WiFi upgrade in a T23 *PIC*

[portsample]

I bought a T23 wifi upgrade kit on eBay a few weeks ago and finally got around to the install last night. I reviewed two of the How-To pages on line pertaining to this and felt comfortable w/the process.

Wow. If anyone can install one of these w/out a bulge in their palmrest, a bulge under the keypad or having to stuff the wires into the PCMCIA bay (or the CD-ROM bay) they have my respect and admiration. The wires that came with my kit did seem fairly rigid and thick...approximately 1/16" in diameter. While I was able route along the back edge of the machine, I was not able to set them across the ultra-bay housing, nor was I able to set them beneath the palmrest above the battery housing without significantly deforming the palmrest or the keypad. I also tried routing along the front edge without success. I did manage to get everything in the middle void (above the graphics processor (between the various bays)), but was not comfortable with the loose unsupported wires in the machine.

All of the options that were apparent to me seemed kludgy and either a source for future problems, unsightly, or removed other functionality from the machine.

Anything that I'm missing here? I think a solution may be possible routing down the middle (out of the mobo hole, along the back edge under the LCD connector, then a hard 90 degree down the center 'tween the bays) to the front edge, then Dremel tooling out the existing wire chases to accommodate the main and aux antennas, wrapping the perimeter of the outside of the battery compartment, then placing the flat foil squares on top of the battery compartment.

How much are the lids w/the antenna costing these days?

Admin note: Added PIC warning to subject line

[RealBlackStuff]

How much are the lids w/the antenna costing these days?

Almost non-existent. And if you find one, I'd say at least $40-50 for the lid alone.
Probably cheaper to buy a repair/parts machine.
And those wires must definitely be wrong, they are very thin and should easily fit between palmrest and top of battery-bay.
Been there, done that.
What's the eBay auction where you got that monstrosity?

[portsample]

The total diameter of the insulated antenna wire is about 1.1mm, or about .044 inches.
Before trying to install the hardware last night I did fire up the wifi card (with the antennas dangling)and got a good signal from my wireless router at the other end of the house.

I may give this another try over the weekend with the method described previously coming down the center alley and wrapping counter clockwise around the battery housing.

Interesting, it sounds like you have not had problems w/space between the palmrest and battery case. Would you say that there is less than 1mm clearance there? TIA for your perspective and wisdom.

[RealBlackStuff]

Our good Admin Ray Kawakami has written an extensive 'how-to' here:
http://www.rkawakami.net/ibm_t2x/t23_wireless/
That should help.

[portsample]

Okay- I think I've gotten a pretty good install. Up through the mobo, along the back of the machine, tight 180 degree loop, back to the center space and then towards the front of the machine, taking a turn to the right hand side of the machine at the battery case and then looping it with the metal antenna tabs glued onto the battery case. Here is a picture that shows this pretty nicely.



I secured the wires using short pieces of dental floss. Hopefully this will minimize movement to undesirable locations as well as possible chafing of the wires. There was no place to tie the floss along the front edge of the machine, so I drilled small holes. Tying the antenna wires also helped to get the wires out of the way of parts and pinch points. The metal tabs were glued down with rubber cement: the masking tape will be removed the next time I have the palmrest off, it is on just to hold them until the glue sets.

Currently, parked next to my T61, the T23 is getting about a 45-50% signal strength compared to the T61 which is getting 80-90%.

I suspect that if someone wanted to do some experimentation, they could come up with a configuration that would get a better signal strength. Splitting the main and aux antennas running them in separate pathways AND not having any double backs would be a start. Good luck.

[rkawakami]

At the microwave frequencies used by 802.11b/g, the antenna lead length can have some impact on the performance of the radio. It's better to keep the overall length as short as possible. This is usually not possible to control yourself as the pre-fabbed antenna assemblies can be next to impossible to shorten due to the very thin coax cable used.

Also the orientation of the antenna (vertical vs. horizontal), when compared to the wireless access point you are communicating with, can adversely affect the signal strength / range. Generally speaking, they should both be pointing "up" for the best results.

You might want to look at this page I put up a couple of years ago: http://www.kawakami-ca.com/antenna_comparison/ It looks like you used one of the antennas that I tested. That particular antenna appeared to work better when laid flat (like your mounting point above the battery bay).

[portsample]

Thanks for the response Ray!