A bit of a noob question: I've got an Asrock Z370m-itx motherboard (the non-Fatal1ty 8th gen board) with built in bluetooth but the range for bluetooth is horrendous. Is there anything that can be done to extend the range of the built in bluetooth or should I just buy a USB bluetooth module? If so, what brands/models are recommended?
Motherboard Extending bluetooth range
- Thread starter calvinpp
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- Jul 19, 2015
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Assuming the BT is provided by the same card as the wifi and is using one of the external antennas then you can likely just get a good high gain antenna and an RP-SMA (or SMA depending) cable (ideally not too long). Thats alot of assumption though so some research would be in order to confirm exactly how the BT is implemented.
Thank you! I think i'm going to scour online and just grab an after market high gain antenna/RP-SMA cable in that case.
- Jul 19, 2015
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This handy dandy picture should be enough to establish if your board has RP-SMA or SMA ports on the back. You dont need to spend a fortune on an antenna either, there are alot of pretty good & fairly high gain 2.4GHz wifi antennas that come w/ an detachable base and a pigtail that would do the job and enable you to place the antenna somewhere open.
That was a VERY useful post, thank you.
Are there any brands which are considered more reputable or is any off the shelf brand okay for this stuff? I've never had to purchase this before in the past as bluetooth/wifi performance was more acceptable than what I've currently got with this mobo.
Are there any brands which are considered more reputable or is any off the shelf brand okay for this stuff? I've never had to purchase this before in the past as bluetooth/wifi performance was more acceptable than what I've currently got with this mobo.
- Jul 19, 2015
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I have a pile of TP link antennas ive used for a bunch of stuff in the past that are pretty good but dont take that as an endorsement perse but really anything from a reputable brand should be fine. I'd probably avoid bargain basement antennas from china, QA can be super hit & miss there. If your feeling adventurous you can make your own antennas fairly easily and cheap too. Its also worth noting that its not guaranteed to solve your problems outright, there are other factors that come into play such as drivers, the bluetooth device your connecting to, noise, brick walls, antenna placement, etc that can also impact performance. It is, however, the cheapest way to likely solve this. Or to put it another way, its where I would start, a good antenna makes a world of difference.
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