yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S II General] khazmodan:
Ressurect Your GT-I9100 Signal

Good afternoon guys,

I bring a very good news to you all!

I just repaired my GT-I9100 [TIM Brasil]...

I went on the bad idea of sticking a wire in the external antenna to amplify my 3G signal [i did it with care though].

My antenna didn`t die but the signal was very poor, losing signal all times in some areas.

I went to a street-repair-shop here in Rio de Janeiro, a very nice fellow took the trouble of messing with the internal antennas to see if it solved [it didn`t], but i told him the whole story about the external improvised antenna and asked if he could replace the golden socket altogheter.

He took a SAMSUNG Flip-like phone, (Red and Grey phone, don`t know the model) - the golden-coulored socket was the same, he heated it out of the PCB and soldered on my GALAXY SII.

Voy la, when we turned it on again, the signal was at MAX!

So, don`t take the trouble of soldering a thin wire conecting the two pieces in the PCB like Dr. Hammer, just get a dead SAMSUNG phone, unsolder the golden socket and be happy. The tecnician told me this was a universal piece, might work with other brands if you don`t have a spare SAMSUNG phone to salvage.
[Galaxy S II General] damian123m:
Can you provide some pics of the socket after replacement? I'm still looking for good service which will be able to do the replacement for me in UK, Lancashire.
[Galaxy S II General] kingqueen:
Just to confirm that this cable available from an Australian website (they ship round the world)

http://telcoantennas.com.au/site/patch-lead-samsung-galaxy-s-ii

Works on the SGS2, without breaking the connection with the internal antenna.

It also works on the Galaxy Note II / Galaxy Note 2 which has exactly the same socket. As before, removing the cable reconnects the internal antenna with no problem.

I should imagine that other Samsung phones will also have the same antenna socket, therefore working with the same cable.

I don't have any relationship with the above seller other than as a happy customer - I can't find this specific cable available anywhere else.
[Galaxy S II General] My20:
If buy a 4G Antenna, and change modem for 4G

Work 4G in SII 3G ...

GT-I9100
[Galaxy S II General] draper7:
Sorry to bump this old thread but for those that had the bad antenna did you have a ( \ ) instead of bars? I'm trying to troubleshoot my SII and it does look like something was stuck in the external antenna port. See: http://xdaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1372

Thanks,

Dusty
[Galaxy S II General] lennart81:
Hey guys,

I have a problem with my signal strenght. have my gf's SII here which has way more signal then my galaxy i9100 has (same provider, same modem...). I bought the phone used and have no warranty. is there any way to check if my problem is caused by the external antenna fuse or something?

thanks alot
[Galaxy S II General] khazmodan:
Above the MiniSD slot there is a golden tiny antenna socket. See if it looks like it was damaged in any way.

An improper antenna might have damaged the internal connections of this piece making your phone switching off the internal antennas (quite a few around the phone) by "thinking" that there is a external antenna connected.

Your can strip a thin copper wire and carefully insert it in the antenna socket (don't force all the way, or it damages the piece).

If that was the case, you'll see immediately your signal boosting up. While you can't solder a new antenna socket you can keep the wire inside with the back cover and few tapes.

You can check on Settings > About Phone > Status and look up Signal Strength.

My case the signal was at -100 dBm and 2 to 4 asu when it got stuck in external antenna mode. With those figures there was no signal with my carrier at all.

Now that it is fixed, i get -89 dBm 12 asu and works beautifully.

---------- Post added at 01:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:25 AM ----------

See my posts.
[Galaxy S II General] draper7:
Confirmed, this gave me signal and let me know that my internal antenna was being bypassed.
[Galaxy S II General] hellcore:
Will it work?

Hi guys ! Don't ask why, and don't ask how, but i messed up Galaxy's S3 antenna.

Right now i'm getting signal through a square shaped wire and it's very cool (not as good as the original but it works good). My problem it's that if i decide to sell my phone no one will like it because the case doesn't close very good. AND IT HAS A WIRE AND TAPE UNDER THE CASE.

See pic:

(Yeah right know you're thinking, where is this guy from? I'm from Argentina, sorry for my English i do the best i can).

