US Oregon

[sharp pilot]

Seems to be working fine

Battery is still fully charged

I think....

In full sun it has plenty of power to run the heltec directly

[dusky niche]

Nice! I hope mine will do as well!

[shadow quest]

@sharp pilot That's the panel I was looking at as well. Sun is not the issue on this side of the mountain. It's something like 300 days per year. It's the cold I worry about. We can get week or two where single digits are the high. Which limits charging ability.

[sharp pilot]

@shadow quest where is your node located?

[shadow quest]

@sharp pilot 44.276055 -121.167694 Roughly. At 3100'. It's mounted to the eaves of my house.

But the repeaters are 5000' + elevation.

[sharp pilot]

Dang. That's way up there

High enough to see to the valley over here? Probably too far...

@shadow quest

[shadow quest]

@sharp pilot Doing some proof of concept test now, but I think we'd need a node on a Pass. Either Hood or Hoodoo depending on which section of Valley. We did hit Hood from Redmond on a "stock" antenna. So maybe just one perm repeater away from connecting.

[sharp pilot]

I saw someone on hood yesterday

Well close to hood

[shadow quest]

Do you guys do any sort of public meetings? I have to head to Clackamas area in a few weeks for work.

[sharp pilot]

Not that I know of. I have only been doing this for a couple weeks.
@turbid sequoia might know more

[turbid sequoia]

Until very recently, there weren't a whole lot of Mesh People around, so no formal meetups or nets have happened that I'm aware of.

[shadow quest]

@turbid sequoia Oregon is still a very small group for sure. 45 users state wide doesn't lend to a large group.

[sharp pilot]

But our mesh is pretty good and growing fast

[turbid sequoia]

May 4th, 2023. Most of these are me 🙂

[sharp pilot]

And now. This is my view from McMinnville

And lots more on meshmap.net

[solar garnet]

My current 5 in Salem.

The repeaters will make 7 total

[sharp pilot]

👍

[turbid sequoia]

well over 100 in the metro area now.

[sharp pilot]

Yep

[solar garnet]

I have one for my back pack. One for the mobile. One for around the house and then a few hooked up through the puter for the qth

[sharp pilot]

We have 8 here in the valley

[sonic yarrow]

@vernal hull has a great temp stable LTO battery setup for both extreme cold and heat. I’m testing out a Boston Power Swing 5300 and the specs seem good on them for our environment.

[shadow quest]

I think we have 8 users in Central OR. Other than one user who added 8 nodes this weekend and hasn't responded to any longfast messages I know personally most everyone.

[solar garnet]

It takes time to figure things out sometimes

[shadow quest]

@sonic yarrow he's based out of Redmond so I'd hope they'd be suitable for our local climate.

[solar garnet]

Hopefully he becomes a dependable relay

[shadow quest]

Definitely. I may start dming them if they don't speak up soon.

[solar garnet]

I’ve had my nodes for over a year and never had anyone to connect with. Just recently the comms channel YouTuber put out some good repeater content and has rekindled my interest

Now there are so many targets in Portland that it seems like the repeaters I’m building will have a great chance

[shadow quest]

@solar garnet @sonic yarrow Looks like he's local to OR so hopefully we can bridge the State.

[silk flare]

That would be awesome

[solar garnet]

I’m trying to get another repeater sourced and put it up above mills city at 2000 feet roughly.

[sonic yarrow]

The Comms Channel and a few others have reignited the meshtastic interest. Potential civil unrest and election year has also helped fan the fire. Can barley get a product from any US based distributor. Everything state side is normally out of stock. I hope to get on on Cline Butte and this later this sprint possibly on Black Butte. That will start to bridge gaps around the cascades. I'm also tryin to get more interest within the local HAM groups because they have good repeater sites readily available.

[solar garnet]

Yep. These nodes are nothing to throw up on an amateur radio repeater tower.

I climb for a few locals so hopefully they will be interested in supporting the project

[daring steeple]

I got these pretty quick on ali. Not sure people realize they are supported. $18

[sharp pilot]

Is that the paper?

[daring steeple]

Yes

[sharp pilot]

You can also get Heltec V3's on amazon for $25, 2 day shipping

https://a.co/d/cJfxneT

[sonic yarrow]

I buy most of my stuff from the companies direct ALI pages and have had great luck and decent shipping times. Just not US based incase something goes wrong. Although RAK just refunded the product price of two antennas with horrible SWR, so it was quick and easy. @daring steeple How do you like the white paper? I like the look of the screen and the power reduction although I think they still run the ESP32 series chip which is power hungry in comparison to the NF chips in the RAK's .

[sharp pilot]

I ordered 2 RAK's on the 12th and I am still waiting for them to ship.

[daring steeple]

I love the way they look. I doubt the battery life will be that great compared to the RAK. My solar rak is still going strong. I really just got them to give to friends

It's way easier to actually read than my t-echo

[sharp pilot]

got a link?

[daring steeple]

Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out!
$17.50 30%OFF | Heltec Meshtastic Supported ESP32 LoRa V3 Series Combined Dev-board with SX1262 Chip Bluetooth WiFi, LoRa GPS Connection Mesh
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNEzLoe

[daring steeple]

I'll have pretty good line of sight across the valley from Lafayette when I put my main back up. I may try aiming a yagi that way if that doesn't work.

[hoary harbor]

Heltec v3's are still pretty easy to get .. there's a Maryland-based seller on eBay, Wildware, that keeps stocks. He said he's going to be getting more meshtatic-supported hardware in the near future. I've been purchasing v3's from him 4-5 at a time.

