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    What is the Aux antenna used for?

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by nbrguy, Jul 18, 2014.

  1. nbrguy

    nbrguy Notebook Enthusiast

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    It's my understanding that N150 and AC433 wifi cards only need one antenna to operate.

    But nearly all of these cards have two antenna connectors - one marked "1" or "Main" and the other one marked "2" or "Aux".

    I was just wondering what is the "2" or "Aux" antenna used for? Is it for stability?
     
    nbrguy, Jul 18, 2014
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  2. downloads

    downloads No, Dee Dee, no! Super Moderator

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    Multiple antennas were used even before multiple streams were introduced. Most obvious application is an increase in throughput achieved by multiplication of spatial streams (which doesn't really apply here) but there are other gains too.
    These include decreased fading of the signal (aka diversity gain) and array gain (Signal to Noise Ratio improvement).
     
    downloads, Jul 20, 2014
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  3. nbrguy

    nbrguy Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks. That makes sense.
     
    nbrguy, Jul 20, 2014
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