~Toughbooktalk~

Hey all, I've found all sorts of answers on these forums in the past, but came across a situation that I can't seem to find any reference to already, if it has been addressed please don't hesitate to point me in the right direction!

I've run CF-29 and CF-30's for years, in fact I've got almost a fleet of them at this point! I just got my first CF-30 with the built in WWAN card, and it works GREAT, however when I dock the computer the reception cuts out almost entirely. I'm fairly certain that by docking the computer it is ignoring the built in antenna (pop up above the screen) and trying to use the one in the dock, however I don't have one in the dock so I get an awful (if any) connection.

My two questions are:
1. Is there a way to retain use of the Toughbooks antenna even when docked? (jumpers, programming?)
2. If not is there a good antenna someone could suggest?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

pull the cables going to the rear antenna port.

Shawn wrote:pull the cables going to the rear antenna port.

Sounds like an easy fix!
However.. where and what cables do you refer to? I've never pulled the WWAN card/sled out of this thing, will it be something self evident and marked on the sled? Or do I access the aforementioned wires in another way?

Or you could buy an antenna for the dock.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/960

http://www.laipac.com/gps-antennas.htm

A couple results from a quick Google search.

jerds19 wrote: I'm fairly certain that by docking the computer it is ignoring the built in antenna (pop up above the screen) and trying to use the one in the dock, however I don't have one in the dock so I get an awful (if any) connection.

My two questions are:
1. Is there a way to retain use of the Toughbooks antenna even when docked? (jumpers, programming?)
2. If not is there a good antenna someone could suggest?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Yes there is a setting....on the CF-30 not sure about the 29

Enter thr Bios By pressing F2 at boot. Arrow over to the MAIN page. Arrow down to Wireless WAN antenna. The choices are Default or PC. In the PC setting the dock antenna is ignored

i58,
I saw this yesterday and thought I was losing my mind....CF-30MK3

The POINT...the sled must be mounted for this to appear. Also resetting the bios to defaults may change it. Haven't tried that yet. BUT this is the "proper" way. No fun, but proper.

Thanks,

Jeff

EDIT Guess what? Setting bios to defaults returned the wwan entry to.......default....who woulda guessed. J

mklym wrote:Or you could buy an antenna for the dock.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/960

http://www.laipac.com/gps-antennas.htm

A couple results from a quick Google search.

This was my first idea, however all I could find were antenna's like the ones you listed, which are GPS antennas that I feared would not be of any help to my WWAN issues. I tried everywhere locally (Fry's, Radio Shack, "cellular" stores and even an amateur radio store!) It turns out that finding an 800/1900 antenna is something better sourced from an antique store or a museum!

I did find one company online that makes a specific antenna for this application, at $100 it's not that painful, but they build them as they're ordered so they estimated 1-3 weeks... Lets get real, the type of person that mounts a laptop in their vehicle and installs a wireless card in it isn't the type of person one would assume would wait WEEKS for anything...

i58sr wrote:

jerds19 wrote: I'm fairly certain that by docking the computer it is ignoring the built in antenna (pop up above the screen) and trying to use the one in the dock, however I don't have one in the dock so I get an awful (if any) connection.

My two questions are:
1. Is there a way to retain use of the Toughbooks antenna even when docked? (jumpers, programming?)
2. If not is there a good antenna someone could suggest?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Yes there is a setting....on the CF-30 not sure about the 29

Enter thr Bios By pressing F2 at boot. Arrow over to the MAIN page. Arrow down to Wireless WAN antenna. The choices are Default or PC. In the PC setting the dock antenna is ignored

AWESOME! Exactly what I needed, problem solved, ya'll are awesome!

jerds19 wrote:

mklym wrote:Or you could buy an antenna for the dock.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/960

http://www.laipac.com/gps-antennas.htm

A couple results from a quick Google search.

This was my first idea, however all I could find were antenna's like the ones you listed, which are GPS antennas that I feared would not be of any help to my WWAN issues. I tried everywhere locally (Fry's, Radio Shack, "cellular" stores and even an amateur radio store!) It turns out that finding an 800/1900 antenna is something better sourced from an antique store or a museum!

I did find one company online that makes a specific antenna for this application, at $100 it's not that painful, but they build them as they're ordered so they estimated 1-3 weeks... Lets get real, the type of person that mounts a laptop in their vehicle and installs a wireless card in it isn't the type of person one would assume would wait WEEKS for anything...

I guess I should have looked over the links. I was in a bit of a hurry at the time. Even though you fixed it you might want to consider this:

http://www.laipac.com/ant_GLP1_GC_eng.htm

No price listed but might be worth checking out. Sorry about the GPS antenna links earlier.

Glad to hear you got it worked out.

Mobile Mark makes vehicle antennas. You can find them on the bay. Mine is cellular/gps/and wifi.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mobile-Mark-SMW ... 27d98b33e9

http://www.mobilemark.com/shop/

Sorry for the short post earlier. The cables are inside the laptop. You would have to remove the base and reconnect 2 antenna leads on the antenna circuit board.

I was totally unaware of that option in the bios..