• From: Columbus, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-12-19
  • Posts: 59

Topic: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

I know there's a thread discussing external antennas for the Classic model. I think it would be good to start a new thread for the Chumby One.

Looking at the internal wifi card from a teardown on ifixit.com, it looks like a fairly simple stripline antenna coupled to the radio with a component.

Picture here: http://s2.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/W … ZYZL.large

Looking in the lower left corner, there appears to be an LED, a capacitor beside it, and another component that couples the antenna into the rest of the circuit. I'm assuming that the component that the antenna connects to could be tombstoned, and a lead attached to it and the ground plane beside it. That could be led out to some connector (probably a RP-SMA) so an antenna could be connected.

I bring this up because my Chumby is only about 45 feet from my AP, which has some pretty hefty antennas on it, and I only get 1, maybe 2 bars of signal, with a drop every now and then. Having an external antenna would probably solve most of that.

So, any guidance from the community or the developers before I void my warranty?

Last edited by harmlessgryphon (2009-12-21 19:40:04)

  • Registered: 2009-12-28
  • Posts: 6

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

I am having the same issue. My laptop is right next to it and gets great signal but the chumby gets 1-2 bars and often drops the signal.

  • From: Columbus, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-12-19
  • Posts: 59

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

The stripline antenna on the wireless dongle isn't all that great. I'm having some serious issues with the wireless, for some reason I'm not even able to get any indication of signal right now. While widgets are working ok, I can't get the unit to hold a connection long enough to stream music. 

Kind of sucks. I'm ready to open the thing up and re-work the wireless card, or run some cat5 to my bedroom. Copper is probably the best choice, that way I can turn the power down on my WAP and quit broadcasting to the neighborhood.

An acceptable alternative would be to replace the dongle with one that has an antenna jack.

Last edited by harmlessgryphon (2009-12-30 19:25:58)

  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-26
  • Posts: 147

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

You can tombstone the coupling capacitor, and solder down a U.FL connector (http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea … e=H9161-ND), which is a standard connector that allows you to plug in an assortment of external antennae (digikey also sells a few whip antennae that come with U.FL connector terminations). When you do this, I suggest you scrape back the solder mask around the area so you can ground the collar of the U.FL connector. For development purposes I've done this a few times with good success.

Or, you can just pull out the wireless card from the USB socket, put the system back together again, and then put the dongle on some longish USB cable, so you have the flexbility to position the dongle where reception is better, and/or to use a third-party dongle that perhaps natively supports an external antenna. Generally, any dongle based on an RT2571 chipset should work well in this setup.

bunnie's Website

  • From: Columbus, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-12-19
  • Posts: 59

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

@bunnie

Thanks for the info.

I actually have the dongle on a USB extension right now, and it helped a little - I was able to achieve about 10% more signal strength (45% to 57% average) which seems to be enough to maintain an audio stream for several hours. At best, I was able to get about 62% signal with the dongle on the floor - someplace I don't want to leave it. I've considered another dongle, but I'm not really willing to spend the $40 to get one with decent reviews.

I have a few small desktop-style WiFi antennas lying around, so I'll probably take the dongle with me tomorrow when I have access to SMT gear and some rework facilities. If nothing else, an order from L-Com and a 9dBi antenna should solve the problem.

  • From: Columbus, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-12-19
  • Posts: 59

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

I was able to modify the wireless dongle today. I removed the capacitor that feeds the stripline antenna - there is a second cap on back - and fed the antenna wire directly on to the vacated pad. A small section of ground area was scraped back and the ground attached.

I'm able to get a somewhat better signal - 2 bars on the display - without draping the dongle down my nightstand and on to the floor. Not quite the improvement I was hoping for, but it may be due to the smallish antenna I used.

If I can get hold of a dongle with an actual, properly coupled jack, that may work better.

  • Registered: 2009-12-28
  • Posts: 6

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

My current solution seems to be working well for me. I utilized the Virtual adapter feature of windows 7 to make a wi-fi hotspot and have the chumby connect to that. I now have FULL bars!!

