Fascinate Hidden Antenna Ports

[MrSmith317]

WARNING
Playing with these ports can be hazardous to your phone.


Ok, so I posted this on another forum as well but if you happen upon these play with at your own risk.

Under the back cover there are ports labeled R1 R2 and G. I'm not 100% sure what these ports are but playing with them has garnered me much better reception. Initially I shorted out my internal antenna by screwing with the R1 port and after that I had 0% reception. So what I did was take bare copper wire(probably 22 gauge) pushed it into the port added some hot glue and taped the rest down (about 6 inches of wire) around the inside edge of the phone. Now where I had 2 bars, I have 4. I'm actually happier with this mod than I was without it.

That said, again this is not for someone that doesn't want to potentially screw up their phone.

Check the attachment for a rough pic

 

[Chris3D]

A while back, I had eyed these ports for the very same reason - to see if they could be used for an external antennae.

Can you provide some more details - you say you lost all reception after shorting out R1. Did it ever come back, or is your internal antennae shot and you now have to rely on your new "external" one?

Also, you said you shorted out R1, but didn't specifically say which you used with your wire. Just wondering if you used R2 and maybe it's an indication we should avoid R1 all together.

Thanks for being a guinea pig on this. I'd love to boost my signal a bit, it's really pretty low in my house.

 

[davey11]

How do you remove the cover over the ports. I tried with my fingernail..no come off.

 

[MolecularGraph]

This is an interesting little find, video or pictures on this would be awesome. I love tinkering, even at the risk of my 500 dollar phone haha.

 

[gunnermike53]

How do you remove the cover over the ports. I tried with my fingernail..no come off.

Use a lighter to melt them off or a hammer to bang them off.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[DroidXcon]

Use a lighter to melt them off or a hammer to bang them off.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

I tried my machete and my power drill, no results
OH I KNOW!! i'll use my shot gun

 

[MolecularGraph]

Military Grade lasers don't work. We can take that one off the list.

 

[Heath276]

i just ran over mine with a train and it opened up nicely only problem is i dont know what part is what now but i do have a 10inch screan.

 

[geocomp]

Very interesting. Mine peeled right off with a very small flat blade screw driver. No lasers or flames needed....

The port looks just like the antenna ports on a wireless modem from a laptop.

 

[MrSmith317]

So currently I'm using the R1 with a bare 22 gauge copper wire taped to the housing of my phone. Without it I get no signal at all. I did a little more research and it seems that I didn't short out the internal antenna but told the phone to ONLY use the external antenna and there doesn't seem to be a way to switch it back.

I've gone on and played with different lengths of wire to see what the optimal conditions are and I'm currently using 5" of copper from the R1 port up and in an "L" shape pointing to the top of the phone. I'll add pictures later when I have my camera. It's very simple and very ad-hoc but it works.

 

[Chris3D]

I did a little more research and it seems that I didn't short out the internal antenna but told the phone to ONLY use the external antenna and there doesn't seem to be a way to switch it back.

Have you, or would you be willing to, reflash the modem using Odin to see if it'd reset the phone to use the internal modem? If we could confirm that it's possible to reset it to use the internal modem, it would make people's decision to tinker a little easier.

 

[MrSmith317]

I tried reflashing the modem last night using the same EB01 modem. I'm using EB01 stock debloated. I'll try using another modem tonight and see if that makes a difference. Does superclean use the EB01 modem?

 

[ITF36059]

I tried my machete and my power drill, no results
OH I KNOW!! i'll use my shot gun

I was thinking phasers set on "stun "

MAKE IT SO, NUMBER ONE...

Sent from my SC2.9.1 via Tapatalk

 

[gunnermike53]

lol. i love how everyone here is SO VERY willing to hop on the sarcasm wagon. it makes me happy.

 

[Landshark]

I tried opening mine with my nail clippers which are all crusted with toe jam. Now when I talk on my phone all I can smell is foot fungus.

 

[ITF36059]

lol. i love how everyone here is SO VERY willing to hop on the sarcasm wagon. it makes me happy.

I am the Kyosa Nim of sarcasm ...

Sent from my SC2.9.1 via Tapatalk

 

[ITF36059]

I tried opening mine with my nail clippers which are all crusted with toe jam. Now when I talk on my phone all I can smell is foot fungus.

Tastes like candy, but it's snot .

Sent from my SC2.9.1 via Tapatalk

 

[Kevin Gossett]

Just a friendly reminder everyone, there is always a place for humor in this forum, but try to stay on topic as well. If you don't have anything constructive to add to the thread, refrain from posting so others don't have to sift through several posts to find pertinent information

 

[ITF36059]

Just a friendly reminder everyone, there is always a place for humor in this forum, but try to stay on topic as well. If you don't have anything constructive to add to the thread, refrain from posting so others don't have to sift through several posts to find pertinent information

Kevin,

These guys (including me) are probably doing you a favor by taking this thread to Ludicrous speed. Now we have someone modding hardware on a 500 dollar phone with no clue of impacts to the hardware of the legal ramifications. Not only is the antenna mod changing the characteristics of the receiver, but also the transmitter. I'm sure this is a voilation of 10CFR47. And here is the thread how to do it on AC. If I started talking about good Android warez sites, I'll bet my thread would be closed.

Hey let the guys have a little fun, it brings us all closer together as a group. Nobody has ever been rude to any here. As a matter of fact, the major players here have exemplary in their conduct. Trust me, I've been around forums since thet were invented...If you lay down a heavy hand and take all the fun out of it, people will move on.

You might want to close this thread. Just some friendly advice. It's your forum.

Now I'll climb down off my soapbox. Did anybody see my cane???

 

[MrSmith317]

ITF, thanks for again stressing my warning. As I stated in my initial post I screwed up and am simply working around my mess up. I didn't intend this to be a hardware mod thread and I do understand the implications. As I stated before I screwed up by messing around with my phone and saw a noticeable improvement in signal strength. I posted it as a good samaritan an would hope that if someone else had the same blunder that this would help them out.