Develop Bugs

Where to I find an External Antenna for XDA II?

Since I'm not an expert on antennas I've had a hard time finding an Antenna for the XDA II. I'm actually looking for an antenna I can use in my home to get better reception. Does anyone know where I can buy one that plugs into the back of the device? I've already noticed much better reception with my XDA II over the XDA I ... with an external antenna it should be awesome. Thanks.

connectors
The connector was a standard unit used in the old 'carphones' I used to have loads of them, I worked on them from 89 to 96. I cant remember the name for them, they should be quite available, try www.cpc.co.uk they might have them.

external antenna - where to find?
I would love to find an external antenna also for the same purpose - stationary at home for better reception. Thanks for any help
Steve

external antenna - where to find?
I would love to find an external antenna also for the same purpose - stationary at home for better reception. Thanks for any help
Steve

I found out the specifications of the external antenna "receptacle" from the i-Mate folks (shown below). I've attached the PDF he sent. Now I have to find an appropriate antenna. I'm also thinking about getting a repeater, but I've heard they're expensive ($500-1000).
Thank you for the enquiry! Well, regarding your question; I am sending you a file (as an attachment) that should give you all the specifications of the external antenna. For any further enquiries, please contact us, we will be glad to assist you!
Regards,
Srushti Ghisad - Technical Operations Engineer - i-mate™ from Carrier Devices
Office No. 207-213 - Building 11 - P O Box 500085 - Dubai Internet City - Dubai, UAE

I cannot seem to open your attachment.

Bought my external at Radio Shack. The external unit cost $29, and the adapter was $10. Be careful with the adapters. Have the guy open it and make sure it fits right. Mine was for a motorola, and didn't have a black bushing around the base that others on the same rack did. The others didn't fit, but the one minus bushing did.

Sorry about the file. It's my first try to upload to the XDA Site. Here's the file from one of my websites.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/olliesshop/XDAStuff/RFConnector.pdf
Also, Thanks for the input about Radio Shack. I went there earlier and they said they didn't have anything. But it probably was the lack of knowledge of the salesman. I'll go to a different store and be more persistant. Thanks.

i had no problems saving the pdf file to my disk and opening it using acrobat reader
from the first uploading that is

Hey dadarkmcse - since you purchased one at Radio Shack that actually works . . . what's the part number? Might take a bit of the guess work out of it for the rest of us!
Thanks!

BRosenow said:
Hey dadarkmcse - since you purchased one at Radio Shack that actually works . . . what's the part number? Might take a bit of the guess work out of it for the rest of us!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew you would ask that... and being me... i threw out the packaging. Let me swing by Radio Shack's site and see if i can find it...
17-345 is the base unit, and it was either 17-346 or 17-348 that was the cable for the unit. Try to find both at your radio snack and have the sales man open the package and plug it into the phone. The guy at the radioshack I went to was more than happy to do this, even though he had never seen my xda ii.
Good thing too - i HATE when they look at the thing and salivate all over it... quite annoying :wink:

Yea . . . I HATE when that happens. I just carry around a plastic bag to slip my i-mate into before I let anyone hold it. That way, it's 'drool proof'! :lol:

can you take some photos it?

What . . . you mean pictures of my i-mate in a plastic bag? :wink:
Oh . . . OK - I'd like to see pictures of the antenna and cable too!
Thanks dadarkmcse

I went by another Radio Shack on the way home tonight and they gave me that "Deer in the Headlight" look. They suggested going to AT&T ... arghhhh!!! I'm going to look at Radio Shack on-line and see if I can find something.

I finally found out the connector/adapter we need. I was told by my local Electronics Store / Experts that if I can get it to an SMA connector I'm all set. So after many phone calls and a few weeks of searching ... I finally found, I believe the only U.S. source for the adaptor.
This is the link to the page of the catalog http://dkc3.digikey.com/pdf/T041/0248.pdf. I ordered, from the top part of the page:
Switching Connector - #5
SMA Adaptor to Male
H2807-ND
MS-145-HRMP-A
www.digikey.com Toll-Free: 1-800-344-4539 • Phone: 218-681-6674 • Fax: 218-681-3380
I hope this works, since it cost $30.80 with postage. Now I need to go get an actual antenna that connects to SMA.

Thats the adapter, right? So what else do you need to make an antena, just coax cable?
:?

I haven't bought it yet, but my understanding is I need a Coaxial Cable with an SMA connector on one end and an antenna that attaches to the other end. I plan on buying a normal "glass mounted" type antenna, like they put on car windows and enough cable I can run it from my desk outside the window. The store I go to has a few different Car Kits that include the cable and antenna. We'll see how it goes.

