DIY Cell Phone Antenna in 3 Minutes!

How to build a cell phone antenna to improve reception in 3 minutes.
I use this wire from RadioShack. It comes in a 3 pack and I use either the red (30 gauge) or green (26 gauge):
www.radioshack....
Any enamel coated solid copper magnet wire, like the following, should work too:
These wires from Amazon should work too:
amzn.to/1ZGFJwB
amzn.com/B006W9...
amzn.com/B004XN...
An antenna length of 6.33" is optimized for 800-900 MHz. You can find all sorts of info about your cellphone including the frequencies it uses at www.phonearena.com.

[@stevey500]

Disregarding the garbage comments, this is a great video. This does not damage your phone if you carefully do exactly what is shown. Many smartphones have multiple antenna jacks. Wifi/bluetooth 2.4/5ghz band, LTE 700-800mhz band, CDMA, and GSM bands that all will want a different wavelength antenna size. Quick and easy trick to help struggle less in an area of low signal.

[@foreignserviceinstitute8098]

I have been having improved network with DIY stuff exactly like this even before watching this vid. I should say, yes it does work!

[@JWI515]

the fact that he says one bar is good i know the struggle man

[@sizzlesleep]

Its 2020 and 1 bar is good rn its impossible for me where I am

[@MyGR2011]

It worked :) Forget the length bla bla bla. I just put a wire, connected to the antenna 'pin' and then bend it under the cover (around 5cm long) and my reception is better by ~ 10%. I'm on Wind - Ontario.

[@jwestonmoss]

+GR glad it worked for you. i will say however that length does matter in this context - as your phone is also a transmitter, if the length is cut incorrectly you will get high SWR, which can damage the transmitter. if it is not off that much then you'll be fine, but if it is grossly mismatched then you're in trouble.

[@jmr]

Absolutely correct. I suspect the chance of a mismatch damaging the phone is low but any device that transmits will create reflections that make unwanted power spikes where they should not be. This means the possibility of damage, extra drain on power, and poor performance. Even if you see more bars that improvement may only be on a single band. Cellphone use many different bands. Some aren't available in all areas. Data is often transmitted in a different band then voice. That could mean very poor data speeds or calls dropping more frequently. It's always best to attempt to match your antenna. This antenna for instance was meant to match multiple bands. Todays phone often use 4 different bands.

[@runcycleskixc]

how did you measure the 10% improvement? dropped 9 calls out of 10 rather than 10 out of 10?

[@youarenotaloneinfo]

I had poor reception on S3 I747, so I tried some (probably too) thick copper wire. That pretty much made the situation a lot worse (as Makify said, I prolly lost the internal antenna). HOWEVER, after I did this properly, with a thin copper wire, I eventually got better reception then I was getting with at the very beginning when my internal antenna was working. also confirming that the length is not critical, just insert the copper wire cautiously don't force it in. GL!

[@innovationsmcmullens9279]

Add a DC blocking cap like a .5 pf. ( or smallest non electrolytic ) You could build up a charge on that little piece of wire and damage the sensitivity and range which would decrease your range worse than it was, over time. I know from experience. Just a little word of advice.

[@Makify1]

The Samsung s3 uses four frequencies (850, 900, 1800, and 1900) so a general antenna length of 6.3" should work. The exact length of the antenna isn't all that important in practice as long as you are close. There are lots of other variables affecting signal strength.

[@PushYaSelf]

What about the Google pixel pro 6 XL

[@ganjamanfarm808]

Guess I should have done a little more research before trying it on my S4, because all it did for me was fry my internal antenna. As soon as I powered it back up it lost all signal.

[@Tonyv1951]

+Jason Johnson SEe my message above to Paul Sudbrok. You can fix that probably without any great skill.

[@mustafahamd8700]

does the phone maintenance center can fix it if your method doesn't work ?

[@dobricaionut]

Jason Johnson 3r4332333

[@krotoflik]

If you are going to try this you should consider first turning off your phone and taking the battery out. Also make sure the other end of the magnet wire is not making contact with conducive material. Just a thought.

