Belkin F5D6900 Desktop Antenna for Wireless Desktop Network Cards

by Belkin

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.6 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006SCIX
• Item model number: F5D6900
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Desktop Antenna is an excellent solution for extending the wireless range of your 54g and 802.11b Wireless Desktop Network Card. The Antenna is an ideal solution for allowing you to re-locate the antenna for better signal quality and strength by extending the antenna to your desktop. It's omni-directional design allows for uniform coverage area around the antenna. It simply attaches to the Wireless Desktop Network Card's built-in antenna jack and extends up to 5 feet away from the card.

Product Description

The Desktop Antenna is an excellent solution for extending the wireless range of your 54g and 802.11b Wireless Desktop Network Card. The Antenna is an ideal solution for allowing you to re-locate the antenna for better signal quality and strength by extending the antenna to your desktop. Its omni-directional design allows for uniform coverage area around the antenna. It simply attaches to the Wireless Desktop Network Cards built-in antenna jack and extends up to 3 away from the card.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You may NOT need this!, January 15, 2004

By 

neil786 "neil786" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Belkin F5D6900 Desktop Antenna for Wireless Desktop Network Cards (Personal Computers)

Well, you need to buy this antenna only if you absolutely cannot move or rotate your desktop.

While waiting for my Belkin antenna to arrive, I rotated my desktop to bring the existing antenna in line with the router on the other end of the house. I immediately got an improvement in signal from - low to very good.

When my Belkin antenna arrived, I was surprised to see that it was of the same size as the original antenna supplied with the PCI card! The only advantage is that it is now connected with a cable. So now you can place it anywhere close to the desktop. But the reception remained approximately the same. See description from Belkin below:
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Product_Id=126498

Here is how you should evaluate if you need this product:

a) Draw an imaginary line between the fixed antenna and the router. Now remove as many obstructions as possible on this line. The CPU itself maybe an obstruction. If possible rotate the CPU.If this helps then the desktop antenna will probably help.

b) Another test to determine if the desktop antenna will help or not is to place a wireless laptop close to the desktop and compare its reception with the desktop. If the two are significantly different then the desktop antenna would help.

Overall, donot expect a miraculous improvement in signal strength. The antenna only helps you to place itself in a better location. You could do the same by moving or relocating your desktop. Good Luck!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the cost!, June 13, 2003

By 

Kenneth Urban (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Belkin F5D6900 Desktop Antenna for Wireless Desktop Network Cards (Personal Computers)

I have a wireless network, with two laptops and two desktop systems. I get 100% signal strength throughout my house on the laptops, but when I moved a desktop system to the basement to attach to a MIDI keyboard, I got dismal signal strength (about 20%). A laptop right next to the system showed 100%.

Enter the Belkin antenna. After removing the network card's antenna and attaching the Belkin, signal strength more than quadrupled, to 85%. That makes the internet connection usable again.

I would have rated it a five if it would have given me 100% signal. What's the problem? The card? Planetary alignment? Who knows... But the Belkin was worth it!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too short to be very useful..., March 10, 2006

By 

mjmc2000 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Belkin F5D6900 Desktop Antenna for Wireless Desktop Network Cards (Personal Computers)

Manufacturers description says it can be extended 5' from the card, but the cable is only 40 inches long. It barely reaches from my computer to the top of my desk and it cannot reach to my desired location. It works, but if I had known the cable was so short I would not have bothered to buy it.