And i'm wondering if trying Dr.Hammer's solution will work fine for me as you can see in the next theorical pic:

(mspaint mode on)

It would be the same and reconnect the internal switch, right? I don't want to bring it to the warranty because i've to flash stock rom, and apply triangle away, and if i get some luck they won't notice that it was my fault. Not to mention that I'll be a few days without cellphone.

I always read you guys but right know i have to ask for your help.

Any comments are welcome !!

Thanks.
[Galaxy S II General] hellcore:
Dude, that seems to be a great solution !!

First of all, if you need to upload an image use ATTACH FILES here below while replying a post.

Sorry for my english too..

I've read about using a tiny wire to "close" the internal connector's switch, but in my case it didn't work. It only emulates an antenna as the beginning but with very low gain. The weird thing it's that it took me two or three times to destroy the connector xD.

And what about the "plastic" assuming that it's plastic part of the connector, melting tin inside that hole will not make a mess? Melting plastic and tin togheter this could make things worse. So I would like to see some pictures before risking.

To understand your procedure, you're telling me that you found small cold tin balls on the table? Then you heated the needle with the soldering iron, then applied tin on the needle, then you put the needle inside the hole and heated the needle again to let tin flow inside the connector?

Your repply is very useful. ¡¡ Obrigado !!
[Galaxy S II General] vultus:
Hi man, I'm glad that help you !!

So, I really don't tryed to remove my i9100 RF connector...because the procedure go wrong in the old LG HP130...but I think the connector in LG's Phone is a little different from i9100 .... the concept and use is equal, maybe the construct of Samsung's Connector are more strong.

I don't use soldering iron in my i9100, I only user a little solder melted that stay over the table after HP130 test, to ilustrate is this material I use to put inside the connector with a help of a needle:

The format I chose to put inside are little tiny fillets, that could fit in the connector hole, so I get the needle and push the melted solder into the connector until was no possible to put more....needle and solder melted in normal temperature....because, as you mentioned, will be possible (with a mistake) to melt the plastic inside the connector if I try to use the soldering iron for that......but the solder is very malleable, and the couple: needle + push force, was enough to force the melted solted to get in in the connector's hole.

In fact I used a little "pin", not a needle, to do the job..... when I write the message before, I don't know how to called that....so I call "needle"....but I think the 'pin' is not sharp as a needle, and it is good to the job, we don't want that solder melted stuck in a needle....we want it stay inside connector. This is the "pin" I actually used:

In your case, I understand you succeeded to take out the connector, right ? maybe was more easily to do it on Samsungs's Phone... so I don't know if is possible to soldering again and use the procedure I wrote. But, good lucky on that http://xdaforums.com/images/smilies/good.gif.
[Galaxy S II General] vultus:
Folks,

I find the schematic of that connector, helps me to resolve my problem, I'm a junior here in XDA Forum, so I only can atthach files.. here is.

I made a simple little schematics to show how I understand the problem and how I solved (for me work).... sorry for poor quality of art, I'm a noob in photoshop.

I hope that elucidade more, afterall :"A picture speaks a thousand words"..

Regards,
[Galaxy S II General] hellcore:
Your images are very useful, now i know how is this connector inside.

Where did you get that information? I want to know the model of my samsung's connector (GT-I9300), with the datasheet i'll be sure that your method will work for me.

I'll investigate about some conductive liquid to fill the hole and when is dry leaves a solid form of conductor, it should be better than tiny pieces of tin. Best conductiviy, better signal. There must be something, by the way, there is a pencil to draw broken tracks of a circuit board, maybe injecting that works. And clears the mess...

If you could tell me where i can find my connectors model.

Thanks man !

*** EDIT ***

I found this:

Maybe injecting the ink with a syringe solves the problem.
[Galaxy S II General] hellcore:
SOLVED

I put an end to this suffering ... vultus use the method and it worked perfectly.

Also use the tin waste and introduced into the hole of the connector.

Taking the cell in the same position.

Homemade Antenna: HSDPA max = 11 asu.

Internal antenna reconnected: HSDPA max = 14 asu.

End of story, I hope this helps many who made ​​the same mistake and thank you all for the cooperation, assistance and information. Especially vultus.
[Galaxy S II General] vultus:
I'm glad that this helpful to you .... so, I found the information about connector here: antenna911.com

Until now, I unknow that site, but apparently this is an Korean based RF product manufacturing company... is the only place I reach some helpful information.

