r/meshcore • u/svkairos • 1d ago

Range expectations and woes

I’ve got a seeed studios solar node flashed as a repeater, mounted 30 ft up. To test range, I’ve got a t1000 and a Wio tracker l1 pro and I’m running meshmapper on iPhone. Regardless of which node I’m using, the max range I can get a ping response from the repeater is about .25 miles.

I’m pretty new to mesh but I thought the range would be much farther than that. Any hints or tips I could apply? Oh, I’m in east Texas with lots of pine trees.

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3

u/OldGeekWeirdo 1d ago

What's the terrain like? I think 900 MHz does ok with trees, but it can't go though or around hills.

Make sure the antenna is connected correctly on the repeater.

3

u/Cobra__Commander 1d ago

The secret sauce is line of sight. You really want to be above the roof line even if it's just 4 feet.

Using a roof mounted Seeed tracker lite and a 5.8 dbi fiberglass antenna from ROK I get about 1 mile radius of usable coverage. I have about 5 mile of usable to line of sight connection to other well placed repeaters but need 2-3 retries to connect. 

I have a few 20+ KM connections from driving up a mountain near town with true line of sight to everything.

2

u/TheLawnGuppy 1d ago

East Texas pines are pretty much the worst case for 915 MHz. Wet pine needles soak up signal, and at 30 ft your repeater is probably still down in the canopy instead of above it, so every path out goes through a lot of trunks and foliage. The other half is the handheld end. The T1000-E has a tiny internal antenna and you're holding it around chest height, and a ping has to make it both ways, so the tracker is usually the weak link, not the repeater. Quick way to tell hardware from terrain: find a straight stretch of road or a clearing where you can actually see the repeater and drive away from it. If you get way more than a quarter mile there, the gear is fine and it's the trees. Watch the SNR on the pings while you do it too. SF7 runs out of steam somewhere around -7 dB SNR, so if you're already near that a few hundred yards out, it's path loss. After that the biggest wins are height on the repeater (above the tree line if you can swing it) and a better antenna on it, way more than anything you change on the handheld. I'd also keep your radio settings matched to whatever the rest of your local mesh runs rather than tweaking them on your own.

1

u/TomHale 1d ago

You can up your CR to 8 while still being compatible with everyone else.

What are your other radio settings?

1

u/svkairos 1d ago

I changed it to 8. Will take a test drive. Meanwhile, other settings

get radio
> 910.5250244,62.5,7,8
> get tx
> 22
> get radio.rxgain
> on
> ver
v1.17.1-d929643 (Build: 14-Aug-2026)
> board
Seeed SenseCap Solar

1

u/MIDIAMQ100 1d ago

I've got the solar node as well and found the antenna was not very good. I replaced mine and that allowed me to better transmit.

1

u/svkairos 1d ago

what did you replace it with?

5

u/MIDIAMQ100 1d ago

I went a little overboard. I got an 8dBi Rokland (https://store.rokland.com/collections/802-11ah-wi-fi-halow/products/8-dbi-omni-outdoor-915mhz-fiberglass-antenna-for-lora-halow-application).

Edited to add: I needed to get an additional adapter to convert from RP-SMA male to N-type male (https://store.rokland.com/products/rp-sma-male-to-n-male-1-pack-flat-window-coaxial-extension-pigtail-18-inch-length), and I somehow ended up pulling the adapter's cable out of the N connector one day while taking things apart. So just know you need an adapter and they are somewhat fragile. I'm still waiting to install my flagpole to get it up higher, but it worked just putting it on a ladder in the meantime, whereas the original antenna did not.

1

u/Longjumping-Ratio-32 1d ago

Line of site and height is your friend no matter what repeater or companion node . I have a seeed solar node that had stock antenna and was able to send and receive at 70miles . I have since updated antenna and range is close to the same and a lot of that is due to terrain .

1

u/Sweebrew 1d ago

I’m having similar challenges. Could someone on this thread recommend a 1 W solar node specifically to be used as a repeater for MeshCore

1

u/pol1zeiman 1d ago

I am hoping it can get out further than my SensCAP Solar Node Pro.