Built-in Wireless Advanced Mods

I've looked all over for the thread where we talked about switching the built-in wireless and/or GPS using the RIM/CDPD control panel in the base of the handle, so I'm just gonna make a new thread for it here.

Somewhere I suggested using a two-transistor latch circuit to turn on/off a signal line using the momentary-contact switch on that little panel; but we still need to find a control circuit for the wireless or GPS. Well, a search for something else found me this:

http://madwifi.org/wiki/UserDocs/MiniPCI

It appears that to disable the WiFi, they drive pin 13 HI (+3.3V/+5V?); this would make it relatively easy to switch on/off the WiFi. Also, by biasing the LED across the output of the second transistor to B+, it would make the LED illuminate when the latch circuit was driven LO.

This brings another point to mind; I suspect it's possible that other Mini-PCI cards operate the same way & that by ticking the DISABLE Serial B or LAN box in the BIOS, it drives that pin HI on one or the other of the Mini-PCI slots. I'm going to look into it when I can spare a few; I have a pretty full day scheduled on Monday.

mnem
Marcus... No, you are not allowed to eat your own fist...

 

Okay... after playing around in the BIOS for a bit, it appears the tickbox for Serial B is not for any physical port that is readily available on the laptop; probably for a second serial on a docking station. It does NOT drive pin 13 HI on either mini-pci slot. Closer examination of the Ethernet & MODEM cards reveal they don't even HAVE a pin 13 on either card. I'm sure most of you guys are aware that removing the Ethernet card & replacing it with the wireless card removes the LAN DISABLE tickbox in BIOS; and of course, the wireless card works just fine there as well.

So, it looks like we're stuck with either a hardware fix by isolating & driving pin 13 HI with an auxiliary circuit, or perhaps since they have support in LINUX for disabling the wireless at the command line interface, there might be similar command structure for the Windows CLI.
The latter would obviously be easier to realize, as if possible a simple script could do the work for you; but this would not make that kewl little control panel work.

mnem
"Fire good, tree bad..." <~~~ That's the level I'm functioning at this morning.

 

I have a bunch of the little on/off switches for the RIM devices if you want them to play around with!

 

Looking at some of the diagrams in the repair manual (thanks again Modly), there is a Serial B shown pointing/connecting to the port replicator.

Another diagram indicates 'wireless modem/serial C' and 'GPS/serial D'. I guess Serial D is CN40?

Not sure is this is useful for what you are doing.

 

TB -

U mean the little membrane keypad on the handle base?
SURE! It would really help to have one I can dissect to trace out the schematic... of course, I'd been thinking about that, but I don't yet have one to sacrifice to that end...

mnem
LED switches? How can you have LED without the ZEPPELIN?

 

mnem.... PM me you address and I'll send you 4-5 of them... I wanted to try to have it be able to contorl the power to the GPS. I guess I probably could if I played round with it but I've got too much other stuff to do.

 

I was kind of having a thought about a switch for the GPS. If I remember correctly I think Gravitar figured out that [fn]+tab switches the power to the hidden pcmcia slot. I'm not skilled enough to do the tracing on a schematic, or even know what voltage that that circuit is running (the pcmcia) on, but, given the proximity of that slot to the cn40, would it be possible to swap the source of power from one to the other. So, feed the pcmcia with the power that goes to the GPS as it stands, and steal the power from the pcmcia to power the GPS? Thereby providing a switch for the GPS, and having a permanently powered pcmcia slot.

Along the same lines, has anyone poked around with other [fn]+?? keys while monitoring the supply line to the board? Seems like if Pana.... put a key combination switch for one add-on that they might have done the same for another.

Anyway, just a thought.

 

It seems like mnementh must be on the right track, provided the lines can be traced. The SB300 modem card is switched by that front panel, so power must go through that to the card. There are two 5v lines indicated into the card schematic on the daughter board - on pins 23&24, so the switch must control power to those some way.
[
http://toughbook.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/sierrawireless-sb300-2110049.pdf
]
There are 8 pins on CN300, the front panel switch connector. 1&8 do not go anywhere on the ribbon, 2&3 combine (or split if they are going out [twin 5v lines?]), which leaves 4 more pins for a switch and 3 status LEDS.

Edit - It looks like 6&7 are grounds(?).

