Long Range Modification for Wireless Keyboards & Mice

Extending Wireless Keyboard Range

This article details how to modify commonly available wireless keyboards and mice for long range operations typically suited to home theatre entertainment systems.

I have a home theater system made up of a rather nice sound system, a projector and a computer with a television tuner card, DVD player and of course a decent amount of hard drive storage. Everyone who has a computer media box knows well that this is the future of home entertainment, but the downside is that its difficult to impossible to get a wireless keyboard and mouse that work anywhere in the room - particularly when the media computer as it is in my case is located for noise reasons in another room. I have spent countless hours and quite a large amount of dollars searching for a long range keyboard and mouse combination suitable for use with multimedia systems, and the bad news is that no matter how much you pay, regardless of whether it’s Bluetooth or not, wireless keyboards and mice just won't cover the entirety of an average room.............unless you modify them to do it!!!!

Solving this problem has taken a very long time and you just won't believe how simple and cheap the solution is. Before I continue, I have to let you know that this is not a joke. I have tested these methods and they each work. I am using my modified long range wireless keyboard to write this how to.

I have tested this method up to thirty metres range with a logitech multimedia wireless keyboard flawlessly.

There are two ways to extend the coverage of your wireless keyboard and mouse. Both work well and both are well worth experimenting with. You may find that either works for you, or a combination of both. In each case it is only necessary to modify the wireless keyboard dongle that plugs in to your computer to extend the range of your wireless keyboard.

Method 1 - NO TOOLS REQUIRED

Survey the area that you want to cover with your wireless keyboard and mouse - you will need to run a wire around the periphery of that room

Purchase some wire to cover that area. The wire can be nearly anything. I have tried wire types ranging from extension cords and telephone cords to enameled copper wire strands. The latter works best.

Lay the wire around the edges of your room, leading at one end to the wireless keyboard dongle, leaving about two metres of slack at the dongle end to work with

Male a few tight turns of the wire around the outside of the wireless keyboard / mouse dongle (the number of turns may vary, so experiment with this)

Test it out firstly using the keyboard and mouse near the wire run, moving outward to test your coverage area. You will find that you can move up to a metre and a half from your wire, and that the wire length can be quite long.

Method 2 - SOLDERING REQUIRED

Open the case of the wireless keyboard dongle
On the printed circuit board, identify the tracks that act as the "antenna". You can identify these because they tend to form symmetrical and obvious shapes on the PCB as though they are designed to form a component of themselves (which they are), rather than simply making electronic joints between components. They will often look "coiled".
Identify a solder point near the antenna
Solder some very fine wires about a metre long to the point that appears to be closest to a large sized component.
trim the length of, and adjust the position of the wires for best range. Expect to be quite savage with the trimming. If you trim too far, solder new ones on and start again.
Spread your antenna wires from their centres so that they are horizontally polarised, with their broad side facing the direction that you want them to work in - they are not very sensitive off their ends. Experiment with positions for best effect