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External Antennas for Tungsten C Handhelds?
Scummer asks: "I am tinkering with the idea of replacing my old Palm Vx with a Tungsten C from Palm since I really like the WiFi capabilities of this new handheld. However, I have read in some reviews, that the range of the T|C is not that great since it doesn't include an external antenna. Has anyone tinkered with his T|C, and can tell if it is possible to place a connector for an external antenna somewhere in there? Is the internal antenna soldered or is it actually plugged, which would provide a better signal quality? I mean, browsing Slashdot and reading email on a T|C from the playground (which is about 1 mile away from my house [with a 15dbi external omni on the roof]), while my kids are having fun falling off the playground equipment, would be awesome." Solutions should try to be a little more novel than Pringles' cans and floppy disks but I don't think the submittor will complain if it works.
Back in my day we used a coat hanger. If you had the time you would bend it into the shape of your favourite country. Certainly made the car easier to find, although I never did learn to recognise Finland....
Don't knock HTML email. It makes my life easier, since I
...Replicate your content to your Palm and then away you go. Do you really need to be able to browse the web from 1 mile away? Sometimes we geeks should be asking "why" instead of "how".
Just in case you don't know about this, you might want to try the AvantGo service to get the content you crave. You get 2MB a day for free and for $20/year you can get 8MB a day. I haven't tried it yet, so I can't firmly vouch for it, but I've been hoping to use it once I have a PDA (which should, hopefully, be soon).
Another solution, if you must have the remote mobile capability, is to just get a PDA+cell phone combo. There are a lot of choices (a lot of Palm ones especially) in that category now, and if you have an Internet option in your phone's service plan, you could access the net from anywhere, not just within the range of your antenna.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
Leave the Palm at home and play with your kids.
Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
Palm devices, by their nature, move about quite a bit. This means that if you put a directional antenna directly on the device, you're going to have to learn to hold the device quite still. Not very practical. That leaves three choices:
1. Keep the isotropic antenna that's already in the device, and increase gain at the base station.
2. Void your warranty, open it up, and rig an external non-isotropic antenna (as suggested).
3. Use some kind of passive elements and/or reflectors to create gain.
For #1 above, the obvious solution is to point a directional antenna at the park. But if you want to have a signal at other places in the vicinity of your home, you'll either need to add more gain to your omni base antenna (15dB is a lot of gain already!), or adjust the beam tilt so the sweet spot hits the park. The drawback to either method is that you don't get something for nothing. Increased gain in one direction means negative gain (blind spots) in other directions.
For #2, the drawbacks are that you lose your warranty, and will have to keep the external antenna very still. You need to find a way to mount the external antenna in a fixed position, pointing at the base station. For example, you could use a clamp to fix it to a park bench, and rig something up to adjust it. I bought a $10 fan with a clamp and adjustments at Walgreen's that would do nicely.
Choice #3 is the most difficult to set up. You'll probably have to experiment a lot before you get results. Directional antennae use reflectors and directors in addition to the driven element to produce gain. You already have the driven element somewhere in the Palm. Depending on where it is, you can attach your own reflectors and/or directors to the outside of the Palm, and not void the warranty. It's more alchemy than science, but it can be done. I once taped a "T" antenna that comes with most FM radios to the ceiling, and then taped a few directors in the appropriate locations so that I could pull in a low-power college station. It wasn't pretty, but it worked! You're still going to have to contend with the problem of signal fading every time you move the palm, but it's worth a try.
Reflectors are used to get around obstructions. If you have a building between your base antenna and the park, you could put up a sheet of metal that essentially acts like a mirror to the radio signal. This probably isn't practical in your situation, but it's worth mentioning just in case. Moving the base antenna around could possibly align some existing metal structure to reflect in the right direction.
If you're not familiar with the various types of antennae, and the formulas used to construct them, I suggest going to your local library and checking out the latest ARRL Handbook.
...should work, with the helmet used to provide an good contact to Earth. For convenience the Pringles can could actually be fixed onto the helmet (obviously needs good insulation between them) which leaves your hands free.
Of course then you won't be able to watch your kids at the playground because the minute you turn up you'll be ejected by angry parents wanting to protect their kids from the weirdo wearing the cyberman hat.
How about you get off your own bum sometime and check out your nearest playground. The equipment isn't sized for adults; that's why the parents sit on benches nearby.
I looked into the abyss, and the abyss looked into me--and we both winked.