Mistakes to Avoid
Do NOT power on your node without an antenna!
Very self-explanatory, just don't try it! It could short out your LoRa chip and make it bricked forever.
Avoid MQTT Downlink
When you turn on MQTT Downlink it will flood the network with packets from MQTT, greatly reducing network preformance. In addition, you are defeating the purpose of having an off-grid mesh network. It will publish every message sent from uplink back onto all the nodes which makes them potentially unusable. Please only keep uplink enabled on the Primary channel!
Mount antennas upright and use short cables
Having your antenna in a vertical position at the highest possible level is the best case. Also, small adjustments such as keeping the cable connecting the antenna to the node as short as possible will help. Keeping the cable vertical and not bent to the best ability will ensure you get the best connection possible.
Avoid sketchy batteries
18650 Batteries are very common in Meshtastic builds for their large capacity and rechargability. They are lithium-ion batteries first created for use in laptops. Many fake or misleading manufacturers will sell batteries that are way above their capacity. Stick to name brands like Samsung or Panasonic. A big hint that a battery is fake is if the weight is under 40 grams.
Pay attention to SMA cables
Make sure when purchasing SMA cables and adapters, you check the gender of the antenna and cables you're going to use. Failure to check this could result in causing permanent damage to your node which could make it totally unusable.
Do not use stock Lilygo or Heltec antenna
Using the stock antennas from Lilygo and Heltec devices will result in a massive performance loss because of their very high SWR ratings. The lower SWR the better. We recommend checking out this GitHub repository for choosing the best antenna for your node.
Set up an admin channel for remote nodes
If you are deploying a node that won't be easily accessible, we recommend setting up the admin channel so you can control your node through another node wirelessly. Instructions for this are available here.