Now, what do they do?

 

Depressing the switch on the front panel appears to make a momentary connection between pin 4 and 2&3.

Can't see anything yet for 5, but must have something to do with the status lights.

(Hope I am getting this right... )

 

I was lighting the little lights up the other day, i'll have to ring it out and write it down.

 

When I was playing around with trying to get the GPS to turn off and on via the switch... I plugged it in where it was supposed to go and all the lights lit up. It just didn't turn off the GPS... It just lit and that was that. I assumed that the card that ataches was what made the connections. (Duh)

I have noticed that the CF-28 with stock GPS doesn't come with the switch in the front. Apparently it stays on like ours does.

 

I think from earlier testing that Switch one on the daughter board controls the front panel switch in some way. If I turned that off, the switch light might be on initially, but if I turned it off, I couldn't turn it back on. I'll have to recheck and see. But I did notice the board in some pictures of the stock GPS,did not have the connector at CN300 for the front switch.

 

Okay, here's what I'm working on now;

I've delved into the factory RIM/CDPD wireless antenna system, & I have a few observations. First; the antenna for the Sierra SB300 is about .75" longer than its RIM counterpart; this indicates that the RIM model probably loads towards the higher end of that 800-900MHZ range; however, it may give me something to play with before I start trimming the actual antenna for tuning to the 2.4/5GHZ bands. If I can get it to hit close to the half wave resonant length for the 2.4 GHZ band, it should be close to the full wave resonant length for the 5 GHZ band. Another thing I noticed is that there is a low-pass filter array built into the base of the antenna; this may very well account for its terrible performance as a WIFI antenna. By modifying or bypassing this array altogether I may be able to get serviceable function out of this antenna without having to trim it.:GEEK:

Below you can see the adapter I hacksoldered together out of the output connector from my RIM card and a u.fl connector robbed from my old GPS to join my u.fl jumper to the factory antenna lead. I'll update this thread with my findings as my experimentation progresses.

mnem
A picture is worth a thousand volts.

 

I have many, many RIM & CDPD modules if you need any more to play with!

 

Okay - here's results from Round 1 of my Panasonic Wireless Antenna modificating and testification project.
Please be patient for details; it's late & I have to be up very early tomorrow for a killer WO, so I'm just gonna post the results & a few notes. I'll post pix & details of what I'm talking about when I actually have some evening time.:GEEK:

You'll see some interesting results from bypassing the lowpass filter; I can only hope that I'll have even better results when I get a chance to try out this:

(REMOVED LINK TO LONG-GONE LISTING ON eBay For Engenius EMP-8602+ Wireless B/G Mini-PCI 400mW - see photo below)

which I just STOLE... err, received in today's post.

mnem
Goodnight, and may your God go with you.

 

WOW,

One for the books, lets have some pictures. 350' and still going, That's cool.

 

Okay... here's the pics I promised & what's going on with them...

The first one shows removing the antenna mast (For those of you who may not know how); be sure to use a screwdriver with a tip that is thick enough and wide enough to fit the slot snugly. If it's too thin or too narrow you'll bugger up the slot & make the shiny part ugly. Don't worry if the screwdriver's a little too wide; you can push the antenna mast in so that it just flops in the hole and get the clearance you need that way. The two I had weren't terribly tight at all; obviously, if it seems really tight find another way or spanner tool to remove it. After that, just remove the two black screws that hold the rubber cap in place, and you'll see the antenna base as in pic 2.

If you look at the bottom row of solder points, you'll see there is one SMD (Surface Mount Device) coil all by itself. This was the "ground shunt coil" I removed for my test # 4.
Removing these is easy if you have a good fine point soldering iron; put just big enough a blob of solder on the tip to contact both solder spots on the coil & touch both solder spots at the same time with the iron. In a second or less, it will want to float away with the solder & you can slide it gently off the solder pads.
Then, just wipe the coil off the soldering iron tip onto your cleaning sponge, & tape it to a Post-It with an outline of the locations (They are all of different values) as shown in pic 3 in case you need them later. :wink:

