External Antenna Hack

Thanks for the link! I forgot I needed some of the shorter ones too. I just ordered 5 of them.. GREAT price!

Just make sure that you use a sturdy backing for the LAN side mount... Preferably a washer that straddles the metal on both sides. Otherwise it's liable to break.

 

Yep..already know that.. Guess I forgot to tell ya that I am a Ham.. you know how we love to mod stuff...lol .... didja remember what your dad's callsign was by chance??

 

My Dad's was W4GFB - Girls, Food & Booze he used to say, heh heh... My Mom's was WA4MCD... I have both their license plates on the wall of my garage.... Along with a lot of others. He built his own SB102 (Heathkit)... And all the amps and stuff to go along with it. He loved to sit in the Ham Shack for hours on end talking to people all around the world. I still have a few of his QSL cards in the shop. I used to love to help him work Field Day every June (I think)... I used to have a sign business along with my brother-in-law... (of the time) They used to cheat a little and have us bring the crane truck out to help them set up their antennas. Man that was a blast.

We had the first color TV in the neighborhood that he built. I remember to this day when he bought his own LCD calculator... Just add, subtract, multiply and divide. He built it from a kit... For $279... Now you can buy them for $1... What a kick...

A lot of fond memories...

 

Sounds like you have an unfair advantage over us.. its in your genes!

 

Wow.. awesome.. Yes..Field Day is still in June... I also help with Jamboree on the Air with the Boy Scouts..( and Girl Scouts now too.. ) Using a crane isn't cheating at all... In an emergency..we use anything we can. My Call is K9ZZZ, Zirconium Zebra Zippers... Have only been one since '91.. have 2 brothers that are Hams as well... anyways.. don't wanna get this off topic..lol....

 

My Dad used to be K4JDG but when he moved to the East Coast he had to switch for some reason... I don't think I ever asked him why he had to change.

Gravitar... Yup... In the genes... Though mostly mechanical over electrical. I remember rebuilding the engine of a 5hp mini bike when I was 10. My Mom didn't want me to have it and my Dad, not wanting to cross her, said if I could rebuild it without any help I could keep it. It had a bent valve. When I figured that out (Accidentally... I saw it roll across the table) he helped me lap the valve in and then I rebuilt the rest by myself. Ever since then I have to know how things work. I'll take apart something brand new just to see what makes it tick. I have yet to be stumped putting it back together.

Anyway... Back on topic I guess... I played around with one of the last laptops I built with a different antenna configuration. I figured I would try one of the paddle type antennas that most laptops use. You know... The square thin type? They usually have two to a set. (Main & Aux) I thought about placing one on the right side. Opposite the LAN & Modem... On the same plastic piece. The antenna was a little large so I put it in the vise and put a 90 degree bend in it at the right spot. Then I took off the cover and used a piece of thin double stick tape and stuck the antenna on the outside of the case but so that it would be covered when I put the plastic cover back on. (You with me?) The fold was perfect because it then came back to the inside of the case and I had it mounted so that the antenna lead pointed to the inside of the laptop. The antenna is thin enough so that it fits well between the case and plastic cover. I had to pull off the thick double stick tape because it was way too thick to fit between the cover and the case. Anyway... The antenna works very well as a back-up to the LCD mounted antenna. I haven't measure the strength but it gets pretty good reception in my shop... Which my stock Vaio and Dell can't do. (Of course the 400mw wifi card has something to do with it I'm sure.) I'll try to take a picture and post it tomorrow.

 

We seem to have a similar problem of ripping apart things. I've ripped apart all 5 of my cars that I've owned, and fixed all problems they've had.

Same goes with my computers, even my new one I've had for a month has been ripped up.

 

Hey Toughbook, we used to do the same thing here in PA but we called it rabbit racing. I finally got my internal wifi setup done up. I used that little connector that is next to the port replicator which allowed me to use two shorter leads and have the ability to use an external antenna with that contact connector on the kodiak. I hope that connector works on the kodiak anyway. I won't know till they get here. I got burnt from the place on ebay that I got my wifi card from though. He was claiming they were super 108's but not even close they were Fujitsu cards from dell units. Arrgghh. I am still quite impressed though as I picked up 7 networks from my computer room which only has one window in it. The pcmcia card would maybe on a good day only pick up mine and my buddy who lives behind me. I utilized your setup with side and top mounts. Thank you for posting such detailed instructions on this. I should have those other things that we talked about in a few days.