[bronze compass]

I have a couple on the way for my WisBlocks, so thanks for the heads-up. I plan on also making a stand-alone solar setup with a new antenna so I can hopefully punch out of this hole that is my neck of the woods in North Portland.

[sharp pilot]

I also found them on Ebay for $25 with 2 day shipping
https://a.co/d/9x37nq5

[solar garnet]

There is a Meshtastic group for pdx on Facebook now.

[sharp pilot]

I just sent a MSG on long_fast. anyone see it?

[sharp pilot]

whats it called?

[solar garnet]

Pdx Portland Oregon Meshtastic

[sharp pilot]

cant seem to find it

[dusky niche]

Sorry, don't do FB anymore...

[sharp pilot]

yeah, same.

@idle trail I got your MSG on Long_Fast

[ancient tinsel]

https://tenor.com/view/uncle-roger-king-of-flavour-gif-18146501

[sharp pilot]

anyone see my MSG on Long_Fast?

[sharp pilot]

I cant send long messages, only very short ones are making it through

[idle trail]

yeah same

[idle trail]

which one

i sent a lot of messages

[idle trail]

n

o

[sharp pilot]

I just sent a turtle emoji, you get it?

[idle trail]

no

[sharp pilot]

dang it

[idle trail]

when did you sent it

i was down by a river

for about 1.5 hours

[sharp pilot]

just sent one now

nope. it didnt go through

just went through now

[idle trail]

let me put my node back up

[sharp pilot]

ok

[idle trail]

k its booted up

[sharp pilot]

sent

[idle trail]

@sharp pilot got it

[sharp pilot]

sweet

[idle trail]

traceroutr me

[sharp pilot]

you are not in my node list 😦

[idle trail]

oh

i need to go outside then

[sharp pilot]

I just did a node reset

node DB reset

[idle trail]

did my message mention anything about a river

[sharp pilot]

I dont see any mesages from you

[sharp pilot]

oh when was that?

[idle trail]

12:21

[sharp pilot]

no

just said "Murtle my turtle" and some other test ones

[idle trail]

oh

yesterday

[sharp pilot]

yeah

will take a minute for my node DB to populate gain

your short name is MM-M?

[idle trail]

yes

did you see my hola

[sharp pilot]

Nooope

[idle trail]

sent another one

[sharp pilot]

I think we need more routers to spread the mesh

[idle trail]

yeah

[sharp pilot]

I think there are so many clients in PDX that the hop count is is not letting the packets get out

if that makes sense

atleast thats how I understand it

[idle trail]

yeah

there are so many

plus im im a VERY bad spot

im going outside

k

node is outside

[sharp pilot]

jut sent a turtle

[idle trail]

oh idk what happend

hold up

[solar garnet]

👀

[sharp pilot]

Haha

[sonic plover]

I think one of the issues we are running into up here is the channel utilization is getting pretty high. I’m normally seeing things hanging between 20 and 50%

[idle trail]

ive seen it go up to 80% once

idk how

[sharp pilot]

need more routers

[idle trail]

we need less routers in non key locations

[sharp pilot]

yes that is true

that one I put in hte hills is a router, but it links the valley to PDX. all the traffic from the valley to PDX goes through that

on another note, I have a better(hopefully) antenna coming for that node that I bought from Rockland.
https://store.rokland.com/products/10-dbi-backcountry-n-male-omni-outdoor-helium-915-mhz-antenna-48-for-rak-miner-2-nebra-indoor-bobcat-hotspots?variant=39392616841299

[idle trail]

thats expensive

[ancient tinsel]

make that money back mining helium in a remote desert

[idle trail]

lol

[sharp pilot]

It is, but it will help with connecting the valley to PDX, should have better gain than the existing one I have

[idle trail]

yeah

worth it

[solar garnet]

I’m waiting for the wisblocks and the ipex to N adapters. Then I can build. N adapters get here April 5

Wisblock are somewhere in delivery

[sharp pilot]

yeah, I finally got tracking on mine

[solar garnet]

Can’t wait to see what a local router with elevation will do

[ancient tinsel]

got tracking for my 3 kits yesterday

I received one rak package, but it contained 1 868mhz wizduo breakout board instead of 3 unify enclosures

[sharp pilot]

you get yours setup yet?

[solar garnet]

Waiting on the wisblocks

[sharp pilot]

I feel your pain

[sharp pilot]

Can you see YCM3(YamCo-Mesh03) on your node list?

[solar garnet]

I’ll go look in the Jeep in a few

[sharp pilot]

ok

[idle trail]

#notabomb

[solar garnet]

Not from the qth

[sharp pilot]

Nice!

[solar garnet]

From here. Not my qth

[solar garnet]

@lyric zephyr this is for Oregon peeps

[sharp pilot]

Is that Onyx maps you are using?

[solar garnet]

Yes

[sharp pilot]

nice

[solar garnet]

I use it for all off my offgrid maps

[sharp pilot]

yeah, my subscription expired. So I just use avenza maps for now

Onx is out of my budget right now. spending all my money on this mesh crap. plus I also use google offline maps too. just wish it had a layer for BLM lands. Thats the main reason I had Onx

[solar garnet]

I use the landowner layer on ONX to get permission for access to summits

[sharp pilot]

Yeah, thats very handy

[solar garnet]

Quiet day

[sharp pilot]

yeah, I am actually working today.... 😦

[blazing mauve]

Im building an enclosure

Should I use ip67 air vent valve, or some kind of open moisture drain?

