Droid X Disassembled & Reassembled - PART LEFT OVER

[jackmccarron]

I disassembled my Droid X this morning to get at the "external antenna port" on the L shaped motherboard. While I was taking the back off, a little rubber thing fell out of the phone, and I don't know where to put it back during reassembly. It's about 1/2 inch long, 1/8 inch wide and perhaps 3/32 inch tall. It has a hole in the middle and some tab shaped ends. It looks like it might go over a push button as a cushion or something. It's a rather intricate molded rubber piece and probably is important.


Does anyone know what it is and where it goes???

Meanwhile, I reassembled the phone and it works normally. Can't tell anything's missing.

For disassembly instructions see Droid X Dissected! | Droid X – Blog dedicated to Droid X News and Accessories!

[heycow]

I'm curious...why did you disassemble your X?

Also...

[jackmccarron]

Because I'm very interested in connecting my external amplifier/antenna to my new Droid X. The reason for that is I'm a full-time RVer, and I travel often to remote areas of the US where reception is poor. For years I've used a direct connect external amplifier (JDTeck.com) and external antenna to boost my signal (often from 1-2 bars to a solid 5 bars).

As you probably know, newer phones no longer provide "public" antenna ports, but most have hidden under the battery cover one (or more) tiny connectors for "test purposes". With caution and due respect for the fragility of these very small connectors they can be used for direct connection to an external booster.

Now that I've disassembled the guts of the DX (with the help of the link in the first post), I can see the connector(s) I want to mate to.

There are three such rf connectors on the motherboard. One would likely be the "external test antenna" port I'm looking for. Another the wifi test connector and the last would likely be the bluetooth connector - All I need to do now if figure out which is which. In the next few days I plan to couple my amplified signal into each of the connectors to see which one boosts my reception bars.




Then a small hole drilled in the back of the case above the correct connector should allow me to plug into that unused port with a small rf cable to my antenna amplifier. Strong signals here I come!

Next to find the antenna adapter cable that plugs into the phone port. I think I know where to get that.



PS - I know there are "newer" velcro patch antennas for phones without "public" antenna ports. However, any antenna that couples "inductively" or electromagnetically from outside the phone case will lose about 10db of signal strength versus a direct connection. For this reason a new breed of antenna amplifiers has cropped up that have about 10db more gain than the older types. I now use two of the older ones (in different locations) that are perfectly functional. Since I paid about $250 EACH for these things, I'm not in the mood to junk them to buy two of the newer type with the velcro antennas.

[heycow]

Wow, thanks for the info! Unfortunately I can't help you about the extra part. Maybe if you post a photo of it it would help.

When you're done please post some pictures and test results to show the signal gain.

[pwrdbykyank]

probably the camera mic cover, if its like white or red or pinkish i dont remember correctly, look at my droid x disassmebly photos somewhere on the site, see if you see the missing part

[richjacksonkc]

Because I'm very interested in connecting my external amplifier/antenna to my new Droid X. The reason for that is I'm a full-time RVer, and I travel often to remote areas of the US where reception is poor. For years I've used a direct connect external amplifier (JDTeck.com) and external antenna to boost my signal (often from 1-2 bars to a solid 5 bars).

As you probably know, newer phones no longer provide "public" antenna ports, but most have hidden under the battery cover one (or more) tiny connectors for "test purposes". With caution and due respect for the fragility of these very small connectors they can be used for direct connection to an external booster.

Now that I've disassembled the guts of the DX (with the help of the link in the first post), I can see the connector(s) I want to mate to.

There are three such rf connectors on the motherboard. One would likely be the "external test antenna" port I'm looking for. Another the wifi test connector and the last would likely be the bluetooth connector - All I need to do now if figure out which is which. In the next few days I plan to couple my amplified signal into each of the connectors to see which one boosts my reception bars.




Then a small hole drilled in the back of the case above the correct connector should allow me to plug into that unused port with a small rf cable to my antenna amplifier. Strong signals here I come!

Next to find the antenna adapter cable that plugs into the phone port. I think I know where to get that.



PS - I know there are "newer" velcro patch antennas for phones without "public" antenna ports. However, any antenna that couples "inductively" or electromagnetically from outside the phone case will lose about 10db of signal strength versus a direct connection. For this reason a new breed of antenna amplifiers has cropped up that have about 10db more gain than the older types. I now use two of the older ones (in different locations) that are perfectly functional. Since I paid about $250 EACH for these things, I'm not in the mood to junk them to buy two of the newer type with the velcro antennas.

Wow.. that's interesting... learned something today..

[Backnblack]

You do know they have theses things called satellite phones....

[armedmonkey]

But he wants a DX...

[jrod1990]

Will the Driod Pro have satellite mode???

J/K didn't mean to thread jack, I know what you mean with reception, some of the places I work I would have no signal if it wasn't for my booster. Very crafty of you jackmccarron.

[armedmonkey]

How much are external ones? I'm too scared to put holes in my new toy