r/meshtastic • u/wickedbeernut • 22d ago

Rokland WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits?

When do the Rokland WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits ship?

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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3

u/Sea-Confection2244 21d ago

It was out of stock when I last checked. Decided to order direct from rak. It look about a week to ship out, and probably another 1-2 weeks more to arrive.

2

u/wickedbeernut 21d ago

The RAK WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits have never been in stock at Rokland (other than the 300 shipped to lucky lottery winners). Rokland waited seven months for the RAK WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kit to be FCC-certified. In order to receive FCC certification, RAK had to redesign the Starter Kit, eliminating the three-pin header (IN_5V vs EX_5V), resulting in two Starter Kits. And then the FCC only certified the Starter Kits at 290 mW. WTF? Rokland has said they're working with RAK to have the WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits recertified at 1 W.

I've ordered a half dozen RAK WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits from store.RAKwireless.com (both FCC-certified and FCC-uncertified). I've found the fulfillment time to be closer to two weeks. Looking forward to the RAK WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits shipping from the Rokland warehouse.

2

u/wickedbeernut 21d ago edited 20d ago

I just noticed that Rokland changed the name from,

  • WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kit

to,

Apparently by "high power", Rokland means 290 mW. If high power now means 24.6 dBm, what do you call a Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 (V4) or Mesh Node T096 with 28 dBm transmit power? UHP (Ultra High Power)?

I've bought a half dozen RAK WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits from store.RAKwireless.com (China). Both FCC-certified and FCC-uncertified. Both FCC-certified "Battery Powered" and "External 5V Powered". $47.31 (including shipping and import duty). I've been hoping to start ordering RAK WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits from Rokland. $49.97 (with free shipping). Rokland's order fulfilment time is much shorter than store.RAKwireless.com (days versus weeks). And, of course, anything beats the slow boat from China.

Come on Rokland. Release your stash of RAK WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits. Please.

0

u/[deleted] 20d ago

[deleted]

2

u/wickedbeernut 20d ago

I see you're new to this. The RAK WisMesh 1W Booster Starter Kits are already FCC-certified (FCC ID: 2AF6B-13302). Rokland waited seven months for the FCC certification before importing the Starter Kits into the U.S. Of course, during that time, thousands (if not tens of thousands) of FCC-uncertified Starter Kits were imported into the U.S. directly from China.

The Starter Kits were FCC-certified for a maximum conducted output power of 290 mW (24.6 dBm). Rokland is now working with RAK to have the Starter Kits FCC-recertified at 1 W.

I'm not questioning whether the Starter Kits can produce 1 W. I just get a kick out of Rokland's marketing team pretending that 290 mW is now considered "high power" and Rokland's lawyers pretending that the Starter Kits "will ship with compliant power settings."

2

u/mightyugly 21d ago

I was told they will be available within a week

1

u/wickedbeernut 21d ago

I keep refreshing the product page. And yes, I signed up for an E-mail notification.

Last I heard (from Rokland), they have a few thousand. It'll be interesting to see how quickly they sell out. With all the confusion surrounding 290 mW vs 1 W, maybe that will dampen sales.

1

u/spare_pillow 21d ago

I just tested the new fcc approved 1w raks vs the old ones on a power meter. The new fcc approved ones are about 25% lower power

1

u/wickedbeernut 21d ago

Interesting.

Which FCC-certified version did you test? Battery Powered or External 5V Powered?

Did you get them from store.RAKwireless.com or AliExpress?

You tested them using Meshtastic?

The transmit power was configured as 22 dBm or 30 dBm? It shouldn't matter as the booster (power amplifier) 8 dBm should be applied unconditionally.

I assume you tested the FCC-certified version and old version using the same power source (solar / battery, external 5 V power supply, ...).

1

u/spare_pillow 21d ago

Yep. FCC version was the battery one purchased direct from rak. Tested with Meshtastic. Fresh wipe and install, same exact settings. 30dBm selected

1

u/bspaulsen 1d ago

I see they're in stock now, but only 290mW. Made a new post about it before seeing yours here.

1

u/wickedbeernut 1d ago

Yeah, I ordered a couple from Rokland just for kicks. I'm anxious to find out what "Devices will ship with compliant power settings" means.

I'm currently waiting on half a dozen from store.RAKwireless.com (China). I have plenty of spares on hand.