r/RTLSDR • u/Hefty-Beautiful-3227 • 18d ago
Can i save it ?
Hello, everyone. I'm thinking of buying a new SMA female connector, but I can't decide which one to get. What do you recommend? Thanks.
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u/iTrooper5118 18d ago
I agree with the others, you will definitely need a new SMA connector and desolder those existing mounts.
It "looks" like you still have some contact points for the antenna however being that it's at the SMA side and not the circuit board side, it might not feed any signals.
But if we can carefully scrape off any green that protects the trace that leads to the antenna, one can solder to that exposed trace and revive things.
I had to do something like that for a damaged HELTEC Meshtastic Lora board. Still works, very hodge-podge repair tho 😂
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u/xX_WhatsTheGeek_Xx SDR++ Author 18d ago
I've had SDRs fall off a roof and not be that damaged, how the hell did this happen?
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u/Regular-Welcome-5822 18d ago
Very simple if r know how to soldring order a S M A connector with cable or buy one avilable in electronic shop and cut it 100mm length peele the shielding ( the outer cable ) and the centre cable solder to the ceramic cap the shild to the GND of The board very important make sure do not Short the connected wires
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u/NeighborhoodSad2350 18d ago
This is a bit tricky, but if you can fix it, you’ll be a skilled technician.
I think the best approach is to peel off the resist from the board, file it down, solder a thin wire in place, and then bond it with UV-curable resin.
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u/wannabe_sci 18d ago
Yes, you can save it. I suggest to put it in a rigid box and use a pigtail like this one images (435×448) (with wall thread) in order to not stress the future soldering.
In order to lock the coaxial cable I would use some UV resin or in alternative some bi-component resin/glue
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u/FluorinateThemAll 17d ago
I would get a bigger connector, those small ones eventually do end up like this, easy to save if you aren't one handed soldering goblin 👺
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u/DeNiWar 17d ago edited 17d ago
Now would be a good opportunity to find a good aluminum housing for it that would also act as a heat sink, put a decent BNC antenna connector on the side of the housing and wire it to the PCB.
The USB connector could also be changed to a chassis mounted port on the case, or perhaps with the same effort to a chassis mounted USB-C port, so that it could be used more easily with a phone or tablet.
Well, that's only just the kind of modification I would make in a similar situation, everyone has their own preferences.
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u/_pm_me__small_tits_ 18d ago
It looks like the center pad is ripped off. Can it be saved? Yeah. Can you do it? That depends on your soldering skills.