Lora/Sigfox Antenna

[Alexandre Goncalves]

I read in the documentation that you must attach the antennaswhen using Lora and Sigfox.
The questions are:
a) Is it realy safe to turn the board on without the antenna when using only the Wifi or BLE radio?
b) When do the Lora/Sigfox antenna is really necessary? When is the radios tuned on and off? Is there a command for that?
Thanks in advance.

[Alexandre Goncalves]

@d-alvrzx , thank you for your prompt response. The board isn't cheap, so I'm always afraid of damaging something...

[d.alvrzx]

1. Yes, if you are only using WIFI or BLE, then the Lora/Sigfox antennas do not need to be attached.
2. The antennas are necessary when you are using the Lora/Sigfox modules. Specifically, the modules can become damaged if you transmit without an antenna, because the signal would be reflected back into the transmitter. However, in my experience, I've mistakenly transmitted without a Lora antenna and the Lora module survives, so there's some wiggle room to make mistakes. Regarding a command to turn off the modules, I believe they are turned off by default unless you call their init() methods.