[@greghamm2100]

Why should he turn the phone off, and why should he take the battery out? Are you an electronics engineer? Do you power off and unplug your tv or stereo when adjusting the antenna? Do you power off your car and disconnect the battery to change stations? What conductive material let alone electrical material is under the phone cover besides the antenna signal port? I hate it when people comment on a subject they know nothing about. You basically are comparing this to Ben Franklin standing in a lightning strom flying a kite. Try reading up before you talk, jeez.

[@redneckpunkmudder]

Greg Hamm Greg buddy... a large amount of phones have battery contacts in that area. If you mistakenly touched those contacts while the phone is powered on you could short the phone and the battery out, which could cause the battery to overheat, this would most likely end with the device and battery both damaged. Whenever the back case of the phone is taken off you should remove the battery as a safety precaution before attempting any work.

[@shortcircuitz6354]

Greg Hamm before doing any modifications, repairs, etc. It is always best to take out the battery. If you do not, it is very easy to short out the antenna. Let's not even get into static or using an antistatic wrist band. Trust me I am a certified cellphone and tablet technician. I work on iPads all the time, and if you do not remove the battery connection then you will blow the backlight. Different things, but same situations.

[@lorenzovanhethul1355]

No you won't blow up your iPad backlight fuse if you are careful. I repaired a shit ton iPads, iPod touches (especially the 4th gen) and iPhone, and samsung. And the devices with the battery soldered on= i don't give a flying fuck. I repair phones while turned on since the BIOS identifier is the first thing while booting up, so if you disconnect a part in an iPad which isn't powered or detected at that moment, nothing happens. I always play a music on the device i'm repairing to hear if it still works. Especially on iPods. But you can only blow a iPad backlight fuse when the screen is powered UP while disconnecting, or when you short it while current is switched to the backlight.

[@realbudgiesmugglable]

Out of & in true You Tube philosophy which to me is ingenuity at the cost of recycling and knowledge sharing at the right price.. Free; this one works I have hardcore dead zone issues sometimes I have to wait for a passenger plane to fly overhead to bounce a signal to lock on. Yet a hundred metres aeay the signal is strong. This is a good works 2 bar min. Thanks Bro ps 16.3 cm is the metric conversion.

[@3bigbignig-abandoned]

That's great! Watching this in 2024 because I still carry around a feature phone 😂😂

[@Makify1]

For 1900 MHz you would want an antenna length of about 3 inches and that would work for both data and voice.

[@androidphreaker5105]

Take your phone apart, make three wraps length-wise around the phone with that magnet wire while keeping it away from the circuits and you will have full strength signal in a dumpster!

[@psi-ops1397]

some phones do not have that grommet inside the hole to protect the positive center pin from grounding out on the outer ring. That is likely the reason that people are loosing their internal antenna capability. You can buy a simple antenna plug to avoid that scenerio, or if you have an old radio, tv, or wifi router laying around then you can simply pull the plug from there and solder it to your lead wire. That's what I did with my old T-mobile my touch slide and I gained 3 out of 5 bars.

[@jagtan13]

Did this with an att s2 skyrocket. Made it better. Extra 2 bars gained in general + i just folded the extra length of wire to fit inside the phone:-)

[@Makify1]

Good question. If your phone can use a 800-900 MHz signal, most cell phones in the US do, then a 6.33" antenna will work. This length is not optimized for higher frequencies such as 1700-1900 MHz.

[@7Paul7air]

Careful with this, I fried the internal antenne of my S3 mini

[@Tonyv1951]

+Paul Sudbrock Yup. You didn't actually fry it, you broke the tiny coaxial switch inside the plug permanently disconnecting the internal antenna. It can be repaired. There are ways. One thing to try is to poke a short piece of BARE wire into the socket, making SURE that you don't create a short circuit to the outer shell of the little socket. THen snip off the wire about 2mm above the socket so you only have a tiny bit poking out (just so you can get hold of it and pull it out if you need to). Then test your internal antenna again. My bet is it will work then. If it does, put a small piece of tape over that socket to hold the little wire connection in and be happy that you have re-made the internal connection on the broken coaxial switch. There is an outside chance that you burned out the transmitter chip in your phones radio modem, and you can't repair that, but my bet is it is just the switch.

