CF-30 CF-31 WIFI Thread

One of the things that has really improved the Toughbook performance for me was to use a different wireless antenna for the 802.11 a/b/g/n adapter. The two top edge antennas under the black plastic trim of the lid are "OK" for sitting in a hotel room but not too good for grabbing a connection from the parking lot of the nearest McDonalds or Starbucks. I installed two "Taoglas" antennas under the black plastic side trim of the lid (where the coax cables run). In a semi controlled environment I went from 12 visible AP's to 34 visible AP's with the better antennas.

The Taoglas antennas are available in a variety of frequencies/ bands. For LTE, 802.11 in 2.4/5.8, WiMAX 3.65 in either a single antenna patch per coax to multiple antennas combined in one strip. They cost $10-$25 each and you just need to find a spot to install them.

Normally on a laptop I would put them inside of the machine because the plastic case would allow the antenna to radiate. This works unless they use an EMI coating (the silver or black spray on the inside of the plastic) or if the laptop case is metallic; like the Toughbooks being made of magnesium alloy. In that instance you need them outside of the enclosure, like under those plastic caps on the top edge of the display or hidden under the side strips/bumpers on the display or under the plastic strip between the keyboard and the hinge (like where the bluetooth antenna is installed near the left hinge).

Most laptop antennas are designed by people who are not RF engineers. Using a properly designed antenna can make a tremendous difference in wireless connectivity, either with WWLAN (LTE) or WiFi (802.11).

 

Do you know the part number of those Taoglas 802.11 antennas?
I am very interested in doing that mod to my CF31.

 

Here is where you can find the datasheet on those antennas;

http://www.taoglas.com/product/freedom-fxp831-2-44-9-6-0ghz-flex-pcb-antenna-ipex-mhfi/

Digikey sells them for $5.52 (US) each. Here is their part number "931-1121-ND"

 

fantastic.
I assume you had to solder the longer coax onto them.

 

Yes, that is correct, you need to solder a longer pigtail on to the antenna. The U.FL cable is too short and really limits your options. The antenna can be unsoldered right from the antenna

 

Yes, that is correct, you need to solder a longer pigtail on to the antenna. The U.FL cable is too short and really limits your options. The antenna can be unsoldered right from the antenna

 

I ordered 6 of them. 2 in the 31 for sure.
I am always hotrodding the wifi.
Currently the my 31 has a Azurewave AW-CE123H that I installed. I am planning on going back to the Intel 7260ac with a pair of the Taoglas antennas. I do a bunch of the McDonalds and turnpike rest stop parking lot wifi.
The Intel seems to work better with the distance.

For your CF30, the Ubiquiti SR71E is a really great high power card. Full height so it won't work in a CF31.

 

Thanks for the suggestion on the SR71E. I bought two of them a couple of weeks ago and could never get them to work in the CF-30. The drivers from Ubiqiti just do not work for Windows 7 (32 bit). I tried the Atheros drivers and that did not work either. While I am a hardware genius and can hack anything with a soldering iron I am pretty much a dunce when it comes to program manipulation and code (I have a mental block against it; like any discussion involving sports like football or basketball).

One of the advantages of the antenna replacement is known as "reciprocity" in wireless communications systems. Increasing the power of just your transmitter does not give you a better two-way communications link as you will still be "deaf" to the far end, their power does not go up.

Improving your antenna gives you a double-boost, the gain of the antenna helps your transmitter performance and your receiver performance. The "RF Link Budget" is reciprocal (what is good for the receiver, is also good for the transmitter on antennas).

 

one problem with wireless installations is that it is sometimes forgotten that "desense happens' in a strong field .
another problem is a good wireless setup on one end but the rf output is high enough to extend the range but receiving the peanut-whistle signal from a laptop renders it useless .
i have seen those "diversity" tranceiver units ... some are actually worse than a single antenna type .
an improvement (off the top of my head) would be a flat phased array built from the taoglas units (or similar types) .

i don't believe there is any other improvement with the current power levels of boards in the laptops .
i suppose one could build a phased array that has the typical pattern for commercial broadcast fm ; a torus or "doughnut" .
but this may not be very effective because of the fact that the source of the received signal may often be overhead (roughly speaking) .
so much for eliminating omnidirectional "cloud warmer" designs .

a flat antenna array that is blind to the rear and very myopic to the sides could be beneficial in obtaining a decent bidirectional signal path/link :
reducing interference (unwanted signals , qrm and grunge) is accomplished by the flat panel design .
improving the erp and thus the amount of signal that "makes it back" to the wireless node .
the flat phased array can be compact enough to slip into a small carry case .
a small tripod can hold the array .