Pic 4 shows the final mod; all 3 of the green coils have been removed, but leave the 0 ohm SMD resistor on the top row leftmost solder pads in place. Once the coils are removed, it was easy to solder another 0 ohm resistor robbed from a junk pc card to bridge the tiny gap; I chose that rather than bridge with wire or solder because these SMD devices are both insulative and non-inductive, meaning I'm not adding parasitic loss by using it. It probably doesn't matter compared to the big blob of solder where the printed ribbon board solders to the antenna coupler, but I figured I had the resistor easily available, so use it. Do a quick meter test to be sure the hot portions no longer carry continuity to ground (They will seem to as long as that ground shunt coil is in place) & that you do have continuity from center of your u.fl connector to the antenna coupler, then you're good to go try it out yourself. I recommend you make an adapter like I did earlier in this post; I know soldering seems best, but it's so hard to keep from creating an unbalanced load when you do it that way & with frequencies this high, it really is better to have a connector plug in twice than have it soldered once with pigtails. Those connectors are designed to keep a balanced load as long as they're not contaminated by foreign matter, so it really is better.:GEEK:

ED: Okay, I've added a quick schematic of the antenna base for those of you who find that easier to understand; I don't currently have any convenient means of measuring the values of the coils in this schematic, & I really don't care enough about those values to build an LC bridge to calculate it out.

mnem
Micro-waves! Micro-waves RIGHT HERE - GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE HOT!

 

M&M&th,
My TB has a Sierra AirCard555 hitched up to that antenna . What would that mod do to the reception on the existing hardware? Is it even feasible to tie the 600mW Engenius card into the antenna circuit ( Maybe with a couple diodes in line and utilize the one antenna for both cards? I don't know for sure if my antenna even has that circuitry, I haven't torn into it, but I imagine it does.

 

Okay - first off - what model TB do you have? Was the CDMA wireless card OEM, or aftermarket add-on? How long is your built-in antenna?
If the unit CAME WITH the card, then your antenna is tuned to 1900mhz range; and I'd have to see the entire antenna circuit to even guess whether it could be adapted to WIFI use.

If you want to keep using the built-in antenna for the CDMA card, I sure wouldn't go trying to co-phase the output of another unit into that circuit. My crude attempts (so far) are just that; I KNOW this antenna is not properly matched to my WIFI card; it's just close enough to work OK.

When you add loading from another receiver to the mix you alter the resonance of the circuit for BOTH receivers, and you'll definitely weaken the signal either receives.
Add to this the potential for grievous damage to the input stage of one device by connecting the output stage of another transmitter directly to it, this is a bad idea. One doesn't place diodes into the 1st stage of a receiver; we're still dealing with AC signals and we want to keep them AC until we're ready to demodulate the signal for downconversion whether it's AM or FM; and diodes in the output stage of a transmitter are going to shunt half the waveform someplace we don't want it going. Plus diodes that'll work at these frequencies are freaky special-made; not something you'll pick up at the local Radio Shack.:GEEK:

I'm sure there is the possibility of building a co-phase transciever matching circuit with notch-pass filters which would make it POSSIBLE to do this; I remember as a youth I had a box that let me use my car's FM radio antenna for my 11-meter rig. It did work, but it decreased the sensitivity of the FM radio noticeably, and at best it gave an SWR of 2:1 so I didn't get much reach on 11 meters.

Such a circuit made to operate across 3 different bands (1900mhz, 2400mhz & 5000mhz) at the same time is definitely beyond my amateur radios skillz; I don't know if anyone else on this forum has the Wi-Fu to make that happen.

mnem
RF burns are the WORST.

 

Did he just say he need 1.21 gigawatts of electricity to run that flex capacitor?

 

Now that you bring it into light it makes a lot more sense. I am under the impression that the card came with the machine as the stickers on the bottom of the unit match the esn and serial number of the Aircard. I didn't realize that those fancy things in your photos were the part of the circuit that does the rf switching for different bands, but like I said, now that makes much more sense.

Slightly Off Topic;
---------------------------------------------
I think it was you (M&M) that made reference in another post to advanced cellular modem technologies. I have activated the Aircards in the 28 and it works great, but only at 1xRTT speeds. I've been searching high and low for a cdma based card that will fit into the hidden slot that would hitch up to Verizons High speed service, but the next best option is the Sierra 580, which seems only to be compatible with t-mobile, AT&T, and cingular technology. I'd go that route except the quality of their networks in the Northeast are not there yet. On a more promising note Verizon I guess has said that they will support any device on any technology in the near future.

