© 2019 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. We discuss the cavity modes and radiation pattern in solid state terahertz (THz) sources based on layered high-temperature superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi-2212). We experimentally measure the emission spectra using the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer in order to elucidate the radiation mechanism of the mesa samples. Moreover, we experimentally study the angular dependence of the emission intensity obtained in one mesa's plane at the frequency f = 0.61 THz, at various detection angles θ by rotating the sample holder relative to the detector, to identify the excited EM cavity modes within the mesa that participate in the device output power enhancement. We modelled the mesa cavity and find a relatively good agreement between the experiment and theory. Our results show that compact, coherent and continuous-wave Bi-2212 THz devices are one of the most promising THz sources, capable of bridging the microwaves to photonics gap.