Last edited by iFlash (2010-01-05 07:06:58)

  • From: Columbus, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-12-19
  • Posts: 59

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

Having a computer nearby (and on, to serve the wireless) kind of defeats the purpose of an internet radio. wink

I'm looking for another dongle with a real RP-SMA connection instead of my hacked-up connection job.

  • Registered: 2009-12-28
  • Posts: 6

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

So true...very disappointed with the signal strength this thing is getting. I have other devices including an iphone with much better wifi signal.

  • From: Columbus, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-12-19
  • Posts: 59

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

I ended up doing this:

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/8795/sideviewx.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/8426/topviewg.jpg

I get 2-3 bars of signal now, which seems to be enough to hold a radio stream. I'm still thinking of putting in a repeater, but that has to wait for later.

  • From: Somewhere on or near Earth
  • Registered: 2009-12-16
  • Posts: 60

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

harmlessgryphon wrote:

I ended up doing this:

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/8795/sideviewx.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/8426/topviewg.jpg

I get 2-3 bars of signal now, which seems to be enough to hold a radio stream. I'm still thinking of putting in a repeater, but that has to wait for later.

While I am sure your Chumby gets better reception, it kind of makes it less portable. sad

PS: Spotted...Benny Hill on DVD!

  • From: Oceanside, CA
  • Registered: 2008-04-17
  • Posts: 219

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

That's a heck of an antenna!  Glad it's helping you get enough reception for streaming!

Materdaddy's Website

  • From: Columbus, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-12-19
  • Posts: 59

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

While I am sure your Chumby gets better reception, it kind of makes it less portable.

It does make the device less portable, but I have a laptop and a Nokia N810 UMPC for roaming. The primary intent was to get better than 30-40% signal strength. The antenna is connected via a RP-SMA connector, so a smaller one could be used (or removed) when the time comes.

I did manage to destroy the coupling capacitor on the wireless dongle when I took it off, but I have enough low-ESR caps laying around that I can replace it if needed. As an aside, the solder job on the dongle was pretty poor, essentially a blob of that nasty lead-free solder on the capacitor. Yuck!



PS: Spotted...Benny Hill on DVD!

I miss Benny Hill - he got to the point where it was nothing but a dirty old man's peepshow there at the end, but the early stuff still makes me laugh so hard I cry. The DVD in the pic is the BBC's compilation of B&W stuff from way back... lol

  • Registered: 2009-12-11
  • Posts: 4

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

For anyone else looking to do this mod, there is a few sites describing how to add a connector to similar wifi dongles. here is a hack-a-day post that links a few. http://hackaday.com/2006/07/15/usb-wifi … l-antenna/

  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 1

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

hi harmlessgryphon
would you by any chance has a picture of the place you solder?  Would like to do similar mod as you did.

  • From: Columbus, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-12-19
  • Posts: 59

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

would you by any chance has a picture of the place you solder?

I don't have any at the moment. Give me a few days and I'll see what I can get for you.

  • Registered: 2010-05-09
  • Posts: 4

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

harmlessgryphon wrote:

would you by any chance has a picture of the place you solder?

I don't have any at the moment. Give me a few days and I'll see what I can get for you.


Bumped.

Would be nice to have some pics, so we can reproduce your mod. Thanks!

  • From: Columbus, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-12-19
  • Posts: 59

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

Would be nice to have some pics, so we can reproduce your mod. Thanks!


I wouldn't bother.  I ended up removing the pigtail and replacing the capacitor. It helped, but not enough that it was worthwhile.

I currently have a second WRT54GL unit next to the C1 in question, acting as an extension for my wired network, and acting as a second WAP. I still get poor reception, depending on which way the C1 is turned, and it's only 1 foot away from the antennas. I have come to the conclusion that the dongle is simply a POS.

Since then, I've purchased a 2nd C1 and it seems to have a much better wireless dongle in it. It has a different MAC, but is the same manufacturer. It seems to work much better than the other one.

  • Registered: 2010-08-13
  • Posts: 8

Re: External Wi-Fi antenna for the Chumby One

Wow the looks like some kinda cb radio antenna, It looks cool wish I could do that for my infocast