I am new to the community and do not want to adversely affect any existing users in my area. I live on a mountain ridge with clear sight lines over a valley that houses a large town and am looking into installing a repeater on top of my house.
I do not have a location on the top of the mountain (which would give me sight lines on both sides of the ridge). I live in a remote area and while looking on a map of meshtastic devices can see 3 active nodes spread out in the valley I overlook, with no nodes on the other side of the mountain for 50+ miles.
Should I just stick with a client node? Should I find a more advantageous location to place a repeater? Is it useless because there is so little meshtastic activity in my area?
The advice given here is really great, and I agree with it. Stick with client since you can only see one side of the mountain. If you are able to get a node at the top of the mountain that can see both sides, then you can consider using router mode, but only after coordinating with anybody in the local area.