Antenna and Signal Range Factors

What determines your repeater's range

Several factors interact to determine how far your repeater can reach. Understanding them helps you make better placement and hardware decisions.

Antenna height and line-of-sight (most important)

This is the dominant factor by a wide margin. Higher placement gives more line-of-sight coverage. Even a few meters of additional height can meaningfully extend coverage. Use terrain analysis tools to identify locations with the best natural line-of-sight before committing to a deployment.

Antenna type and gain

Omnidirectional antennas

Standard for general-purpose repeaters. Higher gain concentrates the signal horizontally, increasing range but reducing coverage of areas directly below. For most repeater deployments, 3–6 dBi omnidirectional antennas provide a good balance.

Directional antennas (Yagi)

Best for linking two specific points across a long distance. Directional antennas can achieve dramatically longer range in one direction but provide no coverage off-axis. Useful for point-to-point relay links, not general area coverage.

Antenna and cable quality

Upgrading from a stock antenna to a quality external antenna is often one of the highest-return improvements available. Use short, low-loss coaxial cable (LMR-200 or LMR-400) between the radio and antenna. Long cable runs with cheap coax can negate antenna gain improvements.

LoRa modem presets

Meshtastic provides nine preset modem configurations. Each preset is a named combination of Spreading Factor (SF), Bandwidth (BW), and Coding Rate (CR) that determines the tradeoff between range, data rate, and airtime:

Preset	SF	BW	CR	Data Rate	Link Budget	Notes
Short Turbo	7	500 kHz	4/5	21.9 kbps	140 dB	Not legal in all regions
Short Fast	7	250 kHz	4/5	10.9 kbps	143 dB
Short Slow	8	250 kHz	4/5	6.25 kbps	145.5 dB
Medium Fast	9	250 kHz	4/5	3.52 kbps	148 dB
Medium Slow	10	250 kHz	4/5	1.95 kbps	150.5 dB	Recommended for dense networks
Long Turbo	11	500 kHz	4/8	1.34 kbps	150 dB
Long Fast	11	250 kHz	4/5	1.07 kbps	153 dB	Firmware default
Long Moderate	11	125 kHz	4/8	0.34 kbps	156 dB
Long Slow	12	125 kHz	4/8	0.18 kbps	158.5 dB	Not recommended for regular use

Higher link budget = more range. Higher data rate = more network capacity and less airtime per message.

Choosing a preset for your network

The most important rule: match whatever preset the rest of your local network uses. Nodes on different presets cannot hear each other, even on the same channel name.

• Check with your local community first. Many regional networks have standardized on a specific preset. Check local Discord servers, forums, or network maps before deploying.
• Long Fast (firmware default) — widely used, works well for sparse networks and rural deployments. Good starting point if no local standard exists.
• Medium Slow / Medium Fast — increasingly common in larger networks (60+ nodes). Faster data rate reduces airtime collisions in dense areas while still covering similar distances. The Meshtastic Bay Area network (150+ nodes) uses Medium Slow.
• Long Slow / Very Long Slow — maximum range, but much lower throughput. Can cause network congestion at scale. Not recommended for regular deployment.
• Short Turbo — highest throughput, but not legal in all regions. Verify compliance before use.

Transmit power

More transmit power increases range up to the legal limit. In the US, FCC Part 15 rules allow up to 1W (30 dBm) conducted power and 4W (36 dBm) effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP). If you use a high-gain antenna, you may need to reduce conducted power to stay within the EIRP limit. Meshtastic's default settings are compliant for standard antennas, but custom high-gain setups require calculation.

Interference

Other devices operating in the 902–928 MHz ISM band can reduce effective range. If you suspect interference, try changing the channel frequency slot within the band and comparing performance.