WeatherPlus2 Board, Wifi Woes...

I deployed my WP2 board based weather station project outside the the first time today and discovered the WiFi range is extremely limited. The WP2 board must be within a few feet of the router to establish a session. So, I did a little testing....

I wrote a test sketch to set the ESP32's max tx power to its highest value and create an AP (so I could see the signal strength). I then checked the signal strength at about 1 meter. Even at highest power its only -85db at 1 meter. At more than a few meters away the signal is too weak to maintain connection...obviously not practical for an outside weather station. 

So, how do I get more practical range?



Test sketch, ouptut, and WiFi analyzer screen shot below.


Test Sketch:

#include <WiFi.h>

#include <esp_wifi.h>

int8_t power;



void setup()

{

Serial.begin(9600);

WiFi.softAP("CSCESP32", "12345678");

esp_wifi_get_max_tx_power(&power);

Serial.print("esp_wifi_get_max_tx_power(&power)=");

Serial.println(power);

WiFi.setTxPower(WIFI_POWER_19_5dBm);



}



void loop() {



Serial.print("WifiPower =");

Serial.println(WiFi.getTxPower());

delay(10000);

}

Sketch output:

19:36:45.994 -> esp_wifi_get_max_tx_power(&power)=78

19:36:45.994 -> WifiPower =78

19:36:55.965 -> WifiPower =78

19:37:05.973 -> WifiPower =78


Screen shot of WiFi Analyzer attached (AP name is CSCESP32).