Adding an Antenna to a underpowered Router

I have a D-Link router of the 2.4 gHz type. It supports 802.11b and I use it for all of the laptops I repair and test. I occasionally want to push the signal to the other end of the house, and I chose to do this, rather than buy a new add-on antenna.
Recycle, man...Recycle.

Step 1: Getting Started...

I chose to keep the D-Link and cannibalize the Linksys for two reason, the first being that the Linksys uses a weird propietary 50-pin header to connect the card to the motherboard of the router. The second is that the D-Link uses a mini-PCI card as the receiver. I have a future use also, and this will make an upgrade easier, by far.
I also note the mini-PCI actually HAS two antenna inputs soldered on the card. The second one terminates in a little strip of metal that is stuck to the inner side of the case with double-back tape.

Comments

[Arbitror]

I have that exact same router!
_{^{I gotta try this...}}

[Yerboogieman]

my old D-Link router like that, not a wireless though, would be the only one that would work my linksys one wouldnt work, so i bought a $80 netgear did the $600 mod on it just to check it out, works perfect

[venomireland]

_Ko0LaiD_ what happened between you and grammar and his good old friend spellcheck? You all used to be great friends. Is the $600 mod by any chance DD-WRT?

[Yerboogieman]

Yep.

[Estwald]

That "little strip of metal" on the second cable appears to be an antenna of the design known as a "J-Pole".

[ironsmiter]

Nice recycling project! how much distance does that 7dB get you? and if anyone has the "stock dual antenna model", how does this compare? don't try this on an elcheapo "la Fonera" router.... at least not without a software upgrade. With stock hard/software it only confuses the poor little beaste. Sounds like it was already running in dual antenna mode, just using the shielding as a "reference antenna" "I also note the mini-PCI actually HAS two antenna inputs soldered on the card. The second one terminates in a little strip of metal that is stuck to the inner side of the case with double-back tape." What signal strength does it test out to with only one antenna, and NOT being connected to the shielding?

[Rick Camper]

Yeah, it was the 3 dB that started me wondering about "what can I do" (pun intended) without resorting to a cantenna on the receiver. As for the "one antenna question", after I severed the lead, I wired it to use the donor parts and just never took a sample (waa...waa....waaaaaa) My bad. Oh, BTW 7 dB here around these parts is, like, 35 to 38 ft. radius. I also know that would attenuate VERY quickly and fall below usable levels, say, 20 ft. out. I would reason because of the use of brick and balloon framing and not the newer steel, which would be a bigger attenuation.

[beavis2k]

the new fonera routers have the capacity for two antennas but only one is used, hack a day has the steps to connect two. cant do this with my dlink router, it is the old version without the mini-pci, so i removed the stock antenna and installed a larger one.