New (6) from $27.50 Ships from and sold by Gate Openers Unlimited. Liftmaster 41A3504 Residential Garage Door Opener Antenna Extension Kit F-pin Coaxial Grounding Block,1 GHz, Single F-pin Female FREE Shipping on orders over . Allows you to position antenna outside of operator's casing for better reception and extended range 3.6 out of 5 stars #25,167 in Home Improvements (See top 100) #151 in Home Improvement > Building Supplies > Building Materials > Doors > Garage Doors, Openers & Parts > Keypads & Remotes 5 star60%4 star13%3 star8%2 star8%1 star11%See all verified purchase reviewsTop Customer ReviewsSolved my problem!Works great, as promised!Range greatly improved range of my opener Antenna with Coaxial Connection F Connector for use with Gate receiver 8" long and a protective rubber LINEAR Garage Door Openers 106604 Local Antenna F-pin Coaxial Grounding Block,1 GHz, Single F-pin Female See and discover other items: garage door opener parts, overhead door keypad, chamberlain liftmaster remote
Previous post: How To Reface A Fireplace Step By StepNext post: How To Remove A Pedestal Sink For Plumbing RepairsAlways keep a fresh battery in the remote control for a garage door opener. The remote control unit for a garage door opener works by transmitting a radio signal to the unit inside the garage. Anyone who is familiar with automatic openers may realize the remote doesn’t activate the door until you get within a certain range. If the battery is weak, the remote may not work unless you're extremely close to the opener. Improve the performance of an opener and increase the range by adding an antenna extension that you can buy online or at electronics outlets. Place a stepladder at the area of the garage door opener. Depress the tabs on the underside of the cover at the back of the unit and remove the cover to expose the antenna connection. Loosen the screw that attaches the small wire antenna at the unit and pull off the wire. Attach the wire at one end of the antenna extension to the screw and tighten the screw.
Reposition the ladder, as necessary, to run the antenna wire along the ceiling of the garage or the underside of an exposed ceiling joist toward the front of the garage. Fasten the antenna wire every 12 inches with insulated wire staples and a hammer. Attach the long stem of the provided antenna bracket at the ceiling or underside of a joist with the provided screws. Screw the end of the antenna wire into one side of the provided connection coupler at the bracket. Screw the base of the provided antenna into the opposite end of the coupler. Remove the back of the remote control unit. Depending on the style, slide off the back or remove a keeper screw. Install a new battery of the same type, such as AA or AAA, in the remote and reattach the back. Things You Will Need Stepladder Screwdriver Antenna extension kit Insulated wire staples Light hammer AA or AAA battery Tip References Linear Corp: Installation and Owner's Manual: Residential Vehicular Garage Door OperatorQuantum Garage Door Opener: Owner Installation and User Manual Photo Credits Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images Suggest a Correction
Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top I live on the 12th floor of my apartment building and the garage door is on the ground level right below me but is obstructed by trees and a ledge. I do not have line of sight. My garage door opener uses a 300 MHz RF signal. The exact model is the Multicode 3060 Remote Garage Door Mini Key-Chain Transmitter (see Amazon). Is there any way I can amplify this RF signal to open the garage from the 12th floor even though I don't have line of sight? I believe the best solution is to completely replace your current transmitter /receiver. If it is integral to the circuitry controlling the motor of the garage door opener, you can always wire the output of the new receiver across the manual pushbutton normally provided for placing on a wall inside the garage. Actually that would work out quite well since you would then have two working receivers -- one long range, and the original one would still work from your car.
So you would not have to replace all of your current remotes (transmitters). On this page you will find a number of compatible transmitters and receivers with extended range from L. A. Ornamental & Rack Corp. The units are coded with 6800 code possibilities. They claim a minimum range of 500' which is four times what you need. One pair of transmitter/receivers (HEDDOLF EX220/HEDDOLF ER294-1K) is said to work up to 1500 ft (line of sight). The ad copy says: "It can receive signals thorough walls, trees and over hills." So I certainly would think it would work at 120' for your situation. And of course you can get additional transmitters for your car etc. If you are interested in a project then boosting your transmitter may be a good route. If you are interested only in solving the problem in the simplest way, I would recommend you consider a different route. Can you get internet access in the garage? Using either the building's network or a wireless access point or perhaps your vehicle?
