The DWL-650+ has metal locking strips running down each side of the case holding the top and bottom sheilding in place. The locking strips must be moved to the rear of the card about 1mm and prised away from the plastic case. A jeweller's screwdriver set is very handy for this job.
We will be removing this socket completely thereby disconnecting the second dipole antenna on the PCB. The pigtail leads will be attached to the solder pads underneath this socket. After removing the top and bottom covers of the card, it is probably in your best interests to remove the PCB from the plastic housing. Doing so requires you to break the plastic casing somewhat. Prise up the bottom half of the plastic housing and separate it from the top half. Be careful and later, the two pieces can be glued back together for a good finish.
Looking at the half of the PCB previously covered by the plastic housing, we can see that there are two antenna paths. We will be leaving antenna 1 alone and modifying the card so that antenna 2 is our external antenna. It was suggested that the existing antenna socket be removed and the pigtail connected to the solder pads underneath.
Whilst removing the antenna socket, be careful not to damage the solder pads underneath.These are necessary to attach the pigtail leads to. One of the pads came off the PCB with the socket and I ended up having nowhere to attach the pigtail lead. In the end, I traced back the solder pad to a couple of capacitors and one end of each capacitor provides an alternative connection for antenna 2.
A thin piece of insulated hookup wire was used to connect to one of these capacitors through a very small hole drilled with a dremel tool through the side of the shield box. This hole was just big enough to allow the wire to pass through.The sheild top will also need to be filed gently to accomodate the wire running into the sheild box.
I chose to route the pigtail through the rear of the card to give the finished modification as much of a professional touch as possible! To allow the pigtail to exit from the rear of the card, the cable used must be fairly thin so that the two halves of the plastic housing can be glued together. The plastic housing must also be drilled out and filed down to allow the cable through.
This is a picture of the finished PCB modification and the final product. Please note that the sheild cover was removed for the following picture but must be replaced when reassembling the finished product.
Once the metal locking strips have been removed, the top and bottom covers may be removed.
Immediately noticable on the top side of the card is the presence of an external antenna socket.
We will be removing this socket completely thereby disconnecting the second dipole antenna on the PCB. The pigtail leads will be attached to the solder pads underneath this socket. After removing the top and bottom covers of the card, it is probably in your best interests to remove the PCB from the plastic housing. Doing so requires you to break the plastic casing somewhat. Prise up the bottom half of the plastic housing and separate it from the top half. Be careful and later, the two pieces can be glued back together for a good finish.
After removing the plastic housing, you are left with just the PCB.
Looking at the half of the PCB previously covered by the plastic housing, we can see that there are two antenna paths. We will be leaving antenna 1 alone and modifying the card so that antenna 2 is our external antenna. It was suggested that the existing antenna socket be removed and the pigtail connected to the solder pads underneath.
Whilst removing the antenna socket, be careful not to damage the solder pads underneath.These are necessary to attach the pigtail leads to. One of the pads came off the PCB with the socket and I ended up having nowhere to attach the pigtail lead. In the end, I traced back the solder pad to a couple of capacitors and one end of each capacitor provides an alternative connection for antenna 2.
A thin piece of insulated hookup wire was used to connect to one of these capacitors through a very small hole drilled with a dremel tool through the side of the shield box. This hole was just big enough to allow the wire to pass through.The sheild top will also need to be filed gently to accomodate the wire running into the sheild box.
The following pictures show the successful connection to the capacitor.
I chose to route the pigtail through the rear of the card to give the finished modification as much of a professional touch as possible! To allow the pigtail to exit from the rear of the card, the cable used must be fairly thin so that the two halves of the plastic housing can be glued together. The plastic housing must also be drilled out and filed down to allow the cable through.
Finished modification
This is a picture of the finished PCB modification and the final product. Please note that the sheild cover was removed for the following picture but must be replaced when reassembling the finished product.
1 comments:
hehehe, makasih atas kunjungan dan komentarnya. :) salam kenal
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