Adding Mini PCIe WLAN Card to Motherboard. Antenna?

Zarathustra[H]

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Hey all,

I happen to have a Supermicro Mini-ITX motherboard that has a free mini-PCIe slot.

I'm usually vehemently pro wired Ethernet, but in this particular application I just can't find a way to wire things to make it work, so I am considering sticking an Intel 7260 WLAN card in the slot, and using that instead.

The one thing I can't seem to figure out is, what do I use as an antenna? I've only ever used mini WLAN cards in Laptops and all-in-one mini-PC's before, where they come with preinstalled antenna wires that use those tiny little connectors.


I have searched eBay/Amazon/Newegg for 2.4/5.8Ghz wifi antennas, but all of them have the larger BNC type connectors on them, not the tiny little ones that the mini WLAN cards need.

Is anyone familiar with any mini WLAN connector headers or anything like that? Essentially, those BNC-type connectors on one end with a little retention ring, so I can just drill a hole in the case, and tighten them in and connect an external antenna, and those tiny little plugs on the other end.

Or is there another way of accomplishing what I need to do?

Much obliged,
Matt
 
Amazon product ASIN B00A4I3AGE
also, you can buy cards for putting minipci in a regular pci slot that has these antennas


Amazon product ASIN B005Q751BA

Thank you. That top one did not come up in my searches. It looks like a good fit. Was there a specific keyword you used to find it? I don't know what those tiny antenna connectors are called.

As far as the expansion card adapter goes, I've looked at those too, but the board is mini-ITX with just the one PCIe slot, and I will be using that for a GPU.

Appreciate the help!
 
It sounds like you basically need an adapter like this and you'll be able to use any external antennae with the Intel 7260 or am I misunderstanding?
 
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