// antennas

Antennas, range and power

With LoRa the antenna often matters more than the board itself. A better antenna and a better setup usually pay off more than extra transmit power. Which boards work as an RNode is listed on hardware. Radio settings for ReticulumNet are on LoRa.

Antenna types

Type	Gain	Pattern	Suitable for
Stub / rubber duck	0-2 dBi	Omni	Bundled with boards, testing
1/4 wave ground plane	2-3 dBi	Omni	Fixed stations, simple to build yourself
Collinear	5-8 dBi	Omni	Fixed stations, best overall coverage
Yagi	8-15 dBi	Directional	Point-to-point links, maximum range
Dipole	2 dBi	Omni	Compact, good for indoor/portable

Your antenna needs to be tuned to your frequency. For Europe (868 MHz) you use an 868 MHz or 900 MHz antenna. Most boards have an SMA connector; smaller boards have U.FL/IPEX, for which you need a pigtail to SMA.

Note: never transmit without an antenna. A LoRa radio without an antenna (or with a poorly tuned antenna) can permanently damage the radio module.

Range per environment

Environment	Range	Notes
Urban, indoors	0.5-2 km	Buildings absorb the signal strongly
Urban, rooftop	2-10 km	Line-of-sight helps a lot
Suburban	5-15 km	Mix of clear and obstructed path
Rural, flat terrain	10-30 km	Almost line-of-sight
Hill to hill	20-50+ km	Clear view, height advantage
Mountain top	50-100+ km	Extreme range with a directional antenna

Improves range

Higher placement (height is the biggest factor)
Higher-gain antenna
Clear view to the target
Higher TX power (up to the legal maximum)

Reduces range

Buildings, trees and terrain between nodes
Indoor placement
Antenna not tuned to the frequency

Transmit power

TX power is set in dBm. Doubling the transmit power gains you only ~3 dB, slightly more range. A better antenna or higher placement almost always does more.

dBm	Milliwatt	Use case
2	1.6 mW	Very short range, battery saving
7	5 mW	Short range, low power
14	25 mW	Fast preset
17	50 mW	ReticulumNet default (EU max)
20	100 mW	Almost maximum
22	160 mW	Maximum for most boards

Regulations

LoRa operates on ISM bands: unlicensed but regulated. Check the rules for your country before you start transmitting.

Region	Band	Rules
EU (ETSI)	868 MHz	Sub-band duty-cycle limits. Configure conservative airtime caps.
EU	433 MHz	Duty cycle limits.
US (FCC)	915 MHz	Power/channel rules. Duty-cycle is not the usual constraint here.

For EU 868 MHz, Reticulum uses conservative airtime caps and limits transmissions automatically. You still have to check the exact sub-band, antenna gain and power rules for your country yourself.

LoRa settings → Hardware