[diesermarco]

Open your Case, and this is your simple Ralink USB-Wlan::

Place solder points for antenna here:

Place the antenna as follow, this is your new Wlan:

 

[icurafu]

Amazing! Thanks for this. Although I don't have a solder, it's annoying to know that we only have an on-chip antenna when an external antenna could easily be added.

 

[HerbZMan]

Thanks, but the hardest thing is probably going to be taking it apart without damaging the housingt. So if you could post pics and info on that, it would be great. I definetly can handle a soldering gun.

 

[aven59]

Please explain how to open the case without damaging.Thank you !

 

[MolaMolard]

hey, how did you know where to sold ?

 

[patmtp35]

Please explain how to open the case without damaging.i'll solder Note book antena !

 

[adroid88]

Would love to try this. Please put up more pics on how to open the case.

 

[wwilde]

Nice work, easy to open case?

 

[hipditch]

I opened my case using a suction cup from my gps to pull on the screen and a tiny flat head screw driver. Start the whole process by poking something in the holes on the bottom of the device, once the clips on the bottom were loose it was pretty easy, I just really took my time. How did you do it op?

 

[ateist75]

I did the soldering operation and it was pretty easy, i did not actually notice an significant improvement. I did notice that my motherboard i labelled 1.2B instead og 1.2. It is something diffrennt in the upper right corner compared to the older picrures in this thread. And they have allso flipped the wifi module and put heat protection.

 

[diesermarco]

just use a simple paperclip as shown on pic 1 and *snap*, the Case is open

 

[wwilde]

Wow looks easy as, I opened up one of my APAD's once god it was an embarrassing nightmare, misses looking at me weird with hairdryer in hand & burnt fingers.

 

[hipditch]

Mine came with the heat sink too, but I have a V1.2 not V1.2B, Does anyone know if there is any difference?

 

[csbert]

diesermarco, does it improve the reception? Also what kind of wire gauge are you using? Thanks for sharing.

 

[diesermarco]

without the mod, it doesn't go about 2-3 meters...now i can even change the room and wlan is stableits a simple single ethernet-wire

 

[csbert]

Thanks. This is very cool.[quote name='diesermarco;33812]without the mod' date=' it doesn't go about 2-3 meters...now i can even change the room and wlan is stableits a simple single ethernet-wire[/QUOTE']

 

[rpmccormick]

1) Can someone post a pic of the heatsink? You can't see it in any of the existing pics.2) Did you cut the existing trace? How did you decide to add a wire as you did? It doesn't seem like your wire would do anything. Wouldn't a single wire (non-looped) at the end of the trace work? Actually, what little I know about antenna traces suggests that the wire has to be a specific multiple of the signal wavelength for best performance (and that trace should already be quarter-wavelength most likely). I would love to do this type of mod, but I think we are missing a lot of information if you want real engineered RF performance. I will ask a friend that specializes in RF and report back.

 

[rpmccormick]

Oh wait... mine does have the "heatsink" you guys are talking about I think, but it's not a heatsink... it's an RF "can" to keep chip signal noise inside the can. It actually prevents me from being able to put a proper heatsink directly on the chip, since the chip is inside a can. My home-made heatsink is a strip of metal that I attached to the can.Mine was also with the antenna side up (can/chip side down against the LCD) as shown in the attached pic above (opposite the OPs pics). I would think just flipping it over would have improved the OP's performance.

 

[maric]

[quote name='rpmccormick;33896]Oh wait... mine does have the "heatsink" you guys are talking about I think' date=' but it's not a heatsink... it's an RF "can" to keep chip signal noise inside the can. It actually prevents me from being able to put a proper heatsink directly on the chip, since the chip is inside a can. My home-made heatsink is a strip of metal that I attached to the can.Mine was also with the antenna side up (can/chip side down against the LCD) as shown in the attached pic above (opposite the OPs pics). I would think just flipping it over would have improved the OP's performance.[/QUOTE'] Have you tried using the TXPower hack to see if it reduces the heat? I haven't tried it but people have said by reducing it to about 20 reduces the heat and improves the wifi range.

 

[jtbnet]

That was me that tried it I think... It made a very big diff... I'll probably add the antenna wire later but now I'm good for ~50-75ft. which is fine for me... the cleanedup 'Hack' I'm using is;RT2870STA TxPower Patch=====================================================================For the TxPatch...;- Edit the /etc/Wireless/RT2870/RT2870STA.dat file..- Make Change to lower TxPower to 20%adb connect Tablet-IPADDR:5555adb -s Tablet-IPADDR:5555 shell# mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system# Edit file for TxPower as below..#The word of "Default" must not be removedDefaultCountryRegion=5CountryRegionABand=7CountryCode=ChannelGeography=1SSID=AndroidTetherNetworkType=InfraWirelessMode=5Channel=0BeaconPeriod=100# Full 100% Power#TxPower=100# 20% TX Power Runs Much Cooler and better perfTxPower=20#BGProtection=0TxPreamble=0...