 

Speed... Good to hear! Do you know the power on the card? 100mw? It should do you fine. The 400mw will drag in a few more APs too...

The rear connection should work. Just make sure the connections are clean and it should work with no problem. You MUST keep us posted on that. Are you going to run it to a mag-mount on the roof? If it turns out not to work as well as you'd hoped... You can always add a SMA connection on the side (if the mount permits) and go from there.

 

Reading this post reminds me of the first "heathkit" color tv i helped my uncle build! i still have the little ohm-meter somplace in the garage.
Speedmon when you ran your cable to that internal board did you have to solder one end? My cf28 has the big thick blue wire from the cell-modem solderd to that board from there it splits the signal to the rear connector and out to the jumper that runs up the lcd.
Toughbook: on the high power wifi cards do they have some kind of pre-amp? I would think that on the transmit side you signal would get out with the high power But to pull it back in soo well the cards must have more sensitivity or a preamp>> just curious. I was amazed at how many AP's my 600mw wifi card pulled in. Too bad i broke the keyboard in the re-assembly LOL.
I think if i rember right the Kodiac mounts are pretty open on the sides, my buddy is a trooper here in MA and from what i rember his cf-29 has a kodiac mount and its all open which should leave space for a side connector.

 

Toughbook, I did do the side mount as well as bezel mounted antenna's. The card is only 100mw and yes I am going to try and run a mag mount antenna on the roof so that if the rear connector works I can just put one mag mount on each vehicle and just drop in the laptop, dock up, and away we go.
Radioogeek, I did use that jack that the blue wire you are referring to is connected to at the back of the panel by the port replicator. All I did was unsolder the blue wire, solder in a new pigtail with u.fl connector on it which I got by cutting a 19" U.fl to RP-SMA just about in half. I then took the H.fl wire that was part of RIM antenna and cut it off the antenna. I stripped and soldered together then shrinktubed. I don't think even with the rear connector and soldering that I have much loss if any since I am picking up so many access points around me now but cant really judge till I have my buddy bring over his laptop with factory wifi which is a current instore model and see the difference between them.
I will keep all posted on progress of whether or not rear connector works.

 

I do wanna throw my 2¢ in... The ebay seller linked is very good, and I've bought 6 orders through him, and he will combine shipping a bit. He gets it in the mail the next day, and it's never taken more than 3 days unless I order on Saturday night.

 

Modly... Are you talking about Linkenergy? (ebay seller) I have ordered from him in the past too... Quick shipping usually...

 

Yup. He's got great deals on pigtails, and unlike two others I ordered from, he didn't have an attitude with me asking questions.

 

Hi! guys, and congrats for a great success on gps installation, I have another Q? if somebody can answer this. Is it posible to install just one antena for wi-fi and bluetooth? This are separate module not a compact comdo module. These two has the same frequency.

 

They use different frequencies... I think BT is higher up the food chain...

 

If they use the same frequencies, wouldn't that prevent you from using both simultaneously?

 

Bluetooth and Wifi use the same frequency in the 2.4ghz range so you could use the same type of antenna. The reason they don't interfer with each other is that bluetooth uses the FHSS or frequency hopping while WIFi uses DSSS or direct sequencing. Therefore each will appear as just short duration random noise to the other. I don't think you can or should use the same antenna to feed both units but you can use the same type.

 

Toughbook. Would it be possible to reinstate the dead links to pictures in post 1 please?

 

Hello old thread... Rick if you can find those links you can email em to me and i'll put em on my server if u want

 

I've got myself a 19" pigtail. Looking from underneath my wireless card is in the extreme left hand postion furtherest from the battery.

