Community Antenna Reports
Index of the community's VNA-measured antenna test reports, including which stock whips to replace.
The Meshtastic community maintains an open library of VNA-measured antenna test reports: real bench data on the antennas people actually buy, including the stock whips that ship in the box. It is the best answer available to "is this $6 antenna any good?"
This page indexes those reports so you can find one fast. Every row links to the original PDF in the meshtastic/antenna-reports repository, which is where the data lives and gets updated. We deliberately do not host copies here: the upstream repo is the source of truth, and a stale copy of a measurement is worse than no copy.
Want our own independent numbers? We have swept eight antennas on the NWIMesh bench, including a standout cheap Slinkdsco waterproof fiberglass (SWR ~1.06), the directional Rokland 12 dBi AYA-9012 Yagi (SWR ~1.41), and the B&Q Station G3 stock antenna: 915 MHz Antenna Comparison (measured).
How to read these reports
Each report shows an SWR (standing wave ratio) sweep across frequency, usually with a Smith chart.
- SWR at 906 to 915 MHz is what matters. That is where we operate. An antenna can be excellent at 950 MHz and useless to us.
- Lower is better, and below about 2.0 is fine. SWR 1.0 is perfect; 1.5 is very good; 2.0 loses roughly 11% of your power to reflection; above 3.0 you are wasting real transmit power and some radios start protecting themselves.
- A perfect SWR does not mean a good antenna. A dummy load has perfect SWR and radiates nothing. SWR tells you power is getting into the antenna, not that the antenna is radiating usefully. Treat it as a screening test that catches bad antennas, not proof of gain.
- Be skeptical of printed gain. Several cheap antennas advertise gain figures that the physics of their size cannot support. The dimensions column is a useful reality check: a 50 mm whip is not an 8 dBi antenna.
- Height still beats gain. See the Antenna & Placement Guide before you spend money.
On the prices below: they are the prices recorded at the time each report was written and many are now well out of date. Use them for rough ranking only, and check the hardware page or the retailer for what something actually costs today.
915 MHz — fixed and base station
The category that matters most for infrastructure nodes.
| Manufacturer | Model | Dimensions | Price (as tested) | Recommended | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALFA | AOA-915-5ACM | 177 × 21.5 mm | $4.97 | Yes | |
| Rokland | 5.8 dBi Large Profile | 800 × 25 mm | $22.00 | Yes | |
| Rokland | 6 dBi Low Profile | 650 × 25 mm | $21.00 | Yes | |
| RAK | 3 dBi Fiberglass | 360 × 35 mm | $18.00 | Yes | |
| ZDTECH | ZD-OA-915-7NM | 360 × 23 mm | $23.37 | Yes | |
| ARC Wireless | ARC-PA0913C01 | 389 × 389 mm | $37.50 | Yes | |
| Amazon CA vendor | B0BSXWY4G3 | 300 × 23 mm | $25 CAD | Yes | |
| Amazon CA vendor | B0CLY5NPMQ | 356 × 94 mm | $29.90 CAD | Yes | |
| Taoglas | OMB.915.B08F21 Barracuda | 1474 mm | $233+ CAD | Maybe | |
| Seeed | 318020612 | 600 × 40 mm | $35.00 | No | |
| Slinkdsco | Waterproof fiberglass (B0GZ7BZ3MV) | - | - | Yes | NWIMesh VNA |
| B&Q | Station G3 stock antenna | - | ships with G3 | Yes (tuned high) | NWIMesh VNA |
Buy the tested ones: ALFA AOA-915-5ACM · Rokland 5.8 dBi · Rokland 6 dBi low profile · ZDTECH 7 dBi · Slinkdsco waterproof fiberglass (measured) · Rokland 12 dBi Yagi, directional (measured)
915 MHz — portable and handheld
Note that all three stock antennas tested came back "No". If you are running the whip that came in the box, a $7 replacement is the cheapest upgrade available to you.
| Manufacturer | Model | Dimensions | Price (as tested) | Recommended | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linx / TE | ANT-916-CW-HW-SMA | 120 × 9.25 mm | $9.89 | Yes | |
| Linx / TE | ANT-916-CW-RCS | 54 × 9.4 mm | $6.54 | Yes | |
| Taoglas | TI.92.2113 | 198 × 13 mm | $8.09 | Yes | |
| Pulse Larsen | W1063M | 195 × 13 mm | $7.04 | Yes | |
| Maxtena | MEA-915-SW-SMA | 113 × 9 mm | $10.50 | Yes | |
| CDEBYTE | TX915-JKD-20 | 200 × 12 mm | $7.55 for 5 | Yes | |
| Tenmory | TB-CSA21 | 194 × 13 mm | $11.99 for 2 | Yes | |
| GIZONT | NB-IoT | 200 × 15 mm | $4.58 | Yes | |
| Ziisor | TX915-JZ-5 | 50 × 10 mm | $2.38 | No | |
| — | Stock T-Beam whip | 180 × 9.5 mm | stock | No | |
| — | Stock T-Echo whip | 60 × 18 mm | stock | No | |
| — | Stock LoRa32 V2.1 whip | 50 × 8 mm | stock | No |
Upgrade your handheld: Linx ANT-916-CW-HW-SMA · tuned 915 MHz flexible whip
915 MHz — vehicle
| Manufacturer | Model | Dimensions | Price (as tested) | Recommended | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laird | TRA9020S3CBN | 68.6 × 38.1 mm | $48.95 | Yes | |
| Laird | MA9-5N | 406 × 20 mm | $17.15 | Yes | |
| Eifagur | ALF1880 | 350 × 80 mm | $26.99 | Yes |
For vehicles: Laird MA9-5N · Eifagur ALF1880 magnetic mount · 915 MHz magnetic mount antennas
915 MHz — internal (inside an enclosure)
For custom builds where the antenna lives inside the case.
| Manufacturer | Model | Dimensions | Price (as tested) | Recommended | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TE / Linx | ANT-8/9-FPC-UFL-100 | 39 × 15 mm | $4.66 | Yes | |
| Molex | 206764-0050 | 100 × 16 mm | $3.76 | Yes |
868 MHz (Europe)
Included for completeness. Do not use 868 MHz antennas on NWIMesh: we operate on 915 MHz, and an 868 MHz antenna is a poor match here.
| Manufacturer | Model | Dimensions | Price (as tested) | Recommended | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIYMalls | DIY0147 | 195 × 13 mm | $3.64 | Yes | |
| DSWF | DSWF-868-12dbi-37.5 | 375 × 13 mm | $3.44 | No |
Contribute a report
Have a VNA? The project takes contributions, and the 433 MHz and 860 MHz bands have no data at all yet. Grab the fillable report template, sweep your antenna, and open a pull request against meshtastic/antenna-reports.
If you would rather not deal with GitHub, bring your results to our Discord and we will help get them upstream.
Reports and measurements are the work of the Meshtastic community and are published in meshtastic/antenna-reports under the GPLv3. Manufacturer names and models are the property of their respective owners. We link to the originals rather than mirroring them, so you always get the current version.
Updated 2026-10-03