I want to deploy the RAK5860 as part of a vehicle tracking device for our fleet. I need to package everything neatly in a small watertight enclosure. Can I cut the included LTE antenna shorter to fit in my enclosure?
I am using T-Mobile network, 4G LTE USA: band 2 (1900MHz), band 5 (850MHz), band 4 (1700MHz/2100MHz), band 66 (1700MHz/2100MHz) [link]
Carefully inspecting the antenna PCB indicates that the ground plane occupies the outer edge and at least 2cm at end of antenna. Could it be safely cut at the point indicated below?
If not possible to cut, can you recommend an antenna that can be deployed inside the plastic enclosure and is no more than 7cm length?
I am not an antenna expert, but imho, cut it and then throw it away.
There is a reason why these antennas are designed as they are, signal and GND parts are building the antenna together. Changing one part will change the whole antenna behaviour.
I have no proposal for an shorter LTE antenna (they are all awful large and long). For devices using the Unify enclosure (e.g. our Link.ONE), we use external LTE antennas.
I haven’t tried these personally but there are cheap cellular antenna from Adafruit that can be worth trying for your project. These should be able to cover the bands you mentioned.
