Direct mount antenna bad idea?

pe1mew
Tue, 03 Feb 2026 09:15:57 +0000

Intrigued by your case I studied again your introduction to the thread and stumbled over this:

BombayBill:

a classic case of Near-Field Interference

I concluded myself that I am a bad reader too.

Bringing electronics close to the antenna is not always advisable, it largely depends on the quality of the electronics design regarding EMC/EMF compliance. Although I have had positive experiences with RAK gateways, I cannot comment on their EMC/EMF performance specifically. However, near-field interference could be a contributing factor to your degraded link performance. It can desence your gateway receiver.

Without a conclusive root cause analysis, which may not be straightforward in your case, a practical quick fix is to lower the gateway by a few meters, keep the antenna at the top of the mast, and use several meters of good-quality coaxial cable. This approach may yield satisfactory results and help identify whether the issue originates from equipment at the top of the mast. While it may not fully resolve the underlying problem, it is a reasonable step toward troubleshooting.