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MOUNTING THE TTN GATEWAY OUTDOORS

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ABOUT THIS STORY


Posted on Dec. 25, 2018



Beginner
2 Hours

Introduction

Challenges and Solution

Building it

Testing it

Introduction


There are plenty of war stories about getting your LoRaWAN gateway outside. I wanted to share my experience, especially summarising the bits and pieces I remained unsure about after reading Going outdoor with TTN Gateway and Increase your range... here on the TTN Labs pages.

Motivation for the project: I started out with the Kickstarter edition of the TTN Gateway, featuring a 12V wall plug and the default 868 MHz stub antenna. I'm intending to share my gateway with the local community, and it very soon became evident that my range of about 100m around the house was no good for that purpose. The gateway was mounted in a large window of a comparatively tall family home, and getting an external antenna and gaining another two or three more meters by mounting it on the roof seemed the logical next steps to improve the situation. After some intense sunshine in the spring, the case of my gateway melted away, adding a further incentive to prepare the inevitable move to a more durable home.