[solar garnet]

I typically drill a small hole in a bottom corner to drain moisture

[sharp pilot]

I bought some of these
https://a.co/d/5GLCGgM

[dusky niche]

Do those have Tyvek or something in them?

[sharp pilot]

I have no clue. I just drilled a hole an put em in

[solar garnet]

Interesting

[blazing mauve]

Thank you!!

[sharp pilot]

👍

[blazing mauve]

Anyone know what’s up with this MALP?

[whole rapids]

They have their position precision set

[blazing mauve]

OIC

[dusky niche]

So theoretically, they could be anywhere in the circle? Or probable that a JDAM sent to the center of the circle would ruin their (and a whole lot of others) day?🤯

[whole rapids]

Yes anywhere in the circle

[solar garnet]

My node is rolling. Seeing other nodes; I think through @sharp pilot router. See if we get any traffic on the primary channel

[sharp pilot]

testing

what is the node name?

is it the 37dc one?

[solar garnet]

Signal to noise is a lie due to a short hop between this node and the node in the Jeep that’s actually getting to your repeater

[sharp pilot]

I just sent a msg to NTS3

I cant see your new node on my list yet

37dc is not on my node list. all I see is NT3S

I mean the other way around. I can see 37dc, not the other node

[solar garnet]

Hmm

[sharp pilot]

did you ge my test on 37dc?

[solar garnet]

That’s in the Jeep outside. I will go check

[sharp pilot]

I can see you on meshmap

[solar garnet]

DM went through to yamco3

From 37dc to you

[sharp pilot]

did not get it....

[solar garnet]

Weird. Says acknowledged

[sharp pilot]

yeah, this shit is frustrating

[solar garnet]

Back to work here. Thanks for trying

[sharp pilot]

yup

[solar garnet]

Actually….. I haven’t seen your repeater since yesterday morning

I need to go see what the jeep says

[idle trail]

man i wish they would update the android app

[idle trail]

would be nice if there was a way to set a specifig "node path", then it would be less annoying

[dusky niche]

Yeah, I'm kinda jealous of the IOS app too.

[sharp pilot]

Developers must be Apple users

[solar garnet]

Nice. Got a bit of traffic today

[sharp pilot]

I notice that I am seeing elevation now on the node list. This is new to me.

Anyone else see this? Or did I just discover a new setting?

[turbid sequoia]

New version of the Android app.

[sharp pilot]

Nice. Thought so

[turbid sequoia]

definitly got a position from 37dc about an hour ago. Pretty amazing that Salem can link up to Portland at 150mW!

[sharp pilot]

Yup. Linking through my router out of McMinnville. YCM5

[turbid sequoia]

Sweet.

[sharp pilot]

Some good elevation there

[solar garnet]

That’s cool

[silk flare]

Nice work @sharp pilot pretty amazing to see this working this far

[sharp pilot]

I built it with a Heltec V3. mounted it on 5 feet of emt conduit with a 5db antenna, 6 watt solar panel, spray painted it camo, walked up into the hills and drilled a hole in a stump and stuck it in there.

It has a clear view of PDX and the panel has plenty of sun exposure when there is sun. It also has a 10k Lipo battery.

[solar garnet]

My RAK order went from being delivered yesterday to gone. The worst kind of magic

It went through customs in LA and hasn’t been seen since

On a positive note I’m regularly seeing 50-70 nodes in Oregon

[sharp pilot]

I think one of my RAK units might be out for delivery today....

[bronze compass]

Maybe you'll end up getting both of them 😁

[sharp pilot]

haha

[solar garnet]

If you end up with 3 extra sets of several items they are mine

😁

[idle trail]

lol mine fills up to 99 nodes overnight and there is a 100 node storage limit :/

and then it like glitches out and i have to do a nodedb reset

[solar garnet]

Nice problem to have after a few years

[solar garnet]

Lincoln City doesn’t have any active nodes that I can find

[sharp pilot]

Got my rack kit, but it was the second one I ordered. Environmental senser, Ethernet and GPS

[valid ivy]

Up here in Oregon City picking up a lot of nodes but not really getting out. Going to get my antenna higher up in a tree. Have a couple of T-Beams and Heltec V3s.

[solar garnet]

Let it churn. Keep it hooked up. Be patient. This is a growing rapidly but it’s also “experimental”. Make sure the key on the primary channel is set to AQ== and make sure that the signal to noise is at least -5 or better

[lyric zephyr]

I worked on my antenna today, I believe I can now reach YCM5. I sent a DM to YCM3 to test it.

[solar garnet]

Make sure key is set to AQ==

[lyric zephyr]

Confirmed. Primary (LongFast) channel PSK is set to AQ==. My SNR isn't great for nodes showing up, but it's progress.

[solar garnet]

MQTT will allow messages to pass through but they don’t seem as consistent/timely

I’m on right now

90 nodes !

[valid ivy]

Increasing very quickly! Collecting environmental data over time.

Thanks Kodin 1 for sharing your environmental data. Very cool. I need to setup some sensors. Lots of potential use.

[gusty glade]

Wait is this the iPad version of the app? Not familiar with this UI

[idle trail]

-5!!!! more like -12

[idle trail]

lucky ios users with their fancy graphs

[valid ivy]

Using a Mac Mini M1 works Awesome!

If you have a SDR device it is fun to watch the radios talk back and forth.

