Installing WiFi antenna with LS1028 CPU

[Equill]

There’s a teeny problem with installing the WiFi antenna holder, with the LS1028 CPU: the eDP mount doesn’t leave enough room for it. More importantly, there isn’t room for the Molex WiFi antenna in that space.

Just how crucial is that holder? Is it safe to just leave the antenna floating free in there?

[humberto]

Is it safe to just leave the antenna floating free in there?

That’s what @vkoskiv did with his A311D:

My A311D installation, with pictures

It’s been almost two weeks, so it’s about time I post these before I forget all the details. This installation happened on October 3rd, I’ll intersperse images and commentary here. Enjoy! [IMG_2627] The SoM itself. I kind of forgot just how cool the BPi is in the time since I ordered it. It adds Bluetooth 5.0 to the Reform, so I can now connect bluetooth headphones too, cool! More on the CPU performance at the end. [IMG_2629] Here’s my Reform config before the upgrade. Pretty stock, still…

[Equill]

That’s pretty encouraging; I’ll see how far I can get along those lines.
Thanks!

[Equill]

Works OK so far.

I’m sure its life expectancy would be better if I glued it to something rigid, but at this point working is good enough for me.

[duck]

I assembled my LS1028A equipped reform last monday, and while it was a squeeze, the acrylic antenna mount did fit under the display connector.

I worry about signal interference with the antenna being right there, but it seems the screen tearing I saw wasn’t actually because of that.

[michals]

The antenna also fits next to the trackball but I do get weird noises while downloading packages so I guess it’s not the best place. Will try to put it in different place next time I look inside.

[michals]

The plastic antenna support does indeed fit under the eDP adapter.

Without it it’s somewhat tilted downward, with it it’s somewhat tilted upward.

It does, however, cause noise on the display when WiFi is used.

Another position, another interference pattern on the screen.

The original position next to the trackball is as far as the antenna can get from the display cable, and even then there is some interference.

Maybe just enabling the WiFi with the cable going over it is enough to trigger the problem.

Maybe an antenna with a longer cable that can be placed above the SD card slot would help.

[Equill]

Following up about the display-noise issue: I got a very nasty case of RF noise coming through to the monitor, with the antenna leads overlapping the corner of the memory module.

I made the problem go away completely by swivelling it down and to the left, so that the antenna is sitting on the batteries, and its leads point basically straight down. No tape or RF choke involved, though the tape probably isn’t a bad idea.