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Bigger ain’t always better

when it comes to antenna choice

My quick dive down LoRaWAN antenna choices and why bigger ain’t always better, “Recently” (loosely used term as i ordered in March) ordered a Bobcat300 miner since its delivery on June 24, 2021 its been earning on average 1-1.5 HNT per day.

Looking at miners around me like Radiant Emerald Aardvark seem to making double me but are registered with a 1.2dBi antenna at 0 meters (sounds like a Next Next Next Finish kina job). So I have bit the bullet and ordered

And The AliExpress equivalent at a higher 8dBi

I’ve read many articles on height and terrain for optimal antenna dBi Id suggest going to read this page but TLDR;

Diagram Showing the Radio wave direction

As you can see, higher gain is not automatically better – it depends on the application. If you don’t intend to point your antenna in a particular direction, then you don’t need much gain, this also applies to height, meaning you may miss closer peers to reach less further away, so there are trade offs to be considered.

You can see my stats here and if im right about bigger aint always better

Published inHeliumMining

2 Comments

  1. Hi Koen, Thanks for taking the time to reply, I have tested a mixture of the standard 4, 6 and 8 in the same position, even a Mcgill 6bDi vs an AliExpress 6dBi

    From my results I’ve found I get the most witnesses at a height of 6m was the 6dBi pulling in 33 witnesses, the 8 was 27 loosing out on 4 local ones and some other random ones but gaining some further afield. Then there was the included 4 dBi that managed 24 out of box (not to be sniffed at)

    Hope this was helpful

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