WiFi Halow 802.11ah Help - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: aaron94
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 26, 2022, 08:18:02 am
content: Hi guys,I'm wondering if there's any WiFi experts here that can help me.I'm not a networking professional. I muck around a bit with it and know some of the basics, but I spend a lot of time with rural IoT devices, sensors, etc. Stuff I wouldn't consider internet of shit. More home made solutions on a very small scale, mostly for fun using Arduinos, ESP32, etc.I'm VERY interested in WiFi Halow. Being able to use regular IP, connect directly to an MQTT server over a kilometre link, etc, is very appealing. I've been using LoRa over a private chirpstack server (Class C) and it's not the greatest.But at the moment, all the WiFi Halow gateways are only on AliExpress/AliBaba and I feel like they might still be a bit beyond me. But I don't understand the Halow standard either, I assume at the very least you need to set the country of operation so the correct band plan is used, right?I was speaking to one person on AliBaba and apparently you can login to the device via serial (no web gui apparently) and say use PuTTY and configure (via AT commands) the following:SSIDEncryptionFrequency start/endMCS (Unsure what this is, multicast?)TX Bandwidth (1, 2, 4 or 8Mhz)TX PowerRSSISo I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this. I'm not really a radio expert and had a lot of these issues setting up my LoRa Gateway. Obviously I don't want a cellular carrier knocking on my door.But can anyone shed some light, does Halow need a country setting? Should me configuring the freq start/end and tx power, rssi be enough to make it okay for use in Australia? Should I just wait until we get better gateways designed with Australia in mind, with a simple web gui with a drop down box for Countries?Just wanted to start some discussion, surely this would benefit a lot of makers doing stuff in rural applications.Thanks!I ordered one of these:https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002927477262.htmlI'll open it up and try find a serial header

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2025, 07:13:18 pm
content: Does anyone here use that in Europe? Here we have to use 868 Mhz Band not the 900Mhz one.

author: Hogwild
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2025, 03:14:35 pm
content: I don't blame you for getting confused. There are so many choices of network technology these days that it makes my head spin. Further clarifying your goals will probably help a lot.Are you sure you need HaLow for that? I'm not exactly clear on your exact wishes, (since you're not). However, have you looked into just plain old long-distance WiFi setups? This is fairly easy to set up., especially if you're in a a rural area and you want a point-to-point connection. I also think it's easier than Meshtastic. (I myself am just getting into Meshtastic, and noticed the learning curve).If you decide you want to set up a mesh with others, I would think 802.11s WiFi might be a good choice. There are many pre-existing mesh networks around the world using 802.11s mesh tech. There might be one in your area. Or you could start one.Mesh networking: A guide to using free and open-source software with common hardwarehttps://cgomesu.com/blog/Mesh-networking-openwrt-batman/#concepts-and-documentationNYC Mesh (New York City)https://www.nycmesh.net/DIY WI-FI MESH with OpenWrthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVoZppb_FR0Example video showing config. of OpenWRT for 802.11s mesh (short range)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw8ykKgVKbM

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2025, 04:46:51 pm
content: With who do you talk?