@skywatch while i obviously agree with the fact that i we can best change channels, i figured that while we're at it we might as well add encryption too. I don't insist on using any specific channel. I couldn't care less what channel's being used :) That said, i tried recompiling my pi gateway wih the password and one sensor to start with using #define MY_ENCRYPTION_SIMPLE_PASSWD "mypassword" (shut off all other sensors). But i'm seeing all sorts of erroneous messages coming by, the one node is showing up on the gateway as a different ID every time. I'll whip up a simple serial gateway next time i get the chance and try to use #define MY_ENCRYPTION_SIMPLE_PASSWD "mypassword" on both to see if the problem lies with how i configure the pi gateway THanks for all the input everyone so far

@stevanov Hi, I'm no MySensors guru to be sure. You started by saying you were considering a second Controller. Then mentioned two Gateways. You didn't mention what particular Controller you are using now. I've been using Domoticz for my Controller for a couple of years. Domoticz is perfectly happy to talk to multiple Gateways. I have some sensors on a MySensors radio network exposed to Domoticz through a single Mysensors Gateway. I also expose multiple ESP8266 (wifi) sensor nodes, each of which Domoticz sees as a separate Mysensors Gateway. I also have several virtual gateways collecting online data from Netatmo sensors and other online sources. You can certainly have more than one MySensors (radio) gateway if they are on different radio types (and I believe different channels). The concern is that Mysensors radio nodes must communicate exclusively with a single Mysensors radio gateway. You can't have a gateway wander around into the area covered by another gateway unless its on a different frequency, or routing may get all mixed up. It doesn't work like Wifi or cellular where connections are handed off. Your sensors won't get exposed to Controllers at all. Just one gateway for any node and multiple Gateways should be OK...at least for Domoticz. Hope I got that all right. Cheers!