What's special about this Pi? Want to use an external antenna with the Raspberry Pi? These Raspberry Pi boards are carefully hand-modified to add a U.FL connector and connect it up. This greatly expands the options for external antennas, and there is no additional dongle needed.
Optional antennas (not included) are available at a discount when ordered at the same time as this Pi. Discount is automatically applied at checkout.
Does the external antenna provide a better WiFi signal?
That depends on the choice of antenna. However, in my testing I've noticed an improvement over the built-in antenna when using even a mildly directional antenna, properly positioned. The largest reason to use an external antenna is if the Pi is being used in a project where the PCB antenna will be obscured (for example, inside a metal enclosure). In that case, using an antenna on the end of a short piece of coax can let you route the antenna onto the outside of the enclosure.
What quality assurance (QA) testing is performed?
Following the modification, every Pi is tested using a partially automated process to confirm that the new antenna connection is working properly. These are all logged by Pi serial number along with the test statistics to determine a PASS/FAIL state. A QA testing certificate is provided with every individual Pi following a successful PASS. There may be some cosmetic melting of the GPIO header plastic due to its close proximity with the modification area. However, this doesn't impact the functionality or performance of the device.
For general Raspberry Pi Zero 2W information, check out the official webpage here
FAQ/Troubleshooting:
Q: Does this impact bluetooth? A:Yes, bluetooth and WiFi share the same antenna.
Q: Does this make the WiFi any faster? A: It depends. With an antenna with higher gain (like the +2dBi whip antenna option), it might if the signal level was low enough that it impacts the speed substantially. But generally the impact on speed is only going to be marginal.
Product features
Specifications:
512 MB SDRAM
Antenna Connector: U.FL
1GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A53 CPU
2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN
Bluetooth 4.2, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), onboard antenna
Mini HDMI® port and micro USB On-The-Go (OTG) port
