Hello everyone.
I recently got a used TP2 with torn off wi-fi/bluetooth antenna.
I started experimenting with insulating tape and aluminum foil and managed to find an antenna shape that works quite well, but I don't know if it is as well as original antenna.
Any information on shape and size of original antenna would be very useful to me. Wi-Fi antenna is situated under the back cover, on the bottom of a phone, right between miniUSB and stylus. If at least anyone could make a good hi-res photo of antenna, I would highly appreciate that.
Thanks and sorry for my English, if its not quite well.
Looks like you should be talking to the guy on this thread!
Thanks again, I finally got a nice photo on my local forum and made an antenna identical to the original. Amazingly, original shape performs a bit worse than inverted-F type that I came up to while experimenting. To compare antennas, I measured a signal level from three WiFi access points with WiFI Monster and the level is about 3-5 dBm higher with inverted-F shaped antenna. It also seems to be higher regardless of antenna orientation, so i guess the gain pattern is OK, its still omnidirectional.
And improvement is even more noticeable with bluetooth headset (i tested on Plantronics Explorer 230), which now has a max distance about 12-15 meters (compared to 7-8 with original shaped antenna).
That is an interesting observation. I wonder if you could show us all the pattern, someone may be interested in modding their original antenna.
Photos attached.
On the first you can see what is left from original antenna.
On the second there are some variations of inverted-F shape (these are made from copper, not aluminum foil):
The bottom right performed best, on the third it is taped to the phone.
A couple more words on antenna modding.
As I found out, antenna does not like soldering for some reason (can't tell why, don't know enough about RF engineering), so I just fixed a new antenna to the remained piece of original with a masking tape. It should be better to make the whole antenna from one piece of copper foil, including the inner part, even though it will require partial phone casing disassembly.
Here I attached a file with exact sizes in millimeters. Antenna itself is actually about the same size as original, but extends a little further on the feeding line, which positively affects its performance.
And another interesting fact: TP2 has a miniature RF connector on the mainboard right next to antenna spring contacts, so it is definitely possible to use an external antenna.
Related
I tried looking all over the net and within the many forums and could not find any articles relating to repairing the bad reception on the universal units.
Here is my solution, 1) download the UNIVERSAL SERVICE MANUAL from the ftp site here on forum.xdadevelopers.com 2) Follow the instruction on disassembling the unit up to the point where it shows how to remove the antenna. 3) Remove the antenna and from the back of the antenna unit you will see two metal prongs on top and two metal prongs on the side.
4) There is a large metal plate on the front of antenna housing and a small metal strip off to the side of the plastic housing. 5) Take a small strip of aluminium foil (or cigarette pack foil) and roll it into a small roll that covers the back of the plastic housing and fits neatly into the grooves of the back of the white plastic antenna housing. 6) The two metal prongs that correspond to the large metal plate must be lifted gently to allow the foil to make contact with them and be placed underneath the prongs and not on top of the prongs. DO NOT PLACE THE FOIL IN CONTACT WITH THE TWO OTHER PRONGS OF THE SMALL METAL PLATE AS THIS WILL SHORT THE UNIT. 7)Reinstall the antenna.
You will notice once you have finished assembling the unit and have turned it back on that the reception indicator does not show full strenghth, however from my experience the call quality and reception is excellent even when there is only 1 or 2 bars showing and as of yet I have had no hang up or missed calls.
PLEASE NOTE THE ABOVE PROCEDURE VOIDS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES
how about some pictures mate ?
adolfotregosa said:
how about some pictures mate ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just download the Service manual from link:
ftp://ftp.xda-developers.com/Universal/UNniversalL_Service_Manual_CONFIDENTIAL.pdf
pictures of what he did
how do you get those littel rubber plugs out for the external antenna.
thanks!
Sky
the above link requires a password ... would u tell us about the theory behind this ???
Username and password: XDA
hell yeah! BUMP!! please tell us more about this! I'm having reception problems but I wish pictures before tearing this unit appart!
Has anyone (besides the poster of this topic) tried this.
And I know there are pictures in the manual, but we do want some more pictures of the procedure.
Like a picture of the two metal prongs on top and two metal prongs on the side
Thnx
Hiya, the case that came with my extended battery pushes down on the connector prongs more than the stock case did. Over time, after taking the case off again and again one of them was bent too many times and snapped off. I noticed the antenna bridges the connection which you can see in the first picture. Anyway, I did a fairly messy soldering job but the second picture is trying to show a tiny wire connecting both connectors together. I get signal again but the question remains, does the amount of metal touching the antenna pad affect the signal strength?
I have another month to return the phone at Costco who will just take it no questions asked, but is it worth the hassle. Do you think I should just keep the phone since it works well otherwise, is there a better fix, or am I just experiencing the placebo effect and everything is fine again. Thanks for any advice!
I think if it works well why not keep it?
these anttenna connectors on this phone are horrible. they are the poorest design. i had a flawed one that got bent somehow within 1 day of having the phone, i got a replacement cause it was poor workmanship and considered their fault by assurion so i lucked out, my 1 tab on the bottom left was bent then snapped(tabs below sd) and it didnt effect my signal at all compaired to the other one they sent me. also i think the ones up where urs is broke is for the gps (just an edu guess).
and if u do get a new phone from costco, ditch that bum back and case u have that caused the prob i got an htc oem from vzw for 37$ after 25% disc. that was batt and back. so if that messes up the tabs at least i can say i used oem htc.
