I just got my first two Meshtastic devices configured and tested. The range was pitiful, less than 1 mile. I set them up as many YouTube videos suggested. I am pairing then two Heltec v3 with Android devices. My area of testing is a suburban area with trees and very few hills, definitely not line of site, with trees and houses, but I was still under the impression that i could reach my desired distance of 4-5 miles. I left one in the windows of my 2 story house and took the other in my car.
How far should these devices go in this environment?
This is a huge disappointment as this is even less distance than FRS radiosā¦
Any suggestions or verification expected distance would be helpful.
Thanks
For UHF comms the variation between the distance you can get in an Urban area and line of sight situation can be as much as 2000:1, same comms settings, radios, etc.
And given that non-line of sight situations vary so much, its quite possible that 1 mile is all you can expect.
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Yeah thatās disappointing, no different than my handheld HAM or GMRS radios without repeaters. Man, that is sure not how everyone talks about these on YouTube. Guess i could get better antennaās and put one up on my mast, but if I cant get 4-5 miles out of them they are useless to me.
I think will probably just return them as I donāt have the time now to try and make these work.
Thanks for the input, appreciate it.
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OK, so if you reduce the power of your āhandheld HAM or GMRS radiosā from a maybe normal 5W perhaps, to the 10mW used by a typical LoRa setup, what range\distance do you get ?
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agreed and i get your point, and I should have known. I thought maybe they had some tech that would extend the rangeā¦ Wishful thinkingā¦
Just grabbed a Heltec V3 brand new module and tested the antenna that comes with it
All the VSWR images I just tested with the actual antennas using a NanoVNA V2, not screen grabs of other people.
VSWR of 5.62 is about 48% of the signal is reflected = bad antenna.
You definitely need a better antennaā¦
This antenna is the cheapest I found on DigiKey, has great VSWR:
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how do you adapt the antenna connector on the Heltec to an SMA connector?
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Mesh is MESH. The technology is built on the concept of multiple nodes in a given area, forming a grid of interconnected nodes. The phrase ābuilding out the meshā is very true. Here weāve taken the approach of finding like-minded folks in an area, subdivision, farm, church, etc., and getting them set up and perhaps standardized on the models usedā¦makes help & maintenance a bit easier for the few that are called upon to be ātech supportā. 
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Indoor behind the window ā what kind of window? Low-e glass or other modern windows? Glass is likely 4dB or more of attenuation, and low-e can be a lot more.
Put the device outside of your window, the. Go out that direction.
Also default is long fast but you can try lower bitrate modes that should have a higher s/n ratio.
Best of luck. These are really very low QRP transmitters
Better antennas will help. If you have a foldable one keep it straight ( from others reviews. I have yet to get an antenna analyzer to see how bad mines are).
Like HAM itās for the love of tinkering 
Iām just back home from a bike ride with my heltec with standard antenna (not the spring one, that needs ipex-sma adapter, but the mini dipole all in a short 6cm tube).
In range testing I 've got a couple of contacts with nodes I know were reachable: 50 and 70 km away. But they are in line of sight and with Jpole antennas (~3-4 dBi).
So I can say obstacles greatly influence link feasibility. Hills stops all energy, woods absorb most, buildings can help with some wall reflection, but not more than 3-4 rebounds.
Iām sorry for your frustration, but these small things, with ridiculous electromagnetic power have something magic and leave the chance of many experiments both for software and antennas.
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I recommend a Nano VNA to test and tune your antennaās to an SWR figure to a close to 1 as possible. These 400mm antenna on AliExpress are just shy of the 869.5MHz required (Europe), so they can be trimmed to tune and I got them to 1.029 which is amazing. Superb range over 30miles and from a high hill I have achieved 58miles.
My initial experience was exactly yours. So upon an inside window alone they sat powered by a decent battery bank. I almost forgot about them. But slowly, each day more nodes popped up. From barely 1-2, now topping out between 114. Even a few maritime vessels and light aircraft. My advice, keep them on and keep the faith.
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