USB internal 3G mod - need an internal aerial

I know there may have been a better way of doing this but...

I have modded my Acer One so that my O2 3G USB Dongle is now an internal component which works great (just a dead simple solder direct onto one of the spare USB ports) however, I would also like to improve the signal by adding an aerial.

I was thinking that the best way would be to add an internal aerial somewhere behind the LCD screen but I know nothing about aerials, lengths,sizes, where best to put them, which components not to put them near etc.

My dongle is a Huawai E1752Cu and it looks like it has a tiny socket on the board for an aerial.

The Acer One has WIFI, can the same aerial be used for 3G or will they interfere?
If I have another aerial near the WIFI one, again, will they interfere with each other?
There is a version of the Acer One that has 3G built in so presumably this will have an aerial somewhere inside it...

Incidentally, moving the USB dongle from an external component to being under one of the spare covers on the underside does not seem to have detrimentally affected the signal like I thought it would...but I still want an aerial to make it even better!

I think I just need nudging in the right direction please.

cheers

 

You need an antenna designed for the 3G frequencies, not the WiFi frequencies - WiFi uses 2.4 Ghz and 5.0 Ghz (802.11B/G and 802.11A, 802.11N can use both bands). 3G uses 800 and 1800 Mhz (0.8 Ghz and 1.8 Ghz) in the GSM using areas (850 and 1950 Mhz in the USA).

The AAO's with built in 3G has two GSM aerials as well as 2 WiFi aerials. Both sets of aerials run into the screen and are located in the bezel area on either side of the screen.

DutchDK

 

Ah ok, so if I can get hold of some kind of 3G suitable aerial and fit it inside the screen case, it should not interfere with the WiFi signal.

I guess the challenge now is to work out if I can get an Acer One aerial and connect it to my dongle (inevitably the connection won't be standard on the Acer aerial?) or to find an aerial that is suitable to connect to the dongle that will also fit inside the screen.

Any suggestions for either?

 

I have 2 WWAN antennas out of an AO531 (It comes with 2 for diversity reception on 3G with the included Gobi 1000 modem) but they only have about 8-10" of coax on them and no connectors on the ends. One of the antennas is also 'cut' for GPS reception. I brought out the WWAN and GPS antenna hookups on the Gobi 1000 to external SMA connectors for use with external high performance antennas on my boat. You would have to add the proper connectors on the coax and perhaps longer coax depending on where you mount the WWAN dongle

You can see what I did at http://netbook2chartplotter.blogspot.com/

If you are in the US I would let them go for 5 bucks shipping included. If you are interested contact me at russell_john AT hotmail.com

 

Here's a picture of the antennas mounted in the case before I removed them, they are the 2 antennas closest to the ends

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J2KfS6rf-2s/S4GdIWneJrI/AAAAAAAAAI8/2qCp7j4J8I8/s1600-h/100_0672.jpg

 

You know much more about aerials than I do! Unfortunately I am in the UK but it looks like you have the right type of thing for what I am after.
I don't know what the small aerial connectors are called but I have same on my Sony Ericsson and also on my 3G dongle and it seems to be the one in your photo.

Do you think my best bet would be to find an old laptop and rip the aerials out or have you ever heard of somewhere I can buy them?
Does the specification of them matter? Length, diameter, number of them, orientation etc?

thanks for your help