Looking for MHC-705 in that site ... I guess that is the connecto for all Galaxy line... I think is a good idea to fill with some conductive liquid, but the hole in the connector is very tiny, maybe is almost impossible to force liquid to enter there, because the fluid dynamics is very different from solid materials...

For me was very easy to put some melt solder and until now (after almost 5 weeks) the signal was, almost the time, in 100%...without variation... if I don't know trought all this, I say my i9100 is in original state....
[Galaxy S II General] senn1980:
Hi! So is it still work your phone!? I think I should do the same, with mine! :(
[Galaxy S II General] vultus:
yes !! like a clock ... I never had more reception problems !! :cool:
[Galaxy S II General] Klas-Kenny:
Fixed my i9250!

Hey guys,

Today I too wanted to experiment a little with that antenna-connector on my Galaxy Nexus i9250, by plugging in a small wire.

And yes, you all know what happened next.

But, I managed to fix it!

What I did was that I scraped off some plastic so that the hole in the middle of the connector became much larger, making the pins inside the connector accessible. One little pin in there could be bent, so i made a guess that it was the one making the connection we're interested in. So I bent it over to the over side-pin (there was one not moveable pin on each side) on the over side, and voilá, i had reception again. Ofcourse I bent it with a plastic tool, so that I didn't fool myself by making an antenna that way.

But, ofcourse, as soon as I let go of the pin it bent back and I lost my reception. So I bent it as good as I could, so it stuck as close to the other pin as possible, and then I soldered them together. After that, the phone is as good as new!

Note: I wouldn't recommend doing so if you aren't good at soldering, and have access to a good temp-controlled soldering-iron with a small tip.

I also used thin 0.6mm solder and ofcourse, solder-flux.

By the way, I've now found out that the connector is for calibrating the internal antenna and/or transciever.

So yeah, good luck calibrating it now. :p But I hope/guess that it wont be necessary.

I don't have a camera right now, so I can't show any pictures. But it really isn't much to see, it's just a hole with a little solder.
[Galaxy S II General] Jonasolof:
Having seen this thread, I had the opportunity to discuss the Galaxy S4 (and other models) antenna connector switch with technicians from Rhode & Schartz subsidiary Swiss Qual at a LTE conferencen in Amsterdam a couple of days ago. They often use the S3 and S4 in test equipment and then remove the connector and solder in a permanent external antenna connectíon (they would charge a couple of hundred dollars to do it for me). Please note that this connector is actually switching between the internal antenna and the external connection that is plugged in, Vultus image needs to be corrected.When a correct plug is inserted, its pin causes the internal antenna to be disconnected. The problem that arises is that already after inserting a correct plug three times, the spring effect sometimes does not work anymore and the internal antenna remains disconnected. This was the experience of the technicians who remodel a lot of galaxy phones. (In one test equipment, they had about ten S4 built in).

If the internal antenna was not disconnected there would be a serious impedance mismatch that would affect the testing of the device. Tests are done for sensitivity at the antenna port which implies that the antennas themselves are not measured. The technicians agreed that the Galaxy LTE phones are not among the most sensitive LTE phones. I find the Nokia Lumia 920 to be more sensitive and Australian Telstra has only given the Sony Xperia Z a "Blue tick" for good connectivity under rural conditions but not the iPhone 5 or any Galaxy, no HTC either.

Actually, 3GPP specifications demand that phones lie within 3 dB in sensitivity so I believe that the difference is in the antennas and how they are placed in the smart phone body. Since I use a galaxy S4 only for fíeld tests I'll arrange permanent antenna connections, hopefully with Telcoantennas or Antenna911 patches if I can buy them,
[Galaxy S II General] alftanner:
Great tutorial. Is it really to bridge another point to the antenna? Unfortunately I have destroyed the marked.

Tolle Anleitung. Gibt es eigentlich einen anderen Punkt um die Antenne zu überbrücken? Ich habe leider den markierten zerstört.
[Galaxy S II General] alftanner:
I have found it. if interest, it is the other side of the board to c107
[Galaxy S II General] daveyian:
What a useful first post, awesome!