[silk flare]

Oh this was a great idea, thanks for the reminder that I can run apps on my M1

[sharp pilot]

I dont monitor that radio, so it will receive the DM, but I will not be able to reply back. you can try to DM YCM 3 or 4. those are linked to YCM5

[sharp pilot]

I did not get anything on YCM3. what is your node name?

[lyric zephyr]

Hoodview hv58. I sent the DM to YCM3. I did get the check mark, but I know it doesn't necessarily mean success.

[idle trail]

i managed to message ycm5 yesterday but no response. now i know why

[solar garnet]

My nodes aren’t talking to or seeing anyone today

Reset nodeDB because map kept crashing and now I get nothing

[valid ivy]

Wow this is cool. Picking up more and more nodes up here in Oregon City. Need to get my antennas higher.

[sharp pilot]

can you see any of my YCM nodes?

[valid ivy]

I have seen you before when in Sherwood area but not from Oregon City. I will see if I can get an antenna oriented so that I can see your direction better.

[shell river]

CAT2 checking in. Just up the hill from Murturtle. My Heltec V3 with its craptastic antenna is on 24/7, but waiting on a T-beam to get a bigger antenna and maybe setup a repeater on the roof. I have a CAT1 node in Beaverton off of 5th street next to Uwajimaya but I can't see it from CAT2.

[idle trail]

hola @shell river

[idle trail]

who owns mojo solar base

[sharp pilot]

anyone familiiar with the RAK kits? I cant mine to stay awake. it constantly goes to sleep and I cannot connect to it. I have to push the buttong to get it back on

[turbid sequoia]

@ashen spruce ?

[bronze compass]

whenever i've had trouble i reflash

[sharp pilot]

I just got it today. flashed it many times already. still teh same issue

it has the latestfirmware

[bronze compass]

try doing a full erase on the web flasher page before reflashing. i was having trouble with mine a while back and that fixed it.

[sharp pilot]

did that too 🙂

I dont have this problem with my Heltec's just the RAK

[bronze compass]

any other wisheads out here have any other advice? that's all i've run into since having a rak

[sharp pilot]

I dont want this thing to go to sleep at all. power saving is turned off

how many times do you have to flash this to get it to work?

it has the GPS, ehternet and Bosh sensor module son it also

[bronze compass]

once i did the trash icon on the web flasher and made sure the serial monitor said everything it was done everything worked fine after trying to manually factory reset and flash. have you messed with removing those extra modules?

[sharp pilot]

not yet.

[shadow quest]

@sharp pilot are you running it off battery or direct power?

[sharp pilot]

direct power

ither from a laptop or power block via USB

[shadow quest]

Hm. I don't know then. Can you traceroute and wake it back up or is it the BT that is shutting down?

[sharp pilot]

BT is shutting doen and I think the Lora radio also

the red light gets dim and flashes really fast

[thin jungle]

With the very low current draw of a RAK, some power banks shut down after some time period. I use a 5V wall wart and do not have any issues w/ my RAK. It has been running for several months straight.

[sharp pilot]

I have a power strip that has USB ports in it. plugged into that and it will still shut down

even if I am connected to it via BT from my phone. mid message and it shuts down

it shouldnt shut down if I have an active connection to it

[shadow quest]

Hm. That's weird. Definitely seems odd.

[thin jungle]

I've never actually done a reload using the web browser. Always with the factory reset as seen here: https://meshtastic.org/docs/getting-started/flashing-firmware/nrf52/nrf52-erase/

Make sure to do step #7

[sharp pilot]

getting this on step 7

and another thing, it wont enable my GPS

even after a fresh flash it goes right to sleep

[turbid sequoia]

@sharp pilot , have you successfully done a full erase using the web flasher? The trash can icon next to the flash button?

I have about 15 RAKs. Meshtastic Starter Kits. Haven't had any issues with sleep.

[sharp pilot]

yes, tried the webflasher also

[turbid sequoia]

Don't change any settings until you know it's working

[sharp pilot]

I have removed all modules eccept the GPS and moved it to slot A on hte board

[turbid sequoia]

I'd recommend you verify everything is working without the GPS module.

[sharp pilot]

ok, will do

Basic troubleshooting steps...

I know....

[turbid sequoia]

Sometimes you get a dud but it's pretty rare.

[sharp pilot]

yeah

[solar garnet]

Hopefully mine are found soon. They disappeared after going through customs

[silk flare]

oof that sucks

[bronze compass]

when i ordered one straight from rak the tracking info was so off. it said it left china, then nothing for over a week. then bam! it showed up.

[sharp pilot]

5a6c is the one I jsut flashed

it shows GPS location and number of satellites

but then there is this

WTF?

[turbid sequoia]

CLI might not be up to date, the gps_enabled options have changed

[sharp pilot]

well shit, I am going off hte reference from the website

I also cannot set GPS from the webclient

[turbid sequoia]

things change often around here, docs will follow

[sharp pilot]

okay

[dusky niche]

I've been really lucky with the 3 I have, all are working normally. Have you tried going to an older Beta FW or an Alpha? Do you have a OLED display to hook up to it? I doubt it, but it might show something as it is shutting down. Did you buy it from Rokland or Ali? If Rokland they seem to have good support, but as I say, I haven't needed to talk to them.

