Aerial Socket "discovery"

[gquipster]

Hi all,

Just back from holiday and my new toy has arrived - an external aerial for the Exec...

Not sure if this has been covered before (I tried searching for 20 mins and didn't find anything) but after experimenting I have discovered the following:

The left hand aerial socket only works for GSM.
The right hand aerial socket only works for UTMS.

Guess I always wondered why there were 2 sockets!!!

G

[adamdon89]

Aerial sockets? Can we see some pics please?

[pug]

I'd be interested in more info on this as well.

Do you know what type of connector it uses?

Any ideas on the reliability of the connections, they look as though they could be flimsy?

Have you tried to see if they improve the Wi-Fi signal at all?

And the ultimate question, what aerial is it that you bought?

Thanx in advance,

Pug.

[jasonkruys]

Hi all,

Just back from holiday and my new toy has arrived - an external aerial for the Exec...

Not sure if this has been covered before (I tried searching for 20 mins and didn't find anything) but after experimenting I have discovered the following:

The left hand aerial socket only works for GSM.
The right hand aerial socket only works for UTMS.

Guess I always wondered why there were 2 sockets!!!

G

I think you are mistaken!

One socket is for an external GSM antenna (2G and UMTS), the other socket is for an external WIFI antenna.

[mavrik64]

I think you are mistaken!

One socket is for an external GSM antenna (2G and UMTS), the other socket is for an external WIFI antenna.

And are these avaiable off the shelf yet??

Mav

[gquipster]

Well to answer the important question of what aerial I bought it was this one:

http://www.mobilephonecrazy.com/modeldetail/xda-exec,Signal_Enhancer.htm

I mainly bought it for the car - driving through Windsor Great Park the signal is a bit dubious at places so bought this to improve it.

I've actually downgraded the radio stack on the phone to 1.09 recently as 1.13 seemed to have problems with the UMTS signal - in places where everyone else was getting a good UMTS signal I was getting 0 to 1 bars at most - and it does seem better now, but the built-in aerial of the Exec doesn't seem very good at all - hopefully the successor will have a better antenna!

The above aerial I think is a fairly standard aerial but the important thing as far as we are concerned is that it came with a 50cm fly lead that has a socket for the aerial at one end and a plug that goes into the back of the Exec at the other - it came in a little plastic bag marked "SPV M5000" - I'm not an electronics expert I'm afraid so can't tell anyone the actual type of plug but I'll photograph it tonight if anyone is interested.

Right I have to drive to work - have a good day everyone!

[xqizit]

Hi,

It looks like a great find. Can you comment on how good the aerial is? Does it really do a good job of increasing signal strength and if so by how much on average?

Does it give you a signal in places you didnt used to get a signal before?

[edeplano]

It would be great if you can post the results of your "discovery".

I have a really crap signal in my office and need to balance my phone on top of a lamp to get just 1 bar....

Also you might want to move this to the accessory board?

[edeplano]

Any chance on some feedback for this aerial?

I really want to sort my reception problem out and would like to know how your aerial performs before wasting money...

Thnks

[gquipster]

I'd love to post some performance reviews of this aerial however some blaggard on Friday stole my car, laptop, phone and aerial so at the moment I'm kinda incommunicado :-(

Once insurance kicks in and I get replacements (should have new work laptop shortly) I'll post some performance comments.

Sorry all!!!

G

[mavrik64]

I'd love to post some performance reviews of this aerial however some blaggard on Friday stole my car, laptop, phone and aerial so at the moment I'm kinda incommunicado :-(

Once insurance kicks in and I get replacements (should have new work laptop shortly) I'll post some performance comments.

Sorry all!!!

G

Bummer chap, hope you get sorted.

Mav

[edeplano]

OK looks like I wil take the chance and buy an aerial anyway.

I will let you know....

[gingerchristopher]

Dude sory to hear about the uni getting robbed. I also live in windsor so will keep an ear to the ground for anyone selling/getting rid of a uni.

But back to the thread.

I work in a second world war hangar with 3ft thick walls, so reception is nill.
After looking into wifi a little while back, I was making an external wifi antenna for my uni for use around home and work (very basic just a pice of wire and a wooden pole). When I plugged it in to my uni I found that the network signal (not the wifi) reception went up to 3 bars from nothing.
I have plugged the antenna in the wrong connector.

so after cocking up I have solved a problem with the signal but not the wifi.

All I used was a 10mtr pice of coax (50hm). A standard female uhf tv conector and this is the important bit, a 36mm copper rod from the centre of a power cable. Fit this in the uhf connector and point it upward like an aerial. connect the coax to the uhf connector.
Then on the other end strip the coax down to the centre core strands and snuggly slot them in the connection on the back of your uni.

Thats it!!!

Now i said it was basic!! but it does work despite the amount of cable.

If anyone would like photos I will take them toinight and try to pop them on my web site. But for now I can e-mail untill its up and running. gingerchristopher@hotmail.com

If anyone would like some of the coax (I get it from work) and are near the Windsor area, feel free to e-mail me and we can sort getting some to you. (free as we are all in the same boat here).


My next project will be a car mounted type. watch this space!!

[gliven]

Found this on the wiki:

http://www.wpsantennas.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=408

This is just a connector, you still need an external antenna, which you can find on this site as well. If you poke around the site there is also a 3w bi-directional amp which boosts range up to 50 miles.(85km) It only works on 2 frequencies, and I don't know which is which, so I'm not sure what it's good for.