Do I need an aerial to use Sigfox

[martin golding]

Hi

On the FiPy board are there any internal aerials for Sigfox or Wifi/Bluetooth or do I have to have a external ones connected?

Is there a external one that fits inside Pycom cases ?

thanks
martin

[livius]

@Gijs
i see that it is listed
https://docs.pycom.io/firmwareapi/pycom/network/lora/#app

in Sigfox it is only less visible
https://docs.pycom.io/firmwareapi/pycom/network/sigfox/#quick-usage-example

[jcaron]

@martin-golding Sparkfun recently added this internal antenna with u.FL connector: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/17841

I’m a bit doubtful of an antenna claiming to have an extremely wide frequency range of 700 to 2700 MHz and a gain of 8 dBi for a patch antenna, but given the ridiculously low cost, it probably won’t hurt trying it out...

[Gijs]

We have it listed on this page: https://docs.pycom.io/tutorials/networks/sigfox/ and here https://docs.pycom.io/datasheets/development/fipy/. Let me know where you found the stub of text, and I'll make sure it gets rectified!

Gijs

[robert-hh]

@livius No. When if comes to RF properties, Sigfox and Lopy are identical. You should not run SIgfox without antenna.

[livius]

As @robert-hh mentioned only internal antenna is installed for wifi and bluetooth.
And for Sigfox you not only should but must use an antenna.
As any radio transmitter using it without antenna could damage your device.

I see in the docs warning only for LoRa:

Please ensure that there is an antenna connected to your device before sending/receiving LoRa messages as improper use (e.g. without an antenna), may damage the device."

but for me it should be also included for Sigfox too. If i am wrong someone correct me.

[robert-hh]

@martin-golding For SIgFox you need an external antenna. The internal one is for Bluetooth and WiFi.
You have to look for antennas in the 868MHz band. There are chip antennas available for that frequency, but they come as raw SMD component. I did not find a small one with U.FL connector which could fit into a case.
I have a short WL/4 one, only 4 CM long plus 10 cm cable. The gain should be low, but it could fit into the case. It came with a heltec board. So you could look at aliexpress for it.