I bought a Thera of ebay and it worked fine except for poor reception on the phone. I didn't think it was too bad since it worked in an aircraft hangar full of steel, the local malls and just about anywhere.

I took the PDA apart and noticed a clip was missing between the antenna and the modem. I made up a clip and installed it so the antenna actually connected to the modem. My signal went from less than 1 to a solid 5. If anyone else has one of these phones and has week reception, they should take the PDA apart and check for the clip.

The clip I made was a challenge. It needed to make contact with the pad on the modem and that is all. There is a ground right next to the pad. Shorting the 2 would not be good.

Here is a picture of an actual antenna and how it is suppose to look.

Attached Thumbnails

 

@renrut

What kind a cable do u use to connect it?
are u using a surrounded cable? or un-surrounded?
can u just post before n after picture?

thanks

Sorry Jody that I did not post pictures of my fix. If I have time this weekend, I'll see if I can make a few pictures. I'm using the phone during the week so I'm leaving it together for now.

If you look at the pictures above, the left one is the antenna. Mine did not have the little gold clip just below the antenna. That is what was missing on mine. All that clip is, is a little spring that presses against the pad on the modem card when you put the PDA back together. Without that spring clip, there is no connection.

All I did was get a piece of spring steel and flatten it as much as I could with a hammer and flat metal plate. If I had an old clock or watch spring, that would have been perfect. Once the spring was flat, I cut it to size and bent it in an "S" shape. I cut a grove in the one end so the antena screw would line up with it. I pressed the spring under the antenna and tightened the screw. I had to adjust the height of the clip I made a few times but eventually made it work just fine. I did not use any wire. Depending on how the antenna is setup, a wire may screw up the SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) which could cause more problems. A really bad SWR can blow a transmitter.

The clip cannot be too wide and has to be in the exact place or it will not line up with the Madem pad. I had to adjust it and cut the clip thinner quite a bit to get it to fit properly.

If there is a Audiovox repair facility around, it might be worth checking to see if they have the actual clip. If they do, it would save a lot of work.

Thanks Renrut
it was really helpfull for us!
and i'm looking forward for the picture (after u connected the spring with the antena) i you don't mind