Are there ways to increase bluetooth range in reading the advertisement?

Like using and amplifier and external antenna for an android phone maybe? Assuming you cant do more on the puck then use the max transmit power

Would an external wifi antenna automatically be used for bluetooth as well, seeing that it is all 2.4Ghz?

If you've already increased the transmit power with NRF.setTxPower then yes, I guess you're going to have to look at ways to make the receiver better.

As a very low-tech solution you could make the receiver more directional by placing it in the middle of a parabolic reflector - you could google 'Cantenna' for some super cheap options.

Just using an external USB Bluetooth dongle might help, especially if you found a good one, or one that you could attach an external aerial to. No promises, but at least something like https://www.newfrog.com/p/150mbps-wifi-bluetooth-4-0-wireless-usb-adapter-network-card-with-antenna-125900.html seems to have a better aerial on it.

Otherwise if you're just on a phone you might be a bit stuck I'm afraid.

would this be credible?

https://aircable.co/shop/product/acc1614-aircable-host-xr4-19?category=4

It looks possible it'd be ok, yes... But I wouldn't want to say it'll definitely work!

We're now selling a Long Range USB Bluetooth Dongle which might help anyone else with range issues.

On the Espruino side there's also now an MDBT42Q module you can add an external antenna to

Hi. I'm hoping to be able to increase the range on the Raspberry Pi Zero that I'm running EspruinoHub on. And that should mean I can place devices further away, right?

Is the dongle being sold in the Espruino store the best option? Does anyone have any experience of it making an improvement to their range? Or are there other options?

Thanks.

I'm hoping to be able to increase the range on the Raspberry Pi Zero that I'm running EspruinoHub on. And that should mean I can place devices further away, right?

Yes, that'd be fine. Are you using WiFi? If you could disable WiFi on the Pi Zero you may see an improvement too even without a dongle, since AFAIK they have to use the same aerial.

Is the dongle being sold in the Espruino store the best option?

Probably not - but the reason I started stocking them is I found it was pretty hard to buy long range Bluetooth LE dongles anywhere.

Another option is to use multiple Raspberry Pis in different locations. It's not something EspruinoHub supports yet but it's something I've been tempted to add.

Does anyone have any experience of it making an improvement to their range?

I just did a quick test:

// standard USB BLE dongle
  c7:4b:2e:c6:f5:45  (Bangle.js f545) RSSI -54
  de:70:d9:0c:eb:86  (Espruino NRF52832DK) RSSI -57

// Long Range USB BLE dongle
  c7:4b:2e:c6:f5:45  (Bangle.js f545) RSSI -44
  de:70:d9:0c:eb:86  (Espruino NRF52832DK) RSSI -41
  c6:a8:1a:1f:87:16  (Bangle.js 8716) RSSI -68
  c8:32:c2:56:fd:aa  (Bangle.js fdaa) RSSI -66

So it's adding maybe 10-15 dBm signal strength, and seeing devices that the other one didn't. Some of that would be due to positioning of the standard USB dongle next to the PC chassis, but even so it's a decent improvement.

I'm biased though so I'd be interested to see what others think.

Thanks. Yes, I'm using WiFi currently. Maybe I can try using a separate WiFi dongle, and see if that improves the Bluetooth? I wouldn't have thought to do that. I've got a spare one I can try.

I found it was pretty hard to buy long range Bluetooth LE dongles anywhere.

I spent a while looking into it and found a couple of things on eBay, but there's no way of knowing how much, if any improvement I'll see.

I guess I'll try the separate Wifi dongle, and if that doesn't work I'll probably just get the one you're selling. Thanks.

Maybe I can try using a separate WiFi dongle

Yes, even better if you can put it on an extension cable. The Pi I use here with EspruinoHub is on Ethernet.