LowPowerLab Forum

Hardware support => RF - Range - Antennas - RFM69 library => Topic started by: brolly759 on July 06, 2017, 12:47:29 PM

Title: Range test- bitrate changes
Post by: brolly759 on July 06, 2017, 12:47:29 PM
I am currently testing 7 different types of antennas and I am getting mixed results which is understandable. The wire antenna is my base case and I am trying to see what is the next best thing than a straight 3" antenna. I am currently using the default Node / Gateway examples to do an RSSI test between node and Gateway in NYC under heavy concrete environments.

I have:
disabled ATC
Set to 915Mhz
Increased TransmitPeriod interval
IS_RFM69HW_HCW set to true.

What other changes can I do to increase range while doing a range test?
Title: Re: Range test- bitrate changes
Post by: brolly759 on July 06, 2017, 05:59:07 PM
Never mind, figured it out, range is better now.
Title: Re: Range test- bitrate changes
Post by: brolly759 on July 06, 2017, 09:31:43 PM
If I am not using ATC, is the default power at the maximum, ie setpowerlevel(31)?
Title: Re: Range test- bitrate changes
Post by: Felix on July 07, 2017, 10:34:40 AM
Quote from: brolly759 on July 06, 2017, 05:59:07 PM
Never mind, figured it out, range is better now.

Ok so what did you end up doing?
You started the this thread about "bitrate changes", did you change any of that?

Quote from: brolly759 on July 06, 2017, 09:31:43 PM
If I am not using ATC, is the default power at the maximum, ie setpowerlevel(31)?

Yes, at power up it's at max power. If anything changes that register, it will stay changed until a power cycle is applied or the register is changed again.
Title: Re: Range test- bitrate changes
Post by: brolly759 on July 07, 2017, 01:25:26 PM
To set to lowest bitrate here is the code I added:

  radio.writeReg(0x03,0x68);
  radio.writeReg(0x04,0x2B);

Title: Re: Range test- bitrate changes
Post by: Felix on July 07, 2017, 02:33:42 PM
Quote from: brolly759 on July 07, 2017, 01:25:26 PM
To set to lowest bitrate here is the code I added:

  radio.writeReg(0x03,0x68);
  radio.writeReg(0x04,0x2B);

Ok and what's that code doing to the bitrate?
Title: Re: Range test- bitrate changes
Post by: brolly759 on September 21, 2017, 07:14:56 PM
I didn't see this is a while. This sets the datarate to 1200 instead of the default 4.8KBPS

Setting "REG_BITRATEMSB" to "RF_BITRATEMSB_1200"
radio.writeReg(0x03,0x68);

Setting "REG_BITRATELSB" to "RF_BITRATELSB_1200"
radio.writeReg(0x04,0x2B);