WTB: Wifi Antennas for Pci-e Wifi card (or will it work without???)

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Forums › Offers and Wanted › WTB: Wifi Antennas for Pci-e Wifi card (or will it work without???)

timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#318144 20-Dec-2024 11:59

Hey all, I have a Wifi card for a PC (it's a Gigabyte GC-WB1733D if that helps) but I have lost the antenna's. Does anyone in Auckland have some I can buy and pickup today / tomorrow?

Or, will the card work without them? For reference the access point and the PC are in different rooms, on the same level, 70's weatherboard house, approximately 2 rooms from each other.

Thanks all :-)

mentalinc

3241 posts

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Trusted

#3322721 20-Dec-2024 12:00

Try without and go from there... Worst case it doesn't work. Best case it works no real downside to trying

CPU: AMD 5900x | RAM: GSKILL Trident Z Neo RGB F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC-32-GB | MB: Asus X570-E | GFX: EVGA FTW3 Ultra RTX 3080Ti| Monitor: LG 27GL850-B 2560x1440

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gehenna

8520 posts

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Moderator

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Lifetime subscriber

#3322728 20-Dec-2024 12:29

Won't work well, particularly if bluetooth shares the antenna. They're a dime a dozen though. Jaycar probably has bits you can knock something together with if you can't fine a genuine option.

xbmcnut

494 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3322749 20-Dec-2024 14:14

timbosan:

Hey all, I have a Wifi card for a PC (it's a Gigabyte GC-WB1733D if that helps) but I have lost the antenna's. Does anyone in Auckland have some I can buy and pickup today / tomorrow?

Or, will the card work without them? For reference the access point and the PC are in different rooms, on the same level, 70's weatherboard house, approximately 2 rooms from each other.

Thanks all :-)

Hey Tim. I have some antennas you can have. Where are you based?

RS820+, DS223, CoreELEC on Odroid N2+, 3 x Echo Dot & 7 x Google Homes connected to Home Assistant on Beelink SEi12.

RunningMan

8961 posts

Uber Geek

#3322802 20-Dec-2024 14:35

mentalinc: Try without and go from there... Worst case it doesn't work. Best case it works no real downside to trying

Nope, worst case is it fries the radio the in wifi card. Transmitter circuits don't generally like not having the impedance of the antenna there and can be damaged without it. If it has on on board antenna that is overridden when an external is attached that would be OK.

SpartanVXL

1319 posts

Uber Geek

#3322805 20-Dec-2024 15:12

Built in ones generally don’t fry themselves without the antenna, they just have really bad signal because they’re at the back of the pc on the i/o panel. I’m assuming a pcie card version would do the same.

The antenna part of the product is likely very simple, find some that fit it and you should be good to go.

nitro

658 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3322901 20-Dec-2024 21:06

it would also be a good thing to check that the antenna you're getting is dual band 2.4/5 GHz. a lot of the older, cheaper ones were only designed for 2.4 GHz.

timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#3322940 21-Dec-2024 09:17

xbmcnut:

timbosan:

Hey all, I have a Wifi card for a PC (it's a Gigabyte GC-WB1733D if that helps) but I have lost the antenna's. Does anyone in Auckland have some I can buy and pickup today / tomorrow?

Or, will the card work without them? For reference the access point and the PC are in different rooms, on the same level, 70's weatherboard house, approximately 2 rooms from each other.

Thanks all :-)

Hey Tim. I have some antennas you can have. Where are you based?

Hey @xbmcnut - thanks so much! I am in central / South Auckland. I happen to be travelling south later today. I will PM you :-)

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timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#3322943 21-Dec-2024 09:24

Hi all,

Some great info on running the card with antennas, it DOES have pigtails on the card (which is an Intel M.2 card a on a PCIe holder), but the pigtails just connect to the RP-SMA connectors. It does also have Bluetooth but how that that work for antennas? Do the radio's share the same physical antennas?

I have connected xbmcnut on the offer for antennas and will post back once installed and running.

SomeoneSomewhere

1804 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3323657 23-Dec-2024 13:13

The radios share the antennas.

The PCIe cards and onboard WiFi are almost always just an M.2 card (historically mPCIe instead) identical to those in a laptop, just with pigtails and a (for PCIe cards) a carrier PCB so it fits in a desktop.

I've never heard of a WiFi card being damaged from operation without antennas; given the antennas are connected separately and often misplaced/left in the box, it seems like there would be failure reports left right and centre.

K8Toledo

1014 posts

Uber Geek

#3323799 23-Dec-2024 18:50

SomeoneSomewhere:

I've never heard of a WiFi card being damaged from operation without antennas;

Nor have I.

Beside me is a Thinkpad T470 without WLAN antenna's connected. It works but only if the AP and Laptop are in same room, otherwise signal is lost

@timbosan screenshots from my desktop with PCIe WLAN card installed. AP QQQQ is 1m away.

With antenna

Without antenna

The signal strength halves without antenna, QQQQ is in same room - Spark AP is a floor above

Spyware

3764 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3323804 23-Dec-2024 19:11

30 dB lower is 1/1000th. So shows the importance of an antenna.

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

SomeoneSomewhere

1804 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3323845 23-Dec-2024 21:13

Sure, they're important.

But -70 is still actually connectable, though. Could probably use a paperclip as an antenna in a pinch. And you're definitely not going to fry the card by not connecting an (adequate) antenna.

K8Toledo

1014 posts

Uber Geek

#3323893 23-Dec-2024 21:20

SomeoneSomewhere:

Sure, they're important.

But -70 is still actually connectable, though. Could probably use a paperclip as an antenna in a pinch. And you're definitely not going to fry the card by not connecting an (adequate) antenna.

Yes, connectable...if beside it, but the point was AP is less than ~1/2 metre from the desktop card.

The Thinkpad also works without antenna, if beside AP.

Edit:

Hmm, something not right here, QQQQ dropped 30dB but the other Spark AP didn't drop at all.

This may have something to do with it....: )

QQQQ

Without antenna, QQQQ full power. RSSI decreases ~20dB, Spark AP increases ~10 dB, less interference.

With antenna, QQQQ full power. Drowning out the Spark AP on second floor.