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Fascinate Has A Hidden External Antenna Jack

T

thornbeck

Newbie
Since I have been having the commonly reported low/loss of signal and fast battery drain issues, I did some searches and came across this very interesting thread. It appears the Fascinate has a hidden external antenna jack behind the back plate and someone has successfully connected to this jack to increase their signal strength. The modification is not very practical when the phone is used as a true mobile device.

Sorry for the external forum link, but this could be pretty important for the Fascinate owners.

External antenna jack?

Shouldn't it be possible to tap into this external antenna jack with some type of mini internal antenna to increase the signal strength? Granted it may be minimal, but maybe it's just enough to increase the signal and improve battery life.

- Tim
 
thornbeck said:
Since I have been having the commonly reported low/loss of signal and fast battery drain issues, I did some searches and came across this very interesting thread. It appears the Fascinate has a hidden external antenna jack behind the back plate and someone has successfully connected to this jack to increase their signal strength. The modification is not very practical when the phone is used as a true mobile device.

Sorry for the external forum link, but this could be pretty important for the Fascinate owners.

External antenna jack?

Shouldn't it be possible to tap into this external antenna jack with some type of mini internal antenna to increase the signal strength? Granted it may be minimal, but maybe it's just enough to increase the signal and improve battery life.

- Tim
Click to expand...

I think it would be better to use it for a full-sized external antenna. I would require drilling out a hole somewhere in the back cover to route the antenna wires.

They look like Female NC's.
 
It's been reported that if you just stick a piece of copper wire into it, you can get a stronger signal.

May as well give it a try if you have a random piece of wire lying around.
 
I wonder what the R2 and G under those ports stand for. Maybe radio 2 and gps? If you look lower, theres a smaller black square which I'm assuming is tape that has a R1.
 
I've also seen the R1 lower and mine are paneled over with plastic. I'm assuming they may have been open at some point and samsung closed them up finally. I would guess Radio 1 Radio2 and Ground if I had to wager.
 
Nirvalica said:
I wonder what the R2 and G under those ports stand for. Maybe radio 2 and gps? If you look lower, theres a smaller black square which I'm assuming is tape that has a R1.
Click to expand...

The G usually designates ground. The port located closer to the camera seems to be for the cellular radio, as connecting an external GHz antenna gets me a better signal. The other port, I would surmise is the external GPS antenna, however, I don't seem to see more satellites when I connect a GPS antenna to it, nor do I get better sky-view.
 
Ok, so I started mucking around with the external antenna ports and wound up screwing up my reception. However now I have bare copper hanging out of the R1 port and taped inside my case and my reception has never been better. So be warned and play with these ports at your own risk.
 
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