Attaching an external antenna to a Dell 9300 (Probably applicable to many laptops)

I was talking my laptop apart for a different reason and noticed the intel pro wireless 2915 mini pci card had a hirose connector


I'm not sure how the Main and Aux work on that card, I've read that it just selects the best signal(they are both connected to cables running up behind the LCD screen).

So I bought a U.FL to SMA cable from Radionics.ie with the intention of running it from the connection on the card out through the back of the laptop case.

Now before doing any measurements I ordered the 75mm length one which was a mistake, should have splashed out on the 150mm one (same price I think)

Anyway it meant that it wasn't long enough to weave around the edge of the motherboard to the only space big enough to drill a hole for the SMA connector in the back of the casing(Which was metal and not plastic so a bit more drilling than I expected). I have a little dremel like drill and after a lot of hmming and hawwing I decided to drill a hole in the motherboard for it in a location I could tell there was no circuitry.

It was a very very nervous affair but came off without disaster and the result is thus...



One other mistake I made was that the SMA connection should have and threads on the outside(i.e. to screw into the antenna connection) but also a pin in the middle to slot into the antenna connection(don't know if that makes it male, female or some sort of hermaphrodite connection) but I was able to take the pin out of another connection I had and do a little soldering(on the antenna connection, not the U.FL one, too small and delicate).

Anyway, an end to those troublesome wireless blackspots. I haven't done a comparison with the integrated antenna but there is a noticable improvement.

Though I should mention that the gain with the integrated antenna aint bad so unless you're planning on getting a pretty decent antenna it's not worth the effort.