Molex Antenna Adventures starring a RPi4

18 Nov 2020

Some time ago, I received a Molex Antenna Kit consisting of a boatload of different antenna types. A big thanks to E14, Avnet and Molex.

These are the contents:

{gallery}Molex Antenna Kit
Antenna Kit: Molex Sample Kit
Antenna Kit: Cellular Antennas
Antenna Kit: Combo Antennas
Antenna Kit: GNSS Antennas
Antenna Kit: ISM Antennas
Antenna Kit: NFC Antennas
Antenna Kit: UWB Antennas
Antenna Kit: BT/WiFi Antennas
Antenna Kit: Selection of WiFi Antennas

{gallery}Molex Antenna Kit

Antenna Kit: Molex Sample Kit

Antenna Kit: Cellular Antennas

Antenna Kit: Combo Antennas

Antenna Kit: GNSS Antennas

Antenna Kit: ISM Antennas

Antenna Kit: NFC Antennas

Antenna Kit: UWB Antennas

Antenna Kit: BT/WiFi Antennas

Antenna Kit: Selection of WiFi Antennas

As a leftover from a previous roadtest, I am also the proud owner of a PaspberryPi4 B. This mighty little computer did have bad WiFI performance in the basement, with the router being one floor up and across the house.

A close look at the board shows a very interesting layout for the PCB antenna. I don't even want to start thinking about, what is going on there in the RF domain.

The part that interested me most, was the empty footprint at the feed trace and the single contact, suggesting a mounting option for an UMC connector. The antenna Kit did contain a nice selection of dual band 2.4/5 GHz WiFi/Bluetooth antennas with UMC connections as well. One Digikey order later, a fitting part ended up on my desk. In the spirit of the giveaway, it is a Molex UMC receptable 50 Ohm SMD, part number 073412-0110.

A banana for scale would not work very well, so I used my EEVblog measuring stick.

The next steps are: cut trace, add wire bridge, scrape scrape scrape, solder connector in place, plug in antenna, done.

One of the camera connector slots in the housing is a perfect feed-through to get the antenna out. And there is 'plenty' of room to stick it somewhere to secure it.

A quick test, did reveal an improvement in WiFi signal strength.

= .

I am sure, there is some programs around to give more detailed WiFi signal strength information, but I am happy as it is. So no 'apt get ..........' session tonight, that would take longer than the hardware upgrade.

The End.

PS: I probably should scratch the FCC/CE mark off the board now...