If you can you can use a wifi based solution like this to open the garage door from anywhere in the world. I am still unclear why a person would want to do that seeing as I am usually interested in the door only while I'm in there. Would you mind elaborating on your use case? Try a cantenna or parabolic reflector first, my experence is that those transmitters are not very directional and you might be able to directionalize them enough to work with a simple reflector While I doubt you really need to open the garage door for yourself while still 12 floors up I'm guessing you occasionally have the need to open the door for a someone who is waiting outside, (like a guest or a frustrated spouse that miss-placed the extra remote - again). As mentioned in a few of these replies an external receiver antenna is likely the only practical (and legal) remedy to getting the increased range you're looking for. (Other then replacing the whole system with a higher cost extended range model.)
There are extension antennas available for some commercial brands of door openers, (see reply of mattfarley). If there is not one available for your specific brand here is a uTube video of someone breaking into their control box and soldering an extension cable directly to the antenna point. Note that this may not be the best of ideas especially if the control box is not your property. If you do go with the external antenna idea then instead of just putting the antenna outside the garage door you might consider trying to run the cable at least part way up the side of your building. An ideal location might be on an object that projects away from the building giving you the improved line of site, (for example a light post or flag pole extending horizontally away from the building). Even if you could run the antenna cable up close to your level it may be better to place the antenna only part way up since you obviously still want to operate the door while on the ground. In an ideal case if your control box does have an external antenna connector you might even try a cable splitter (cable TV type) then use two external antennas, one near the ground and the other in view of your window.
There are two basic options for you to increase signal range. Boost the transmit power Even if possible, this will be difficult since the circuitry doesn't look configurable. It's possible that the transmitting IC has its output set by external components, but this would be uncommon. It would take some studying... Use a directional antenna on the transmitter and/or the receiver. In your case, there is no easy way to attach a better antenna directly to the circuitry. You are left with using a passive reflector, such as the homebuilt parabolic reflector mentioned by @Sam. On the other hand, you may be able to modify the antenna at the receiver. At 300MHz, the antenna will be less than a half-meter long. Possibly there is simply a wire hanging from the garage door opener? If so, try to stretch it out horizontally. This will maximize reception from above. The problem is that you're trying to transmit through eleven floors of building. Is the receiver only for your personal garage door, or is it common for many tenants?
Its possible that you could simply extend the receiver's wire antenna to be positioned outside of the building. Then you may be able to activate it from a window or balcony. This is sketchy - the antenna will not work as well if you modify it. But it may work well enough that it functions with line-of-sight, even though it's nowhere near as efficient... There are basically five parameters that can improve the range of a radio link. At risk of destroying the remote, I would try cracking it open, googling the ICs inside and seeing if it can be run at a higher supply voltage. Even running it a few volts higher, while staying in spec, should produce significant gains in power. This is more than I can address. Not much to do here without redesigning the receiver. I thought this was silly until I googled it. It may be worth noting the make and model of garage door opener and looking for an antenna kit like this one at Sears for Craftsman models Garage Door Opener Extender Kit.
Of course to get the most out of it, it shouldn't be mounted so there is a concrete wall or metal roof between the receive antenna and your transmitter. Reduce noise, increase SNR Some obvious things to watch for might be fluorescent/LED lights or other electronics near the receiver, but without spectrum analyzer it could be hard to know if there is an interfering signal. Has anyone considered making an Amplifier using an Op-Amp? driving your signal through a long Antenna (Like the ones you find in old walkie talkies). You need to amplify the signal somehow, that is for sure. and as you are using an RF transmitter already, i can't see why it is not possible to amplify a signal you already have at hand, with some external circuitry. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google Sign up using Email and Password Post as a guest By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service. Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged rf or ask your own question.