Is ESP32C3 external antenna required (when using BLE/WIFI)?

Products & Technology XIAO
1

Can I/we damage the chip when trying to use BLE/WiFi when external antenna is not connected?

Thanks in advance

2

I don’t think so. The only risk you take is that it won’t work.

3

the signal strength for BT without the antenna is reeeeeeal crappy, ive had to use them

4

Hard to say. I depends on the transmitted RF energy. For BLE you should be safe, for WiFi it’s different, even if the energy is still not huge. You know when you try. I never run a transmitter without the right load… When it’s not the antenna, it’s a load termination. But these seem not to exist with U.FL connectors. The minimal antenna I would add is a 3cm long wire to the middle contact of the U.FL connector as a provisional wavelength/4 antenna.