Gobi signal strength crashes when docked in vehicle?

Hello again everyone, I'm fighting a frustrating problem in our squad cars with CF-31 mk4s and the Panasonic CF-WEB301MB docks.

With the Toughbook sitting on the dock but un-docked (so signal strength isn't based on location) I can get good signal and 4G coverage. As soon as I dock the Toughbook the signal strength plummets and I lose the connection in less than a minute. If I then undock eventually signal returns and it comes back online.

First thing I figured was an issue with the squad's external antenna. Moving the antenna from Upper A to Lower B doesn't matter. Trying it without the antenna attached doesn't matter. No change. Next I totally obstructed the brass antenna connections on the dock and Toughbook so the antenna in the dock never touches the internal antenna, no change. In the bios I set it to use the internal antenna only, even when docked.

Any thoughts at all? I thought maybe a power setting or something but I didn't see anything obvious in Power Settings. I'm out of ideas!

 

The external antenna connector on a Toughbook has a switch in it. Anytime it is pushed in, it mechanically disconnects the internal antenna.
I am guessing you have a problem with your external antenna. Bad cable, wrong frequency. bad ground plane connection, etc...

Is this a new install in a new car or new install in an old car or was working ok and just quit working?

 

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I see the CF-WEB301MB is a dual passthru antenna dock.
Do you have the external antenna connected to the correct port on the dock?

CF-WEB301MB
Vehicle-Mount (Dual Pass-through)
USB (4), VGA, RJ-45, serial (2), microphone, headphone, AC jack, cable lock slot, dual antenna

 

You could try opening the bottom plate and disconnecting the external antenna if you can't get this sorted.

 

Or pull the antenna mating connector on the dock.