 

No sir... I said I needed 1.31 TERAwatts of electricity to charge my flux capacitor...

You see, electricity has a much lower flux density than plasma or tetryon particles... therefore it is much less efficient when phase shifted from a state of excited particle critical mass to one of quantum flux ionization which is, of course, the type of energy release required to charge the flux capacitor. :GEEK:

mnem
Hold onto your butts, we'ze a goin fer a RIIIIIIDE...

 

Whew... I guess I did get a bit over the top on the techno-goddledygook...:GEEK:

Okay... first off - the lowpass filter I showed you on the base of my antenna is meant to do two things; one, help attenuate higher frequencies that this antenna might pick up which would damage or interfere with the Cellular Digital Packet Data radio MODEM (The RIM or Sierra CDPD module we've been removing); they operate in the Analog Cellular bands, between 800 & 900MHZ (Now being abandoned by all major carriers). The "Higher" frequencies I'm talking about attenuating in this case are probably 2.5 to 4 GHZ high power generated by military RADAR. The other thing they are meant to do is provide a balanced load for the transceiver, to provide a stable output signal. This antenna is NOT meant to operate across multiple bands; those components are meant to make it a better antenna for the single band it's intended to operate on.

Your Sierra Wireless still operates in the same 1900mhz CDMA/PCS frequency band as the current crop of CDMA/PCS/3G/GSM phones; this band is slated to remain active for quite some time to come. The 1xrtt standard is simply an older, lower bandwidth mode of modulating that signal. The newer EVDO cards operate on the same frequencies, they just modulate the signal differently to take advantage of higher-bandwidth network capacity.
Your antenna may or may not have a similar filter circuit at the base as compared to my CDPD models; I'd have to see one "up close" to know. The antenna itself is probably about half as long as mine however; in keeping with the shorter resonant length of the 1900MHZ band.:yes:

What I'm talking about when I talk about co-phasing these three bands of 1900MHZ, 2400MHZ & 5000MHZ is trying to combine your CDMA band (1900MHZ) with Wireless B/G (2400MHZ) and Wireless A (5000MHZ) onto one single antenna element; this is MUCH trickier than the quick & dirty hack I did to make my built-in antenna useful for something more than a hamster's hatrack.:wink:

mnem
Come on Floyd, Flog those hamsters! We need to get up to 700 milliwatts!

 

Okay... To cut to the chase... By doing this mod... Do you get a better antenna for use with Wifi? Bluetooth? Both? What?

I got your 1.31 TERAwatts of electricity right HERE!

 

Short version - YES. It makes the CF-28 RIM / SB300 CDPD antenna serve as a halfway decent WIFI antenna, at least as shown by my testing on the Wireless G band. My Atheros-based Wireless A/B/G router is toast; I'm using my old LinkSys WRT54G Wireless B/G router until I can afford a new one. I really like the claims made of the newer MIMO-enhanced models; but I hate to spend that much on refit. I'd prefer to get something Atheros-based in Wireless A/B/G as all my cards support that, but I'm NEVER buying another NetGear wireless router again. EVERY ONE I've owned has died within a year, without warning or visible cause.

mnem


toast noun 15th century:
a: sliced bread browned on both sides by heat b: food prepared with toasted bread2[from the use of pieces of spiced toast to flavor drinks] a (1): a person whose health is drunk (2): something in honor of which persons usually drink b: one that is highly admired <she's the toast of society>3[3toast] : an act of proposing or of drinking in honor of a toast4: a rhyming narrative poem existing in oral tradition among black Americans5slang : one that is finished or done for < OHMIGAWD! THE QUARTERBACK IS TOAST!!!>

 

"Or should I call you Officer John McLane?"

Great movie...

So... I have about 12 of these antennas... I'll have to retro one of them to check it out.

As far as the Netgear router goes... I thought mine went bad too. Then someone told me that every now and then you should change the SSID and password. Every time my Rangemax gets a little flaky I do that and it goes back to working very well.

 

Heh... One of the best of all times; although I really did think Die Hard 2 was a better movie all around. 3 & 4... ummm... well... *Looks down & stirs floor with toe*

I have this audio clip:

http://resources.bravenet.com/audio..._-_oh_my_god_the_quarterback_is_toast/listen/

set to go off when Firefox blocks a popup...

