The main wi-fi is connected to "antenna 1", GPS is connected to "antenna 2". There are two other antenna blanks (no female connector but roughed in) one called "antenna 3" located beside "wi-fi antenna 1" and the other "antenna 4" located beside the headphone output jack on far right/lower side.

What I tested:
-Stock antenna performs the same as IBM antenna
-I added (soldered) an antenna to the "antenna 3" blank in reasoning that this would be an aux antenna. This did not improve the wi-fi range or increase visibility.

-I added (soldered) an antenna to the "antenna 4" blank in reasoning that this could be a transmitter antenna for the long lost "bonus feature" being a FM transmitter. I don't want to discuss the bonus feature theories, this was just to put closure on one theory. After attaching antenna and playing music I went through every fm radio station in manual to hit every freq and did not pickup anything. I did the same test with the headphones plugged in as I read somewhere that headphones need to be plugged in on some devices to make their fm transmitter work. No luck on the transmitter but worth a try I figured.

So in short the wi-fi upgrade did not work but I came out with increased knowledge of antenna locations on our motherboard. Should someone have another idea on what "antenna 4" could be used for (suspicious to be so close to headphone out I was sure it was a fm transmitter antenna) I will gladly retry making the connections if there is a software change to test along with it.


On another note.....

I also did another mod while I was in there and will do a new post for that tomorrow (pics and video) once I have video made to show the difference of what this mod can make.

[Vector66]

Heck, I would be happy to just have an external connector I could mount an antennae to.