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We have been testing with a BUGbase WiFi for the last couple of days on a big outdoor wifi network and have been a bit disappointed by how hard it seems to be to get a signal. Is there any conceivable way to add a WiFi antenna to the base? Or any tips on getting a better signal??

While I’m at it, it would be great to find a way to have the base automatically join the network with the strongest signal. Is there a way to control the WiFi behaviour through software?

Cheers,

-Jer

Hey Jer,

I think you’re out of luck on the external wifi antenna part.  There’s a coax antenna on the board itself but I’m not sure that there’s a clean way to expose and hack it to get better range.

There are some hacks to using wpa_supplicant to autojoin (open) SSID’s based on decibal level/signal strength.  I’ll dig around and get back to you.

Jer may not be so eager to go soldering stuff onto a mainboard, but I’m always game. I’ve opened the bug up and have taken a preliminary look inside. From what I can tell there are 2 antenna wires (main and aux?)  connected with U.FL connectors. I think I should be able to run a wire from the end of these onboard connectors out of the bug and terminate it with a proper f-connector to hook up a standard antenna to.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyfamilylife/4195917573

So, here it is the antenna modified bug:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyfamilylife/4199539814/

I sacrificed an old netgear router (which has garbage) to get a U.FL connector wired into an antenna. popped up off the bug antenna (really just a tiny wire it seems) and stuck this in its place. A little bit of modding was done on the case to make room. Still works fine, but now pulls in a much stronger signal – much better for outdoor use.

Nicely done!  Do you have some links to the parts you used?  Maybe another shot of the modded case to fit the antenna?

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