Hello, I’m new to Meshtastic and this is exactly the kind of thing I’ve been looking for.
I’m pretty much clueless on the hardware side, I’m just interested in building super long range low bandwidth applications.
What would be my best option for the longest range I could get omnidirectional? I’m trying to keep my total build price below $50 if possible, but I’m just not familiar enough with this boards or LoRa to really know what I’m looking for. I’d gladly spend more per board if the payoff was worth it.
My end goal is to have a mesh devices at many nearby family members houses. I’m in a very urban environment so that might be an issue, but for my family members this is great.
I’d like to be able to mount this outside, but I’ll worry about that after I’ve gotten a couple I can work on myself.
Thanks for reading, I’ll make an introduction soon and likely be an active member in the community.
Before we can begin to offer suggestions we need to know what region / device frequency you are in / using.
Unfortunately inexpensive antennas are notorious for over promising and under delivering. An antenna that is tuned to the proper frequency and checked my the manufacture / seller will cost significantly more.
Some people have gotten lucky with some of the longer ducky antennas compared to the ones that come with most devices. But without a VNA you don’t have a easy/quick/reliable way to test how good of an antenna you have.
Antennas are incredibly finnicky things and small changes can have big impacts.
The good news is this project works well even with the stock antennas. But if you are looking for the best range you will need a VNA and test or build your own.
This is what I got and it seems to work well. I prefer the PC interface.
I am in the US, so I’d be in the 915 area. The only other devices I have near that range is a cheap RTL-SDR and a cheap ham radio, neither of which would really help.
I’ll like at a VNA, I just need to decide if I can justify the expensive. Maybe if I find one with good wifi analysis as well.
If you’re looking for a VNA, I purchased the new Plus4 model as my first, and I’ve been very impressed with it: https://www.tindie.com/products/hcxqsgroup/4-nanovna-v2-plus4/ Sign up to be alerted when they’re back in stock, and pounce when you get the email - they sell out quick!
Honestly, a nanoVNA may be the best investment, as it allows you to test/tweak your own antenna builds in terms of SWR - I found that one of the antennas that came with one of my T-Beams was horrible and losing around 3/4 of the power sent to it! If you’re looking for an inexpensive off-the-shelf high-gain rubber ducky omni antenna for 915MHz in the US, I’ve been quite happy with the Superbat that @jefish noted in this thread: Antenna improved range - #62 by eriktheV-king
It looks like a good option, assuming the vswr chart is accurate.
Please note, this has 3ft of low loss cable. Similar antennas have have 9+ feet of cable that is -.3db per foot at 900Mhz! Way too much loss for these low power devices.
I’d order one and test it but I’ve spent my project budget for the month. Maybe later.
Tindie seems to be the real option. Most of the stuff on Amazon & elsewhere is clones that may or may not be the same quality as the original. Not clear if hardware is open source, but at least some of the software is. I’m sure some of the clones are decent & some are garbage, but rather than figure out which I’m waiting for a v2 plus4 off Tindie.