# The BIG and SMALL ANTENNA topic part 2

**URL:** <https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/the-big-and-small-antenna-topic-part-2/15419>\
**Category:** Hardware\
**Created:** [June 28, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/the-big-and-small-antenna-topic-part-2/15419 "2018-06-28T21:03:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 147

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**Author:** ![hraftery](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/hraftery/32/36350_2.png) [@hraftery](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/hraftery)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/the-big-and-small-antenna-topic-part-2/15419/147 "2019-02-19T22:24:03Z")

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Coincidentally I performed a similar exercise as [jpmeijers](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/jpmeijers) original [catalog](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/the-big-antenna-s11-catalog/15782), but for the 915MHz band. The apparent poor performance of off-the-shelf antennas caused quite a stir on LinkedIn.

Here are the version one results, with the antenna mounted on the VNA just like jpmejiers did. I believe that’s a good indication of performance in most typical configurations, where you screw the antenna directly to the electronics enclosure.

![00%20am](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/uploads/default/original/3X/3/6/36fb90b3d551fc4e8294a7a27ceb686182d6fede.png)

Here are the updated results with the antenna connected through 50cm of cable, mounted on some non-RF active material. I believe that’s a good indication of what happens if you take the ground plane away, as would be the case when you’re mounting the antenna externally.

![13%20am](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/uploads/default/original/3X/e/6/e69082264d1f02c8198b2c1324f6df3c876638e4.png)

Hmm, the previews aren’t very clear. Here’s some links to the originals: [Antennas.pdf](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/uploads/default/original/3X/e/4/e403537b99ceafd43d7bcee5047f6f580d8782da.pdf) (2.0 MB) and [Antennas with 50cm cable - smaller.pdf](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/uploads/default/original/3X/f/d/fd99b0e9bae0da06924ce0e3e99054e142fdffd6.pdf) (398.0 KB).

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