This is likely a basic question, but a friend and I are separated by a mountain yet each have communication with a common node on top of that mountain, via a few hops. (I can’t tell you how many, as traceroute doesn’t seem to work, or works once every 10 times for even close nodes.) What’s preventing us from seeing each other on the map? Is it the node DB limit on the devices, perhaps? Can I increase that, or is there a way I can force searching for a node based on its id, like marking it as a friend?
I had shied away from that setting as it said “Default is 3 which should be fine for most applications. Really, 3 is fine.” The built-in text sounded pretty adamant. Bold AND italic? They must be dead serious. But I can try that.
Let your node and your friend’s node be called A and B. Let the common node be C. If your information “have communication” implies that you can both message C then what follows is not useful (testing a direct message to see if both A and B get a tick when direct messaging C would be a good test of this). I would if possible approach the common node C with one node (A or B) until really close and then see if the messages get sent to the other (B or A). I find that having a node on the node list has little to do with whether a message actually gets passed to that node. Once the proximity of one (or both) nodes to the common node shows a message is passed, I would then use the same (improved?) antenna for both nodes A and B. One can use directional antennas that look like a tray shape… in case that helps. Also the node C can have an antenna that does not actually reach well the foot of the mountain and broadcasts over the top of them, in which case go further away or higher with node A and B (very counter-intuitive) - perhaps someone can confirm this? Well that is my two-pennies worth… a bit of a stab in the dark… good luck.
I was also told in a thread How long should it take for one node to report its visible nodes to another node? - #5 by adingbatponder here that one has to restart devices to get the Neighbor Info module to work…I too have found that having a node in common on one’s node lists has nothing to do with whether one actually can send messages via that node. This is particularly the case when there are large distances perhaps. What is the distance between the two nodes and the common node?
you are mixing things up here… the neighbor info module has nothing to do with this case,
that can be left disabled, could just be causing problems.
the info packets from the nodes are forwarded by the “common node” and probably some other nodes…,each node will take one hop away from the message if there are too many hops taken away, the default setting of “3” may not be enough , and so messages stop beeing forwarded (with hop=0)at some node , before they reach the friends node…
distances dont matter, as long as there is a good connection quality. that can be 20+km easily, but also only 1-2 km depending on conditions…
so the first setting to change is hop limit, that should solve the problem
set it to 7, (The messages will be sent out with 7 hops , instead of 3) and if it works, maybe reduce to 4 or 5… also install newest firmware and android, that should show you, how “many hops away” a node is… if android (od IOS app) doies not show, you can find these information in debug … the packets contain the information, how many hops they were sent with (A) , and how many hops still have…(B) A-B=C,number of Hops used…
Thanks for the clarification. Of course hop limit must first be ok. My playing around seems to show that a node appearing on the node list has no particular meaning in terms of being able to message back and forth with that node or its neighbours via a hop onwards; whereas proximity is a good predictor. I can see nodes at 60 km distance on my list but messaging I can only do with a closer one. The neighbour info is just an extra thing, agreed, and not fundamental to the mesh passing messages. It would be nice to hear from the poser of the question as to what happened in the end in that case.
same here, many nodes my device can see but not send to…
some devices (routers) here are in very good positions with 40+km view, but are almost “blinded” by very high noise coming in on 868… these cannot receive anything from further than 5000m, but can send to 40+km,… this results in a mesh that is not fully functional as expected solution: setting up more nodes in non-perfect postions…
Suspect the ‘really 3 is fine’ comment, is dependant on your ‘goal’.
If just want to communicate within your ‘local mesh’ then 3 probably is fine.
But may need higher for more long distant contacts. But then you do have to be careful of overloading a local mesh.
Maybe it would be better expressed as ‘Try 3 and only raise it higher if you need it. Dont just needlessly raise the limit without a clear reason’. … its try to dissuade people just ‘assuming’ higher is better.
try 7 ! and then lower as long as connections work…