Read this in Digi Doc:
The radiation pattern for the whip antenna is similar to that of a dipole. That is to say, it
is shaped like a donut. Thus, the performance of a module using a whip antenna, is
relatively insensitive to its orientation in the plane that is perpendicular to the whip
antenna. On the other hand, the radiation pattern of the chip antenna is not as uniform
as that of the whip antenna. Therefore, certain orientations will achieve better
performance than others. As our evaluation was performed, the orientation was
selected to achieve the best performance. …
After reviewing Table 1, we can make several important observations.
• The whip antenna has a range advantage over the chip antenna, but only outdoors.
• The XBee-PRO can achieve more range than the XBee.
• The XBee-PRO and XBee both achieve more range outdoors than they do indoors.
I have read some posts which suggest better indoor performance with whip over chip, but this text suggests no difference (seen by them). In terms of actual experience do people find that whip does lead to an improvement over chip in doors?
I should really understand the antenna orientation descriptions so sorry to ask, but… using whip (1mw) if I have communication between rooms on the same floor then both vertical is better right? And if I have communication between floors the both horizontal is better right? How deep is the donut (or is that a stupid/unanswerable question)? So say I have an average house and one upstairs at the front and one upstairs at the back and they don’t seem to see each other, that may be just something to accept (at least at 1mw).