📖 Start Here — Network Planning Guide

This book is for people designing and managing community mesh networks - coverage planning, RF propagation, node placement strategy, monitoring, and advanced configuration.

🚀 What's Your Goal?

• Planning coverage for a new area: Start with Coverage Planning Tools Overview
• Optimizing an existing network: Start with Building a Mesh Network Dashboard
• Placing new repeaters: Start with Repeater Placement Principles

📚 What's In This Book

Coverage Planning

• Coverage Planning Tools Overview
• RF Coverage Prediction Tools - Heywhatsthat, Radio Mobile, etc.
• MeshMapper Wardriving Guide
• Field Testing and Coverage Verification

RF Propagation

• Urban Propagation
• Forest and Vegetation Propagation
• Mountain and Complex Terrain
• Water and Coastal Propagation
• Link Budget Calculations
• RF Propagation Planning Tools

Node Placement

• Repeater Placement Principles
• Coverage Radius Estimation by Terrain Type
• The Repeater Grid Approach for Urban Coverage
• Designing for Redundancy

Channel and Frequency Planning

• Frequency Coordination and Channel Planning
• Meshtastic Channel Number Selection Guide
• Operating Multiple Channels on One Network
• Multi-Zone Network Architecture

Network Monitoring

• Network Health Dashboard Setup
• Automated Alerting for Node Failures
• Building a Mesh Network Dashboard
• Using meshmap.net and Community Maps
• Mesh Network Capacity and Congestion

RF Tools

• Using an SDR for 915 MHz Band Analysis
• NanoVNA Guide for Mesh Antenna Work

➡️ Related Books

• Antennas & RF - Antenna fundamentals and testing
• MeshCore Repeaters / Meshtastic Repeaters - Deploying nodes
• Starting a Community Mesh - Community and governance side