Moving the USB Wi-Fi dongle on the IR100

Moving the WiFi dongle in the IR100 is useful for two reasons

• Improves the WiFi signal strength; the standard position seems to be quite weak
• It is pretty much essential if the back is rotated (removes hum at speaker) as the transformer would otherwise mask the aerial even more.

There are numerous ways to do this job, this one is reversable, and requires a cheap USB 4-port hub; mine cost £5 from 7-day-shop. A USB-2 extension lead would do the same job, but the hub allows other future expansion options, such as a memory card reader.

Method

Remove the back of radio (6 screws). Then remove the WiFi Dongle securing screw (with red fibre washer in first photo).

The dongle board can be lifted over the retaining pin (where the screw was) and slid out from its USB socket; it can be quite tight, careful leverage at the bottom edge of the dongle board should free it.

Next fit the USB hub into the USB socket, and put the dongle into one of the hub ports.

To make the hub fit along the LH (viewed from front) side of the radio, it needs to wedge against the radio logic module. I had to remove a few millimetres of plastic from the USB hub to make it fit properly.

The Dongle fits into the outermost socket, facing upwards. The legs of the back-panel trap the dongle against the side of the radio case.

Later modifications may include cutting a slot to allow a USB memory stick to fit into the rear of the radio.