Hi S,
Mine are so similar!
Including kites.
I have tricopters.
I have a reel of thin strong string for a balloon test too.
I also have a 10Mtr pole in my van.
I made a 1090Mhz
I’m also a radio ham.
I’ve chased weather balloons.
I see we are 120Km apart, so it would be good to see if we can make contact.
C.
Hi,
I received the 2x V3s today, which are 'talking to each other.
Now I want to figure out how to use one of them as a repeater between A and B.
C
A meshtastic node/device in the default ‘Client’ role should actually work as a repeater as a such. As long as there isn’t established router/repeater in the vicinity.
You can configure it explicitly as one, but in general only do that if they are actually placed in a ‘high’ or prominent location that they will actually really help with long distance routing.
A badly placed router, can in some cases hinder the network.
Long distance works, just not always ‘optimally’, sometimes it can be unreliable as discussed above.
Hi B,
Firstly, how do they repeat messages? In the amateur radio world, repeaters are quite elaborate, so the TX part doesn’t blow the RX part. Is there much delay between RX and TX?
I hope to use the repeater one, with A and B being 4 miles apart, but would like to test them first, with A and B being just out of range. Then once understood, float the repeater on ‘say’ a balloon or similar, as mentioned.
If the ‘repeater’ is left in default, and B can ‘hear’ A are there 2x messages each time?
C
Most lora chipsets have functionality to check for ‘activity’ on the channel, so that transmissions dont ‘knowingly’ crosstalk. (it can still happen from time to time, due to race conditions!)
… dont know the details, but pretty sure Meshtastic use it.
But meshtastic itself has various other heuristics to try to minimise crosstalk and packet collisions.
Lora (certainly in meshtastics use of it) is very much ‘packet’ based, discrete packets of data sent in short burst, rather than hogging the channel for long perioids.
Hi B,
Quite difficult to know what actually happens, but if you understand it, can you answer my earlier questions as clear as you can please?
Can I deduce then, that it doesn’t matter what the middle module is set to, as there will be 2x messages if A and B are to near and only one if A and B are too distant.
C
C
If A and B can reach each other, the chance is very high that the repeater will not try to relay also. This is because B will send an ACK very quickly, while the repeater will usually wait a little longer to relay. During that time, the repeater will do listen-before-talk, and when it hears B acknowledging, it won’t relay anymore.
So, the role of the middle one doesn’t really matter in this case, but if you set it in “client” mode, the chance of it repeating too soon is even less high than in “repeater” mode.
Hi G,
So, the role of the middle one doesn’t really matter in this case, but if you set it in “client” mode, the chance of it repeating too soon is even less high than in “repeater” mode.
To me this implies that it’s better to set the middle one to "client’ mode, but it doesn’t seem logical?
C
With just three nodes, it doesn’t really matter, because the ACK will be sent with almost no delay (its delay is based on channel utilization, but that will be very low with only three nodes).
However, with more nodes, if the middle node is at a very good location that provides good signal quality to nodes, it can be beneficial to set it as a “repeater”, as it will repeater sooner than other “clients”, so it ensures it’s that node that relays the packet, and others won’t.
Hi G,
My intent is to have 4x nodes: A and B with a high one at each end, So I assume it’s best to set the 2x ‘repeaters’ as repeaters, with each end set to ‘client’
C.
No, not necessarily. Note that repeaters won’t show up in the node list, they don’t transmit any packets themselves, only repeat, so you’ll also not get telemetry packets like battery level.
Furthermore, if the two end clients can already reach both repeaters, both repeaters will try to relay quite fast. There’s a higher chance that two repeaters’ packets collide than two clients’.
I would just leave them as clients unless you experience issues.
Hi G,
I’m not sure if my misunderstanding is from your writing or my reading (I do have mild dyslexa), sorry if it’s me.
Anyway If the distance between A and B is 100miles, and they are both in difficult positions, so it’s impossible to have messages between them. A has another node high in the sky called ONE. B also has a node igh in the sky called TWO. Both ONE and TWO are high enough, so they can contact between them. A sends to ONE then ONE send to TWO, then TWO which sends down to B. In a similar way to the method inhttps://meshtastic.discourse.group/u/StuartsProjects, but with fixed ‘repeaters’
If you can put simply what each node, settings are, please.
I hope this doesn’t seem too pedantic, but I want to understand clearly
C.
Well in general that shouldn’t need any special settings. Each device left as client should manage that.
The default hop limit of 3, allows A → One → Two → B (and back again!)
Of course each device will need the same ‘region’, and modem settings (eg all set to LongFast), etc, so they all talk to each other. The end nodes will need common “channel”
… 33 mile hops is kinda on the ‘upper’ limit of distance under normal circumstances[1]. But if these middle nodes are really ‘up high’, and have good antennas it will probably work. Directional antennas might help considerably, but not really suitable for the two middle/repeater nodes (ie only a/b).
[1] there are circumstances, that get longer range, under very good conditions.
Hi G and B,
Thank you both for the explanation and clarity, I have much more understanding now.
I can experiment with antennas, a bit later.
Cheers, C
