Most of the time everything works fine, but in some cases where the signal strength is really bad (-113dB RSSI) I have an increased frequency of device lockups (issues with Particle.process, seemingly) that require an external watchdog firing to correct. While that’s mostly acceptable for my application, the less of that that happens the better. I also want some extra margin for potential worse use cases in more remote areas.
Possibilities / Requirements
Both Internal / External antennas ok
Can put an SMA connector through enclosure
Mains-powered, so active options ok
Must be wall mountable with adhesive
Must be higher gain than current antenna in relevant bands
Directional antennas not ideal but possible if benefits strong enough
Has anyone been using higher gain alternatives to the Taoglas antenna? I’ve been researching and having trouble finding antennas with meaningfully higher gain (especially avg gain) in those bands. I’m about to just order a whole bunch to test and I’d love to hear what you’ve been using or the results of any research you’ve done. Thanks in advance!
Relevant Posts I’ve Found Electron Antenna Options - Product link is dead, minimal information Electron Antennas - Has the link to the Taoglas antennas, but as mentioned, I’ve looked through them all and the current one seems to be about as good as the best of them (or within 0.5dBi avg gain in the relevant bands at least) Electron in Outdoor Application - suggested antenna appears lower gain than current one Recommendation for a antenna upgrade, or signal booster - Most helpful so far, on of the antennas ordered has 1dBi higher gain for GSM 850 band but same for 1900. There was no follow-up/resolution
Antennas I Ordered to Test
I’ll be testing the following antennas next week, but would still love to hear of any others any of you may have used! I’ll update with tentative results next week.
I don’t think many people have gone down this particular road since the Electron+Antenna system had to be tested together, so if you change the antenna, you will have to go through testing and certification again. And as you found out, the provided and tested antenna is really very good.
Another approach is a cell site booster. These are often used in large buildings, sports arenas, etc. but also in rural settings. You can get the “home” models for 3G for around US$160. Wilson, weBoost, SureCall are some brand names to search for.
Yeah, I’m aware of the testing and certification implications - definitely not ideal, but I want to make sure I have the option on dock if it becomes necessary as a make work.
There’s always the option of telling the customer that their only option is to run a booster from outside or not use our product, but other options are significantly more appealing from the customer standpoint, certification challenges aside. I want to make sure I understand any potential magnitude of benefit so that I can weigh it against the certification expense.
My impression has been that boosters would be of minimal impact if the antenna was in roughly the same location of my devices. That said, probably worth buying a few and putting them through their paces just in case for that too. Thanks for the recommendations on brand names - a helpful reference!
The boosters have an external antenna (generally provided with them) that you mount, say, on the outside roof your building. Then the unit goes inside with the other antenna that retransmits the signal wherever you need it, in say the basement.
I mentioned this option because if the location for the Electron is such that a regular cell phone doesn’t work there (like a basement or thick walled building) then these are really the only option.
@bko Thanks for the reply. I’m familiar with the use case for the booster antennas and the way they normally function. I was simply referring to possible alternative ways of using the booster antenna since it is likely a stretch to require some customers to install a booster antenna externally for a variety of reasons. I agree that it’s challenging to get good signal in those scenarios, which is why I have been trying to better understand alternative antennas at the location of the device. Thanks again!
I found that the Taoglas TG.30.81131 gave me a benefit of about 3-5dB RSSI as measured with Cellular.RSSI over a period of about 16 hours. The max/min distribution scaled consistently, no change there.
None of the other antennas (except for the other varients of that same Taoglas one) gave any significant improvement.
For me, that wasn’t significant enough to warrant the extra cost in certification hassle for the time being, so I’ll be sticking with the stock antenna.
If you need a flexible antenna for some reason, the Antenova seemed to work ok, though slightly underperformed the stock Taoglas.
I also tested several antennae myself (mostly from Taoglas), for use-cases where they’re inside metal enclosures. The stock antenna of the Particle actually is really good; the TG22.0112, TG22.0222, GSA.8822 and FXUB66 which I tested didn’t really perform any better. Better in this case probably would require an antenna not comparable at all price-wise to the PC104.
The only downside I see to it is that it’s not as compact as some other products, and as a result can be a bit clunky to tuck away on some product designs.