[turbid sequoia]

bool gps_enabled = 4 [deprecated = true];

      /*
       * GPS is present but disabled
       */
      DISABLED = 0;
      /*
       * GPS is present and enabled
       */
      ENABLED = 1;
      /*
       * GPS is not present on the device
       */
      NOT_PRESENT = 2;
    }```

The phone apps will be the most up-to-date

[sharp pilot]

meshtastic --set position.gps_enabled 1

yah, on hte phone it shows enabled....

high strangeness

[turbid sequoia]

try meshtastic --get position.gps_mode

[sharp pilot]

that works. Thanks!!

[turbid sequoia]

The protobufs are my guide

[sharp pilot]

and the radio hasnte rebooted r turned off yet

[ashen spruce]

Yup! I'm all of the 👑Mojo nodes. I'm out of town at the moment. Is it behaving itself?

[turbid sequoia]

@idle trail

[sharp pilot]

Well it hasn't shut down yet.

Will wait a few and then put the BOSH module on

Who has a node in PDX area I can send a test DM to?

[bronze compass]

you can try me

[sharp pilot]

Node?

[bronze compass]

tb00, tb01, and/or Bst

[turbid sequoia]

I'm K1PDX when I'm home.

[sharp pilot]

Sent to k1pdx

[solar garnet]

I’m everything NT3S

[sharp pilot]

I don't have tb00 in nodemliat

Sent to Nick also

Just want to make sure my link to PDX is still up.

I think we are good. Thanks

[turbid sequoia]

nothing heard

probably need 4 or 5 hops to get to me

[sharp pilot]

Of course

I have 3 nodes going at my house right now lol

Even if you do will it time out by hops?

[solar garnet]

Fingers crossed

[sharp pilot]

@turbid sequoia

[turbid sequoia]

The algorithm is still a little mysterious to me. A node won't rebroadcast if it hears a nearby node sending an ack, I think. So if you have a bunch of nodes in close proximity, things get a little weird.

[sharp pilot]

Yeah. That's what I thought

Does a router count as a hop?

[dusky niche]

Is anyone else seeing nodes with more than 4 characters in their short name? They show up on Long Fast but not in the node list or maybe as Unknown. I also can't click on their name to send a DM...🤨

[turbid sequoia]

shouldn't be allowed in the firmware

[dusky niche]

That's what I thought...

[turbid sequoia]

You may be seeing unknown nodes. They start with "!"

They show up in the chat, but not the nodelist

You haven't received a 'nodeinfo' with long/short names yet. All you have is the node num/id

[dusky niche]

Yes they do start with an ! Seems to be a rash of them lately; I think it started right around the time they updated the android app...

[turbid sequoia]

Just means you haven't gotten their long/short names yet. Should update in time.

[dusky niche]

Hmm, ok. Thanks!

[turbid sequoia]

to: 4204600028
decoded {
  portnum: TEXT_MESSAGE_APP
  payload: "Example"
}
id: 1037060650
rx_time: 1711935441
rx_snr: 6.75
hop_limit: 3
want_ack: true
rx_rssi: -39
, 'fromId': '!60bffc13', 'toId': '!fa9d1adc'} ```
no long/short name, just a node 'from' and a message

you need one of these babies:

long_name: "DomComm9470"
short_name: "DC1J"
macaddr: "4\267\332V\224p"
hw_model: HELTEC_V3
}}, 'id': 2067811654, 'rxTime': 1711935523, 'rxSnr': 6.25, 'hopLimit': 1, 'rxRssi': -37, 'raw': from: 3663107184
to: 4294967295
decoded {
  portnum: NODEINFO_APP
  payload: "\n\t!da569470\022\013DomComm9470\032\004DC1J\"\0064\267\332V\224p(+"
}
id: 2067811654
rx_time: 1711935523
rx_snr: 6.25
hop_limit: 1
rx_rssi: -37
, 'fromId': '!da569470', 'toId': '^all'} ```

[dusky niche]

😄 I can understand some of the individual words in that, but I have no idea what they are doing together...🤣 My last programming was in BASIC or maybe Turtle!

[turbid sequoia]

I was a BASIC/LEGO LOGO kid. Recently got into Python.

this script spits out human readable packets

[solar garnet]

From MQTT. It’s like ships passing in the night 😂

I don’t think people understand how to setup the messaging side of MQTT. Me too potentially 😬

[dusky niche]

My Google translate app goes from Mongolian to Myanmar. No Morse 😖 .

[turbid sequoia]

It says CQ CQ CQ

[sharp pilot]

Is it even worth it to put GPS units in static nodes?

[solar garnet]

I’m using them in my repeater builds. Along with oled screens.

Plan to be versatile as needed

[idle trail]

i was just wondering if your node dies in the night

it seems to because i cant send messages around 12pm

am

[sharp pilot]

My node?

[idle trail]

no @ashen spruce 's

[sharp pilot]

Yeah, I can't see the worth in putting a GPS unit in a node that's just going to be a router

And sit in the same spot
I can just set a fixed position from my phone

And whoever said to check the polarity on the RAK battery connector was right. It is reverse of what my battery is wired

[lyric zephyr]

I added a Beitian GPS to my Heltec v3 for funsies, scavenged from my pile of drone parts. Very straightforward to solder 4 header pins, and set the GPIO assignments.

[lyric zephyr]

I asked about MQTT in the #mqtt topic. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Here's what I understand so far:

1. If you want to report your position, enable MQTT, then enable Uplink on the Primary channel.
2. If your mesh is small (no RF neighbors), enable downlink on the Primary channel. You will see messages and nodes uploading to the same MQTT topic. They will only see you if they also have Downlink enabled. Your map will show RF and MQTT nodes. Keep in mind, any downloaded MQTT messages will be forwarded via RF to your mesh.
3. Once you have enough RF neighbors, turn off Downlink on the Primary channel, otherwise you'll be 'spamming' all RF nodes with MQTT messages you downloaded. Your map will only show RF nodes. Keep Uplink enabled to keep reporting your position.

