Modify Wifi Ant on the ESP32 Mini for better range

[jazzmonger]

These ESP32's are great, but they suffer from the same problems all other ESPRESSIF ESP's do. Limited range. I successfully added an external ant to mine and the difference is shocking. It went from frequent disconnects and RSSI of -75 to RSSI of -29 and rock solid.

I used this type of cable:

and cut the existing ant and scraped the insulation away and carefully soldered a U.F.L1 socket I salvaged from another ESP to the resulting "pads" and then super glued it in place.

You could also cut the UFL connector off, strip the wire and solder them directly to the pads w/out using the U.F.L1 stuff which I did on my 2nd unit.

In looking for pic I see someone documented it here:
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/how-to-add-an-external-antenna-to-an-esp-board/131601

[jazzmonger]

I ordered some 8db gain ants. A HUGE difference from the little 3" screw on ant I originally used - which was all I had in my parts bin... the signal immediately jumped from -60db to -41db.

I changed from this:

to this