I'd love to ditch it for a different back but have a 3600mAh extended battery that doubles the phone width.. I'm open to ideas though! This might be a bad idea, but could adding a tiny bit of solder underneath the pins where it bends (a very tiny amount) to secure it more in place, help it from breaking in the future? I wonder...
Where precisely are the antennas located?
At the top and bottom. The Cellular antenna appears to be primarily at the bottom, GPS, WiFi and BT are at the top covered by two small pieces of plastic. It's fairly obvious to spot the ones up top. I don't think this phone has RX diversity like the Sensation 4G but it still has better reception regardless.
Thx for the input.
When you take the back cover off you can see three areas where there seems to be like a tape like substance put over the area.
One is on the left near the power button.
Second is toward the top right.
Third is on the very right top.
As for the cellular antenna....it's for sure at the bottom below the battery??
Thx!
heygrl said:
At the top and bottom. The Cellular antenna appears to be primarily at the bottom, GPS, WiFi and BT are at the top covered by two small pieces of plastic. It's fairly obvious to spot the ones up top. I don't think this phone has RX diversity like the Sensation 4G but it still has better reception regardless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also waiting on a response...
The bottom definitely has the cell antenna, no ifs ands or buts about it. We need to wait for the FCC documents to come off ice before we can know 100% but I think the 3 are BT/WiFi, GPS and NFC.
So it would be under that cover over the speaker then?
It's behind the speaker, yes.. but it's behind the back shell and depending on the design, probably in the back shell like on the original Galaxy S.
My Dinc2, like everyone else's, has terrible reception. (relatively speaking). About a week ago, it went from tolerable to dropping calls like crazy. The db use to be in the 90's, but it has since pegged at 105 and stays there no matter what - indoors or outdoors, unless I'm downtown where a tower is almost in sight. WHY did this degradation happen? I flashed from the 320 radio to the 312, no change at all. I am running the Magnolia ROM, after having tried the others. The reception was doing fine up until a week ago....
Yesterday, I put my flashlight in my pocket, which has a magnetic base. When I used it later, I noticed something stuck to the magnet... it was a "U" shaped piece of metal. It was very defined, then it occurred to me it wasnt a U, it was a C. The "C" from the "HTC" on the back cover. The H and the T were already gone. So I wonder... if these being metal had anything to do with the antenna being in the back cover? Could these tiny pieces of metal be contributing to the reception? Or their loss being a determent?
If you have the metal HTC letters on your back cover, could you check your db rating then pop them out, and check it again? Strange request I know... but all in the name of science!
I would give anything for the Dinc2 to have Motorola like reception.... it's almost perfect, except for that.
I know it is a long shot, it was just a thought. The metal loading of the cover may or may not have anything to do with the reception... from what I've read the aftermarket covers do not receive as well as OEM's, so who knows.
if i took off back cover and dial *#4636#*#* i found the "db" became 105 and i put it back it goes normal,that means the antenna was integrated in back cover,so you can try do to it to find if the problem cause by back cover and order a new cover over the Amazon.
I have had this phone since May of 2011 and I never noticed that the HTC on the back cover had the metal inlays!!!!! Wow!!!! Anyway, I don't want to pop mine out but I did the same by removing the back cover and the db's also jumped to 105 for me when I did that.
Pop off your back cover and grab some tweezers or a small flat head screw driver. You'll see 4 gold prongs on the back of your phone. 2 near the camera and 2 in the bottom left corner. Gently bend those up a little bit, being careful not to break them off. Now grab a pencil with a good eraser. Look at the inside of your back cover and you will see yellow/goldish lines that line up with the prongs you just bent. Rub these lines with the eraser. Personally I would do this with my phone turned off, but that probably doesn't really matter. I suspect your reception will return to normal.
The metal letters have nothing to do with the antennas. They're located near the middle of the thinnest section of the back cover. The plastic would be thicker there if any metal or wires were running close enough for them to do anything.
Sent from my ICS Dinc2
I wasn't even having trouble with mine and did this and worked great. Thanks for the tip!!!
I bent the tabs, I tried the foil trick, I tried up and down grading the radio, and with the cover on at my house, I'm looking at 105db. I borrowed a Verizon Samsung network extender which plugs in the wall and internet router, and when I'm within 10 feet of it, my phone registers about 70db. However, it makes my GPS location about 75 miles away!
So I'm a loss... I'm grasping at straws here trying to not give up on the Dinc2.
My guess would be that a new back cover is in order then. Do you know anyone that has a Dinc2 that you could try swapping covers with?
If that doesn't work then maybe the magnet damaged your phone. Magnets can do some weird things to electronics.
Sent from my ICS Dinc2
Any one have any idea what these white-ish dots are on the outside edges of our note 4? They are on the top edge and bottom edge of the front and back of the phone (EX: right next to the spen)
Attached images. I figured maybe some kind of lighting (LED) nope.... Not concerned but maybe its just something cosmetic they did>?
Any thoughts?
I believe they are antennas that wrap around the ouside of the metal frame as signal would be bad without them. Try covering them all. My signal drops
Yeah, pretty sure they're antennas. The iPhone 4s had them as well.
Sent from my Note 4.
Yes...they are the antennas
The white things you see are actually the breaks in each antenna. Each antenna needs to be separated as they will interfere with each other if not. We say this on the iPhone 4 and antenna gate became a thing due to a person's palm completing a circuit between each antenna. Now they are all coated to prevent these types of incidents.
According to the fcc filing for this phone and this post everyone says the antenna is on the back just like the older phones.
Hmm. Signal went down... But maybe coincidence??..??
Maybe a tear down is in order! Not sure of I'm all that curious! Haha