Sorry to be boring, have you got a website for the type of antenna? Its just I guess????? in the UK i should be able to get the connector type from somewhere? RS or Farnells, or maybe maplins (there a bit like your Radio Shack) but the antenna I am not sure,
thanks in advance
Jim

as said up top www.cpc.co.uk they have loads of aerials, glass mount etc. click http://custom1.farnell.com/cpc/product.asp?catalog_name=CPC+Catalogue&product_id=267273 for a page i found. I couldn't find the MS-147 on their site though.
Pete

Wimax frequency

Does anyone know what exact frequencies Sprint uses for Wimax ?
I made an external antenna port on my Evo, now it's time to make an external antenna itself

I'm seeing 2.5 GHz, I will look for continue to look for specifics

Wikipedia has a huge write up on WiMAX. I'm not sure the exact information your looking for, but under the technical information section, they pretty much give you everything.

Thank you
I know the theoretical range of Wimax, would be nice to know what frequencies people are seeing.
Does anyone know if in ##DATA#, Center Frequency is an actual freuqency phone uses to connect ? (Here are the values:* 2647000, 2657000, 2667000 I would assume it's 2.647Ghz/2.657Ghz/2.667Ghz) ?
However, if I go into ##33284# (FieldTrial / Wimax Engineering) it's* 2551500 for Center Frequency (after turning 4G Radio)
Anyone cares to share their ##DATA# and FieldTrial / Wimax Engineering ##33284# center frequencies ? I just want to see how much variation there is.
Its important to get as close to right frequency as possible when calculating segment length on antenna.

I am showing 2.525Ghz with the bandwidth of 10Mhz. What type of antenna are you going to use? I hope you have access to a Service Monitor to check the SWR of your antenna. How are you connecting the antenna to the phone?

Thank you for sharing kf2m
I am going to build omni-directional antenna based on this design (but from thicker cable)
_www.rason.org/Projects/collant/collant.htm
Unfortunately I do not have any equipment to check SWR.
As far as connecting an antenna to the phone, I've made a slight cut out on red cover where 4G antenna terminals are and attached small connector for center wire of coax cable to the terminals (I do not know about what to do with ground, but let's see if I get away without it). Black cover closes normally, without showing any modifications externally.
I will share results after the weekend, whether it's a success or fail

Sounds interesting. I haven't seen anything like this for the Evo. Please keep the thread updated, and if all works maybe a write-up?
~ I'm a fungi

arch111 said:
Thank you for sharing kf2m
I am going to build omni-directional antenna based on this design (but from thicker cable)
_www.rason.org/Projects/collant/collant.htm
Unfortunately I do not have any equipment to check SWR.
As far as connecting an antenna to the phone, I've made a slight cut out on red cover where 4G antenna terminals are and attached small connector for center wire of coax cable to the terminals (I do not know about what to do with ground, but let's see if I get away without it). Black cover closes normally, without showing any modifications externally.
I will share results after the weekend, whether it's a success or fail
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That antenna is gonna be hot with common mode RF (hence the BALUM's at the base). Plus it is designed for 2 Meter operation, WIMax is like 10-11cm. I would not recommend using that. It also uses RG58 COAX which is way too thick, using thicker COAX like RG8 is going to be way too thick (massive line losses). The coax used for our purposes is about as thick as 14-16 gauge wire, RG58 is about 1/4", and RG8 about 1/2" thick. By design our phones use a 1/4 wave dipole antenna built into the chassis/frame. My measurements might be off but a full wavelength antenna is about 2.75" so a dipole antenna mounted vertically would be more effective, and without the grounding/ground plane issue you would have with an omni. At higher frequencies your SWR would be even more critical. Too high and your output circuit is going to overload from RF feeding back, and either pop the final output, or let out the magic smoke. A WiFi antenna is a close match, and using a LC matching circuit would be a better choice (or you can cut it down since WiFi is at 2.4Ghz, and WIMax operates at 2.5Ghz). Again you are going to need some sort of measuring device to properly match your antenna. Also using an antenna without a ground-ground plane, or reflector your SWR is going to be off the charts. To receive it is not much of an issue, but once you start pushing RF down the wire then it's a whole new ballgame.
Check here for some ideas.. http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Antennas/WiFi/
Hope I gave you a bit more information to work with.
Good Luck
73 de KF2M

Official Samsung Desktop Dock Internals!

Here it is!
Things we now know for sure.
1. It Does not have BT.
2. It uses SPDIF out of the middle pin.
3. It has a TOSLINK 3.5mm connector for line out/ digital optical audio out.
4. It uses a PULSUS PSM702 chip and a COREDRIVER GC89C510A0 microcontroller

buy it?
now does anybody knows where i can buy the piece in picture number 3??

lionheart7282 said:
now does anybody knows where i can buy the piece in picture number 3??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would make this DIY even better!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1493797

Looks like that chip connected to the pogo dock is a coreriver SC.
http://www.coreriver.com/product-lines/top_CORERIVERmcu.html
I can make out GC89C??? so probably a midas 2.2 or 2.4 programmable microprocessor.
Looks like we will need to follow the lead from here to get a dock working properly.

