An operation channel in a multi-hop network is determined. The network uses a set of channels, and one of the nodes is a network management node. The operation channel is selected in the network management node. Then, the network management node broadcasts a channel information packet including the operation channel using all channels. The channel information packet is received in each of other nodes, either directly from the network management node or from an intermediate node that received and rebroadcasted the channel information packet. Lastly, the operation channel in each node is set according to the channel information packet until the network is formed.