ESP32 Forum

I want to network a handful of devices with ESPNOW. The thought occurred to me to send the request (command) on one channel, and the reply on another. That way the master can interrupt the slaves and stop them quacking.

So can the ESPNOW listen on one channel, send on another?

Does anyone perhaps even have an example??

As you might have noticed, I am new to the ESP32, so thank you in advance.

It's technically possible to do what you write, but not what you intend I think espnow does allow associating with multiple peers on different channels. However, the ESP32 physically has only one radio, which can only be tuned to one frequency at a time. If your devices are 'quacking', it means both the sending as well as the receiving devices have tuned their radio to the common channel, and if another master says something on a different channel, they won't be able to hear it.

I wouldn't worry too much about this in the first place, however, and just tune everything to one single channel. WiFi connections, even with ESPNow, are pretty fast, and you need to do pretty extraordinary things if you manage to fill up the entire spectrum with continuous transmissions: in practice, there'll be enough holes for a master telling everyone to STFU.