Hey, Could you send me some higher resolution pictures of the board? I am specifically interested in the small chip near were the pogo pin cable gets attached to the main board. Or the numbers off of it would be good
Also, do you have access to an oscilloscope or logic analyzer? I have been trying to get a dock to play with myself, but it is taking some time

silverchris said:
Hey, Could you send me some higher resolution pictures of the board? I am specifically interested in the small chip near were the pogo pin cable gets attached to the main board. Or the numbers off of it would be good
Also, do you have access to an oscilloscope or logic analyzer? I have been trying to get a dock to play with myself, but it is taking some time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried reading the all thee numbers off it but it is obscured by what looks like a black marker dot. All I can read is GC89C5, I believe there are at least 3 more numbers/letters.
I do not have access to either an oscilloscope or logic analyzer.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
EDIT: After a closer look and some better lighting we have a GC89C510A0

Sorry, I meant the one near the mark "U9" above VBUS +5V

silverchris said:
Sorry, I meant the one near the mark "U9" above VBUS +5V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It reads 0524P, Looks like a ESD chip.

If any of you actually make one of the diy versions you should sell them since i won't buy samsungs way to overpriced
for me, by me and I love you

3D Printed Galaxy Nexus Pogo Pin Dock

Hello guys,
I was recently looking into upgrading my maguro phone and decided to install CM11. I fell in love with it all over again ! Since I already had the car dock I decided to get the desktop dock too but it seems like it's very hard to come by one of those. I decided to make my own.
Currently the 3D model is rough but I got the phone to fit perfectly.
Do you guys have any suggestions (Hardware or software) for the dock?
NOTE: Implementing audio out is not on my list!
Features I want to have
1) Detect computer USB (500mA) vs dedicated micro USB chargers(1A)
2) Measure input voltage on the charge input
3) Measure current going in the phone (maybe...)
What are your thoughts / opinions?

Wow, that CAD model looks great! Which software did you use to make that? SolidWorks? =P
Anyway, you can look up circuits to do the monitoring for #2 and #3. For components, digikey.com is your friend (or Sparkfun for more hobbyist stuff). I'm not sure what you mean about #1 though.
EDIT: If you don't mind, please release the model (raw CAD files or STL) somewhere (thingyverse? here?), so that others can use it. That's the point of 3D printing, isn't it?
EDIT2: I think I know what you mean by #1 now. I don't think pogo pin charging can go any faster than 500mA though, if I remember correctly. Something to do with the phone's internal charging circuit... check that.

Once it's done I will post the STL etc. It's done using SolidWorks yeah it's a very neat application !
I doubt I will have any issues with the circuits. I will most likely make my own. Then after that..software.. Good reason to learn MSP430s as well.
regarding #1. I had the understanding that the phone can charge with 500mA current limit or 1A current limit. Once i get the software going I will see if it can change with 1A.
FredFS456 said:
Wow, that CAD model looks great! Which software did you use to make that? SolidWorks? =P
Anyway, you can look up circuits to do the monitoring for #2 and #3. For components, digikey.com is your friend (or Sparkfun for more hobbyist stuff). I'm not sure what you mean about #1 though.
EDIT: If you don't mind, please release the model (raw CAD files or STL) somewhere (thingyverse? here?), so that others can use it. That's the point of 3D printing, isn't it?
EDIT2: I think I know what you mean by #1 now. I don't think pogo pin charging can go any faster than 500mA though, if I remember correctly. Something to do with the phone's internal charging circuit... check that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I dug around a bit and I didn't see any clear oscilloscope captures of the signaling pin. I don't have the software working yet so this is just the phone "probing the pin". No one is talking back.
Yellow trace is the +5V input. "Blue" trace is the ID pin.
It seems like the pulse should be 100ms but I am measuring 110ms. No big deal.
A huge thank you goes to the guys from this thread for doing all the hard work !
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/accessories/pogo-pin-dock-t1614287

These are scope captures of the Car dock.
Everything seems to align,
100ms wake pulse from phone
100ms wait time.
100ms dock type (car)
50ms charge type (charger)
100ms audio (no audio)
NOTE: The voltage levels are very funky. I attribute that to the worn contacts on the pogo pins and my uber crappy test setup when I was measuring this. Once I have my circuit, I expect them to be in the 1.8V range. I am not worried right now at all.

quanttrom said:
Once it's done I will post the STL etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, hows that coming along? =)

I just moved and haven't touched it in a week or 2. I'll get back into it once I settle.