As for the router... well, no. I got into this last one with my scope; it appears the I/O buffer between the wireless & router sections is just dead... don't know why. I do remember my previous router died with very similar symptoms, but a quick Google revealed a firmware update that brought it mysteriously back to life; actually it did this three times before it went completely t!ts up. No such update for this one. (I suspect what that update really did was reset the built-in f@^k off & die timer). The one before that the router section went south; the wireless card still worked, so I removed it & put it in a PCMCIA card adaptor I had & used it in a desktop in the garage for a while. The WRT54G is one I took out of an office when they upgraded to Gigabit ethernet; I've had it almost 3 years & it still ALWAYS works.:yes:

mnem
Ruh-Roh Raggy! Re rot rah wrong router!

 

Someone once told me that 1 out of every 5 routers is DOA when you take it out of the box. I didn't think about the FOAD chip that was installed.

<belches out a hearty guffaw!>

I think you coined a new phrase there mister!

Something we can ask all newbs.... "Well... Did you check the FOAD chip?"

 

*SNARF*

Toughbook FOAD Chip - Heartland Part# 0N0-ON0-0M1G0DN0. Now part of the Universal Toughbook W.T.F? Upgrade Kit; available 5th Quarter 2006

mnem
Somebody stop me...

 

<Now laughing uncontrollably>

Okay... Okay... STOP!

Now... Back to our topic...

 

Mnem, you have to be the Notebook Review version of Jim Carey, or Robin Williams.

Do you pull all this stuff off the top of your head, or is there a database somewhere? :laugh:

 

No database... just me foaming at the mind. I've imagined more than once that if I could actually keep notes on all the twisted stuph that comes out of there, I could make a pretty good stand-up routine. I just don't have the stomach for all that up-on-stage crap, although I've ALWAYS been the class clown.

But hey - comedy is ALWAYS best when you can play off a good straight man. :wink:

mnem
You think what comes OUT of my head is weird? You should see what I keep locked away lest it escape...

 

M&M,
You are with out doubt the most amusing poster in any forum I've ever followed.

 

Thank you!

mnem
*Bows before an appreciative audience*

 

i am new here and i have been searching non stop for the past week probably like 3hrs a night, then about 5 hours on sat and sunday. i Have been trying to find where to get a factory antenna for my cf28 for some time now and i cant find one anywhere, i have been trying to find a cheap pats unit that includes one but no luck. does anyone have one that would like to part with it i will pay. I would like to hack it and use it for my internal wifi card. i just got http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=360038398765&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=023
and i was going to order a pigtail but i dont know what to do, if i don't have the antenna yet. i have a cf28 w/pentium 3 1000mhz, 30g hd, 256mb of ram, and touchscreen.

 

I have a bunch of the RIM antennas. They are longer than the true wifi antennas but the wiring appears to be the same as does the little SMD works under the base cover. Where do you live?

BTW... Heartlandsi.com lists them for like $54 each... (Crazy, I know!) But I am not sure if they are even available from them.

 

So I did the mods in this thread for the built in antenna, but while I wait for my ufl to ufl cable I'll ask this convoluted question. I currently have my wifi card connected from its "main" connection to my side mounted rp-sma, with the "aux" connection on the card open. When I get my cable in do I want to make the built in antenna the "main" and my rp-sma the "aux", or leave as is and connect the built in antenna to the "aux" connector?

Thanks,

Mark

 

It really shouldn't make a difference. Though I usually connect my internal antenna to the main and the SMA connection to the AUX.... But they should be the same. It's not like a 75/25 spolit in power or anything. It should be 50/50.

 

How thick is the RIM cable? 50 ohm? I read your another post about the length needing to be shorter for 802.11b/g.

Let me dream BIG and ask this....

What about a (wifi) dual-band mod antenna for 802.11b/g/a/n (2.4GHz,5GHz) on the left - with a dual-band mod for EVDO (900MHz,1800MHz) on the right?

Do the OEM antenna mounts, that I've only seen mounted on the left, fit on the right side of the LCD?

Methinks the coolness factor would be giganterous... oh and it would be technically superior in functionality too with the mounting at the highest point without obstruction. But the coolness/originality factor, first please!

