The FX-951 is a pretty good station but the interface is garbage. I have an old Weller I use for quick solders on large components it heats up really fast and temp doesn't drop on big ground bars but doesn't have any temp control so you have to just feel it with the trigger.
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Hi guys,
I am sharing my expirience as someine might find it useful.
Special thanks to @lewis.heidrick for advising and supporting.
8 hours after installing the external antenna this is where I am at (I know it should even be better in a couple of days).
This is my setup:
- My house is a 250 Sqm facility, 3 levels, made of (mainly) concrtete walls, full and heavy wooden doors, big glass windows with aluminum roller shades covering most of them.
- 48 Z-wave devices, most of them Fibaro (double swich, double relay and roller shutters), 6 Aeotech range extender 7, and some NeoCoolcam motion sensors and plugs.
- All but 3 devices are sitting inside the house and 3 are located about 5 meters from the outside walls.
- Replaced the original antenna with a 3dbi 868Mhz (EU Z-wave) antenna
- Took away the zigbee original antenna (I do not think this is important buy it happened).
- Nothing else was changed, including hub location, devices, etc...
- Ran a full z-wave repair once and 3 specific repair for 3 devices.
Highlights after 8 hours:
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Lookin' good! It can take a while for some devices to let go of their old routes but give it some time and it'll eventually clean up. If you're impatient you can trip the circuit breaker for whatever devices you want to reset for about a minute and see if it will find its way back to the hub.
I noticed mine cleaned up itself from nearest to farthest from the hub as they direct connected, further devices started lookin to see what was goin on.
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And the colors... I just can't.
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LOL I don't care for the color either but if it gets on my nerves enough I can just paint it.
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Actually I have one under my porch, 100+ year old house with 12+ inches poured concrete foundation. The hub(C7) is in the basement, on the other side of the thick concrete wall, about 20feet away from the repeater, hub reports LQI of 253. Hey it's 8 bucks and seems to be pretty good for how tiny & affordable it is
Up to 77 devices now from my original 49! That's 74% of devices from an original 47%. This has made my zwave sooooo much better!
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Mario Bros inspired. And yes, kinda bright and cheesy.
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And I thought an antenna was "just a wire", but dam it is very complex
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I uttered this first in the late 70s... "I hate analog." And it's still true to this day.
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It's almost more a black art than a science imo! 
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It’s “just a wire” in the same way a computer is “just a bunch of 1s and 0s”
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I did this mod over the weekend and so far so good. Just like @lewis.heidrick all but a few of my devices now pair directly to the hub. The few devices that don't pair directly are far away or devices behind masonry or concrete. Prior to the mod, only about %20 of my devices paired directly. The general responsiveness of devices appears to be quicker, especially for triggered automation's with multiple devices.
The soldering was pretty straightforward. Solder wick to remove the old antenna solder would have been useful. I ended up melting one U.FL connector, was glad to have extras. Before putting things back together I used the continuity test on my multi-meter to make sure I had good connections to all three pads points and the U.FL connector.
Anyone ordering the HG905RD-RSP antenna, L-Com has the HG905RD-1-RSP which is the same specs and antenna but is sourced differently so as not to incur the tariffs and is about $20 cheaper.
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FWIW, the HG905RD-RSP and HG905RD-1-RSP have slightly differing specs. If I had to speculate, I would guess that the -1 variant is intended as a replacement version.
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Cool, here's the response from L-Com when I emailed them:
"I was updated and the only difference is the HG905RD-1-RSP is the non tarriff version as these are made in two different warehouse locations. Other than that they are the same fit form and function and produce the same rf patterns. Either one will do the job but if wanting the more budget friendly version then the HG905RD-1-RSP would be the better option"
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I want to do this, and I have the experience (and the tools) to solder it. But I only have a single C-7, and am worried about damaging it. It runs so much of the house. I wonder if I should to buy a spare before attempting this.
So in total, this will cost: $45 (with shipping) for the two antenna, $12 for the parts at Amazon
... and $128 (with shipping) for the backup C-7 for piece of mind.
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Let it be your Christmas present to your wife.
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Especially if you have Hub Protect, this would seem like a sound approach, because it will make restoring everything to the new hub that much easier.
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Dear, forget that jewelry, this is what you were really interested in!
(she's already getting a Lego Bansai Tree and lighting kit, which I'll tie to the sensors in her office to only have it turned on when she's working)
Good upsell 
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FWIW, I received the same initial answer from them, almost word for word. When I asked about the differences in the specifications, they discussed with tech support and reduced the phrasing to the parts should "function the same." 
I would guess that the antennas are made to spec by different contract manufacturers in different countries. I ordered a couple of the HG905RD-1-RSP to have a look.
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