Linksys RE6500 compare to RE6500HG hardware

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I picked up a used Linksys RE6500 from eBay. For the life of me I can't figure out what's going on with the antennas. There's no wifi wire lead going to the other antenna and I don't see any silkscreen on the board to it. Is this a dummy antenna? I'm also waiting on a RE6500HG from eBay with the high gain antenna. Does anyone know before it arrives if it has only one antenna connected? Is the hardware identical?

My question is. Can I swap out the dummy connector since I will have too? Which one should I use and I'm uncertain about the RE6500HG as far as U.S. wifi channels.

Can anyone help me understand this?

TIA

2

According to the photos,
one antenna is connected via a thin coaxial cable, the other is soldered to the board.

Don't expect too much from these 'high gain antennas'. Realistic 2-3 dB more don't make that big difference.

3

That's what I'm saying. the other one doesn't look like it does anything but is just cosmetic.

4

I'm a bit confused...does your board looks the same like the photos?
If not, please send a picture of it.

One antenna with a thin cable, the other without?
If yes, then there's nothing wrong. Just because there's no cable doesn't mean it's not connected (there is a trace on an inner layer).

5

If there's a inner trace layer then yes. Doesn't seem to be cost affective to do it that way, it's a linkys.
I don't know if I have a light bright enough to check.
I guess I can do a wireless check by disconnecting the wired antenna.

Thanks for the chat.

6

You can expect a modern router to have at least a 4 layer PCB.