vdub Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 I have been wanting to do this for a while and this afternoon I finally got a chance to do it. I added an external antenna connector to the hole where the notebook lock is located. So far I haven't been able to test its effectiveness but 10' from my router works as well as stock. I will have to take it out and see how well it does compared to the alfa. Tell me what you guys think. If nothing else it looks cool as hell. Here is a picture of before I started. The lock hole is the location I am going to put the antenna Here is the holes drilled the monitor support dremled out and the antenna adaptor half installed. It was a bitch getting everything back together. Here is another angle of the same. Here is an antenna test fitted. Another angle of the same. While I had it opened up I added a few conductive pads that I had left over from an xbox red ring kit. I am hoping they will help cool this thing down a little. Here is a close up of the adaptor. I think it looks like it came from Dell this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdub Posted May 25, 2012 Author Share Posted May 25, 2012 More photos All 3 wires routed to the card slot. I left the black one off. I plan to eventually see if I can combine them but for now I will just leave it unplugged. And finally, here it is all finished. I am rockin the Alfa behind the monitor and the new antenna added. Rear view. And here is a close up of the antenna mounted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidBuu Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 That's an awesome set-up. Lol I'd be instantly disabling my wifi if I saw someone using that in an airport. But note that you may not want to post anything containing personal information on a website full of hackers, Rich W. of ---- L---r Ct, V---- S-----, California :D. I blanked out parts of the address in an attempt not to be that big of a dick. I'd probably edit the second image from the bottom if I were you :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdub Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 That's an awesome set-up. Lol I'd be instantly disabling my wifi if I saw someone using that in an airport. But note that you may not want to post anything containing personal information on a website full of hackers, Rich W. of ---- L---r Ct, V---- S-----, California :D. I blanked out parts of the address in an attempt not to be that big of a dick. I'd probably edit the second image from the bottom if I were you :) lol. Yeah you might not want to use the wireless with this netbook around. Honestly I haven’t taken it out since I did all of this. Its been used mostly for in house pentesting. Regarding personal information. As a buisness owner everyone knows where I live. lol. If anyone is in the neighborhood come on by, would love to hang out. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyb1980 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 That's the spirit, no need to hide if you have nothing to hide : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidBuu Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Lol I feel that, just wanted to give you a heads up. Guess it's just that whole hacker thirst for knowledge :). On another note, did you ever see the biquad dish antenna plans for wifi? I'm thinking about building a pair of these this summer. One of my friends lives right near a lake and I'm thinking these may be my answer to the terrible 3g/4g connection while on the boat. Programming while relaxing on a boat + decent internet access = heaven in my eyes lol. Here's a page with the basic plans: http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/15/how-to-build-a-wifi-biquad-dish-antenna/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdub Posted May 31, 2012 Author Share Posted May 31, 2012 Lol I feel that, just wanted to give you a heads up. Guess it's just that whole hacker thirst for knowledge :). On another note, did you ever see the biquad dish antenna plans for wifi? I'm thinking about building a pair of these this summer. One of my friends lives right near a lake and I'm thinking these may be my answer to the terrible 3g/4g connection while on the boat. Programming while relaxing on a boat + decent internet access = heaven in my eyes lol. Here's a page with the basic plans: http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/15/how-to-build-a-wifi-biquad-dish-antenna/ That looks really cool. I want to build one now. I wonder how we could make a device to rotate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Lol I feel that, just wanted to give you a heads up. Guess it's just that whole hacker thirst for knowledge :). On another note, did you ever see the biquad dish antenna plans for wifi? I'm thinking about building a pair of these this summer. One of my friends lives right near a lake and I'm thinking these may be my answer to the terrible 3g/4g connection while on the boat. Programming while relaxing on a boat + decent internet access = heaven in my eyes lol. Here's a page with the basic plans: http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/15/how-to-build-a-wifi-biquad-dish-antenna/ That antenna is very directional, so if there's any chop on the lake, it's going to affect your signal. My netbook external antenna mod was a little more obtrusive. :D https://picasaweb.google.com/112607452244074089536/EeeExternalAntenna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdub Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 That antenna is very directional, so if there's any chop on the lake, it's going to affect your signal. My netbook external antenna mod was a little more obtrusive. :D https://picasaweb.google.com/112607452244074089536/EeeExternalAntenna That actually looks really cool. Isn't it funny how we have these tiny computers with these huge antennas. Its kind of like computers Borgs would use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 That actually looks really cool. Isn't it funny how we have these tiny computers with these huge antennas. Its kind of like computers Borgs would use. Yea, even with just the standard 3dbi antenna from a wrt54g my eee will fall over if I lean the screen back past 90. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdub Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Yea, even with just the standard 3dbi antenna from a wrt54g my eee will fall over if I lean the screen back past 90. I don't have that problem but then again I also have an extended battery that changes the angle a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Wouldn't have been easier to get a USB card that allows for antenna modding, vs cutting into the housing of the case, or portentially f-ing up internal components of the laptop? I've seen a lot of antenna mods, and they all seem pverkill when they start messign with the internals of the laptop themselves. Rather take apart a USB card to mess with, vs risking motherboard or screen damage, or such. Much cheaper to replace than buying a new laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Wouldn't have been easier to get a USB card that allows for antenna modding, vs cutting into the housing of the case, or portentially f-ing up internal components of the laptop? I've seen a lot of antenna mods, and they all seem pverkill when they start messign with the internals of the laptop themselves. Rather take apart a USB card to mess with, vs risking motherboard or screen damage, or such. Much cheaper to replace than buying a new laptop. I used a $200 laptop, so I wasn't too worried about it. I can also reverse mine pretty easily. All it would take is a little white epoxy to fill in the holes on the top. All the original parts are still in place, and the cables are routed the same as the built in antenna. I'm not a fan of usb adapters on mobile platforms. I've had to repair too many usb ports that get broken because a laptop fell onto a thumb drive or something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdub Posted June 5, 2012 Author Share Posted June 5, 2012 Wouldn't have been easier to get a USB card that allows for antenna modding, vs cutting into the housing of the case, or portentially f-ing up internal components of the laptop? I've seen a lot of antenna mods, and they all seem pverkill when they start messign with the internals of the laptop themselves. Rather take apart a USB card to mess with, vs risking motherboard or screen damage, or such. Much cheaper to replace than buying a new laptop. One of the main reasons I did mine was because I already have a USB Alfa and the performance sucked, the range was great but hacking aside range is about all its good for. I decided that adding an external antenna would be the best of both worlds. Also I didn't really think about the chance of hurting the netbook. I repair notebooks for a living so opening them up isn't really that scary for me. The idea of damaging it never even crossed my mind. The only real tedious part was dremling out the monitor support and getting it to fit back in with the antenna adapter on it. Its just made out of pot metal and the flexing it took to put it back in to the case made me sweat a little but other then that it was buisness as usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElectricLegend Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I don't have that problem but then again I also have an extended battery that changes the angle a little. Cool Mod.... Quick ? for you, you mentioned your using an additional external 'extended battery', which one is that??? I have a hpmini 110 and the battery life has always frustrated me, would love to know your setup for extra juice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Very nicely done and honestly most netbook wireless internal antenna perfomance suck and mounting an external antenna certainly helps add that extra boost in performance. And yet for better performance you could always upgrade the antenna for a high dbi one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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