Helium outdoor antennas things to check before you buy
The Helium network offering low power coverage across the world is rapidly growing in popularity. Across the world, as Helium miners are being deployed, people are looking at outdoor omni-directional antennas to optimise coverage from each miner installed.
This brief comment is going to focus on build quality.
There are quite a few outdoor antennas on the market, but selecting one with build quality good enough to be permanently installed outdoors without falling apart is critical.
Many low (and very low) cost antennas are available from online market places. Ignoring poor RF performance for now, many of these low cost antennas suffer from poor build quality or inferior materials and are unlikely to survive one average winter outdoors.
Our suggestion is to look for European-manufactured Helium outdoor antennas that tend to focus on quality materials and not solely on price. One particular area to focus on is the sheath or tube as poor materials weather and crack very rapidly leading to unit failure. A proven, durable option is an antenna with a fibreglass tube which will withstand many winter’s deployment without suffering weather or UV-degradation.
Also check the brackets/clamps that come with antenna. Are they fit for purpose? Is the antenna secure enough when mounted?
There is nothing worse than having to replace the antenna you took the trouble to install three months ago due poor survivability of the materials.
Just in case you’re interested, here is a link where you can purchase quality fibreglass tube 868 MHz antennas.