rns.recipes

just back from testing my rnode setup in the field:
latop rnode at home <-> transport rnode on the rooftop <-> laptop rnode remote
that setup works fine, but only on relative short distances.
I had my meshcore node with me for comparison and have been able to ping my repeater (on the same rooftop) with zero hops, i.e. had a direct link. no chance with reticulum rnode, only when I was a few hundred meter away my announces and messages went through. What's your experience on reticulum ranges over rnode/lora? Does anyboody know which kind of modulation reticulum uses to get packages out? Meshcore uses Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS), which is said to be quite robust and effective. How about reticulum rnodes? thx!

lora is the name of the modulation used...

CSS is the classification of lora

thx.. ok, now after outing myself as a bloody lora / RF beginner.. ;)
what are the settings to play with? SF 9/10 instead of 7?
Still interested in other's experience

Could sound like the device was trying to path directly to the RNode connected laptop instead of over the transport node. With a rooftop-mounted RNode, I'd expect kilometers of range. Could very likely be something in your setup that meant the rooftop-mounted device was being bypassed completely.

If you're a beginner, I'd recommend starting more simply; you have a lot of potential error sources there, and very little information about how you actually set this up.

Start with the rooftop-mounted RNode being handled by a local transport instance in your house. Let your laptop connect over WiFi, ethernet or similar, so you have:

Laptop <- WiFi -> Transport node <- LoRa RNodes -> Field device

That should make it a lot easier for you to gauge what is going on.

Also, if you have the meshcore device on the same frequency, maybe put them on different ones. I have no idea what it would do with Reticulum packets, and might also be stepping on the spectrum due to insufficient CSMA causing you packet loss.

well, beginner when it comes to the physical layer of lora, not the reticulum (or meshcore) aspect of it. The rooftop node was definitely not bypassed, that's why I moved away from the home laptop rnode. As said, all this works as expected, eg. sending lxmf msgs to an echo bot, rnprobing the transport node etc. it's only the range that's pretty poor. The frequency is set to sit next to the local area's meshcore freqency, to avoid overlapping. Antennas are some meters away from each other, to avoid interferences.
Does anyone actually have seen kilometres of lora range on a rnode connection?
And yes, there are many factors in play, esp. topography. But I have an almost identical meshcore setup next to reticlum, so I can compare at least these. MC range is defacto kilometers, reticulum a few hundred meters. Anyway, will keep trying..

I have recently tested over 2.2km, being able to send short lxmf messages to other chat agents or to lxmd. Trying to establish a link to retrieve a nomadnet page failed though. This was direct from an rnode in a upstairs window to a handheld in a parking lot that does NOT have LoS. I have since put a standalone transport rnode on the mast at home and am about put one up a tree on a 120m ridge near home. This echoes what I have for Meshcore, so I will be able to compare them. We have a good separation with MC on 915.075 and RNS on 925.875 so hopefully not too much interference.

What device are you using?

There were reports of range problems with the use of heltec v4 as rnode. I don't know if it still is the case (or if there was a problem at all, I don't own one), but it seems like the RTNode firmware fixed the issues for some people.

CarL_PetErson wrote:

What device are you using?

There were reports of range problems with the use of heltec v4 as rnode. I don't know if it still is the case (or if there was a problem at all, I don't own one), but it seems like the RTNode firmware fixed the issues for some people.

That most probably was an issue with Heltec V4.3 boards. They changed the PA I think and it needed some adjustments. Its already implemented.

I was able to access my nomad page through LoRa over 9km or so. Heltec T114 devices, node was in the city while i was outside the city on a hill, likely almost direct line of sight, similar settings as meshcore narrow.