Issue:
Range too small… ~350m with 5.8Dbi antena on rooftop of city
Setup:
RAK7249 868 EU 5.8Dbi
LoRa® Server:
Details: very disappointed with range of the gateway.
I can only get 350m in urban area. When move around with LORA client to check range.
so i must be doing something wrong, some tips to get better range?
have ADR in lora client so SF gets hight after some time… it will probably get better range with that? i the Client stay in same position?
Hello @Daey Can you double-check your antenna connection to the Gateway? Also what LORA client do you mean? Model, antenna, settings?
I use this for testing.
I Will double check Devi of antena … i think its the normal 3Dbi thats that type of board uses…
I get 14db in rak7279 log when receive data
ADR on
I Will double check the antenna connection, no pig tail cable. But i think the antenna are connected ok
40,9658855, -7,2579037
The position of rak7249
Antena are at ~15m outside in pole on rooftop.
I Will try to remove LoRa antena and re fixes firmly segure the SMA, with tools like suggest
I have connection with 0snr or even negative snr
at 350m radius (with test client show above)
I understand that position of gateway are not ideal, i Will try to move to Higher location … like 30 or 35m
…but it doesn’t seems good to me, 350m range, even if the rooftop are not ideal. . And i see many posts with similar problem…
Seem like a pretty low-rise area, that is, you are not surrounded by skyscrapers! So you should be getting a good range.
There are many parts to LoRaWAN that can cause issues, some you read about on the forum which are usually resolved once the problem is found or the person fixes it and tells no one.
As well as checking all the connections, is there another device/node you could use just in case there is an issue with the Heltec module?
Thanks for reply,
yes i understand that problem are post on fórum… but not the solution.
I Will try in the Next days with another node client
If range didnt get better… i probably try gateway in another location.
Also, some data from the packet logger of the Gateway will give us some clues 
Ok thanks for reply…
close to the gateway … i get RSSI (~) -30 and SNR above 12 (14 when close to gateway)
seems normal to me
when go away from gateway, RSSI go down very quick… to -120
in this log im going away until 250m of the gateway
It would really help if you had another node of a different brand which you could compare.
Also make sure you really have an 868 MHz version of the node hardware, and aren’t telling a 915 Mhz version to operate at 868 MHz where the RF networks are mis-tuned. Nothing in a node “knows” what frequency the surrounding circuitry was designed for, so it will quite happily try to operate on the wrong band if you tell it to.
Note also that you are using only relatively fast spreading factors 8 and 9. As I understand it, in EU868 you have all the way up to SF12 available - each step doubles airtime which has a power and capacity cost, but it does increase range.
Ok… i change gateway position… gateway are now at the top of city. Nothing above.
I can now get sinal at +2Km, i didnt test more coverage (i dont need it) … its mutch better, i have all of the node position with coverage …
maximum range of nodes are 1.8Km… most are in urban.
so… the position of gateway are really important. In my case, higher position have completely different results.
Hi Daey,
I would install four RAK7249 gateway and I would have some guide to find correct position, heigth and antenna type. May you please support me in some way?
Thanks.
Kind regards.
