November 26, 2007 - How to add an external D-Link antenna to a Linksys WRK54G router
Why?
I recently moved into an old two story house. I installed a Linksys WRK54G
wireless router in a room on the front of the second floor. I soon found out
there was one room at the rear of the first floor where I could not connect to
the router. This is a great relaxing room, so I wanted wireless available in
it, but I could not move the router out of the room it was in due to other
constraints. One solution was to boost the router signal is with a better antenna and
frankly the antennas that most routers come with are not very good. I like
Do-It-Yourself projects and found several DIY antennas designs you can build
to get better signal strength. I also found the D-Link 2.4GHz
Omni-Directional 7dBi Indoor antenna (model ANT24-0700). I purchased it from
Amazon for $34, but it included a $20 rebate, so a price of $14 is tough to
beat.
The Problem
I naively assumed that the antenna on the Linksys would unscrew and could be
removed easily. Oh, how wrong I was! The antenna on this particular Linksys
router is NOT removeable. It's a part of the case and is soldered to the
circuit board. Now I had to figure out some other way to connect my new
antenna...
The Hack
First things first, I took apart the Linksys router. It is very easy to
disassemble. The front blue portion pops off. Use a thin bladed screwdriver
to pry the front section off from the sides. Then the top plastic cover just
lifts off to reveal the circuit board. You can clearly see where the built-in
antenna is soldered to the board. This is where I attached my antenna.
The D-Link antenna had a SMA connector, but rather conveniently the D-Link
antenna came with a SMA to TCN adapter. This adapter would prove useful in
adding an external SMA antenna connector to the Linksys router. The basic
idea is to get two short pieces of wire, solder one of the ends to the antenna
connections on the circuit board and the other ends to TNC side of the
adapter. Drill a small hole in the back of the router to run the new wires
thru. I'm not an antenna designer, but it would probably be better to use
connection wire like is used for the built-in antenna, but I didn't have any
wire like that. The entire process is shown in pictures below.
The Result
I can now get a good to strong wireless signal from the Linksys router anywhere in the
house.
The original antenna and router before mod.
Rear of Linksys WRK54G router (note new wire hole in upper left)
.
To take the router apart, pry front cover off here
Voila!
Here is the innards
Close up of built-in antenna connection to circuit board
Parts to add external SMA antenna connector: 2 pieces of wire and the SMA-TNC
adapter that came with the antenna
Closeup of the TNC side of the adapter
Wires soldered to TNC side of adapter
Closeup of new hole drilled for new wires
Closeup of wires soldered to antenna connections on circuit board
After done soldering, here's what you get
Close up the case
The end product connected to the antenna.