Figuring out my MeshCore repeater range
I didn’t receive any MeshCore adverts overnight, so Hazbin—my repeater in Exmouth town centre—is the only one in my stomping grounds.
But how far does it reach?
I took a bit of a stroll around town with my personal node this morning, and occasionally stopped to fire a zero-hop ping back to Hazbin to see if it could hear me.
Now, I’ll be honest: I was hoping to get better range than I discovered. It’s a built-up area and Hazbin’s only on the third-floor with a kit antenna, so it wasn’t ever going to be great, but 2-300 metres is a bit disappointing.
There’s great coverage over the town centre, so it would nice to pick up some tourists in the summer! And no worries getting into the local Co-op and Greggs. But it doesn’t get anywhere near the beach. I didn’t think to try the train station, but it’s right on that 2-300 metre boundary so I’m curious to find out — maybe on Monday?
I’m going to look into whether or not a “better” antenna would be worth the investment. Otherwise, I’m at the mercy of volunteers running up some more local repeaters.