Heads up, the antennas that often come with the heltec v3 are usually not only not good, but are actually tuned for 868mhz rather than 915mhz. That being said, I get 4-5km though some forest with appropriate antennas.
this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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Yeah I bought adapters and put a WiFi antenna on and only got a little bit more range, maybe I need the proper antenna
https://meshtastic.org/docs/hardware/antennas/
I've put the gizont antennas on my stuff and I've been happy with them. I've been thinking about upgrading my stationary nodes with something nicer though. More height whenever possible will always be the best way to get more range though.
I would say get an antenna from an amateur radio store that knows antennas. Here in the United States, Rockland is a good choice.
A lot of the antennas that ship with these nodes by default are not properly tuned and therefore most of your power is not being radiated out of the antenna.
I'll second Rokland. This is a good one if you want some portability. 2.5 dBi Flex
I was about the same with default v3 antenna (1 km). Even a cheap sub-$10 one will get you 3+ km.
The antenna that comes with the heltec v3 isn't very good, you can get much better range even with a cheap antenna. I got an ilabs one for £5 and can reach nodes a about 5km away (I am part way up a hill though)
COMPLETELY different setup but same result.
Tdeck plus, no visible antenna, urban environment, 8xx MHz (EU), 1 km range, long fast.
And: hi there! :)