We study the problem of evaluating the delay and throughput in networks with randomly distributed nodes. We examine scenarios wheretransmission takes place directly from the source to the destination(single-hop) or via a series of dedicated relays (multi-hop). In the single-hop case, a specific physical layer is considered based on frequency hopping and coding, and the dependence of the network throughput on salient physical-layer parameters is determined. In the multi-hop case, we derive an expression for the mean total delay from the source to the destination and derive the delay-optimal number of hops. We describe the application of these results in multi-hop networks with randomly distributed and mutually interfering routes.