wifi mod a laptop/notbook from internal to external antenna?????

[KF4DCY]

how can i mod, to a Compaq cp61, a notebook to give it an external antenna capabilities, i know it can be done. and why notebooks and laptops don't already have them i don't know why. just hook up an antenna and put the signal out there. no need to buy any thing else, just an antenna and coax.

[W8JX]

I believe the reason that there is no external antenna jack (other than cost) is that most laptops have very sizable internal antennas built into display back panel. A external antenna (unless a very high gain array) could actually reduce performance. Plug in wireless adapters (USB or cardbus or PCI Express based)  lack antenna size and would benefit far more for a external antenna.

[KF4STX]

I have added a usb network adapter to my laptop with good success. Added a long usb cable to put the adapter at a different heght and my signal went from nill to excellent.  I use this setup at my QTH and several campgrounds i frequent. Have one setup now with my APRS computer at the back of my QTH. If you google "war driving" you can find out how to add a reflector for more gain. Just remember to disable the internal network adapter when using the usb adapter or you may have conficts.

[W8JX]

I have added a usb network adapter to my laptop with good success. Added a long usb cable to put the adapter at a different heght and my signal went from nill to excellent. 

Something else you should consider here is used a "Bridge". This is were you get a access point that supports bridging you use it to link to a remote WiFi node of choice. Your PC hooks to it via a Ethernet cable and when setup the bridge is "invisible" to PC and acts like it is hard wired to remote network.   

[KC5CQW]

Something else you should consider here is used a "Bridge".
[/quote]

I second this idea. I did this with my Linksys WRT54G router using 3rd party firmware.
The router already has reverse TNC or reverse SMA jacks on it.
Just add a corner beam or MFJ WiFi yagi and you can really do some war driving.

I did this to extend coverage from the house to the workshop and swimming pool areas with great success.

[KD6EVH]

If you open up your computer you will probably find that it uses one of a few standard wi-fi cards. They typically have a very small coax cable going them. the cables will be either black or white, some computes use both the back and the white cables (the wi-fi card is well marked to show which cable goes where). The ends of the cable are a press-on coax and are generally gold plated.

A quick search for "long wi-fi cable" on ebay got me this http://cgi.ebay.com/MINI-COAX-ANTENNA-U-FL-JUMPER-CABLE-MINI-PCI-WIFI-LONG-/350288304395?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item518ecf590b I know nothing of this vendor, it is just an example.

To get the cable outside of your laptop, you may need to drill a small hole. I am not saying any of this is a good idea; but, it is pretty easy.

You could go with something like this and then you will have an external connector permanently mounted on the side of your laptop. http://cgi.ebay.com/U-FL-RP-SMA-Female-10-Pigtail-Cable-Mini-PCI-UFL-RG178-/110538306742?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19bc98b4b6 Of course, you will still need to drill a hole to mount it.