How can I increase the communication distance for the ANTSDR E200

[lingyan98]

Hello OpenWiFi team,

I am currently running an OpenWiFi setup using an ANTSDR-E200 (one AP and two Clients). I am using standard Multi-band 4G/3G/2G Monopole Antennas, but I am experiencing extremely short communication range—packets drop if the distance exceeds roughly 0.3 meters.

I would like to extend this range to at least 1–2 meters for my lab environment. I have a few questions:

Antenna Compatibility: Since I am using multi-band cellular antennas, could the impedance mismatch or gain at 2.4GHz/5GHz be the primary bottleneck?

Hardware Gain Settings: Are there specific txpower or FPGA-level gain parameters in the OpenWiFi driver I should adjust for the ANTSDR hardware?

Recommendations: Do you recommend a specific high-gain antenna (e.g., 5dBi+ SMA WiFi antenna) or an external LNA/Power Amplifier for this specific SDR?