I damaged my S3 by using a loose fitting adapter cable on the antenna connection and was able to get a signal by putting a small piece of wire in there. It's a solution I don't trust too much.
[Galaxy S II General] occvult:
Hello!

Well i did the same mistake everyone did here! I`ll try to fix my mistake whith a soldering unit but i have a quetion:

if i make the bridge between those two contacts and solder to the bridge an external antenna made by me will i get better reception with 2 antennas (internal and external) ???
[Galaxy S II General] hellcore:
Yes, i think you will receive from both antennas, but i don't think two is better than one. Some ing could tell us, but i think it would be problems with interferences, impendances and all that stuff.

You could try, with two and one antennas.
[Galaxy S II General] cloneme:
Well you should try the link posted on page2 here http://www.telcoantennas.com.au/site...ng-galaxy-s-ii and get the right patch lead.:good:
[Galaxy S II General] fsuinnc:
Sorry if this if off the mark or my searching didn't find the relevant info but if I insert a thin, short piece of wire into this socket and leave it there under the case back and it improves my signal (as I have seen reported in a few places). Why do I care that the internal antenna may no longer work? Won't I just be using the piece of wire as a permanent external antenna?
[Galaxy S II General] hellcore:
It seems that my wire wasn't very tiny and expanded the hole... and i didn't get better signal after all, Don't know if it is because i screwed up but I had to fill the hole with tin (estaño in spanish).

And... when you want to sell your phone, who would believe that "this wire is for better siganl". I won't buy a phone with a wire under the cover :silly:
[Galaxy S II General] ilmacchio:
Thanks!!

Thanks man!! i can fix my cell!!
[Galaxy S II General] mykail:
I'm another victim of own curiosity :'(

My internal antenna is broken after playing with external connector. It worked though for couple of plug ins and outs. Now it's dead, what a shame.

I'm forced to use a tiny cable in external antenna connector. To be honest the phone now behaves very strangely.

Since I live in poor reception area I have exactly one spot on my table where I get full bars (using loudspeaker to make phone calls); other places give me minimum reception and cuts during a call.

And now the fun part. The cable I use is 6cm long, aluminum made, 0,5mm thick or less. Since my provider allows roaming (some sort of agreement between cell networks in my country) and I have automatic network set, even though my home network should have priority, in the very same spot I had full reception before (on internal antenna) of my home carrier, right now I have none but other roaming carrier has full bars.

I know that external cable length corresponds to MHz, i.e. 1800MHz needs 16cm long cable (at least that's what I have found).

How many MHz is 6cm antenna then? This way I can figure out on which freq my phone operates.

Thanks.
[Galaxy S II General] mykail:
What can I say....If only I have seen this thread sooner.

Thanks for the input.
[Galaxy S II General] maxflay:
thx dude !

Wow thanks for the advise....

I saw the antena connector couple of weeks ago and wanted to try it next time I'll go in the north, where I have some signal problem. I think that I will not use it now !
[Galaxy S II General] mykail:
Anyways. If we are not to use this connector this information should be clearly stated in the warranty info.

They put all the info about battery and fire, heart pacers etc. but not about the ext. antenna which is clearly not to be used.

No information means no legal grounds to revoke warranty.
[Galaxy S II General] mbbauk:
Thanks guys before i stubled on this subject was very close to sticking a wire on my sg2 coz my network provider decided to maintain the nearest tower to me for 2 days i get a max of 5asu or 115db crawling data, i started looking for info on how to connect an ext antenna same time searching on google and a box full of cables searcing fit a tiny cablr luckely dint find a tiny cable i found you guys. sorry for the long story just wanted to say thanks great work.
[Galaxy S II General] goodoldgrandad:
Component identification

Experienced this external aerial connection problem on my phone after being told to connect an external connector to line-up a signal mast receiver - my big mistake as clearly it very easily damages this connector even with a "recommended" connector !! Anyway I found this great information and photo - thanks.