 

Thanks for the info, I wasn't sure about it. It'll be nice to not have to connect an antenna for close quarter wifi, but yet have the option of connecting other antennas when needed. Thanks to Mnem for the great pics and research on the antenna mod. The mmcx to ufl adapter was a great idea!

Hmmmm, might be time to start reading up on that aftermarket GPS thread...

 

I've thought about that quite a bit myself; however, the existing CDMA antennas I've seen for the CF-29 are about half as tall as the CDPD antennae found on the CF-28. You can see how the kewlness factor would be greatly reduced if it looked like one antenna was... stunted.

As for mounting the antenna base to the other side... ANYTHING CAN be done... but there is no space MADE on the right hand side for that antenna base, so expect to do a fair amount of drilling/grinding/Polish engineering, and there is not YET an appropriate rubber corner available to make it LOOK right. I've been considering it myself, just to see if I can make a pair of WIFI antennae for my own CF-28; it just seems to come in second to work lately...

mnem<~~~ Flicks his antennae* BOINGY BOINGY BOINGY BOINGY BOINGY

 

Watching mnem's head swell.....

"Look out.... it's gonna blow!"

 

Heh heh... It IS possible... There is room for the antenna to retract into the LCD... You would just need to fab up the bump-out like the RIM side has. The retracted part actually takes up VERY little space.

Webster's defines "giganterous" as, "behemoth, Brobdingnagian, Bunyanesque, colossal, cyclopean, elephantine, enormous, gargantuan, gigantesque, herculean, heroic, huge, immense, jumbo, mammoth, massive, massy, mastodonic, mighty, monster, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, prodigious, pythonic, stupendous, titanic, tremendous, vast, gigantic" as in, "That antenna mount on that there CF-28 is GIGANTEROUS!!!"

Personally I like the thesaurusical equivalent of "mastodonic"...

<cackling to myself>

 

*Runs away from ToughBook who chases, brandishing a giganterous (and UBER-POINTY) straight pin*

mnem
EEEEEP!

 

Yes, Mr. Cdma would suffer bouts of Antenna Envy because he's not as giganterous as would be neighbor Mr. Wifi, but I may enlist him yet. Poor Mr. GPS antenna... he's not feelin too good right about now. Bbbbbbbbbbut anyhoo.

 

As if on cue... this guy shows up | http://tinyurl.com/4r24rx

Appears to be the standard (right-hand) rubber base/standard antenna base (taken from left-side)/then custom GPS antenna? Sound right?

 

*mnem chuckles; a sound not unlike that of a jet engine huffing before it explodes*

Ummm yeah. NO.

What I mean is - this fellow ( along with numerous OTHER fellows on eBay ) appears to be using the STOCK right hand rubber corner, and applying a bit of JB Weld to support the GPS antenna and fill in the gaps on his GPS Hacked unit.

No, WE do not recommend this practice... it is generally a recipe for broken GPS antenna as the JB Weld simply doesn't support the antenna properly, and eventually it WILL get whacked and break.

There has been a great deal of discourse on this forum on this very subject - search "Toughbook Jim Grey antenna" and you'll get some idea of what most of the GPS peeps are trying.

mnem
Watch out for that falling radio wave! It'll break your GPS Antenna!

 

"*mnem chuckles; a sound not unlike that of a jet engine huffing before it explodes*"

Never heard this, but think I can guess!!!!

Now that we're talking about radios, the Jim Grey post was not on my radar simply because my attention was on wifi/cdma threads. While I have the OEM GPS and will be exploring it more later, it isn't my first interest and not what brought me to the forum. Seeing the eBay contraption made me think about your response to the right-hand antenna idea.

I am teachable, just new.

*Now exists, ducking from jet engine shrapnel*

 

I went through the WIFI thread in the FAQ for the 29's. Is there a recommended upgrade for the CF-29 MK4 wifi card? Also, has anyone figured out something for using an external antenna? Such as a bulkhead connector in the rear since I wont be using a docking station.

 

Hi to all,

I have just got a cf-28 and a cf-m34. Does any one have the stock antennas for these laptops. i would prefair one for CF-28. I am going to max it out with wifi and bluetooth and hope to try to do the gps mod as well