Anyone, please jump in if I'm not understanding MQTT correctly.

[solar garnet]

Sounds accurate but it doesn’t seem like people actually see or respond to my messages

Yes. I have AQ== as the primary channel key

[lyric zephyr]

With my higher antenna, I turned off Downlink on the Primary channel, so all I see is RF. I'm pulling in many pdx nodes, but LoRa is either really slow, or propagation is sporadic, or both. Only once have I seen a reply to one of test messages, from the node 1 mile away.

A reply I received in #mqtt stated the uplink/downlink options in a channel are for MQTT traffic only.

[solar garnet]

I’ll be on MQTT for a long while at the qth. That’s why I get your messages but you can’t see mine

I kind of equivalate MQTT to an Aredn tunnel.

[solar garnet]

And I don’t think an Oregon MQTT channel is going to be that busy to swamp rf but I could be wrong

[lyric zephyr]

That's a good comparison. So as I understand until one has more RF neighbors, if there is a specific node(s) out of range you want to connect to, one could setup a secure channel, share the PSK, enable uplink/downlink for that channel, and you're connected securely via MQTT, assuming the other node(s) do the same, and all have internet connectivity.

[solar garnet]

So that’s something we can try

[lyric zephyr]

Otherwise, MQTT on the primary channel is hit or miss on who has MQTT, Uplink, downlink, and same topic all sync'd.

[timber raven]

Is this on Android?

I'm on Gresham Butte at 440ft, looks like I might be the furthest east on the mesh, except for a fella down in the Eagle Creek area, but he's way out there. Would be happy to be the change, just trying to sort out the most powerful setup I can afford, would be happy to get a repeater another 100-200+ feet up the butte. Any advice would be welcome! So stoked to have found this connect group on Discord!

[timber raven]

Where do you set signal to noise ratio?

[solar garnet]

It is not a setting. It’s a measurement

[timber raven]

Just sorted that out, thank you!

[solar garnet]

You bet. Other have said they can get traffic to pass with a lower SNR but I haven’t had that experience

[timber raven]

Great, thank you, that's helpful to know! Have you had much success out of Aumsville?

[ashen spruce]

No, it is an LTO battery backed solar node. I get telemetry from it all night long. How are you doing your test? Traceroute? I'm wondering if there is a node between us that breaks the link between us.

[solar garnet]

Aumsville is in a hole so no success from my house

[sonic plover]

Hello! I think I was messaging with you from Glendoveer yesterday (Fuzz solar test/FOLR). I’m curious if you were getting many other contacts! I was able to run a traceroute and it looks like I was getting to you via some nodes up in WA

[idle trail]

traceroute works during the day, and it stops working during the night

your node connects me to the mesh when im at my house

[timber raven]

Hey dude! Ya I got your message, but only one. Interesting it went through a WA node, what a route! Yours was the first reply I’ve received! Did you get my response? I pick up tons of nodes up here, and only just started getting acks with a better antenna. I have yet to receive a direct message response from anyone.

[timber raven]

Are you “Turtle”?

[sharp pilot]

I am up in the hills of anyone wants to see if they can hit me. YCM6

[turbid sequoia]

Turtle is one of mine. Not typically monitored.

[sharp pilot]

Making good contacts from up here in the hills

[solar garnet]

Not sure if we have an RF connection or not

Replied to YMC6

[sonic plover]

Yeah the viewshed from my house is a bit funky. I got your message asking how folks were enjoying the sun, and sent a reply to that as well!

[sharp pilot]

@solar garnet did not get anything from you

[timber raven]

Still up there? Just got your message on primary on Gresham Butte.

[timber raven]

Nice! Didn’t get your response, but cool to know my messages are being received.😎

Needed a way to bring my node outside and was digging around for a case when I realized I could just use the one it came in. A little dremel-work and some hot glue and it’s ready to rock.

[silk flare]

a rite of passage for heltec owners everywhere heh I also did the same as a temporary case

[timber raven]

Looks like I’m almost due south of you, I’m on the west side of Gresham Butte

[timber raven]

Need to pickup a proper case from Etsy! Some really awesome ones available now.

[silk flare]

Yeah lots of them available!

[idle trail]

no im Murturtle

[sonic plover]

Yeah, that makes sense as to why I connect via WA. Things slope upwards pretty good to the south of me

[sonic plover]

Now I’m just waiting for some wisblock cases to hit Etsy!

[timber raven]

Which ones are you looking at? Share link?

[sonic plover]

Oh I haven’t seen any yet. Waiting for that niche to get filled! There used to be some but they all are sold out.

[sonic plover]

QuantumShadow3d used to have some on their store

[timber raven]

Niiiiiiice. Are you selling these or did you just buy this many?!

[solar garnet]

They’ve been missing for a while after they cleared customs

Not for sale

[bronze compass]

Aw sweet. You got 'em!

[timber raven]

So what are you doing with all of these bad boys?

[solar garnet]

Repeaters

[timber raven]

Awesome, would love to know more about your plan, if you’re willing to share!

[solar garnet]

Im following cactuses plan

[timber raven]

Where do I learn about the catus plan...

