So I wanted to open this topic up because it seems like all the threads on antenna discussion are pretty old. Basically I am hoping to see if anyone can recommend a good bundle or individual links to antenna’s that work best for the LimeSDR mini V2.
Not to over think specific use cases but this came up for me because I am looking at what to buy and there are a ton of options. I’m currently developing a suite of pen testing tools to use specifically with the LimeSDR mini V2, my python skills are decent but my antenna knowledge is slim to none so I’m hoping to be educated on good options from people that actually use this stuff. I have a general telescoping antenna and it sucks.
If my searching skills suck, please link a relevant thread.
Thank you in advanced.
It’s not so much a question of antennas which work best for a particular SDR, but rather instead the frequency band and application. The main characteristics of an antenna are:
- Which frequency band(s) they are tuned for and bandwidth
- Radiation pattern and gain
- Power handling
Regarding 1, you could have a simple stick/monopole type which is reasonably wideband or tuned for a specific band or bands and has improved performance.
Radiation pattern might matter if you needed a highly directional antenna, so that you could target a device at distance and limit picking up or radiating to those outside the the desired path.
Power handling meanwhile is unlikely to be of concern unless you have an RF power amplifier for transmit. Though if you are transmitting at all, beware of “active antennas” which include a (receive) amplifier.
What may be of concern though is RF filtering, particularly if you are operating in a noisy environment and/or over a long link distance, as things like cellular and broadcast radio etc. might act as blockers, given that the SDR receive front-end is wideband and not tuned to some specific band.
So you see, asking “what is the best antenna” is a bit like asking “what is the best food”. The answer to which is invariably, it depends.
I suppose you’re right and I did anticipate an answer as such but my goal was to get the conversation going so I appreciate the dialog. Lets get to specifics so I can make sure I am getting the correct equipment to get appropriate results.
Uses:
Scan 2.4ghz wifi and bluetooth bands.
Scan for AM and FM bands and pipe audio *(just like sdr++)
Scan all sub ghz bands and manipulate them - limited to practical bands like 315mhz and 433mhz since they’re the most common
Scan cellular bands - no idea what exactly yet but keeping it legal and only receiving.
I’m still thinking about what I’m going to add but overall those are probably the main ones. I
And now I’m hungry.. what food is best? - okay sarcasm doesn’t translate via text but I’m making a funny.
If you’re just scanning 2.4 GHz, sub-GHz and broadcast etc., then you can probably make do with just about any small antenna that has an SMA — regular, not reverse polarity — connector.
If you want to receive things over a greater distance, then you might want an external antenna. These start with higher gain omindirectional ones (usually just a vertical and maybe some radials), then move on to directional ones which have a lot more gain, but then you have to be able to move/point the thing.Though both of these are likely to be tuned to one or a small number of specific bands.
The best general purpose (not band-specific), omnidirectional outdoor antenna would probably be something like a “discone”.
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I forgot to add 1090mhz for ADS-B.
Noted, I will look into that, thank you.
