Orinoco 8480 WD External Antenna

JetPilot · 01-02-2005

I just bought an Orinoco a/b/g card to connect to an external antenna.. Upon opening it I found that it had two internal antennas (Attached Picture) and a very small connector that does not match anything available to me

. I removed the connector ( it was in the square by C344) and removed the coupling capitors on both antennae (C343 and C344). I soldered LMR 240 cable, the shield to the ground where the scratches are and the center conductor to the output before it goes through C74

. The leads to the coax are VERY short as the coax is mounted right to the board. Anyways im not noticing much of a change as I expected out of my 21 element collienar antenna that I built

,signal goes up a bit, but it works pretty well with no antenna connected to the coax. In short, it works, but doesnt seem to care if there is an antenna connected to the coax or not...

... Im using 12 feet of LMR 240 coax with N connectors to attach it.. My question is, did I attach the coax to the correct places on this card ??? Should I have disabled the second antenna by removing its coupling capacitor ? I think I got it right, as I connected to where the origional connector was and without the loss of thin cable or a small connector, coax is soldered right to the board. Did I miss something

wrzwaldo · 01-02-2005

http://www.netstumbler.org/showpost....69&postcount=2

What kind of testing have you done to confirm the gain of your antenna?

If it was me I would have done one of the following.

1. Left the connector (probably a Hirose) on the card and gotten the correct pigtail for it.

or

2. Left the connector on the card and connect the coax after C344 and removed C401.

fastlanwan · 01-03-2005

I don't know that antenna but using coax seems like it would degrade the strength due to:

1. Length of any wire or cable that is not a amplified signal.

2. Your specific choice of a relatively heavy gauge wire (copper-stranded or not) that would effectivly act as a great unintended resistor for such a weak signal to start. That's alot of copper to push a signal weak signal into and out of and expect to work well. Let alone work great.

Use of a professionally made N type pigtail. It's not the difficultly, it the precision of the connection. Many cards are mulilayer and cannot take the heat of even a skilled hand with an iron.

Then a handheld or mountable directional antenna that fits your physical environment needs. i.e. magnet mount for top of car etc... As well as having the dbi you would need to acurratly detect the target AP you would be looking for.

08-30-2005

This post has been dead a while. Any concensus as to what works for this card?

WiFI 109 · 09-02-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by skpup

This post has been dead a while. Any concensus as to what works for this card?

It begs a few questions: What was the type of connector? Being an Orinoco, it may have been "MC." These are somewhat odd (not to mention small) connectors, but there are pigtails readily available for them. With something with so low a power output (and probably easily loaded down), it's better to use the provided connector as opposed to making internal changes -- as random or altered Miller Effect, etc. can and possibly will detune and/or destabalize the final output stage. A preamp may be well in order as well.

Next, I would check the power output of the card ... find out what it is exactly. It's something that's nice to know so you know what you're (or will have to) dealing with.

On the antenna, a few things. If you can get a hold of a spec-an and a tracking generator as well (both capable of at least a top frequency of 2.5G), I would test all the characteristics of the antenna. -- resonante frequencys, several harmonics down, etc.-- In conjuction with the proper Field Analyzer, chart the gain patern 360 degrees both horizontally and vertically. See what you're dealing with.

streaker69 · 09-02-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by WiFI 109

It begs a few questions: What was the type of connector? Being an Orinoco, it may have been "MC." These are somewhat odd (not to mention small) connectors, but there are pigtails readily available for them. With something with so low a power output (and probably easily loaded down), it's better to use the provided connector as opposed to making internal changes -- as random or altered Miller Effect, etc. can and possibly will detune and/or destabalize the final output stage. A preamp may be well in order as well.

Next, I would check the power output of the card ... find out what it is exactly. It's something that's nice to know so you know what you're (or will have to) dealing with.

On the antenna, a few things. If you can get a hold of a spec-an and a tracking generator as well (both capable of at least a top frequency of 2.5G), I would test all the characteristics of the antenna. -- resonante frequencys, several harmonics down, etc.-- In conjuction with the proper Field Analyzer, chart the gain patern 360 degrees both horizontally and vertically. See what you're dealing with.

Replying to banned users is generally not useful.

WiFI 109 · 09-02-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by streaker69

Replying to banned users is generally not useful.

Sorry, didn't know he was a banned user -- still learning my way around the forum.

streaker69 · 09-02-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by WiFI 109

Sorry, didn't know he was a banned user -- still learning my way around the forum.

That 'banned' word under their username would have been a good clue.

Whatever you do, don't change yours to say that via the user control panel. It'll ban you automatically.

Mark57 · 09-02-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by streaker69

That 'banned' word under their username would have been a good clue.

Whatever you do, don't change yours to say that via the user control panel. It'll ban you automatically.

Ahhh, is "that" what G8t was talking about?

streaker69 · 09-02-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark57

Ahhh, is "that" what G8t was talking about?

Give it a try, see what happens.

Mark57 · 09-02-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by streaker69

Give it a try, see what happens.

YEAH RIGHT, here pull my little finger and see what happens.

Get ready to run, I has enchiladas for lunch.

King_Ice_Flash · 09-02-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by streaker69

Give it a try, see what happens.

*Changes thingy under name to "gullible"*

beakmyn · 09-02-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark57

YEAH RIGHT, here pull my little finger and see what happens.

Get ready to run, I has enchiladas for lunch.

And apparently it's affecting your diction.

WiFI 109 · 09-03-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by streaker69

That 'banned' word under their username would have been a good clue.

Whatever you do, don't change yours to say that via the user control panel. It'll ban you automatically.

Actually the reply was more for JetPilot's sake. Yes, I know. I should have responded to his post directly. Will try to be more observant next time.

01-02-2005	#2 (permalink)
wrzwaldo I amuse you? Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 9,147	http://www.netstumbler.org/showpost....69&postcount=2 What kind of testing have you done to confirm the gain of your antenna? If it was me I would have done one of the following. 1. Left the connector (probably a Hirose) on the card and gotten the correct pigtail for it. or 2. Left the connector on the card and connect the coax after C344 and removed C401. Last edited by wrzwaldo : 01-02-2005 at 09:25 PM.

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01-03-2005	#3 (permalink)
fastlanwan Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Midwest Posts: 53	I don't know that antenna but using coax seems like it would degrade the strength due to: 1. Length of any wire or cable that is not a amplified signal. 2. Your specific choice of a relatively heavy gauge wire (copper-stranded or not) that would effectivly act as a great unintended resistor for such a weak signal to start. That's alot of copper to push a signal weak signal into and out of and expect to work well. Let alone work great. Use of a professionally made N type pigtail. It's not the difficultly, it the precision of the connection. Many cards are mulilayer and cannot take the heat of even a skilled hand with an iron. Then a handheld or mountable directional antenna that fits your physical environment needs. i.e. magnet mount for top of car etc... As well as having the dbi you would need to acurratly detect the target AP you would be looking for.

08-30-2005	#4 (permalink)
skpup Posts: n/a	This post has been dead a while. Any concensus as to what works for this card?