[@mofuggzb8209]

most of those ports are service ports for jtaging . not external antennas. the mass majority of external antennas are repeaters for carrier signal or bluetooth style for gps externals. I would not hook into any port without a jtag layout first to limit the possibility of shorting out a circuit.

[@androidphreaker5105]

I once got in trouble for modifying a Cellphone that interfered with my local Fire station...be careful not to over do any cell mod. including antennas!

[@Makify1]

Copper wire will work just fine. I used magnet wire because it is super thin. It's not actually magnetized.

[@markfothebeast]

There seems to be a whole lot of "Oh no! You mean I have to plug something in?". This port might still be around but inaccessible without accessing the mainboard. I had two ports on the AT&T Galaxy S4 that were visible. I recall one not being for external antenna use (can damage device, apparently). If you want to get fancy you can unplug the antenna itself and solder a connection or extension on.

[@lb3406]

The only problem is most cell phones today have non removable covers and batteries. Sometimes the headphone wire acts as an antenna but only if you have a headphone jack.

[@peebleshill777]

I'd like to know if this will work to boost wifi signal to. I need it for my tablet. Also what's the hole you put it in? Love the video. I need simple 😂

[@klee88029]

L💟VE it! Do you think that this adaptation would help boost a 3G MiFi Jetpack bars also?

[@ricardoelectronicsrepair]

It must 2 wire one is ground or risk of esd, can damage pa ic(is very sensitive)

[@dannyclear685]

it's work,thanks so much i'm going to learn about creating antenna

[@Omoba65]

Awesome 0-4 bars in less than 3minutes. Tnx man!

[@thomaspeter1169]

Did he say the 6.3 inch is 1/4 Wavelength? Is the phone operating in the 450 MHz region? 6.3 inch is the 1/2 Wavelength for 900 MHz. 1/4 Wavelength is 3.15 in. Hi Makify 1, what is the operating frequency of your LG phone? This would help clarifythe wavelength query. Tq

[@Makify1]

+Thomas Peter That phone was an LG Cosmos Touch (VN270) that operates at 1.9GHz and 800MHz so, 6.3" is about 1/2 wavelength at 800MHz and 1 full wavelength at 1.9GHz. Sorry for the confusion.

[@nathanlief]

I wish there was someone who would actually show how to make a real antenna, you know the right connector a good soldering job, something that would not damage your device.

[@smithp67]

Yes, this fried the internal antenna on my sidekick 4g. Dont know why it would do that, it should just switch between either.

[@janellewilliams2709]

Hello I have a 2019 ZTE. I’m trying to figure out how to reconnect the antenna by adding wires to the back of the phone like you’ve doing in your video. Can I please send you pics so you can show me where to reconnect so I can get service?

[@ctran693]

Thank you for the prompt reply. So how can you know what signal is right for the phone? And can you give an amazon link or something to the kind of wire you used?

[@jesf570]

If you're unsure dont fuck with your phone ports. It will most likely disable your internal antenna. I have a brand new s4 and I disabled it. Luckily I found a solution with a soldering iron and patience. It can be fixed.

[@BlueRice]

most phone now have its own fixed calibration with the antenna. even if you manage to do it right you can screw it up.

[@martinmoran736]

yo hice lo mismo , se me inhabilito la antena interna. y ahora no puedo volver a que este cm antes , osea sin cablesito... como lo soluciono????

[@victorv4661]

martin moran yo le puse un tornillito pequeño en el hueco y volvio a funcionar

[@sunnamughal]

my internal antenna is fried..so how to fix it..help would be appreciated

[@TheIrivadeneyra]

reminds me those old cell phones with antenna. Would not be better to go back to the built-in antenna? So this way when you have poor signal, you just pull it out.

