Ranges of Radios

[jamesmc86]

Hi Guys,

So pleased to see this sight! I've been itching to put some stuff like this together and so cool to see there is a community to do it.

I had questions about ranges. I see the sub-GHz radios are apparently much better for range but they also seem to cost more and harder to find a UK distributor. My question is how far can I get away with.

I want to set up a couple of temperature sensors around the garden. The longest run from the house is probably about 80-90'. Do you think that forces me to the sub-GHz radios?

[mfalkvidd]

Welcome to the MySensors community @jamesmc86 !

Radio range is very hard to predict. It depends on so many factors. But the cheap nrf radios generally have a range of 10-50 meters, so 30-160ft. That can be extended by using better antennas, better location of the nodes and the gateway, power amplifiers and repeater nodes.

If you are not in a hurry, order a few and see what range you get. You can use @AWI's connection quality meter to test the range.