Long range WWAN antenna for Toughbook

Has anyone used the WWAN pass through on the back of their laptop to connect a large antenna for getting a good cell phone signal out in the middle of nowhere? Would be a good idea to have a set up like this to give better reception or grab a weak signal that would not be picked up by the standard WWAN antenna. Any thoughts or ideas?

 

The pass-through is for wi-fi, at least on all of the ones I have seen. Are you asking if it could it be modded to work with cellular?

 

Some of the passthroughs are made for WWAN... It depends on the exact model. I believe they make passthroughs for WWAN, WIFI and GPS antennas... Some of the passthroughs are dual-passthroughs where two of the three allow for external antennas. However... These external passthroughs are only good with docks that have the same type of connections... (IE, A dual passthrough laptop won't work in a single passthrough dock., Etc.)

They are fairly easy to swap around f you know your way around the laptop... But the connectors themselves would be hard to get I imagine... I don't think I have ever seen the plain connector for sale except for the single passthrough for the 28/29 model.

 

Ah, that explains the dual pass through in the configurator. For some reason I was thinking that was the openings for wires into the monitor/ lid so that you could have two types of antennas there. I didn't know it was possible for the dock.

 

well, there are little adapters for the pass-through. How to make them stay without using a dock, well, dunno!

If yours doesn't have WWAN, then the pass-through is WiFi. If yours has WWAN, passthrough is WWAN. As far as the few I've seen. But the wires are long enough that you can do a swap, as they're all u.FL connectors inside!

 

You can't make them stick... The docks use spring loaded connectors that push into the back... Panasonic + smart! (At least on some things!)

You CAN replace them with SMA connectors on some models... But then it wouldn't fit into a dock with passthrough connectors. If it doesn't have the connectors then the dock could be modded to accept it. IMHO...

 

I can think of a couple options, depending on whether you (A) use the dock a lot, but don't use the other connectors behind the door much, or (B) use the dock rarely/never, but use the other connectors behind the panel frequently.

For both options, you first mount the adaptor into a small metal plate. Then, you:

for (A):
Open the slider on the back door. Hold the the adapter panel in place, and close/latch the door over it, holding it in place.

for (B):
Add two small holes to the plate, and run screws through them into the studs on each side of the dock connector. (Those do have threads like the ones on a VGA connector, right? I can't quite tell. Even if they don't, I'm sure they could be tapped to accept screws though, without impairing their original function too seriously.)