[@Makify1]

Hmm...all of the non-smart phones I've owned had at least one antenna slot. They tend to be well hidden (i.e. behind the batter cover, hidden under a sticker, etc.). Maybe they stopped adding them to phones now.

[@Makify1]

Yes, that sounds right.

[@lb3406]

To K-lee yes it would help but 3 g is on its way out if not already.

[@JayandJenn07]

Just add a flux capacitor...

[@joshyoung1623]

Electronoob: Geeking Out 1.21 JIGAWATTS!!!???

[@Dan-zd1qr]

Yeah, flux capacitor would work well with that.

[@Kashdream16]

I added a flux-cap on mine. Battery meter went down to 1sec, but luckily I shot back to 1985, so still got like 30yrs till dead battery..

[@killmimes]

Survey says: eeeeeeaaaahhhh! Thanks for playing... Radio frequency is determined by antenna length! Its physics...you cant change that with a wish! Then you have Ground Plane! Most internal cellphone antennas are a modified YAGI antenna inserted in the ground plane of the circuit board. Good luck with that.

[@CRLSbRRA]

Legal! Fiz uma antena para meu celular e funcionou mesmo! Valeu

[@kimberleythomas6781]

Ya'll this actually works my house is a dead zone i did this and bam 4 bars.

[@dereksuddreth8672]

Does the wire have to be external, or can you loop around inside the cover?

[@itsmenord72]

thank you it improves my cp signal

[@gotojw]

it poked me in the eye

[@JohnNorris411]

Is this only for data signal? What about WiFi?

[@Makify1]

This is for data only. Won't affect WiFi.

[@JohnNorris411]

Thanks

[@shortcircuitz6354]

There is a separate antenna for WiFi.

[@boycoter]

eser bonne info pour anelioret la reception des telepone ne pa oublier la resistance ou la self??

[@MuhammadYaseen-vx5hw]

Is this trick supports in wifi bad signals receiving also?

[@AlbertElias1]

How do you decide the length of the wire to cut? I'm not sure I heard it clearly.

[@daveybphotography]

Thanks for the clip. I think AT&T uses 1900 MHZ in my area, can you tell me the length of wire need for that frequency and do you know if it improves data or just voice? I'm unclear if those are linked. Thanks.

[@katherineelizabethbourne5352]

I have a moto pure can u tell me where i would put the wire

[@1DJLNR]

This would have been a great video if youtube was around in 1997

[@TheKingOfInappropriateComments]

Actually, back in 1997 cell phones came with extendable antennas already so this video wouldn't have been necessary.

[@1DJLNR]

Roadside Table no not all, I don't read Wikipedia that much for a era I was alive in, I am from the UK and I maybe off by a year but I remembered antennas and non-antenna devices coexisting, it's one thing to read the past but another to live it.. Only if you lived in the UK at a certain date you would remember snickers bar as the marathon chocolate bar which was the first name of the bar I remembered, when the bar went world wide it was given a different name, UK is very small in population compared to other lands so if Wikipedia today said Snickers was the original name, everyone would agree especially the young and people who live abroad. Back to the phones, antennas main reason was not for reception but more so authorities know your on a cell and more importantly they can track your body to keep citizens safe right...

[@TheKingOfInappropriateComments]

+DJ LNR around here it was more so the telecom cartels could build out a competitively sparse network by today's standards and still have it work reasonably well. There was still a great deal of analog cellular at the time here and so there would have been a lot more static on the line had it not been for the extendable antennas and higher power limits . My first digital capable phone i bought in 96 but there was still a lot of analog cellular. Nowadays we don't have static, were have garbles and sudden loss of signal without having a real good way to know where to hold the phone in areas of weak signal. Contrary to the misleading coverage maps and claims of covering 99%of the population, most of the united States is still without reliable coverage. Manufacturers are bound by radiation limits that would be higher if there were antennas that were extendable and would lose certification which is required to bring them to market. I didn't mean to infer that you were a millennial or genZ

[@JoeyAnthonyGuerra]

What about for modern cell phones?

[@DeathMetalBeaver]

is there a way to do this with a lg g2?

