[GCARC] =?gb2312?B?Qm9vc3QgWW91ciA5MTUgTUh6IE1lc2h0YXN0aWMgUmFuZ2UgqEMgSGFuZHMt?= =?gb2312?B?T24gWWFnaSBBbnRlbm5hIEJ1aWxkIFBhcnR5IKhDIFNhdCBEZWMgMTM=?=

[Jon Pearce]

If you¡¯ve been playing with 915 MHz LoRa Meshtastic nodes and are disappointed with how few stations you can reach, you¡¯re not alone. The little rubber-duck antennas that come with most dev boards are truly awful: low gain, horrible SWR, and because they¡¯re omnidirectional, half your precious milliwatts go straight into the wall or back into the room when you set the radio on the windowsill (the usual ¡°high¡± spot in the house).
There is a cheap and very effective fix: a lightweight 5-element Yagi that gives you ¡Ö7 dB of real forward gain pointed out the window and an SWR around 1.8:1 or better across the whole 902-928 MHz band. That seemingly small 7 dB is a 5¡Á range increase in one direction, potentially enough to turn ¡°punch through¡± trees and houses and finally start seeing the rest of the mesh. These are based on the Hackaday article that I showed at a general meeting several months ago and were heavily modified by Chris AD2CS, adding a suction cup mount to allow fastening the antenna to the window among other mods.
We¡¯re holding a group build for this antenna:
915 MHz Meshtastic Yagi Antenna Build Saturday, December 13, 2025 ¨C 9:00 AM W2MMD Clubhouse

  *   Parts kit cost: only $15.00 (we¡¯re buying in bulk)
  *   Everything is provided ¨C 3D printed boom, elements, coax pigtail with SMA, hardware, and a suction-cup/window bracket so you can stick it on any window or hang it on a wall
  *   We¡¯ll measure, cut, drill, hammer, solder, and test ¨C you¡¯ll leave with a fully working, tuned Yagi
  *   Typical build time is about an hour or so; plenty of experienced builders will be on hand so no one gets stuck
  *   This is one of the highest ¡°bang-for-the-buck¡± upgrades you can make to a Meshtastic setup

Registration and $15 payment is now open here: https://registration.w2mmd.org/wpregp/915-mhz-yagi-antenna-build-registration/
Deadline to sign up is THIS WEDNESDAY December 3, 2025 (so we can order the right amount of materials).
Note - if you can't come but are interested in the antenna let Chris or me know - it's possible that we can make kits available for home assembly.
73 de Jon WB2MNF