CF29 external wifi antenna connector

I did this mod on my CF 28 and it works well. I use it quite a bit when I'm up in Alaska to access those hard to find wifi hotspots.

Anyway, I've been looking at my CF-29 and am stumped. If you were going to put a jack on your 29 where would you put it?

 

i heard of a trick that where if you wrap an un-sheilded ethernet cable around a cell phone and the plug in one end of the cable, the cellphone will act like an antenna.

I have no idea if this actually works and is credible, but you could at least try it.

 

Bane-o,
It worked really well on "Burn Notice" the other night but that's TV.
CAP

 

OK. Not really what I had in mind.

 

Thanks... I haven't had a laugh in days! Sorry... I'm still laughing....

Then there's the trick that if you lock your keys in the car... Just call your wife and have her hit the remote while you hold your cell phone next to the car door... Then there's the one....

That was so funny....

Stiffnecked... I've thought about this too. The ONLY place that I could think of 100% to put it would lose you the passthrough connector on the back. But unlike the CF-28, the CF-29's back plate is inset just enough to allow proper installation. But you would lose the passthrough. It removes easily with two screws and the u.fl connectors pop off. Then you can wire from the card to the antenna semi-direct instead of through the passthrough.

If you use the passthrough you obviously can't do this.

 

I'm not too worried about losing the passthrough cause I don't plan on using a docking station. But I don't want to hack anything up in case I sell it and get something else later.

I have an idea I'm working on and I'll try to post up some pictures tomorrow.

The one thing I haven't figured out is how to still utilize the second(aux) antenna that is mounted in the LCD lid. Cause if you take out the external antenna pcb then you have to take off the u.fl connector that goes to the second antenna in the LCD.

 

I don't think you are going to get much better reception than the standard antennae on the CF-29 already provides but if you really want to try, it would be possible to install an rp-sma on the plastic end cap above the battery. you can solder the coax end directly to the pass-thru connector pcb.

 

Stiffnecked... I agree with Tough... You really cannot improve upon the Toughbook twin antenna system UNLESS you need a cantenna or similar. You CAN carefully unscrew the passthrough, unsnap the u.fl connectors and take it out.... Then use a 12" SMA bulkhead to U.fl connector... You'll just need a few carefully chosen washers of the correct size to pinch in place with the SMA bulkhead. Once you take it out... You'll see what I mean. You can have it out in under 5 minutes and it is completely reversible!

 

I installed an draft-N card in my cf-29 and this card has 3-antenna-connectors. So I could install the sma-connector in the right of the gum-corners of the lid. It is also reversible. Just to buy a new cover. The connection to the SMA was made from a cheap wifi-internal-antenna for laptop, so I only use the connector to the card with the cable and soldering the SMA instead the small wifi-antenna on it.

 

I bought a cantenna rig and really didn't "see" a huge improvement. Of course, I'm no technowiz, so your mileage may vary. I guess I expected the seller's claim of distances to be at least close. Silly me.

 

Pappy... Those long distance claims are using not only a cantenna to receive the signal... But also to broadcast it....

 

Which draft-N card did you end up with? I worked a little on this today and trying to get the sma with the u.fl pigtail to fit and get the washers just right has been challenging. Not quite as much room as I thought. Either the washers were too thin or too thick. I'm putting it aside for the evening or I will really screw something up.

 

Stiffnecked... You can also snip out a piece of tin can or something and poke two holes in it where the passthrough goes... (Trim it to size with tin-snips) Then use the passthrough screws to hold it in place.... No washers then!

You can always paint it black and make it look pretty later....

 

Aaaah, I get it now! I buy two cantenna rigs, infiltrate my neighbor with the superfast wifi rig, use my laser range finder to set the line of fire, defiltrate, erasing all signs of my presence and slink back home to enjoy the fruits of my recon.

Oops, by the time I got back to the hooch; the neighbor had encripted his wifi setup.

Drat, now I have to reinfiltrate.........................

 

I've seen claims of 10 - 20 miles using old Dish TV satellite dish's... And they swore it was true. I thought about it as I have an old dish in the attic just waiting to be used for whatever....

 

So now there may be a use for that old Direcway satellite dish I still have on the roof? It used to be a status symbol before we got DSL. Now I'm just too lazy to take it down. Plus it's kinda neat to throw Christmas lights around.

 

I've got two old dish network woks. All I need is TB's hack, and I can start planning my next recon.

 

C'mon.... this is TOO easy.... Google "dish wifi antenna" and you'll find over 33,000 responses!

Here's one...

http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/15/how-to-build-a-wifi-biquad-dish-antenna/

It's easy to do with our stuff... Just end the antenna cable with an SMA and hook it up to the SMA Bulkhead to U.fl to wifi card....

Viola.. Long distance nekkid pictures, uhhh... eh.... schematics, I mean....