Recommended Aerials

Hardware
1

Hi,

Has anyone had any experiances with external aerials and would recommend any?
‘
There was one message refering to damamge to the connector, in Not a big fan of the aerial socket’. But thats it as far as I can find…

Any Suggestions

Thanks

Liam

2

If you are worried to damage your connector you might want to use a pig tail and secure that keep mechanical strain away from the connector.
And in the Particle store you can find uFL WiFi areials.

3

Hi,

I was hoping to find suggestions for areials can can be easily sourced within the EU, via say RS, Farnell etc. I find ordering from America a royal pain. With shipping and customs and such it tripples the cost of an item.

Liam

4

Are you looking for a GSM or a WiFi antenna?

But Particle likes to use taoglas aerials which are also available via EU resellers.

1 Like
5

Hi,

Sorry not to be specific. At the moment I am specifically looking to improve the range of a Photon which is in a marginal wi-fi zone. Relocating the wi-fi router is not an option (its in my mothers house). So I thought I’d try improving the aerial as an experiment.

As you pointed out there are the recommended ones in the store, but they are a bit light on the part numbers, a search of digi-key which has ‘taoglas’ availability in the UK, reveals a mind boggling range of options.

Aerial design and selection is one of those black arts of electronics. Ask an expert and you will never get a straight answer. Wonder why you can never get a straight answer and you get told of the dangers of poor aerial choice either making the problem worse or even damaging your equipment. Either way you are none the wiser, give up and have burned in the back of your mind the diamond shape of a wire coat hanger on your first car, listening to the pop chart show on a Sunday evening. But I digress

I was just wondering if others out there had given it a try and what their experiences were, and what they recommend, other than the chap who had troubles with the connector.

Liam

6

Maybe @BDub could dig up the type and specs of the uFL that comes with the Photon Maker Kit and the ones sold by Particle seperately.

7

Hey @VideoLiam! Pretty much any “802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz Wi-Fi” antenna should work wonders. There’s only one FCC approved antenna for the Photon, but if you keep the gain to 2.15dBi you should be fine. https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/photon-datasheet/#fcc-approved-antennas

If you go with a higher gain antenna, you may have issues getting it FCC certified… if you’re heading in that direction. If you are on private property and just looking to extend your range with nothing between the WAP and your Photon… a high gain directional patch antenna would be the best. That said, just hooking the 2.15dBi omni directional whip/duck antenna is going to be a nice boost over the on-board chip antenna.

1 Like
8

Hi,

Ok, I’ve taken a deep breath and ordered a couple of aerials. I’ll try a few experiments and see how it go’s and let people know what I find if anyone is reading in.

Thanks

Liam

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