USB WiFi antenna

A friend was able to receive WiFi from their very gracious neighbor with a standard PCI wireless card in her PC, but a USB wireless dongle was unable to pickup any networks in range, even when standing outside the house! Primary differences being USB voltage/power and antenna capacities. Time to give this critter an upgrade. (blurry images, oops)

Step 1: Crack open your gutless USB wifi dongle.


Step 2: Find the gutless antenna; seen as the rectangular loop on the far left of this blurry image.



Step 3: Find some wire and construct a vague semblance of an appropriately turned antenna from random info you find on the web based on the wavelengths used in household wifi.



Step 4: Solder the antenna on. Hope you haven't destroyed anything in the process.



Step 5: Reassemble. Prevent pokey bits with something squishy.

This baby found two new networks not previously detected from my own home, and now my lucky friend has a solid connection to her gracious neighbor. Life is good.