[solar garnet]

@sharp pilot how did you connect the solar? USB?

[solar garnet]

He has a list of materials

He is a member here

[timber raven]

I just DM'd him!

[solar garnet]

Number 1 repeater underway

[idle trail]

hi @shell river

i walk by you almost day when i go on a walk

[sharp pilot]

@turbid sequoia Is there a get command to get the battery/power status on a remote node? Anyone else feel free to answer this.
Thanks

[turbid sequoia]

in the cli you can type meshtastic --nodes

[sharp pilot]

that gives battery atatus too?

status*

[sharp pilot]

excellent

will check that out when I have a minute

Work is keeping me from having fun right now

[turbid sequoia]

nevermind that USB cable running out of my laptop into my backpack.

[sharp pilot]

ha

[sharp pilot]

@solar garnet Both my RAKs arrived. I am going to do a complete new build for the hills with the RAX and a 10 db antenna (45") and the dual solar panel setup with a 10,000 Mah Lipo

I can do a build list if anyone is interest

[timber raven]

Very interested 👍🏼

[sharp pilot]

ok, will work on a Gdoc and link it

[sharp pilot]

This is what I have so far. I will add pictures once I start the build on my second one.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OGfS4sNajZYNTTFeVYqTdoWWuvxVKplvMEFsgSZLrW0/edit?usp=sharing

[shadow quest]

Nice @sharp pilot . Looks like good work.

[timber raven]

Looks good, dude!

[dusky niche]

Cross posting from PDX: So I replaced the Amazon questionable quality antenna on my JDMO node. Now it's rocking an Alfa 3Db stick from Rokland. Hopefully it will make a difference. I sent an announcement on Long/Fast so if you see me please let me know!

[silk flare]

I didn't see your first message but I saw your response haha

[ripe wind]

This guide looks great! Do you have a usecase in mind for deploying a node like this?

[dusky niche]

Ha! Seems like often I am getting only one side of a conversation. Its still more magic than science I think.

[silk flare]

Haha yeah it is, environment is weird with RF it would be easy if we had all open air and flat terrain

[lyric zephyr]

Has anyone tried building an antenna for 915mHz? There are 4 designs in the following link. I think I'll try one of them.

https://meshtastic.discourse.group/t/meshtastic-diy-antennas/

[sharp pilot]

Yes, I have an existing one that I put up in the mountains that links the valley with PDX.
These are designed to just run stand alone. I can put it up and just check on it every once in a while. I can also remotely manage it over the admin channel.

Close up of how the panel is mounted to the box

[ripe wind]

Thats pretty cool - I'm curious what info you're sending over them?

[sharp pilot]

as far as telemtry? not sure what you are asking

[dusky niche]

I am watching the nodes cycle through on the app and noticed that I saw my other active node come through twice within 20 minutes or so. I double checked and the beacon interval is at the default of 3 hours. Does anyone know why it is showing up more frequently? One thing about this stuff is that I'm always learning something new.

[sharp pilot]

I dont know the answer to your question, but I do know the latest firmware (Meshtastic Firmware 2.3.2.63df972 Beta) changes the way the nodes are broadcast on MQTT.
"This release changes the MQTT root prefix to msh/2/e to bring it in line with the QR code version. So if you are connected to an MQTT broker, you will not be able to communicate with your peers that have not yet made the upgrade."

I think this is why we are seeing less nodes on meshmap.net lately

[turbid sequoia]

The node will pop up to the top of the list every time a packet is received. NodeInfo may be 3 hours but other packets will also bump you up: Telemetry, Traceroute, Messages, etc.

[dusky niche]

Ok, good to know! Kind of surprised that the node ever gets any traffic since the antenna is only slightly better than stock.

[shadow quest]

@dusky niche The stock antenna has been relatively impressive. Muturtle (stock) was on Mt Hood and I was on Gray Butte in Central Oregon. Was 70 ish miles LOS.

[shadow rock]

My T-echos are running default intervals, and I am getting a telemetry message from one of them (the only one awake) every fitteen minutes.

[timber raven]

Wut?! 70mi? Where on Hood was it?

[shadow quest]

@timber raven Not sure. I believe he was doing Winter sports things.

@timber raven It also bounced through me to Bend adding 27 miles. So total messages were sent 97 ish miles.

[timber raven]

Nice, that's pretty impressive.

[idle trail]

i was on the top of vista express in meadows

skiing

@timber raven

[ripe wind]

Wondering if you have a purpose in mind for deploying those in the wild? Or are you just having a good time making them?

[lyric zephyr]

On the android app, I can't tell the difference between RF nodes and MQTT nodes. On iOS, you can filter for either. You may be seeing MQTT nodes if you have MQTT enabled and downlink enabled on the primary channel.

That said, for awhile I was using a 978mhz ADSB antenna. I was pulling in all the PDX nodes, 25-40 miles away. But it was awful for Tx...nobody could hear me.

[dusky niche]

Good point regarding MQTT. Maybe I should select ignore MQTT.

[idle trail]

@sharp pilot i saw you today on my walk

you sent 🐢

[sharp pilot]

👍

[sharp pilot]

I got your msg too

[idle trail]

i wonder if it was direct

it said ur snr was -5.5

which is VERY good

[sharp pilot]

wow, that is good

[sonic yarrow]

Alright new router test up in Bend (south side)

[sharp pilot]

Looks good

[timber raven]

Battery powered?

