Give Your Mouse a Tail to Improve it's Electromagnetic Wave Propagation
Published by easymovet on Thursday, June 07, 2007 at 15:10
(Disclaimer: this probably voids your mouses' electromagnetic interference levels, according to the FCC but who believes them anyway)
So i don't need to convince you on the convenience of a wireless mouse, but i may need to sell you on using a laptop mouse for a desktop.
The main reason: Size, they are small so you can move the mouse with your fingers rather than moving your whole hand+wrist.
The problem: Range, they usually use a USB dongle that you'd plug into your desktop, which in many cases is under the desk stretching the range to the usual 3ft claim (2ft in reality). I was frustrated by the number of times I'd have to click to double click, and lack of responsiveness.
The Solution: Bigger Tail, antennas inside the mouse are effectively shielded by your hand which absorbs a lot of the EMF and almost creates a Faraday cage around the mouse. Adding an external antennae will give the transmitter a bigger antennae and prevent the signal from being shielded so much. Since the deal is a one way communication (from mouse to dongle) we will see results even though we're only extending the one antennae. (when trying to increase range on two way communications you have to do both because increasing the size of the receiving antennae can also increase the noise being picked up)
A great feature of this mouse is that the mouse and dongle can become one for transportation, which means that you won't lose the dongle, and the little protruding button get depressed when you fit the dongle into the bottom of the mouse, which turns it off. For once M$oft got it right!
So to upgrade the range on this little rodent, you'll need a screwdriver (i used the one on my cute pink leather man ) and a twisty tie, like ones that come with any gadget with wires.
First pick of the pads off with whatever then unscrew all 4 screws.
Near the front there is a stiff wire, unsheathe some of the twisty tie and twist it on there. Make a little notch for the wire to escape when you close the mouse up. Keep the notch small so that it holds the twisty in place.
Then close it up, thats it your done! The range should now be about 3x so around 9ft though i was able to double click from much farther when line of sight with the dongle. Polar antennae, like this one, have a doughnut radiation pattern, which means that the signal is strongest on the sides and almost zero on axis, so don't point the antenna at the dongle, rather have it parallel.
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if limited range issues arise when using with a desktop (which really isn't what these small wireless mice were designed for, i digress) i might also recommended relocating the receiver using a usb extension cord usually available cheap from radio shack or similar electronic store. this would allow you to move the receiver to the desk surface where the mouse is being used.