[Q] Am I totally bricked now???

So my FTV came in today (it was free from Giggle points... but still) - Of course, having been around Android for years and always rooting I had to look into it.
It seemed it didn't have new FW until my wife took iota upon herself to set it up and it received the newest update (Wife is an IT person as well - but not interested in hacking devices...)
So I figured, no problem - I'll use the emmc method - I ordered my adapter, but while I waited I thought I would solder up my pins, which is no issue - Soldering is easy.
All points are good, so I figured I would check it out to make sure it still powered up and booted - and low and behold, I'm stuck at the Amazon FireTV logo screen . (and the white led pulsates a bit...). The point where the resister is, I did decoder the entire resistor, so I soldered a wire on the other side and connected it to the other side. Still no luck...
Is there anything I should look at? All solder points are good .... No shorts or anything like that.....
** Edit ** I knew I needed a new solder tip - so now I think I have no more pad on the Resistor point closest to the chip - Usually the Resistors have another connection,. Does anyone know where it connects to as an alternate solder point?
Thanks for any ideas...

PensFan66 said:
So my FTV came in today (it was free from Giggle points... but still) - Of course, having been around Android for years and always rooting I had to look into it.
It seemed it didn't have new FW until my wife took iota upon herself to set it up and it received the newest update (Wife is an IT person as well - but not interested in hacking devices...)
So I figured, no problem - I'll use the emmc method - I ordered my adapter, but while I waited I thought I would solder up my pins, which is no issue - Soldering is easy.
All points are good, so I figured I would check it out to make sure it still powered up and booted - and low and behold, I'm stuck at the Amazon FireTV logo screen . (and the white led pulsates a bit...). The point where the resister is, I did decoder the entire resistor, so I soldered a wire on the other side and connected it to the other side. Still no luck...
Is there anything I should look at? All solder points are good .... No shorts or anything like that.....
** Edit ** I knew I needed a new solder tip - so now I think I have no more pad on the Resistor point closest to the chip - Usually the Resistors have another connection,. Does anyone know where it connects to as an alternate solder point?
Thanks for any ideas...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if i got you right, you accedently removed the pad from the PCB?. In that case it is a very importent question which one. As long as you the the firetv booting there is still a clock and and you probably just need to remove the wires you connected as they work as antennas and will confuse the signals on the busses.
If you rely lost the pad (and the firetv isn't booting at all, no blinky led no amazon logo on tv) and it depends which pad is gone. The one where the wiki tells you to solder the clock wire to or the closer to the cpu. Its unlikly that there is another pad between this one and the cpu. You may need to scratch VERY CAREFULLY some of the PCB top away to connect to the wire that lead to the lost pad.
Can you add a picture?

Thanks for the reply....
I toyed around with it last night a bit, and the boot lock must have been caused by that pad and the little connection I had - It would boot to that point but not anywhere past that. Like you said, if its not connected at all the FTV just sits there with no power.
So I can make a connection and currently my FTV works but I have put solder between the two pads. My concern is when IO get my eMMC reader, I need to remove that solder and if this is the last time I can do it (In case I lose what connection I have there) - I was hoping for a backup plan.
I thought about the trace on the PCB, but I don't see one from that Resistor - its odd, not on either side of the PCB - I wasn't sure, but doubted, it may have more than two layers?

I think I have it --- So around the same area there are 4 resistors, and I can see the traces for 3 of them, they go to a capacitor near the CPU. So I logically figured the same for the resistor I no longer have a pad for - In a meter, they theory is correct - so the resistors go to the Capacitor. If I need to, I should be able to go furthest solder pad for the resistor to the capacitor side... With any luck, I can avoid it - but I like a plan B....

PensFan66 said:
I think I have it --- So around the same area there are 4 resistors, and I can see the traces for 3 of them, they go to a capacitor near the CPU. So I logically figured the same for the resistor I no longer have a pad for - In a meter, they theory is correct - so the resistors go to the Capacitor. If I need to, I should be able to go furthest solder pad for the resistor to the capacitor side... With any luck, I can avoid it - but I like a plan B....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very goodm, you go for it i am rooting for you

PensFan66 said:
... it may have more than two layers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guarantee that it does.
I used to do layout and library support for a living. Now it's just the other way around. Anything with fine pitch BGAs (Ball Grid Arrays) is going to be multi-layer.
This thing has four: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazon+Fire+TV+Teardown/23856

iff10 - . Thanks ... With any luck I can avoid it, but if that pad becomes useless, I can't lose anything trying it to the capacitor direct ...
Wellers - Yep, that makes sense - I assumed it had to ... Always a cool design, but makes finding certain paths a little difficult ....