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Ublox antenna re-attachment

Posted by Greg Fletcher on April 4, 2010 at 2:05pm
Oh the horror ! I dropped my Ublox onto a hardwood floor and snapped the antenna right off.
After 45 minuits of carefuly picking at the epoxy potted base I have expossed a central pin in the middle and one on either side if it. Ohm meter says the two sides wires are both grounded to the copper base.
I can glue the broken white plastic holder. Has any one done a sucessfull re-attachment? Am I correct
on the two outer terminals being the same? Any advice is greatly appreciated
Thanks, Greg

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Replies

  • Greg Fletcher April 7, 2010 at 8:54pm
    Re-attachment was successful. And it works too. The most tiny, fiddly thing I ever soldered. First I repaired the plastic holder with JB weld which is a very strong epoxy. I used silicon adhesive to attach the holder to the board. This is an important step as it ensures it is properly placed and can't move during soldering. I replaced a snapped of ground pin by twisting a single strand of very thin wire around the stub, which was maybe half a mm, soldered it on. Then I inserted the antenna core into the holder and soldered. It is firmly attached and not wobbly any more. It's better than it was, but I wouldn't mess with it unless it breaks off. If it does you can fix it with a lot of patients and a good magnifier. No pictures because my camera doesn't have a macro lens.
  • Greg Fletcher April 4, 2010 at 5:09pm
    I'm pretty sure I can save it. After I calmed down, I examined every thing under a lighted magnifier and saw in detail which was it was. I also found that the holder that sides over the pcb was only 1/2 way on,because there was a solder blob in the way. I always thought it was kind of wobbly. The center pin is a solid pin and it pulled right off the solder blob as did one of the side ground pins. The other ground pin snapped in two where the epoxy ends. I couldn't see it at first because after they soldered it they injected epoxy into the base in a blatant attempt to prevent me from repair, or at least make it as difficult as possible ;) Might have broken anyway, but it was a sloppy installation. Vibration over time might could have broke of the center pin. Maybe was lucky to drop it ? Epoxied the holder back together, cleaned of the pads and will re-solder tomorrow with a smaller iron I have at work.
  • Admin
    Morli April 4, 2010 at 3:22pm
    Greg,
    Hmmm, not sure but quadrifilar antennas are usually two end fed dipoles with quarter(i think, forgot sorry) wave harness to second dipole in either right or left tuns. these are same as WX sat turnstile antennas if i am not mistaken.Pls Wait till some one seconds it.
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