Is the place to drill the hole for the SMA socket the plastic cover to the right of the battery where there's a cut out in the metal chassis? How do I route the cable to the wireless card? There doesn't seem to be a way through. Is further dismantling needed?

Thanks.

 

I've reformatted twice since I posted the original pictures.

Station... To answer your question... Yes.... To the right of the battery (With the laptop upside down and the cover off.)... You can fish the u.fl connector under the center section just behind the RAM and it will come out on the top section where the mini-pci cards are. Then you just pull it down to connect.

 

Thanks Toughbook. Also thanks for the CD to DVD conversion details. That saved me an awful lot of money.

 

OK. I have the obvious question. Why can't the factory retractable lid antenna be used? That would seem to be the ideal. If not the factory retractable antenna, is there a new antenna tuned to the wifi freq that would fit the existing hole?

 

Rickdog,
You really need to search a little. Anyway there was a lot of trial and error on this subject. If your factory antenna was for cellular, ie. the RIM cards on the daughter board it is tuned for frequencies far different than wlan and doesn't work well for that. If you are replacing the Cisco wlan card in the hidden slot then it should work well. Some people have hacked the RIM modem antennas successfully, but they seem to have SWR meters and other ham radio gear and skills. The paddle antenna solution works fine, Toughbook re-posted the details here recently.
CAP

 

Will this help?

 

ToughNut,
That looks great, but I would caution anyone considering that location for the paddle antenna (and they should) to check the paddle antenna first. Both will fit there, but there is not a whole lot of extra room.
CAP

 

Paddles? But Capt, the cables are terminated to RP-SMAs for external antennae. I considered paddles behind the screen but I chickened out. However, for those needing to dock their TBs, don't install connectors in the rear.
Cheers,
Ron

 

Ron,
I meant the comment for people doing it Rick's way with the one external RP-SMA and one internal antenna. Most of us would not get into modding a fitting into the pass through location. Nice job though.
CAP

 

Hey guys i was reading the post on this and i just bought a cf-28, its all stock i got it from a guy on e-bay the unit is in mint condition only bad thing is no wifi its that old wirless crap they used.. Now to the question im no computer whiz so you might have to explain alittle. i opened the back and i have the (heart of your wirless) under the battery and its the sierra sb300 witch is a old service card now ive read there are cards for this machine to make it WiFi. If at all possible what are the best cards to buy where to buy them the model numbers the whole bit, and where to put them i know about the area under the HD. also are you able to utilize the antenna on the LCD and the Wireless button on the left front side of the handle. im trying to keep everything stock on this laptop im not really trying to have antenna sticking out everywhere and pcm? cards on the side sticking out mostly because im probably going to mount this in my restoration project my Ex-police cruiser 1995 Chevy Caprice 9c1. best buy told me if i get the parts they will do it for 50 bucks so if you guys know some good sites where i can get all i need. when i get everything im just going to take it up to them and tell them to install it and set it up

 

Capranger,
You can do anything you have asked about here, no soldering, just a couple of screws (get some GOOD screwdrivers). I would steer away from the techs at best buy. After you get to know a little you will notice that the mods here are not factory authorized and that non-Toughbook people tend to not understand them. Allegedly knowledgeable people with 17,396,483 rep points chime in here with the dumbest comments all the time. We call them Dells.
CAP

 

hi
i have a HP nx6325 notebook with BCM4311 mini card wifi
the card have 2 wires (one black and one white) that comes from LCD
i think from specification that 2 pigtails wire connector are from main and secundar antenna that are in lcd
i want to atach a external antenna to the notebook to the one of this 2 pigtail
but i'm not sure wich one


can anybody help me ?

thanks

 

Either one will work



Alex

 

The metal piece that the RP-SMA connector mounts on - is that a standard toughbook part (perhaps part of the factory RIM antenna kit) or a home made item? To seal it up, something like plain black silicone would do the job nicely or some sort of automotive gasket sealer. For sealing the actual connector, maybe something equivalent to a car tyre valve cover with a good o-ring to seal it would be the way to go.

Craig.

 

Hi guys, The pictures are gone, any place I can see the tutorial with pics, I'm doing the same mode now, and trying to figure out what antenna to get.


