# Realistic Range and Coverage Expectations

## Realistic Range and Coverage Expectations

Understanding realistic range helps you plan deployments, set expectations with community members, and know when a link will or won't work. The numbers below are based on real-world community mesh experience.

### Direct Link Range (No Repeaters)

<table id="bkmrk-environmenttypical-r"> <thead><tr><th>Environment</th><th>Typical Range</th><th>Limiting Factor</th></tr></thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>**Urban (street level)**</td> <td>1 - 5 km</td> <td>Buildings blocking line of sight; multipath interference</td> </tr> <tr> <td>**Suburban (rooftop-to-rooftop)**</td> <td>5 - 15 km</td> <td>House heights, trees; rooftop placement dramatically improves range</td> </tr> <tr> <td>**Rural (ground level)**</td> <td>5 - 15 km</td> <td>Terrain, vegetation</td> </tr> <tr> <td>**Rural (hilltop-to-hilltop)**</td> <td>20 - 50+ km</td> <td>Primarily limited by earth curvature and Fresnel zone clearance</td> </tr> <tr> <td>**Flat terrain (North Dakota, Great Plains)**</td> <td>15 - 30+ km even at modest height</td> <td>Minimal obstructions; terrain is primary advantage</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

### With Mesh Hops

Each repeater hop extends coverage. A chain of three repeaters on hilltops spaced 30 km apart extends coverage 90+ km. The mesh topology means messages can route around failed nodes as long as an alternative path exists.

### Key Factors Affecting Range

- **Antenna height:** The single most impactful variable. Going from ground level to a 10-meter rooftop can double or triple range.
- **Antenna gain:** A 5 dBi external antenna vs. a PCB trace antenna provides roughly 3x effective range improvement.
- **Spreading factor:** Higher SF (e.g., SF12 vs. SF7) increases range ~4x but reduces throughput ~16x and increases time-on-air proportionally.
- **Terrain:** Line-of-sight clearance is critical. Even a small hill between two nodes can reduce range from 20 km to 2 km.
- **Vegetation:** Dense forest canopy attenuates 915 MHz signals significantly. Summer foliage can reduce range compared to winter.
- **Buildings:** Each wall the signal passes through attenuates the signal. Inside-to-inside through multiple walls can reduce range to under 1 km.

### Planning Conservatively

For emergency planning, use these conservative estimates:

- Inside a building: assume 300 - 500 m reliable range
- Outside in urban area: assume 1 - 2 km reliable range
- Rooftop with external antenna: assume 5 - 10 km reliable range

Actual coverage may be better, but plan for the conservative case. Use MeshMapper wardriving to measure actual coverage once deployed - real measurements beat estimates every time.

### Use Coverage Planning Tools

Before deploying, model your site with:

- [heywhatsthat.com](https://heywhatsthat.com) - radio horizon from a specific location
- [nodakmesh.org/tools/node-planner](https://nodakmesh.org/tools/node-planner) - topo + satellite with live node visibility
- [radiomobile.pe1mew.nl](https://radiomobile.pe1mew.nl) - advanced RF propagation modeling