Real World Meshtastic Range Test- I’m not as funny as I think I am, I know.

In this video I try out a real-world range test on a few meshtastic radios. I use a T-beam as a repeater to a couple other radios. Overall, the results are mediocre but I am happy with it considering the conditions. Tag along and maybe you will get a chuckle out of me being dumb. :)
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[@jesterking1]

for anyone interested @4:37 is when the video actually starts.

[@lunarbluesmusic]

The problem is the giant metal dome you placed the repeater next to I'd say you'd get much further on top of it at least five miles.

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

Maybe I’ll give it a shot! The foliage of the trees is definitely attenuating the signal, so it would be interesting to see how it performs. I didn’t specify in the video, but the test direction was opposite the dome. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@heikwok3870]

Good antenna and deploy good position can make range longer.

[@jakubmierzejewski961]

yep. basement is the next worst place :P

[@Thadopeera]

Out of all the videos I’ve watched on these things you have done a great job breaking down how they work..

[@kurtdobson]

A bit of altitude helps. I’ve had my node up for a week. I get connections in a 25 mile radius plus connections in Canada Florida Maine California via mesh. All this with a $1 antenna,

[@matthiasmartin1975]

The lora32 radios consume a whopping 60mA, so they only last around 4 days on a battery like that. I hear RAK based boards are significantly better at saving power. Basically, you always need a solar panel connected no matter the size of the battery if we are talking about long term infrastructure.

[@The_Comms_Channel]

True. The RAK boards are great and use NRF52 chips instead of the power-hungry ESP32 like the T-Beams.

[@dariuszmular1051]

There is no problem at all to obtain 10-15 miles on 433mhz on flat terrain, the meshtastic condition must be close to the antenna to avoid cable losses, the antenna MUST BE ON THE ROOF I use Diamond x50 and X200 but 5/8 which are small and easy to make for free on your own work very well. These original tiny antennas should be thrown into the trash immediately. I installed my tbeam 25 meters from the ground and I have coverage over half the city of 70,000 inhabitants. If you put the antenna on the roof on the other side, the whole city plus a few miles.

[@mitchman99275]

I have a Lilygo T3S3 with a 10,000 mAh battery with the device role repeater, it lasts 8 days, in the summer with solar it should work fine, but small batteries usually run out quickly.

[@mstrickk1]

"If I don't make it back from this.... you wouldn't be watching this" I am happy to report I am indeed watching this.

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

I made it! Lmao

[@guatagel2454]

"Mass produced extremely unreliable antenna". That was funny.

[@absint0o]

What is the model and brand of that tiny Lora radios?

[@CyclingSteve]

Heltec board.

[@Slay_less]

The logo is from the Ohms law calculation right?

[@eugenehuman1945]

How does it work ? Why 3 devicea needed. Does the small heltec v3 devices not create mesh all by themself with meshtastic ? Dont they repeat or relay messages on and on if more devices are within say 1km from eachother. Or must one be configged to be a repeater.

[@IntenseGrid]

My guess on the triangle came from the I=E/4 Voltage, Resistance and Current formula. I didn't see your previous meshtastic video. Where did it go? More information on those radios. I'd like a smaller radio than the T-Beam, and I've heard that there are more reliable solutions that are smaller, like from RAK?

[@MassGning-n6c]

Good evening my dear, I really liked your video and I would like to do the same test with a repeater but my question is how you configured the repeater node since it is not connected to any phone and therefore to no mesh application thank you very much

[@nutterts]

For what it's worth, I think you're funny and you made my day with the survival kit for a few mile (side)walk. 😆

[@electrocarbid]

Does someone have experianced the range of a 1:1 connection of this lora32(v1) boards? I hust bought 2 of them and they really, really disapoint me. After 30meters the signal gets lost (original short antenna). 30 meters! What did I do wrong? How far can the t-beams teansmit (1:1) in a urban environment? Thanks

[@NostraquedeoTX]

It's probably the antenna. Stock is notoriously bad.

[@TrystansWorkbench]

Great video. I have two more words too: Pencil Sharpener.

[@pfgoffical2746]

Can you link the battery and radios?

