Range and antennas
The most common question is “how far will it go?” The honest answer: it depends almost entirely on what’s between the two antennas. Power and fancy settings matter much less than height and a clear path.
Record ranges
Section titled “Record ranges”These are records, not everyday numbers. They show what’s possible with a clear path from mountaintop to mountaintop.
| Record | Distance | Setup |
|---|---|---|
| Ground (current) | 331 km (205 mi), mountaintops in Italy and Slovenia | 868 MHz, very slow settings, RAK4631 radios, 55 cm collinear antenna |
| Ground (previous) | 254 km (158 mi) | 915 MHz, LongFast preset, RAK4631 radios |
| Air | 206 km (128 mi), to a high-altitude balloon | 915 MHz, LongFast, LILYGO T-Beam radios with stock antennas |
Everyday range between two handhelds at ground level is far shorter. Hills, buildings and even people block LoRa. Rather than trusting a single number, plan your own link with the tools below.
Line of sight and the Fresnel zone
Section titled “Line of sight and the Fresnel zone”Radio waves don’t travel along a thin line. They spread through a football-shaped region between the antennas called the Fresnel zone. If the ground, trees or rooftops cut into it, the signal weakens even when you can see the other antenna.
The radius of that football at the middle of the path is:
F1 (meters) = 8.656 × √(distance in km ÷ frequency in GHz)
For a 10 km link at 915 MHz, that’s about 29 meters at the midpoint. Keep at least 60% of it clear (80% is better). That’s why two rooftops “in view” across a city often can’t connect, and why a repeater on a hill works so well.
Antennas
Section titled “Antennas”From Meshtastic’s antenna guidance:
- Match the band. Use an antenna made for 915 MHz in the US. A mismatched antenna can leave you unable to talk to anyone.
- Gain is about shape, not power. A high-gain directional antenna reaches much farther in one direction but has to be aimed, so it suits fixed links. An omnidirectional antenna covers every direction with less reach.
- Get the radio outside. Walls absorb signal. Putting the whole node outdoors usually beats an indoor node with a long cable to an outdoor antenna, because cable loses signal over any real distance.
- Small stubby antennas often need a ground plane to work well.
- Connectors: most use 50-ohm SMA connectors. Check SMA versus RP-SMA before buying.
Community test results for many popular antennas are collected in the Meshtastic antenna reports.
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Sources
Checked on October 18, 2026.