No, you don’t. You remove the zero-ohm resistor and bridge a blob of solder to the antenna connector. A solder bridge is still zero ohms.
The signal strength was good because I worked with this device in a different location for testing.
I double checked, and everything is set up correctly. I am not sure what else could be done, but because I damaged the NodeMCU, I have no choice but to use it. It replaced my old device.
Can you post a close up photo of the modification?
Has anyone done the antenna adaptation on an esp8266 v3? I’m looking for a female sma with a 3dbi antenna
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Anyone able to provide photos of the antenna mod, i would like to add the IPEX U.FL SMD connector
I managed to tear off the uFL connector and 0ohm off my Heltec Lora V2 and was able to replace it with side mount sma. Didn’t take the chance of scraping off some of the back to secure the mount to the board so used hot glue. I was a bit surprised it worked as solder was so fine.
the ufl connector of the heltec wifi lora is for exclusive lora use.
the wifi antenna is on the bottom on the board
Using one of these 8-relay ESP8266 boards for outdoor lighting. For some unknown reason, it worked fine for months, and recently began losing wifi connections frequently. Decided to add an external rubber-duck antenna to the outside of the plastic box containing the board and wiring. On the attached ESP-12F board, the ground is on the outside left antenna trace, and the signal source is on the next/adjacent trace.
Signal on the stock board currently running is down in the weeds 
What was the RSSI before?
Don’t really know, because it was never any issue before. Only added the RSSI last night to see how bad it was. I suspect a recent Asus firmware update on the access point caused it.
I thought I’d share my experience following @tom_l’s excellent instructions in this thread.
I took dBm readings from 16 locations before and after splicing a WiFi antenna onto a Firebeetle ESP32-E using a U.FL to female RP-SMA cable, as instructed. Overall, it’s a mixed bag. The modification improved signal in some locations, but worsened it in others. I think that improvements were due solely to the new ability to position the antenna and that overall there was probably some additional loss of signal due to the extra centimeters of cable and perhaps the solder joints on the dev board. I guess this makes sense, as as antenna can’t increase power, but just help direct it a little.
Unfortunately for me, the location I need to install my project in was not one of those that had a net benefit from being able to position the antenna.
I am curious to know if this is consistent with other people’s experience.
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Whilst directivity is the main way an antenna achieves a gain, there is also radiation efficiency to consider. Don’t buy cheap 2.4GHz antennas. They are nothing more than a 1/4 wavelength of wire in a plastic housing.
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Me too please.
And Thank You.
Old laptop antenna btw. Wifi or BT. Not sure.PXL_20230808_153848781|375x500
I have a board like this in my garage:
https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/1005003161500835.html
I just put an antenna on it to see if it solves a problem I’m having with some disconnections.
It improved by about 10db.
The topic helped a lot.
Thanks
Modifying them to use external is definitely possible but very easy to mess up if your solder skills arent good and then its no better or potentially worse afterwards.
For external antenna I see roughly 25% increase but it will be a case by case difference obviously.
Unless you need it for something like an 8 channel relay module w/esp32 built in and you cant find one available wirh external antenna, I would strongly suggest just buying a 5 pack of esp32 with that capability.
Order a 5 pack of esp32, 5pc antenna set, 5pc esp32 breakout board and your next 5 projects will be quick to get up and going and looking clean!
@Fallingaway24 I don’t understand your point. Are you saying that using a breakout board I don’t need to de-solder and solder the resistance to use the antenna? Or based on the fact that the gain is only the 25% it doesn’t make sense?
-65dbm to -50dbm is a considerable improvement. A 3dbm change is a doubling of signal.
Please explain, with a “esp32 breakout board” I can use the external antenna without solder? How?
The picture with the breakout board has a U.Fl connector. It’s not a modification of an ESP32 with a built in antenna( so simple answer is no to your question). I do use those ESP32 with U.Fl and you do get a really much better signal on both Wifi and Bluetooth. This would be a good solution if you don’t want to experiment with soldering. Impedence in antenna is a really big rabbit hole.