[SOLVED] Modify pocket WiFi to have external antenna

[Tdawg93]

Hi,
I'm trying to put an external on my Huawei e3557bs-322 pocket WiFi (4g) device. I've seen videos of people making antennas and soldering them onto their devices to improve signal and I would like to give it a try as it's the only internet connection I have. I would like to ask what these two gold ports are. I think they're female ipex sockets from what I have researched.
I'm hoping these two sockets will work of I attach an antenna to them. There's a different model of the same pocket router and it actually has external ts9 antenna sockets connected here which you can see on this picture of someone else's device.

So I guess I'm asking if I buy a couple of ipex wires and strip the ends to connect them to a couple of homemade antenna , then connect the other ends to these sockets would it work?
I hope I've worded and explained this clear enough.
Thanks in advance!

 

[bill001g]

Finding this information tends to be hard because they actually don't want you modifying the devices.

Many of those type of connectors are designed to be plugged into some kind of docking stations. Some of these have slightly larger broadband antenna. Then again those could be wifi antenna connections and not mobile broadband.

If you are going to do this your are likely better off buying premade equipment especially a cable. It takes a lot of skill to get a correct solder connection. You can get cold solder connections that look fine and will test fine with something like a multimeter but they have very high resistance for microwave signals. The other problem is the very fine wire you use to connect IPEX connectors has massive signal loss per foot.

In addition you can't just hook 2 antenna to be effective you need 2 antenna mounted 90 degrees out of phase so the mimo work.

Most of the reason that you don't find easy to connect antenna is that it is illegal. These devices operate on licensed frequencies that cell companies pay a lot of money for exclusive use of. If you look at antenna you can purchase most have fine print that say you must have authorization from the ISP. The ISP will never give you the paperwork to allow it because they are still responsible if the equipment interferes with other ISP on nearby frequencies. If your equipment would actually interfere and one of these companies would report you the fine is huge.

Depend why you are doing this. If it is to just mess around with you can build you own. The actual solution tends to be use outdoor with all the electronic inside a the antenna enclosure that way you do not have all the loss of the microwave cable. Many ISP actually sell outdoor units but you will only find them in their business offerings. They may or may not sell them to home users.

 

[Tdawg93]

Finding this information tends to be hard because they actually don't want you modifying the devices.

Many of those type of connectors are designed to be plugged into some kind of docking stations. Some of these have slightly larger broadband antenna. Then again those could be wifi antenna connections and not mobile broadband.

If you are going to do this your are likely better off buying premade equipment especially a cable. It takes a lot of skill to get a correct solder connection. You can get cold solder connections that look fine and will test fine with something like a multimeter but they have very high resistance for microwave signals. The other problem is the very fine wire you use to connect IPEX connectors has massive signal loss per foot.

In addition you can't just hook 2 antenna to be effective you need 2 antenna mounted 90 degrees out of phase so the mimo work.

Most of the reason that you don't find easy to connect antenna is that it is illegal. These devices operate on licensed frequencies that cell companies pay a lot of money for exclusive use of. If you look at antenna you can purchase most have fine print that say you must have authorization from the ISP. The ISP will never give you the paperwork to allow it because they are still responsible if the equipment interferes with other ISP on nearby frequencies. If your equipment would actually interfere and one of these companies would report you the fine is huge.

Depend why you are doing this. If it is to just mess around with you can build you own. The actual solution tends to be use outdoor with all the electronic inside a the antenna enclosure that way you do not have all the loss of the microwave cable. Many ISP actually sell outdoor units but you will only find them in their business offerings. They may or may not sell them to home users.

Hi,

Thanks for your response, i would be doing this project just to see if it's possible to improve the signal in this device. I would be looking to make something like this only have one antenna rotated at a 90 degree angle to the other.

I was really just wondering how I would connect something like this to the device? I was not aware it was illegal to do this though so I may have to think about it before I do.
Thank you for your help 🙂

 

[bill001g]

Most people that actually do this make yagi antenna. For best results the antenna should be built to the actual frequency used by the ISP in your area. It actually takes a great deal of skill to make a antenna that actually function correctly. They have college degrees in things like rf engineering that are in very high demand.

You see all kinds of stuff posted on youtube like putting aluminum foil on wifi antenna that has no basis in science. They have no actual background in antenna design and are just relating their own experience.

Way to many 13yr old kids that think just because they can post video to youtube makes them experts in some subject.

 

[Tdawg93]

Most people that actually do this make yagi antenna. For best results the antenna should be built to the actual frequency used by the ISP in your area. It actually takes a great deal of skill to make a antenna that actually function correctly. They have college degrees in things like rf engineering that are in very high demand.

You see all kinds of stuff posted on youtube like putting aluminum foil on wifi antenna that has no basis in science. They have no actual background in antenna design and are just relating their own experience.

Way to many 13yr old kids that think just because they can post video to youtube makes them experts in some subject.

Haha, there are alot of videos out there with no explanation so I'm guessing they don't know what they're doing, damn 13 yr olds 😂.

Well I've got the frequency band of my ISP and a calculator to tell me the wire diameter, length and reflector size so I think I have a good shot of making something. Whether or not it works I don't know but I have nothing better to do right now so am willing to try! The only bit I'm confused about is how to connect the antennas to my device.
Thanks again for your response 🙂

 

[bill001g]

The simple way is to buy cables the have a N connection on one end and the ipex on the other.

The key part is the inside of the connector it is what connects to the antenna. The outside is just a shield and depending on the antenna type may not actually be connected. It is many time attached to the frame of the antenna assume the antenna itself is isolated from the frame.

I was considering doing this and even found companies that made outdoor CPE device to do this. They would only sell to vendor who had a license, I also found out that even if I got one say directly from china the cell company would not activate it.

Kinda gave up since I needed to mount it outdoors on a tower for it to do what I needed.