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# Rnode via bluetooth on a raspberry pi

_Help · started by Anonymous on Fri, Sep 11, 2026 11:27 AM_

Tags: RNode, Help

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## Original post

**Anonymous** · Fri, Sep 11, 2026 11:27 AM

I am trying to figure out how I would be able to connect my rnode thats probably BLE only (Heltec V4,3) to my raspi where my local rnsd runs. I did not find any documentation about it, but could it be that this is nothing that works "out of the box" with pure rnsd? I am able to connect to it via bluetoothctl, but using something liek rfcomm to create a serial interface fails. Probably because of it being a BLE only board? How would I work around this, or is there an intended way to connect the RNode to something like a pi wirelessly?

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## Reply 1

**Mark** · Fri, Sep 11, 2026 6:02 PM

Should work fine out of the box with `rnsd`, or any other program that uses RNS. In your RNode interface config, you just have to specify the port as `ble://RNode 9837` or `ble://BLE_MAC_ADDRESS`. It's all in the manual. RNode has to be paired in the OS bluetooth settings or `bluetoothctl` first, of course.

Also, be sure to use the very latest RNS 1.5.4, I *just* pushed a release with some stability fixes for re-connection when the RNode goes out of range, connection drops, and such.

If this is for a more permanent setup, for example an always-on transport instance or similar, you might want to consider connecting over WiFi instead of BLE, though. It has better range and is less susceptible to traffic drops due to interference.

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## Reply 2

**Anonymous** · Fri, Sep 11, 2026 7:08 PM

I will reconsider the manual, thanks for the reply! I must have skipped past it. But wifi sounds better anyway!

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## Reply 3

**Mark** · Fri, Sep 11, 2026 7:27 PM

Yes, there's example configuration entries for everything, including connecting over WiFi in the Interfaces section of the manual. Should be pretty straight-forward to get set up.

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## Reply 4

**Anonymous** · Sat, Sep 12, 2026 11:30 AM

Yes, I managed it easily. Why I missed the example configs is beyond me. I think I mainly look at the interface page if I look for something. Thanks anyway! Finally was able to move the node outside :)

If you want you could further mention that for bluetooth it needs to be paired first with something like bluetoothctl, but not connected with it. Might be confusing for people.

Also in the wifi commands in rnodeconf it was a bit unclear to me what AP and STATION means. It was unintuitive for me to use station to actually be a client, if that makes sense. I didnt know the proper wifi terminology. Just some feedback, maybe it helps people reading it here also :)

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