You gateway can have different antennas connected. The software has to know about which antenna is configured to adapt the output power adequately.

By default, antenna type is not configured at all.

If the antenna type is not configured, most of the packet forwarders will not run.

Setting a bad antenna type will not damage the gateway.

Available antenna types

Antennas vary in two parameters : ingress protection and gain.

Ingress protection

Indoor and outdoor antennas are available. Whether it's one or the other, this has no impact on the software and is therefore not to be configured.

Gain

The gain depends on the antenna model you have. There are 4 different antennas depending on the type and the generation.

TypeLengthGainIllustration
Indoor

Small

210mm (8,27 inches) 

2dBi

Outdoor

Small

280mm (11,02 inches) 

3dBi (labelled)

Outdoor

Large

500mm (19,69 inches)

Check label (4dBi or 5 dBi)

If no label: 4dBi

On the outdoors antenna, the label is graved onto the metal connector base.

The gain has to be configured in the Manager.

Check the antenna gain

The antenna type is shown on the LoRa > Settings page, in the "Hardware" widget.

manager lora hardware antenna
BASH

Example output

4dBi antenna
BASH


Antenna type is stored at /etc/manager/antennaType

Set the antenna gain

You can change the antenna gain through the LoRa > Settings page:

Syntax

sudo manager lora hardware antenna set <2|3|4|5>
BASH

Example

sudo manager lora hardware antenna set 3
BASH