[@x81reaper]

You're crazy ! Next time u need a thick jacket :')

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

I almost froze! Won’t make that mistake again. 😂 thanks for watching and subjecting yourself to my terrible sense of humor.

[@lumpyren]

This is real ranges. people claiming they always get 20Km or more are flying balloons or doing it in a desert. There is extreme hype around LoRa and Meshtastic ranges. Real world with low end stuff like the Tbeam is about 1 mile. also the antennas you get with them are complete junk get real antennas that are tuned for the actual frequency and you can get more range. I found decent tuned antennas can make a large difference but still nothing ever like people keep claiming but when you press them find out they flew a balloon or were on open water, or in the desert/ open area with no houses and no trees.

[@Segphalt]

Just making your own diy whip or dipole will dramatically increase out of the box range. Also, a 16th floor apartment can extend range pretty nicely. As will a 45ft fiberglass extendable antenna mast. As will a nice high elevation location of your local area. Meshtastic isn't going to replace your cellphone but in the event of an emergency having the forethought of where to pre-install repeaters with redundant power could come in handy.

[@NDSMD]

Subbed! hope to see more meshtastic ops soon

[@jaredmajor6920]

Great video dude! Height over Tx power and antenna gain any day. I haven't performed a link budget, but I could almost guarantee 10 miles given an "retrans" antenna height of 100' or so. When shtf, deploy a few stable units at height for redundancy with a solar solution and you're good to operate around the area for a while if you have to.

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

For sure! There’s very few obstructions at 100’ high to attenuate the signal. I’ll bet it would work great!! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@BobBob-il2ku]

ANT-916-CW-HW-SMA $10 antenna doubles the range

[@JohnTarbox]

If you would like to see what can be done in terms of long-range checkout: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5XLiHylYpyaqJY

[@bign1667]

Wife later gets in the ladder 🪜 and disconnects the Lora 😆

[@IntenseGrid]

What is that little board on the left? I'm familiar with the T-Beam, but one that is less expensive and uses less power would be good.

[@CyclingSteve]

Heltec board.

[@ohenekojo2561]

KZbin is riddled with content creators pushing these things as the gold standard in SHTF communication. Thank you for limiting expectations.

[@TRYtoHELPyou]

You are laughing at your own jokes....... And so am I tho 😂

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

It was pretty cheesy but I had fun with it. Can’t take life too seriously! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@Doug557]

I must admit I laughed as well. When you said you aren’t being sarcastic I believed you for a minute then stopped again. In all honesty your video was informative. What radio and repeater did you use ?

[@Free_Born]

The repeater is great. Designed to be the middle man extender. So why did you put it on the top of your own house? You would have gotten another 1/4mile if you just set your wife on the roof. Try this test instead. These units BT to your phone... you don't have to have them right next to the phone. Put the lora unit on the ridge of the roof above where your wife will be RX/TX from. Make sure its on and working, and the antenna is vertical(do not use metal) tape it to a small stick or something. If you can go higher with a longer stick, thats better. Stay away form trees too. Leave the Tbeam powered off. Then do the test again. If you only get 3/4 mile this time... so what. But you now know the distance you have to set the repeater at. At least in that direction. If you had one at each compass point around your house ... maybe a few more... You would be set. When you get to that 3/4 mile distance, then look around for a high place. A tree is fine. Just don't let anything even remotely conductive be around the antenna of the unit. Its hard with a tree, I understand. Tape it to a six foot long stick, or longer, and then climb the tree until you cant go any higher. Then tape the stick to the tree. Hopefully leaving the antenna clear at the top of the tree. Something like that. Don't forget to turn it on now. Then... keep walking. You will now be able to travel a lot farther. Yeah I know 3/4 plus 3/4 is not much better than 1.1 original mile... but the Tbeam is stronger and will work farther, as well better if it is the high spot in the middle. With the Tbeam in the middle you will get at least 2.5miles, or more. And that will be in the stock config, in your tree infested hood. And that is just the start. The other thing that will make your test way better is a simple diy coat hanger antenna with small ground plane on the Tbeam, and even better a small circuit board beam on each of the other lora units. The base station should always point to the Tbeam... and the one you carry can be pointed at the location of the repeater when ever you stop. Or add a walking staff and another coat hanger ground plane antenna to the top of that. You will get all of the wife's TX's as well.... Better just stick with the beam at each end... The higher you can get the repeater the more distance it will have. You stick it under a metal.... anything. You were lucky it transmitted out of your own yard. I could tell you how to Really make the things work but you seem to want to stay more on the free to very little investment, side of this project... and none of the things described above cost anything.... maybe the .04 cents for the coat hanger... Good luck and keep uploading.

