Antenna Configuration for 3x3 MIMO MiniPCIe Dual-Band NIC

[ODINITE]

Hello everyone,

What is the ideal antenna set up for a 3x3 MIMO NIC?

Background:
I am thinking of purchasing a SparkLAN WPEA-128N (Atheros AR9380) to replace my dying Intel Centrino Wireless-N 130 card. I know I need to add another antenna to my laptop (MSI GT683R: I have been servicing laptops for the past three years and am VERY comfortable disassembling and changing laptop components) to get the full potential out of this card and the appropriate router / modem / ISP, but that is neither here nor there for this topic...).

I was considering replacing the current antennae as well, but have no idea what combination of antennae to purchase and connect. 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or dual-band.

Worst case scenario, I may end up purchasing 3 of each and try all 27 combinations! This would be very time consuming and costly and I am hoping to avoid it.

I've been searching through numerous webpages and have been unable to find appropriate information regarding this. I have emailed SparkLAN in hopes that they know the ideal antenna configuration as well.


If you have more questions, please just ask!


Thank you for your help,

ODINITE

 

[ODINITE]

Not sure if this is applicable:

http://en.community.dell.com/suppor...rnet-wireless/f/3324/p/18750714/18873700.aspx

From what I gather, maybe the outer two antenna (typically black and white) are for 2.4 GHz and the middle (grey) is for either a sole 5 GHz or dual band antenna.


Any thoughts?

ODINITE

 

[Mark Uhde]

It's 3x3:3 on both bands, so ideally all three are dual-band antennas. I'd just add a third antenna and call it a day tho, unless the best reception is critical to you

 

[StratmanX]

I have a Dell Vostro 1400 that I installed an Intel 5300 in. There already were three antenna in the notebook, although only two were in use with the NIC adapter card that came with the notebook. I believe all three antenna terminated along the sides of the LED screen, though it was a while ago that I did the upgrade and I did not follow all three antenna to see where they terminated exactly. The three antenna all had unique stripe or color coding and I found out where each one was to be by Googling. I think I found the info at Notebook Review. You might peruse the section dealing with your notebook for answers to your questions there as someone probably has done the mod you want to do.

I came across one thread on TomsHardware that discussed antenna questions that sort of touches on your questions. Take a look at the two links in the article, especially the first one that lists 4 different notebook antenna for sale, including one designed particularly for 5 GHz. It would seem there are different types of antenna for internal notebook placement, although I'm still not sure what specifically all the differences are besides gain, length, and terminal portions.

It may be that you'll need to experiment with antenna placement to see what gives the best signal reception/transmission. Using something like inSSIDer can help quantitatively standardize your findings. One other thing to keep in mind is where the antenna snake around different components inside the notebook can negatively affected by noise from the components as discussed in this SmallNetBuilder article.