I’m on a budget and i’m looking to mount a node on a pole in my back yard. I have access to a 3d printer, i have soldering skills, and i’m okay with buying individual components and assembling them myself. I’d like it to look nice but it doesn’t have to if that keeps costs down.
The first goal is reliability, i won’t be able to easily access it once it’s up. The second goal is cheap, i’m on a fairly tight budget. It’s possible the device might be in wifi range where it’s mounted so that would be a nice bonus.
The opposite of scared me, i’m more interested than ever but i think that antenna would put the whole project out of my price range at this time. Whatever i pick will be out in rural country side, rolling hills and plenty of trees, and will be mounted up on a decommissioned wooden telephone pole. Would a beefy antenna make enough of a different to justify being added?
I once did a connection between this, on the top of the hill:
and a SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000-E, on the roof of the tall office building, 40km away, under the ideal conditions.
However, it wasn’t until I’ve installed the proper RF filter and this monster of an antenna that the connection became reliable in the nearest city and even villages >50km away.
So you can absolutely start small, and if the need arises, upgrade later.
The higher gain the antenna the more narrow, straight out horizontal, the signal will be.