Thank you,

Vitaliy.

 

Craig... You are quoting a post that is several years old... Action is long gone....

Vitaliy... This has been discussed and posted in several threads... You just need to search and read a little.

 

Well, in his defense, this is the thread that's linked to in the FAQ on the 28 for putting in WiFi antennas. If you could readd the photos here, it'd be a big help to n00bs like myself.

 

X2! the more photos the better!
Check this out from my perspective:
I am TOTALLY new to this. this is my very first laptop (CF-28PCJGZEB)
I have spent the past few evenings and ALL day today reading everything I can find throughout this online community and others. (This forum is by far the best IMO)
Most of you chit chat about these things as if it's second nature. but a good many of the posts are too far over the heads of anyone who doesn't really know the lingo and understand what you're talking about.

I notice a lot of the threads written as "How To's" seem to get off topic, never to regain focus on the subject matter.

I would love to learn more about my laptop and also learn how to mod it. I certainly have enough experience with electronics and soldering... -I just don't know my way around these laptops nor do I understand things like "RIM Board" (I want to install GPS, and one of the things the thread says is: it requires a "RIM" daughterboard...
checking out the CF28 FAQ on "WHAT HAVE I GOT" it says to check your Bios... well, I'm not sure what a Bios is, NOR how I go about checking it.
I don't know if anyone's thought of this, but perhaps a sticky for "CF28 PRE FAQ for complete noobs and idiots" might be a great thing to have! -I know I could sure use it!

 

Boosted,
We are what we am! The CF-28 FAQ has enabled hundreds of neophytes to learn every thing there is to know about all of the questions you have raised. If you have to work your way through a little puerile humor and discussion to find what you need man up and do it. There is a reason you are here looking for information, you have somehow found out that this is the best place to find it. We welcome you and are here to help you in anyway we can but we are not in the business of spoon feeding new comers, in fact we are not in business at all!
We like our forum, and if a discussion of wi-fi cards somehow drifts over to the relative merits of different grain weight bullets for 7.62mm ammunition, that's just the way we are, we like us the way we are. Be patient with us, we'll be patient with you and don't be surprised if you end up liking the forum the way it is. Again, welcome.



Attached are two images of the internal antenna hack for your CF-28 just to get you started.
CAP

 

I'm gettin it now! I didn't even realize some of these threads were started so long ago until that was pointed out to me after a reply in another thread. THAT explains why some of the pics and links are no longer there. thanks for posting those pics though!
seeing that really makes me understand a lot more...

OK, the GPS mod... as in: adding an aftermarket GPS. I am probably going to buy the USGlobalSat engine because that is what is linked from the thread on doing a GPS install
What is meant by RIM daughterboard? Is that a type of daughterboard, or is it an optional device or ???
how do I tell whether I have this or whether I need to find one?
I'd like to install a fast responding and accurate GPS which I can use for maps/directions, but I also hope to use it as my Vehicle SPeed Sensor (I have a standalone engine management system)
THe pics have me clear on what to expect for the antenna, but as for the GPS engine itself, I am not so sure what is meant when it says that I need a RIM DB or internal wireless card. got any pics that show what I need to look for?

As for liking this forum for what it is? -Notebookreview is absolutely without a doubt the BEST resource that I have found. no question about that!

 

Boosted... If you are unsure what a BIOS is... This may be over your head for the time being... You can read for months to finally get all the ducks in a row.... But you still must have the skills with a soldering iron, the proper tools and a lot of patience.

Yes... We do get off topic... If we didn't blow off steam, well.... we wouldn't still be here.

 

Now, I have electronics experience. In fact, I have a lot more experience than most. I have successfully built a few Megasquirt EMS's from a bare board and a BOM and nothing more than a Weller WCTCP and hand tools. I have built and installed numerous other standalone EMS's, and in the case of my current project, it is the first of it's kind to EVER be installed on my chosen platform (which means there was no startup maps, no schematics and no support. -basically, remove everything, wiring and all, replace every sensor, every wire and figure out how to configure everything from scratch, then design and write every tuning and operating parameter/fuel maps, ignition maps and the like, and make it all work. -It took nearly a month to figure out the instrument cluster and OVER a month to get the digital climate control working without the factory ECU and with only my standalone EMS.
When it comes to computer related though, I just don't have much experience, and I don't know the lingo.
For instance the "BIOS" -once I found a wiki page that guided me through control panel and ultimately to my device manager, I knew what that was, I just didn't know what that was called!