[@martinmoran736]

Yo lo hice con mi celular y se bloqueo la antena inalambrica , osea la que viene integrada en el celular.. Y al quitarle el alambresito no tengo señal , ni red.. cm hago para solucionarlo..?????? me podrías ayudar???

[@doccarson63]

6 inches is a quarter wave for 450 MHz. I doubt our phones are any lower than 800 MHz. Check your antenna theory formula one more time.

[@JayandJenn07]

Great Scott's !!!!!!

[@bikemike20]

I'm sure 6.3inches is around the 70cm 430 band

[@ctran693]

will different cell phones need the wire to be cut at different lengths?

[@7digitalSunday]

i have a samsung w/ verizon. i dont see any place like he shows in the video. no little holes in back for an external speaker. anyone know where it is, or if cell phones still have a little port for that ?

[@JanSmithCitizens4Family]

Do only real old phones have antenna slots? I have been trying to do a diy booster for quite some time now and none of the phones I have ever had have this feature. I am stuck in an apartment with virgin mobile sprint and the reception sucks. I just bought a virgin mobile kyocera rise and I don't see a spot to connect this wire.

[@095050686]

Is there a specific next to the antenna port? My phone has like 3 ports but I don't know which one is the antenna.

[@Brad-ye4gs]

c or common

[@mrkichkay]

Why not ? Will I mess my S3 ?

[@ctran693]

Thanks again, much appreciated!

[@soulmasterdw]

buy a internet cell phone unit that plugs into ur laptop a old 1 with external ant and swap the plug that shoul work a treat

[@donmega7516]

I highly doubt that coil of green wire actually weighs a ton.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

I'm wondering why these phones even have external antenna ports. Were they going to provide external antennas at some later point?

[@Makify1]

I have no idea. They might be for supplying a fake signal for testing purposes or loading software.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

Makes sense to me (testing purposes).

[@Makify1]

Yes, but I've found that it works best if it is straight.

[@WeebRemover4500]

thats kinda homophobic

[@TheCobyRandal]

Hi, I just looked up a wavelength calculator and it says that half the wavelength is about 3.1 inches long just like you said. Is this right?

[@kyoudaiken]

Radio frequency (RF) is in fact rocket science. It is not possible to do this with more recent phones, since they use more sensitive modulations and technologies as well as a varity of frequency bands (LTE, WCDMA, CDMA, WIMAX, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSDPA+, etc.). You should never mess around with these things. You can bet your bottom dollar that every smartphone is tuned for best possible radio reception. If your phone does have bad reception, just make use of your warranty. If it degraded over time, you should also make use of your warranty. When the warranty is expired, then and only then you should try such quick fixes. If you kill your phone, it is not such a big deal, then. You would then have to buy a new one anyway. And if you are in an area with bad service ... you should just move to town. :/

[@liamissocooure]

"you should just move to town" lol yeah totally

[@RedRumIzzy]

***** is right. BTW, If you do try to increase the gain of the antenna, *other* signals/noise is also going to be amplified, which might or might not be a good thing. In situations where the signal from your cellphone doesn't reach the tower (rural areas), using an amplifier might help some, but again, its not black and white, there are TONS of factors that affect RF...

[@coriscotupi]

Red Rum The secret here is cutting the external antenna to the *correct length* which effectively *tunes* it to the desired frequency making unwanted signal reception less of an issue. The antenna inside the phone is a compromise between reception and fitting in the phone so it definitely is not optimized for best possible reception. Why do you think the manufacturer provides the connector for an external antenna? As for best tuning, one trick is to cut the antenna slightly oversize and progressively clip a fraction of a mm, watching the signal strength on the phone's *status* screen as you go.

[@kallethefox1968]

Well you can get better on apple just hold a idem in my case i use a key and it works :3

[@daveybphotography]

Thanks

[@sk8nbarrow591]

Can't the wire be curved to be inside of the case?

[@joseanmagrao1840]

eu comprei uma antena aquário celular, eu quero saber qual os tipos de celulares compatível com ela.

[@azimuddinshaikh7753]

How to connect with smart mobile phone.