[@ghostlight69420]

mfw i explain to the authorities that my helium balloon lora radio repeater is actually just swamp gas

[@mrwizworks]

setup a T-beam as a repeater and put it on a large delta kite or tethered helium balloon, up about 300ft. Then do a range test. Oh and it can't hurt to swap those antennas out with slightly longer ones.

[@TheWingnut58]

Antennas have to be resonant to the frequency being used....and that requires that the antenna be a particular ELECTRICAL length, physical length has nothing to do with antenna performance. For best performance, use a NanoVNA to tune the antenna for your desired frequency.

[@jsbadger]

No clue how you got your logo. Just found you looking for meshtastic information. Still a fair range for inner group comms! (May i still have a couple of batteries? I mean, i DID like/comment/ AND subscribe😏)

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

It is a great range for local things and would be quite easy to expand! Send an email and I’ll add you to the list

[@zachreyhelmberger894]

Those shadows... OMG...

[@ChairmanHehe]

"not financial advice" 😆😆😆

[@protogenxl]

Put a node on a kite photography rig so you can get it really high up.

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

Yes! I thought about a helium balloon (maybe a punching balloon, they’re bigger ) but it would take quite a bit of helium. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@fuqutube]

@@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996 Or on a drone for temporary coms window.

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

I do have a drone…… that could be a viable option. Drones can hover for 25-30 minutes these days. That’s a good amount of time!

[@fuqutube]

@@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996 Good enough to get a message through. Even a secure message like one time pad..

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

For sure. And if need be you can bring the drone down, swap batteries, and head back up

[@daveamies5031]

I just found your video and channel, while the batteries would be useful to me, I wouldn't even ask you to send them to me, because postage to Australia is painful.

[@sid35gb]

Height is king for this stuff. Also try bouncing a signal off a passenger plane ✈️

[@GamingAmbienceLive]

use a drone and put it on top of a tv transmission tower with a solar panel enclosed in a water proof container

[@Googler86]

You know when you edit sending and receiving confirmation it kinda makes the video less believable. Next time send message and show the confirmation come in with no video cuts

[@DeutschlandKanal]

youre getting lost 3 miles from your home?

[@Liberty4Ever]

5:00 - Stopped watching when you leaned the repeater antenna up against the stainless steel vent pipe. 🙂

[@angelodepalma538]

It would be nice if one of the hundreds of KZbin vids on this technology -- just one -- would present an application that someone might actually be interested in implementing. Sending 12 characters of text to a Meshtastic in the next room doesn't qualify. Hook up a neighborhood or community, then get back to us.

[@machettefreddy4170]

Velcro to top of that dome, triple your range I bet..

[@ScottBot2000]

If you are looking to sell a few batteries for a fair price, I’d be willing to buy 2-4.

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

See the email on the screen toward the end of the video, contact me through that. Thanks for watching!

[@madihanoum5213]

I found your logo come from

[@jurgen2596]

When I saw the location where the T-Beam was mounted directly on the metal, I turned it off. If you don't know anything about high frequency, etc., you shouldn't make such statements

[@jaykingsun7093]

I thought you were funny af!

[@cuttinchops]

Moist

[@jasonkelley2651]

Seriously; don't give up your day job. 😓

[@offgridwanabe]

[@phil2082]

So... Any battery life tests yet?

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

Not yet! Honestly, with the sleep mode I think I’ll need to toss one in my attic and text it everyday to see if it receives messages because I think it’ll take weeks to kill the battery. Thanks for watching!

[@phil2082]

@@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996 Thanks for posting! I hope to figure out my own LORA network soon. A friend of mine is better at programming, and I'm a mechanical engineer with a printer for the cases. I'm great with batteries after quadcopter experience, too.

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

Nice! Sounds like all of the skills are there to get going on it!