U.FL to RS-SMA cables for ext. antenna

The cables I ordered from RFMall.com came in yesterday. I ordered the 24" cables. I had already done this mod with a cable I bought off of Ebay. So it was just a matter of taking things apart and replacing the cable. This mod was for putting the antenna on the lid in the old RIM spot.

The cables I ordered, part #CBG-IPX-SARF3GT, use the thicker RG-178 cord.
It did present one small problem in that I had to go ahead and connect the U.FL end to my Engenius card before I put everything back together. The ability to twist the cables a bit to make things fit isn't there like on the thinner cables. Not a big deal just something to be aware of before hand.

The 24" cable was long enough to fit though 1 more inch would have been nice. According to their website they can make custom cables but I imagine that would add more cost unless your ordering hundreds.

Pictures attached of the cables. The one from RFMall has the green shrink tubing and the tan color cable. The other one is one I ordered from a seller on Ebay. Don't remember which seller as it's been a while.

These are the IPX connectors and they are an exact match for the U.FL connectors. It connected with my Engenius card just fine. Under the magnifying glass the ends looks exactly the same.

The service, price, ease of ordering, speed of delivery were all top notch.

http://www.rfmall.com/mm5/merchant....bg_ipx_sarf3gt_24&Category_Code=IPXRPSMABJ178

http://www.rfmall.com/

 

I'm surprised (albeit pleasantly) that you were able to find 24" cables. I have a hard enough time finding 12" cables that actually end in a U.FL connector. I might be looking at the wrong type of cable, however.

One nice thing about thicker coax like you ordered is that it has less loss. 1.13 coax, which is commonly used inside laptops for this purpose, has a loss of 2.9dB per meter at 2.0 GHz, according to its datasheet. This isn't *too* terrible, and you generally don't need a full meter anyway, but every little bit helps. I'm sure you'll notice the extra reception.

I'm think I might order one of these. Like you, I'm looking to replace the WWAN antenna with an RP-SMA jack. My project is a CF-28 - how about yours?

 

Yes, on that project mine is a CF-28MK II. I also have a 29. Just use them for different things. It took a while to find these cables. I didn't know that the U.FL and IPX connectors were the same. That's how I ran across these.

 

Stiff... Are you mounting on the LCD??? (top left?) A wifi antenna? They break really easy there unless you are screwing on one of the short little stubbies...

Otherwise you want the 12" U.fl to SMA bulkhead pigtails... They go for around $9.99 on ebay.

 

Toughbook, are you sure that a 12-inch cable will reach from the LCD corner to the second miniPCI socket? I've measured my CF-28 mk3 and I can't imagine that it'll go that whole distance.

 

TB is talking about mounting them on the side instead of the top of the lid.
Yep, I mounted mine on top of the lid. I had it on the side and it just kept getting in the way of my clumsy hands and arms. I'm pretty pleased with it up top but your right you do need to be careful about it. It's not the stiffest place to put one but it's working good for my purposes.

And I really like the quality of these cables.

 

What exactly will break easily? The external antenna, or the antenna connector from inside the system?

 

It depends on how the antenna is hit. I used to mount mine there until I had to rebuild 3-4 of them because my customers dropped the laptop. The way I do it now is to modify a RIM antenna. Of course that won't let you hook up to a cantenna or anything... But you can mount them out the side. Even the SMA bulkhead coming out the side can catch on stuff... But I feel it is much more secure. But it is all in how you plan on using it I suppose.

Yes... You need a 24" pigtail to get to the LCD and a 12" to get to the side.

 

I've got my Intel 220BG card working fine with my Dlink DIR-451 router without any antennas connected to the card, but that's with the router less than half a metre from my CF28. Does anyone have a guide or set of pics on how to disassemble the LCD housing to get at those rubber mounts at the top for installing cables to antennas. I like the idea of sticking a simple RP-SMA socket there since then it's easy to screw on a cheapy 2.4 ghz antenna when needed, and when not needed a simple rubber or plastic 'blanking cover' can go over the RP-sma connector to make it water-resistant.

My CF28's LCD housing has a cover over the opening for an antenna on the left side, while the right side just house the plain rubber 'triangle' with no little antenna hole blanking cover. Can the right side rubber triangle be replaced with one similar to the left side wth a removable antenna opening?

Here is the left-side one:



album page

Some people seem to prefer to stick a GPS antenna on the left side (those nice little Sarantel ones), but it's a good spot for a wifi antenna too. Seem my other thread regarding little paddle-style wi-fi antennas for a different take on LCD-mouted wi-fi antennas.

On a related note, the rfmall site has no contact links and when I tried plugging a few cables into their cart system the only postage option it gave me was $7 USPS ground (which would take up to 8 weeks to get to Oz!). Anyone have a way to contact them and see what they offer for international shipping?

Craig.

 

first, remove the 4 screws above the keyboard and remove that piece. Then, there will be 2 screws on each hinge cover, remove those. On the back side of the hinge covers are two more screws, remove them as well. Then remove all of the screws on the LCD Cover, except for the two torx screws, those can stay; 14 in all (12 the same size, 2 larger ones). You should now be able to remove the lid (watch the latch and notice how to put it back on, a little tricky but not to horrible). After the lid is removed, the rubber corners will pop off, they kind of lock on by overlapping the seam. They could be adhered by some double stick tape (most are) so gently, but firmly, pull them off.

 

1-800-443-3446
[email protected]

When I ordered the only option it gave me was UPS.

 

Thanks for the rfmall contact info... I had a good look at the 'bump' cover for the factory GPS antenna last night I worked out that I can get one rp-sma pigtail to mount on it since the small active GPS antenna I took out of it's casing is pretty much a perfect fit to replace the existing factory one in the same location, with the exception of the thicker rg-174 coax (and it's very long!).

As for the wi-fi angle, I'm considering either using a pigtail to the factory GPS bump to mount a screw on antenna there, or getting a long 24" pigtail to go to the top of the LCD housing. Problem with that is the antenna mount at the top is no longer available for a GPS antenna (Sarantel-style), though am EM408 apparently has an active ant already and may be wangalable to fit into the factory bump location. Dunno yet. I have seen pics of cf28's that have antennas on both sides of the LCD housing - is that a specific variant of the LCD housing ex-factory or was there a factory mod kit to add an antenna mount solution for the right side of the housing? That would even allow wi-fi pigtails to run to both sides.

I whacked a cheap pigtail onto the 'aux' antenna socket of my intel 2200 bg card last night and immediately got full signal from the dlink router. 'main' connector still has nothing on it (reserving that for either a flag or long pigtail to the top of the LCD).

As this thread is about pigtails... what sort of difference would be noticed using a short pigtail with rg174 as opposed to a cheap one made with the very thin coax? I'm guessing it's not really measurable without proper instrumentation. Longer pigtails I can imagine would matter more as to what coax is used to make them, just like with big external antennas that require equally-large coax to minimise reflective signal losses and maximise SWR matching ability.

Craig.