[@BradleyWashburn1]

Do you know how long it should be for a Samsung s3?

[@hectorj530]

Shit messed my phone up.smf,p.o.s!!!:x

[@willis9969]

My samsung is on 1700 / 2100 mhz.. how long should the wire be?

[@sawejviliamu9740]

Thanks bro it works

[@joshyoung1623]

bravo sir, bravo.

[@aw4704]

can't we replace that wire with another metal...? like iron?

[@Kashdream16]

You would want a more conductive metal than current one. (Gold)

[@creationgate]

I bought an external 3G antenna for Samsung Galaxy 2 4G after watching a similar video, phone has decided not to use the internal antenna anymore (= no reception) so don't try this on a phone unless your need is absolutely desperate. I used a length of thin copper wire into the R1 port and now get improved mobile reception (I call it the "Brain Cancer 3000" antenna) i'm stuck with it now (FYI: does NOT improve WIFI).

[@srinivasvayuvegula4630]

really good let me try

[@willis9969]

Its a patch lead for an external antenna... not a built-in signal booster

[@foreignserviceinstitute8098]

You are wrong. It is the output port for external antenna

[@narcisdumitrache3190]

Hy I'm desperate, I did something similar with my samsung s2 and now my internal antenna does not work as before(it's dead), external antenna works only. What can I do to reactivate the internal antenna? Any idea? Thank you!

[@foreignserviceinstitute8098]

Have you opened up the phone? If you did then the contact between the board of the phone and the cover (not the battery cover but the one inside) are not touching each other. There is a small metal pin (spring-like) that is supposed to be touching the cover. Fix that and you should see signals beings restored. That said pin connects to the antenna of the phone which is hidden in the inside cover of your phone.

[@wingsonmyback1]

mine don't have any antenna holes

[@chensenhan]

did u lose the internal antenna capability?

[@luke040655]

Can this work on my iPhone

[@lissie00707]

I tried doing this and know I don't have any signal at all. It says mobile network not available. Does anyone know how to fix?

[@Makify1]

I can't post links in a comment but I added some links to the video description above.

[@johnfoefoe5296]

Ahmed Elkhateb---LMFAO!!

[@coler154]

what are those connectors called?

[@SnickersTS]

coler154 SMA connector

[@coler154]

☢ SNICKERS 5+2 GRATIS ☢ ah yes, thank you

[@SnickersTS]

coler154 Doing this will probably break your internal antenna, as you will discover upon reading other comments on this video.

[@coler154]

right, i have good coverage in my area.

[@barryelitchfield]

I can't even find the hole... There's no hair around it! Something's fishy about this!!

[@rashiga12345]

WARNING! DO NOT TRY THIS FOR GALAXY S3 YOU WILL LOOSE YOUR INTERNAL ANTENNA

[@DLP11111]

Why Sir, why 6.3 inches?

[@serkant.3970]

it is about the signal wave length

[@Kashdream16]

Sh*t.. gonna need more wire.

[@barryelitchfield]

I tried it and there was no improvement on my phone. Before adding "the cure" It had a maximum of three bars on the deck in the back yard. With "the cure" I had two bars in the same location! NO WORKIE! Luckily, my phone still works outside the house after trying this antenna. I feel lucky based on other reviews.....

[@DragunIXOS]

Muy económica la soluciona =P

[@kiaraa.7045]

Se ve interesante, debes probarlo *****

[@ThomasJoseph315]

never stick any wires in these ports, you will perma fuck up your cell phone

[@MrMaxitaple]

Thomas Joseph yeah man I did this shit but 3 days later totally fuck*d up

[@judithpalma4068]

como se llama el cable

[@rajausman8518]

Yh bkws kr rha ha ma ny asa kiya too jo phly aty thy voo b nii aa ry thy

[@Makify1]

I would only try this on an old phone. Don't mess with a new, expensive phone. It's just not worth the risk of ruining it.

[@brianfurches7261]

doesn't work for my lg phone. My antenna connectors are male, yours is female, same on my paylo phone.