Multi-Beacon Network

One beacon is a signal. Several beacons in a valley are a network, with all the coordination problems that come with it. This page is the planning for a beacon network that does not step on itself.

The core problem

Two beacons on the same channel in the same area collide: their bursts overlap, and receivers hear neither. The solution is planning, because the firmware has no collision avoidance by design (see Firmware TX Scheduler).

Channel planning

Beacons	Plan
1 - 2	Same channel is fine if intervals differ
3 - 5	Different channels, 25 kHz apart minimum
5+	A proper frequency plan (see Frequency Planning Examples)

Interval staggering

Even on the same channel, two beacons with different sleep intervals (10 s and 11 s) drift apart over time and rarely collide. The firmware supports per-beacon intervals precisely for this trick. Combined with repeat counts, staggering makes the collision window small.

What each beacon transmits

Beacon	Payload
Each one	Its own identity (name/callsign)
Each one	Its own coordinates
Optional	A group identifier in the message base

The identity field is what turns a pile of beeps into a network: receivers can attribute each burst to a person. See Config Payload Format.

Verification

Deploy the network, then walk the area with a receiver or SDR and log which bursts arrive. A network that works on paper but collides in practice is a planning failure caught at the wrong time; the Outdoor Testing page has the procedure.

Related pages

• Multi Beacon Planning for the planning sheet
• Frequency Planning Examples for the channel table
• Multi Beacon Operations for field operations