# How to solder an external antenna?



## sugarcubecutiepie (Jul 10, 2015)

Hello everyone, I know this thing is really small but I want to try to solder coax cable here. Is that possible?









Please help me.


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## OneMoar (Jul 11, 2015)

you could center is signal and the outer rim is ground
make sure you work with as cold as iron as possible you need to use special wifi co-ax for it to work I recommend getting a RP-SMA pigtail from amazon 
its likely just going to be easier to simply replace the card tho


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## sugarcubecutiepie (Jul 11, 2015)

OneMoar said:


> you could center is signal and the outer rim is ground
> make sure you work with as cold as iron as possible you need to use special wifi co-ax for it to work I recommend getting a RP-SMA pigtail from amazon
> its likely just going to be easier to simply replace the card tho


still not sure, can you show me on the pic please?


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## sugarcubecutiepie (Jul 11, 2015)

Like that?


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## AsRock (Jul 11, 2015)

wouldn't it be safer doing it this kind of way, like if you soldered wires to the pcb and not coax due to the chance of ripping the trace from the board.


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## silentbogo (Jul 11, 2015)

That spot is most likely designed for an SMD IPX connector. Try to find a dead laptop WiFi card or just order one from Digikey or Newark.

The best way to solder it is by using solder paste and rework station, but if you don't have one, you can simply get an IPX-SMA pigtail,  cut one end and solder it directly to pads. 
I did this on my Cubietruck awhile ago, so I can tell you for sure that it works, but is dangerous. Wire has to be 100% stationary : may rip pads off the PCB easily, so at least put some thermal tape to hold it in place.

Here's a link to my instructable on the topic:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Cubietruck-external-WiFi-antenna/


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