I am totally comfortable with soldering (and microsoldering and rework) and have the right tools to do pretty much everything I am reading about in here.

Where I seem to get TOTALLY lost is when I have to (for a good example) find a driver, DL, install, and get it to work... I never got the fundamentals down, and it hinders thehell out of me every time I need to do something with my PC.
DL-ing and installing updates and the correct software / firmware versions for my AEM EMS was like pulling teeth. that which is the easiest part of the setup for most (under 10 minutes start to finish) took me a day to figure out
(although when it comes to building an ignition map and setting up air temp correction tables or boost comp fuel map, I am about 10x as fast as most so I do make up for my handicap sometimes )

I have mods that I am most interested in doing right away, and I have found just about everything I need here on NBR. I think I simply need to re-read each writeup a couple times today, and then order everything I need and I should be able to handle most, if not all of the mods myself.
-change CD to DVD
-install GPS
-add memory
-wireless card
+ antennas

then of course the installation of the auxiliary touchscreen, auxiliary keyboard and dock.


Here's an interesting fact I have just discovered for myself (not sure how much help this is to anyone here, but ya never know!)
I had trouble getting the serial cable to fit into the "hole" of the serial port connector on the back of my CF-28, so I used a different serial cable and turned it into basically a DB9 extension cable / adapter.
AEM EMS takes a MALE DB9, the laptop needs a female DB9. a M/F cable is supplied but the connector is too big, so I used another M/F with smaller connectors, and used it to connect from the existing female end to the laptop.
-AEM EMS -- male cable female -- male cable female -- laptop
This in effect works out to render your system nearly unusable! I don't know why, but the sensors gave false readings, nothing would work correctly and every reading on my on screen dashboard was WAY off.
went back to one cable (the m/f with smaller ends) and everything is back to normal
I tried 2 cables again on my PC which is a known working system with the AEM... -same thing kooky readings and malfunctions galore. -back to one cable (either of my M/F serial cables) and everything is fine.
can anyone tell me WHY using 2 cables like this would cause such issues?

 

I believe its the length, and too many connections. Signal get lost in space (which here, basically means Mnem got hungry and ate it!)

 

The extension cable that was causing problems could be a null modem cable, not a straight through type
In the null modem type pins 2 and pins 3 are crossed over
Check for markings, and or confirm continuity
Or…..The extension cable is just a piece of junk


Alex

 

I'm with Alex on this one;

Odds are your "questionable" cable is either JUNK, or is a "Null MODEM" cable.

See the schematic for a Null MODEM cable here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=428080

to help figure it out for yourself.

mnem
Here... have some proton sauce for that electrical spaghetti...

 

This a very interesting thread! However, it would be better if the pictures were still available...

I would be very interesting in adding an outside antenna, to the lid of my CF-29, if this mod would apply to that unit.

Or is the consensus that the factory antennas are more then sufficient?

 

Me too... I would like to add some gain WIFI antennas to my CF-29 lid...

 

I guess I don't understand why? Do you need a cantenna to connect to another mountain-top 10 miles away? How about adding a more powerful wifi card? Engenous makes a great 600mW wifi card that will just about double your power....

Lots of stuff you can do without resorting to antenna mods... Unless you were talking about high gain wifi cards.

 

I think its my reception...I am trying to hit a wireless router that is located outside my garage. My garage is a "pole barn" with metal sheeting. Do you have a link where i can buy a Engenous card? I'll try it...

 

Toughbook.......

I'm a CF-28 enthusiast and I've got my project PC...CF-28SUJ23DM that is in dire need of WIFI....internal or external. I'm reading your post but the pics don't show....could you repost so I can see the pics?

Appreciate your help!