The old connector was unsoldered and a wire link put in. However, I only get an intermittent signal (on the signal strength icon). When I inspect the circuit area I notice that there is a component missing from that shown in the Doc's pictures. Not sure if it was missing before I did the work or if the heat of my micro soldering iron dislodged it. Anyway - does anyone know what it is? I'm guessing it looks like a capacitor or resistor, and if so what value so I can look to solder one in if my hand is steady enough. I've circled it in red, and arrow pointing to it where it should be. Cheers.
[Galaxy S II General] calutzu:
External antenna socket broken and fixed

Hello guys :)

In the last three days, I played with an external antenna made be me, and finally i think i broke the internal connection from the socket. BUT, thanks to >> vultus << and his ideea (melted solder) i tray with a little pieces from the wire was i used it to try external antenna for a better reception. So, i put this little wire in socket, and now I have a better signal reception than the beginning!!

At the beginning i have -99dBm with 7ASU, and now i have -91dBm with 11ASU in GSM only, and -83 dBm with 15ASU in HSDPA. and not fluctuate, it continuous. Nice :)

Tomorrow I will test the signal in an area where I had no signal (from there i began my search for a better signal reception). The wire is made from 3 little wire twisted together, and the diameter of this 3 wire is somewhere around 0.5 / 0.6 mm

I think (!), i'm not sure, i think, even a battery life is better.

Cheers! ;)

Edit:

What i say, i have a better signal on my work. I work in a area with not so good signal, and now, in an area that had no signal at all, now I have 2 lines and not fluctuate. Maybe it's just only to my phone.

Edit 2:

some links for techical description, thanks to " unsquashable" for connector type:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3cUKvDgHdIUSVBVQnViRXU4Q2M/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3cUKvDgHdIUVVprbjNSRml1MlU/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3cUKvDgHdIURG1uNnRHT1RJbFk/edit?usp=sharing
[Galaxy S II General] TheCrazyDirectioner:
I have the Canadian S2 I757 and I tried using those sockets (on mine labeled R1 and R2) with two antennas taken out of the inside of a broken WiFi router. Plugs fit but didn't seem to provide any gain in signal. Just took them off and nothing went wrong. Internal antennas still work. Nice to have a heads up though. Thanks
[Galaxy S II General] calutzu:
Look at my picture, from page 9. Is possibile that little wire not make perfect contact betwen the internal contacts from connector, if your wire is from 1 piece and is harder, not so maleable. Try with 2 or 3 little wire made from cooper, twisted together, and stick in central point of connector. If nothing happend, twist this new wire gently in this little hole, and try to make contact between this hole and exterior of connector, because this connector is made from 2 parts, one internal and one external. When is plugged an external antenna, this antenna connect togheder this 2 parts. Hope to understand what i say, and i hope to help :)
[Galaxy S II General] turbodaani:
other solution

By reading a lot in this forum I've come to the decission of not risking to use that connector (whatever it's name is), but i still want to improove my signal with an external antenna.

The internal one is connected to the motherboard trough a coaxial wire, would it be possible to use a T splitter to have at the same time the internal and the external one connected?

I hope i explained myself enough, my English is not all good it should be
[Galaxy S II General] phoenX80:
Cellink CAL6298A

The product that is sold from Australia, i got it from eBay, is the

Cellink CAL6298A

http://www.cellink.com.au/cal6298a/external-antenna-adaptor-patch-cables/galaxy-s-i9000-/samsung/9-9090a49a5-909090909-9xx0-brand/1-model/2-959873/3-27676/pd/

It fits perfectly and works. Could remove it couple of times without having issues with the internal antenna.
[Galaxy S II General] phoenX80:
Btw, I own a GTN7000 - its the same connector though.
[Galaxy S II General] snorky29:
internal antenna

Hi All, please be gentle I’m new here ……I have been a plonka and put a wire in L1 & R1 on the supposed “ external antenna sockets” in the back of my S4 hoping to better my signal …it now looks as I I have altered something on my phone hardware / software ……I fully understand that the answers lie somewhere in the 10 pages of this thread…but can I ask can someone answer some points for me in a format I will understand

1: have I turned off the internal antenna by inserting the wire in to these connectors?

2: can I reverse this, as now when I remove the wire I get the “no service icon” in the upper window

Neil
[Galaxy S II General] Cluey:
Well I wish I'd found this thread before I decided to try that plug!

It's so frustrating that what I thought was an industry standard external antenna plug isn't actually a standard. It would also be good if they'd mention not to use that plug too, if it's just for calibration put something over it so we can't see it and get mislead. :(