 

I agree that the transmitter (router)and receiver (laptop) must both have good power and signals. A great transmitter is useless with a poor receiver. Yes I know wifi is bi-directional. I am simplifying.
My thoughts are that probably most of the time the laptop(receiver) is the weak link. So if I can put in a high power card and better antenna I am doing my part to improve things. I do not want to blame the transmitter for poor connections and walk away.
I had a high power card in my CF29. With my Cantenna I could transmit and receive 1/2 mile away to a standard router in a semi congested area. It was a very noticeable improvement over a stock "low power" card.

 

I put the Intel 6300 (3 antennas) into the CF31mk3 today. Works fine but does not show up in the BIOS.
I sacrificed having bluetooth. Bluetooth is on the wifi on a mk3. I have a mk2 BT board. I will try it later. I think I tried it before, but I can't recall the results. I don't really use BT anyway.

I swapped an old wifi antenna on top of the lid where the wwan antenna was. I used it as the secondary antenna and the palm rest antenna as the third on the center connection. No real world testing yet.
When I receive the Taoglas antennas, they will replace the stock antennas. At least the two in the top of the lid.

 

Two engineers and a Search Ninja. The prospects overwhelm me.
Carry on troops.

newbies etc. if you ain't reading every word of this trio then you ain't living.

 

The Taoglas wifi antennas came in today.
Interesting as they are flexible and stick on. I will need to be cautious as I solder on the longer coax.

 

Do you mean like Kapton tape? Not a bad idea. It will help, but I still need to be cautious so I don't burn through.
These are probably about as thick as FFC. And just as flexible.

The next photo is the wrong model number but a good photo.

 

how about that ... they can double as band-aids .
the insulation of that miniax is made from pfe or ptfe plastic no need to worry about damaging it .
you can check the base material of the antenna by applying the soldering iron to the/a corner .

the chances of the solder being anything but the eutectic alloy of a *normal* Pb free solder are pretty slim .
i do not see them using an alloy like "chipquik" (the solder *liquifier* product ... not the solder) : http://www.chipquik.com/store/
actually , there is no real reason one could not use the chipquik product as a solder melting point reducer ... just mix it with given amount of 63/37/2 solder .

those antennas would lend themselves nicely to a phased array ... at least as far as physical construction goes .
time to do a little research on the pattern of those antennas .

edit :
while yer at the chipquik site , check out the solder alloys they carry .
there are some that have Cu in them ... these will reduce the erosion of copper tips and improve the "toughness" of a joint .
they also will help improve the working surface of iron plated tips .
(yep , i have seen twidgets ruin good tips by filing/sandpapering them)

check out this product : http://www.chipquik.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1100006
this stuff reminds me of one of the expressions a very good (now deceased) friend of mine used from time to time : "yep ... this is more fun than stacking greasy BBs" .
i'll say one thing , they sure are proud of their products , they want enough for them .

 

Taoglas has some great multi-band LTE antennae. I smell a mod coming my way as well.

 

I got the longer leads soldered on the Taoglas WIFI antennas. 2 of them anyway.
Maybe tomorrow I will install them in the CF 31.

I have 2 WIFI antennas on the top of the lid. I am not replacing the stock antenna on the palm rest yet.
I swapped in an Intel 6300 card to get the best performance. I figure I will connect the lid antennas to the 2 outer connections on the card. The palm rest antenna will be connected to the 3rd connector.

I had to sacrifice bluetooth 4.0 in order to use the 6300 card. I will test a CF 31mk2 bluetooth card and see if it works. I don't use bluetooth so I don't really care either way.

 

The dedicated bluetooth board from a CF31 mk2 works in a mk3. I pulled the 7260 2x2 with built in bluetooth.
Installed the 2 Taoglas antennas. I will do some on the road testing and report back.
I bypassed the auto antenna switching setup. I ran the antennas direct to the 6300 3x3. I do not need the switch because I am not going to use a dock.

Oh BTW..soldering the new leads on was no problem. I cranked the solder pencil up to 875 degrees and hit it fast. Used good flux to attach the new leads.

 

"... and hit it fast ..."
that works for other things as well .


don't ask me about the young tech that hired on and about two days later ...
"hmmm ... somethon's burnin' ..."
i lokked down the bench and there he was with a 140 watt weller gun "working" on 4.5 GHz down-converter .
uuuggghhh !

 

140 watt = 1020° F = "I could smell the silicon burn"

He should have used the propane torch.

