CF-28 antenna (newbie question)

Sorry if it's a silly question and I confess I haven't browsed through the entire forum yet - but what exactly is the purpose of the antenna on the top left of the CF-28 screen? GPS? Wireless? I have a CF-28S3QGBDM purchased recently on ebay that has no wireless or GPS, yet it has an antenna. I assume the antenna is not connected to anything - if that's the case, will I still be able to use it if I add GPS/wireless? I noticed that people are buying external antennas for their CF-28s, so maybe it's useless?

Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forum, tjax...
The antenna is used by a wireless modem in the 28's - usually a CDPD or RIM that is located in an area 'underneath' the battery, as you look at the bottom of the laptop. Remove the battery and lift the black plastic card that is there. That area is also where your memory card is/can be. If you haven't looked under the battery cover yet, take a gander, then read what has been done with the so-called daughter board (for GPS), the 2 mini-pci slots, and the 'hidden' PCMCIA slot (both 'under' the HDD).
The antenna won't work, or not well, with wireless, but there are other things you can do for that.

Take a look and get back to us...

 

Thanks for the answer.

Under the battery there's the memory and a grey device with only PRD-02426-001 written on it. I googled the code and got R902M20 RADIO MOBITEX. On the Toughbook bottom it says RIM Wireless modem R902M-2-D, so it's a wireless modem. It's not reported, though, by Windows - it doesn't have any driver installed, as far as I noticed. Just out of curiosity - how exactly would you use this modem?

Under the HDD I have 2 minipci slots. In one there's a board which has Ambit T90L026.01 written on it, in the other there's also a board which has a Conexant SmartHCF chip. The first one is reported by a site as "modem for toughbook CF-28", the second one is obviously also a modem. In the Device Manager there's only one entry, Aztech MP3930V, which I think is the second board. Then what is the first board? Any idea? It's located near the edge of the laptop.

 

Welcome to the forum!

You have the regular setup of 90% of the CF-28s out there. You just need to start modding out there! The RIM Wireless modem can be taken out. But SAVE the PC board for future use. When/if you feel comfortable you can modify the RIM PC Board to make it into a GPS board that will give GPS functionality to your laptop! (That is the short story... You'll need to buy the GPS engine, antenna, etc.) The original RIM modem is no good anymore. It is the old analog type that cast 99 cents per minute to use.... At dial up speeds!

You can remove the LAN card and modem card. Then you can find a LAN/Modem combo card to stick in the far left slot... Then you can get a good Atheros based wifi card to stick in the right-hand slot. How you handle the antenna is up to you... There are many threads about the subject. The search function is your friend at this stage. Use that and ask questions about the threads in between searching. You should start with the excellent CF-28FAQ that is stickied at the top of the Panasonic forum. It has a lot of great links to what you need.

Good luck and keep us in the loop as to what you are doing with your new toy!

 

Thanks for the information, Toughbook. I've read the faq and several other threads, but at the moment I have trouble identifying the hardware. The RIM PC Board is placed under the RIM modem, right? Meaning under the battery.

Under the HDD there are 2 boards, one is a Conexant modem but I don't know what the other one is. If I understand correctly, you're saying it is a LAN card. In Device Manager I have an Intel 855x-based PCI Ethernet adapter, so I guess that must be it. I didn't notice the "PCI" part in the name, I thought it was onboard.

 

Bingo!

What we do is remove BOTH MODEM & LAN PCI cards, then install one combo LAN/MODEM card in the outboard slot, & install a good Atheros WiFi card in the inboard slot. If you want to use the OEM antenna for WiFi, see my posts HERE: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=215522&page=2

It works pretty well, actually... the magnesium case pretty much makes it impossible to mount ANY kind of antenna internally; so if you want to do GPS or Wireless broadband, you may prefer to use the antenna wiring/location for those.

mnem
Antennae are for...ToughBooks.