Where'd the experts go? External Antenna; SMA; MMCX

I plan to mod a few of them in the coming month or two. @HugoER (& @MikeL), let’s coordinate on this so we can nail down the proper process that corresponds to the latest hardware rev!

I’ve had some detailed discussions with @gua742 on his experiences with the original MOAN, and I’d really like to attempt, verify, and formalize the process and options.

One recent thread I was following with some good photos was this one:

Here is a detail view from the above, and this is probably the first one I will try:


It makes sense to me that you would want to pretty much completely disconnect the onboard antenna to avoid issues, and this mod shows that completed. The coax sheath is connected to the pad with holes in it; the inner conductor is soldered to the chip-side pad of the C50 capacitor (red dot), and I believe the cap has been removed, disconnecting the rest of the onboard antenna.

I think this spot is actually a great candidate for an MMCX surface mount jack, but I’ll tackle that in a later attempt.

(off-topic here, but @MikeL, I’d also really value your input based on your experiences powering and monitoring the GTMs for extended times using solar and batteries, ie: panel and battery sizing, charge controllers, etc.)

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