 

no foolin' ...
he lasted about two weeks more .
the last straw was when he lost a honda generator off of the big truck .

 

TaoGlas antennas............. Rock my world...

I am pleased with the antenna mods to my CF 31 wifi. Very good performance with the TaoGlas.


ZOOM...ZOOM.....

 

*grumbles*

How on earth did all of this NOT crop up while I was in a position to source this stuff a lot more easily?

 

I do not know why you could not find it.
I had this split into a separate thread just so it would be easy to find.

If you need something shipped I might be willing to help.

 

Some time ago I posted about my problem:

Someone advised me to buy an Intel 5100 card.
I wondered it this card supports 802.11n but there was no reply:

So, I need some clarifications:
1. Is Intel 5100 card = a really good choice for CF-30 mk2 ?
2. Is Intel 5100 card compatible with installed WiFi-antenna?
Or shall I install a special antenna? Which one?
3. Once more about 802.11ac card - are there any cards which can be installed in CF-30?

 

Yes it is compatible with installed antennas. Any 802.11 card will work perfectly with installed antennas.
Draft N cards work fine with N routers.
An 802.11ac card won't be recognized by the BIOS. 802.11ac will not work.

Best known working options are:
Listed in order of best first

SR71E Ubiquitu--best internal you will get for a CF30- Current price is $50 US dollars.
Intel 5300 with the third antenna added----minor work and cheap.
Intel 5100 very easy to do and very cheap

It looks like at one time I had a Intel 6250 working in a CF 30. So an Intel 6300 "may" work. A 6300 is better than a 5300. I never tried a 6300 so I don't know for sure. The Intel 5300 is the best performance for the least money. Just add a third antenna

Read these threads
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/cf30-wlan-options.789321/

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/cf30-mk2-installed-sr71e-wifi-wlan-card.710805/

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/removing-cf-30-keyboard.741744/

http://forum.notebookreview.com/search/15419818/?q=cf+30+wifi&o=relevance&c[node]=1012

 

Thanks a lot for info!

 

I really don't know about CF-30/31, but in CF-19 802.11ac works perfectly.
I've tried both Intel (7260AC) and Broadcom adapters.
This one works in my CF-19 right now
AzureWave Broadcom BCM94352HMB/BCM94352 802.11/ac/867Mbps WLAN + BT4.0 Half Mini PCI-E Card
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JY6X9HM/ref=od_aui_detailpages01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Which mk? CF19's have quite a range from mk1 to mk7 or is it 8 now?

 

MK3 and higher. I don't like mk1&2

 

I have a few 31W's and while I'm in it I'd like to upgrade the antennas and such. I can get the Taoglas antennas and solder them in but Which would be the best WiFi card to upgrade to?

Thanks!

 

What is in it now? 6205 is my guess. That's what was in my CF31S
I went with a 6300 and installed a third antenna.
6300 has better range but uses more power as it is designed for high performance.
7260ac is faster when connected to a 802.11AC router. 7260 is designed to use less power.

For general wifi from parking lots , the 6300 with 3 antennas blows the 7260ac away.

Here is a free tip, Place the third antenna in the top of the lid.

 

And do not ever buy 7260 They are super buggy even with newest drivers.
Broadcom and Atheros cards are much more stable than Intel.

 

The 7260 in my CF52S and in my CF53A both work fine. I use the CF52S daily without any connection issues. Win7 32 bit

 

Not sure what card it has currently, I'll find out once I get it to load up right LOL

I'm going to retire and travel around with my pup and the 'Parking Lot WiFi' is exactly what I am looking for!

Shawn, What do you mean by the Top of the Lid? I'll have the Ublox from Custom Toughbooks and the antenna goes in the upper right corner. will that interfere with the WiFi signal?

 

I put the third antenna on the side opposite of the gps antenna. I placed it where the Wi-Max antenna originally was. I even used the Wi-Max cable.

 

he's gonna be "war driving" ... heh heh heh .
man , there used to be a lot of "open" wireless signals but over the last few years that number is dropping dramatically .
when i was required to go to fargo nd to the sanford clinic , i would park in a certain spot in their elevated open topped parking area ...
at first , around 16 open wifi signals were available . subsequent visits over the next four years showed that pretty much the same signals were available (names of the machines) but had been encrypted .

which ublox are you getting ?

 

Thanks Shawn - If you keep the right side one stock and replace the one on the Left, where do you place the Third one? Along the side under the lid rubber?

