An Antenna Question

bjamesw · 06-17-2004

Hello All,

My first post. I just bought a D-link DWL G630 an it works fine. I'd like to fiddle with antennas but would like to avoid soldering on the pcb until I can follow a hunch first. I read all of the Antenna threads here but didn't find reference to my questions.

The pcb-mount antenna on this card appears to be an approx 2mm metal cone/dish aimed vertically off the board. Has anyone tried to simply incorporate the card itself into an antenna design by situating it appropriately with a can/cone/dish? I have no knowledge of antenna theory, and I suspect we're talking about something other than just replacing the stub antenna inside of a 3.75 X 16 can with the antenna end of the card - but whatya know? That might do just fine? In what direction should the 2mm cone/dish be aimed?

A cable could be fashioned readily enough with a cannibalized pcmcia slot and an old card. Knowing the active pins would help enormously since a bundle of 64 little wires, most of which I suspect are not used, might get a bit bulky.

Or is this this idea just way off base?

Thanks for any help on this
B Williamson

lincomatic · 06-17-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjamesw

Hello All,

My first post. I just bought a D-link DWL G630 an it works fine. I'd like to fiddle with antennas but would like to avoid soldering on the pcb until I can follow a hunch first. I read all of the Antenna threads here but didn't find reference to my questions.

The pcb-mount antenna on this card appears to be an approx 2mm metal cone/dish aimed vertically off the board. Has anyone tried to simply incorporate the card itself into an antenna design by situating it appropriately with a can/cone/dish? I have no knowledge of antenna theory, and I suspect we're talking about something other than just replacing the stub antenna inside of a 3.75 X 16 can with the antenna end of the card - but whatya know? That might do just fine? In what direction should the 2mm cone/dish be aimed?

A cable could be fashioned readily enough with a cannibalized pcmcia slot and an old card. Knowing the active pins would help enormously since a bundle of 64 little wires, most of which I suspect are not used, might get a bit bulky.

Or is this this idea just way off base?

Thanks for any help on this
B Williamson

if you want to experiment w/ an onboard antenna, it's really a lot easier to just get a USB adapter because you can get cheap, long lossless cables for it. it's not really practical to make a PCMCIA extender cable. not only are there too many wires, but i doubt you could run it more than a few inches w/o running into issues.

but the simple answer is yes, you can just put a properly designed reflector around a card's existing antenna and get decent gain. try experimenting w/ aluminum foil. check out the $5 DIY antenna thread for a cheap parabolic design, or this site may give you some inspiration:

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/

fordem · 06-17-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjamesw

Hello All,
A cable could be fashioned readily enough with a cannibalized pcmcia slot and an old card. Knowing the active pins would help enormously since a bundle of 64 little wires, most of which I suspect are not used, might get a bit bulky.

Or is this this idea just way off base?

Thanks for any help on this
B Williamson

This part of the idea is off base - this is a high speed data bus - extending it will give you issues with noise, reflections, etc., etc., etc.

06-17-2004	#1 (permalink)
bjamesw Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 5	An Antenna Question Hello All, My first post. I just bought a D-link DWL G630 an it works fine. I'd like to fiddle with antennas but would like to avoid soldering on the pcb until I can follow a hunch first. I read all of the Antenna threads here but didn't find reference to my questions. The pcb-mount antenna on this card appears to be an approx 2mm metal cone/dish aimed vertically off the board. Has anyone tried to simply incorporate the card itself into an antenna design by situating it appropriately with a can/cone/dish? I have no knowledge of antenna theory, and I suspect we're talking about something other than just replacing the stub antenna inside of a 3.75 X 16 can with the antenna end of the card - but whatya know? That might do just fine? In what direction should the 2mm cone/dish be aimed? A cable could be fashioned readily enough with a cannibalized pcmcia slot and an old card. Knowing the active pins would help enormously since a bundle of 64 little wires, most of which I suspect are not used, might get a bit bulky. Or is this this idea just way off base? Thanks for any help on this B Williamson

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