meshtastic/website/docs/settings/range-test-plugin.md

id	title	sidebar_label
range-test-plugin	Range Test Plugin Settings	Range Test Plugin

Overview

This plugin allows you to test the range of your Meshtastic nodes. It requires at least two nodes, a sender and a receiver. The receiving node then saves the messages along with the GPS coordinates at which they were received into a .csv file. This .csv file can then be integrated into Google Earth, Google Maps - My Maps, or any other program capable of processing .csv files. This can enable you to visualize your mesh.

:::note Once settings are changed, a reset is required for them to take effect. :::

Settings

Setting	Acceptable Values	Default	Description
range_test_plugin_enabled	true, false	false	Enables the plugin.
range_test_plugin_save	true, false	false	If enabled, we will save a log of all received messages to /static/rangetest.csv which you can access from the webserver. We will abort writing if there is less than 50k of space on the filesystem to prevent filling up the storage.
range_test_plugin_sender	integer (Seconds)	0	Number of seconds to wait between sending packets. Using the long_slow channel configuration, it's best not to go more frequent than once every 60 seconds. You can be more agressive with faster settings. 0 is default which disables sending messages.

Details

While a minumum of two radios is required, more can be used. You can have any number of receivers and senders that your mesh is able to handle. You can test having a single sender with multiple receivers or a single reciever with multiple senders. Let us know on the forum thread the results of your configuration.

Be sure to turn off either the plugin configured as a sender or the device where the plugin setup as sender when not in use. This will use a lot of time on air and will spam your channel.

Also be mindful of your space usage on the file system. It has protections from filling up the space but it's best to delete old range test results.

:::note Leaving this plugin on can slow down your mesh. Currently, the messages are sent using the same TEXT_MESSAGE_APP port that all other messages are sent on. :::

Accessing your CSV

Connect to your device over WiFi, either using the software access point or WiFi Client. Then navigate to meshtastic.local (or your IP address) /static/rangetest.csv where your file will be available for download.

http://meshtastic.local/static/rangetest.csv
http://198.168.0.X/static/rangetest.csv

Recommended Sender Settings

Radio Setting	range_test_plugin_sender
Long Slow	60
Long Alt	30
Medium	15
Short Fast	15

CLI Examples

meshtastic --set range_test_plugin_enabled true
meshtastic --set range_test_plugin_sender 60

meshtastic --set range_test_plugin_enabled true
meshtastic --set range_test_plugin_save true