RAK4631 Repeater Missing Packets From Nodes With Weaker Signals #1209
Description
Good afternoon,
I have a RAK4631 repeater in a rural area - it does not see much traffic (a few messages/day) and serves several nodes with weak signals.
After the last firmware update, it seems like the repeater has to receive a packet from a node with a strong signal (eg: a node close to the repeater) before it will "wake up" and be able to hear/process the other more distant nodes with weaker signals.
If a weak signal node tries to send a message without the repeater having been "woken up" it times out. Similarly, if a weak signal node sends a packet within a couple of minutes of the repeater being woken up, the repeater will process it with no issues.
I work with radios a lot in my professional life and this feel like maybe a power saving issue? Like with the newer firmware update the repeater is going into some kind of a power saving mode until it gets "woken up" by a strong signal? (that is all just a guess based on seeing similar behavior in other radios in the past)
Either way, the inability for nodes with a weaker signal to now reach the repeater reliably is causing issues for them as I am the only repeater within range of them.
Is there any way that whatever this new behavior is can be disabled? Maybe a hidden CLI option or something? Or do I need to downgrade?
Thank you all for any help or advice you may be able to offer!
Edited to include that the repeater in question is running FW v1.11.0