CWB2, I am getting the LEA6/Ublox-6 one. I have thought of getting one of his GPS kit since I was using a 29Mk5. The current 31's are pretty nice for the Install. it doesn't have the Bump out corner or need a palm rest ground plane. it doesn't even look like you have one. I have a few Docks and I'll use it as my driving GPS, Camera, music, Etc connection. Well, that is the plan anyways! LOL

 

On a stock setup, one wifi antenna is on the lid beside the gps and the second one is actually on the palmrest beside the fan.
So I replaced the wimax with a wifi antenna on the opposite side of the gps antenna. Slight chance it was one of the wwan antennas that I replaced with a wifi taoglas.. I guess I will need to pull the cover to be 101% sure.

 

yeah ...
that taoglas in conjunction with the ublox is very hard to beat .
about a year ago , shawn sent me a '31 with that mod ...
i compared it to my '30 with ublox 4 kit (i think it is a 4) ... side by side ... non-technical commentary follows ...
the signals with the taoglas were a several dB higher and this translated into more usable birds .
the acquisition/settling times were shorter .

i highly recommend the mod .

 

I have an older Garmin Oregon 400 handheld for hiking, atving, and such, but I want to set up something bigger for the RV.

Any suggestion on programs for it? I use Garmins 'Base Camp' for researching areas, but would like something for driving directions also. I know there are a slew of choices but haven't done much research on them recently. Busy trying to clean out/fix up the parents place... I seriously think they have self replicating junk in that house! I take a trailer load out and it looks like there is More when i come back! LOL

I appreciate all the Knowledge though! Thanks!!

 

Let's start a new thread for the gps stuff. GPS was only mentioned as to location of the antenna.
This one is wifi.
The gps stuff will send this thread way off topic.
Thanks

 

heh ...
you would not like to come to my place ... the stuff is replicating .
the problem stems from me not being able to tell the sex of the stuff ... sooo ... well , you know what they say about rabbits .

yeah , there is a ton of programs out there ...
i have been trying out the free types ... always something left to be desired .
i am sort of involved with the development (polishing it up foe functionality) of a program ... it is going slow and i may just respectfully bow out of it .

 

yep ... good idea ... i was thinking the same thing .

 

As you wish my Liege... ;-)

I'll start a new post, thanks for all the WiFi assistance though. I ordered a pair of the Taoglas and got them yesterday morning!!

now to find the time to find my iron and to put longer leads on them! ;-)

 

My memory was off a bit.

I used dual Taoglas antennas in the lid. I also kept the third wifi antenna in the palmrest.
Originally there was 2 wifi antennas Black lead goes to the palmrest antenna. White lead goes to the Wifi //WiMax antenna in the lid.

I replaced the white lead antenna with a Taoglas by sticking the Taoglas directly to the antenna PCB.

On the other side(The GPS side) I removed the entire WWAN antenna PCB by desoldering it. I then stuck a Taoglas to a piece of foam after I soldered it to the GREY lead formerly going to the WWAN antenna that I removed.

I am using an Intel 6300 wifi card in my CF 31 mk3. With 3 antennas and two of those being Taoglas, the 6300 wifi rocks in this CF 31. Only downside is the original 7260 card had Bluetooth on it. I lost the 4.0 Bluetooth. Now I have 3.0 Bluetooth.

 

Thanks!

I'm going to keep the stock card for now as I do use the BT often. I might pick up a 6300 and swap it out to do some comparisons. It was on Amazon for about 15 bucks (I think)

 

Some time ago I posted about my problem:

Sorry for raising my issue again, I haven't done anything yet for solving the problem.

I am about to buy Intel 5100 card (it was proposed as the most simple solution).

Just to be sure - is it 100% a wifi card problem, not a wifi switch problem?

See, after the incident mentioned above I started to use an Ethernet cable for network, the wifi switch was always turned OFF.
2 days ago - just accidentally - I switched the wifi switch ON, and the wifi card seemed to work fine.
But yesterday it stopped worked again, and I wondered if it was just a wifi switch problem...
Whenever I switch it ON it flashes, but nothing happens, the wifi card doesn't appear in Device manager (so, it became same as after the incident).

Of course, I can buy and try to replace this wifi card, but it could be a waste of time in case of broken switch.
Please, give me an advice!!!

 

I am pretty sure it is a card problem.
Cards are cheap.
Where are you located?

 

Thanks for your reply! You are always helping))).
I live in Moscow, Russia.
Going to order Intel 5100 then.

As far as I understood, this was about CF31.
So sad that I cannot be sure that this 6300 card can be used in CF30.