What antenna would you recommend?
This is a fantastic hardware setup if you want to give #Meshtastic a try. I added up all the components and this is cheaper than assembling it yourself. These RAK boards will run for days on that battery, also.
I'd say this is buy once cry once for a Meshtastic node. I can't think of anything you'd add except maybe a better antenna, and those aren't super expensive.
https://store.rokland.com/collections/kits/products/wismesh-pocket
Discussion
I've been running some cheap Amazon ones that massively improved range. They appear to be a 1/2 wave. I did check them on a NanoVNA to make sure they're actually tuned for 915 MHz, though. One of my T-Beams came with one tuned for 433, so the VNA is probably a good tool to have around.
When I get a minute I want to build a little 1/4 wave ground plane to compare to these cheap antennas.
Nice. Thanks for the tips and info.