[sonic yarrow]

Yeah, battery powered for the text. Case has magnets for the temp install. Just going to collect data and see how it affects the mesh. If Al goes well, I’ll get a solar node up there to stay for a while.

[shell river]

I received a t-beam supreme, it’s up in the window as CAT0. Seeing 79 nodes today! A couple are 18 miles away. using the stock antenna.

[sharp pilot]

Is it possible to do a remote firmware upgrade on nodes? if yes... How?

I have searched and the answers are kinda vague

[crystal osprey]

It is possible only nRF52 devices from RAK by Apple so far. https://meshtastic.org/docs/getting-started/flashing-firmware/nrf52/ota/

[sharp pilot]

yeah, just saw that. now I need to find an iphone. ugh

[sonic yarrow]

Does it need to be iPhone or just have the DFU app?

[sharp pilot]

only works on IOS

as far as my understanding is

[runic orbit]

technically you can also use a modern Mac, but that's probably not helpful for most people

[sharp pilot]

I think I can grab an older ipad from work and use that

[timber raven]

Super cool, thanks for sharing, looks like a clean/stealth build. Would be awesome to have a stack of these to deploy as needed.

[timber raven]

Oh dang, good to know. Curious if firmware updates will cause remote/hard to access units to quickly become incompatible, considering the current speed of development.

[solar garnet]

This is a great tip if you’re putting a node up on a tower

[sharp pilot]

Remote firmware updates are a must for the future. Especially with remote nodes in hard to reach places.

[timber raven]

Like my attic.

[sharp pilot]

or my roof, or up in the hills in a remote location

[timber raven]

Ya, especially the remote locations. Would be amazing if they could update via lora, but BT is better than nothing.

[solar garnet]

Or 50’ up an antenna tower at about 1800’

[sharp pilot]

yeah, I doubt this is possible over Lora, unfortunately. Too much data for Lora, unless it downlods it over an extended period of time

[solar garnet]

Looks like I have permission to put a repeater on Eola Hills

[sharp pilot]

Awesome

[solar garnet]

It’s Bluetooth only

Currently

[sharp pilot]

is it BT for ESP32 or just NRF?

https://meshtastic.org/docs/getting-started/flashing-firmware/nrf52/ota/

[whole rapids]

The firmware supports both, the nordic app is the the only working app currently

Lora updates over the mesh is not going to happen, way too big

[sharp pilot]

look slike it works on Andriod devices also
https://meshtastic.org/docs/getting-started/flashing-firmware/nrf52/ota/

[whole rapids]

Yeah you have to use a specific version on android, but NRF works now via a nordic app on both ios and android, there is a broken app in testflight for esp32

A generic solution won't work for esp32

[sharp pilot]

ok, so just my RAK nodes then 🙂

[timber raven]

Also, would probably crash the network when an update was release 😂

[sharp pilot]

haha, more than likely

[timber raven]

Would be cool to have a node with cell connection for updates and admin, and then lora for grid-down

[sharp pilot]

So just to confirm the Nordic DFU app does not work on ESP32 devices, only nRF?

[whole rapids]

Correct

[idle trail]

havent looked at ring for a while, didn't realize there is snow

[idle trail]

wish i was high enough so i could see yours

[shadow quest]

@idle trail It was 80 degrees on Tuesday. Woke up to 4 inches of snow and a high of 38 today.

[idle trail]

LOL

[idle trail]

hi @shell river

[shell river]

Hey @idle trail

[shell river]

CAT0 saw MRTR at 8:58PM

[shadow rock]

Is the owner of KE7NKR-RPT among us?

[lyric zephyr]

@sharp pilot Wahoo, you saw my 'Fri yay' message and I see your reply. This is all RF.

[sharp pilot]

Awesome!!

[lyric zephyr]

this isn't even my final form (lol). I'm working on a better antenna, and have more nodes in transit.

[sharp pilot]

I am working on a new build for my router in the hills. Bigger antenna and bigger solar panel. With a RAK kit. It should perform better than what is up there now

[sharp pilot]

I added some pics to my recent remote router build. More to come once I get it mounted to the mast and painted.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OGfS4sNajZYNTTFeVYqTdoWWuvxVKplvMEFsgSZLrW0/edit?usp=sharing

[shadow quest]

Instead of the coax have you thought about using a bulkhead fitting? They make sma to type N. Would mount directly to your box.

[sharp pilot]

yeah, but this antenna is 45" long. i am concerned about stress on hte box in high winds

and in colder weather it could potentially crack the box

I used RG400 and as short as possible

[shadow quest]

My mobile unit right now. Getting a mag mount for the roof. Then this will go in a backpack.

@sharp pilot You could still mount the antenna to the pole. Just use longer bolts.

[sharp pilot]

yeah, I guess that would work as an option

I will look into that

[shadow quest]

@sharp pilot I'm not trying to nay say anything about it, looks like great work, but any loss is loss. And exposure will deteriorate as well.

[sharp pilot]

yeah, I would love to mitigate as mush loss as possbile

[timber raven]

Looks good, dude!

[sharp pilot]

made a couple changes to get rid of the coax as suggested by @shadow quest

mounted the antenna directly to the box

had to put a space between the antenna and mast

[shadow quest]

@sharp pilot Very nice. On another box can you mount the antenna further back?

[sharp pilot]

yeah, thats the plan for my next build. The hole was already drilled on this one...

[shadow quest]

I figured that's why it's where it is.

[sharp pilot]

But the spacer woked out well

one of these, so it wont want to walk away

once the rest of the panels get here I will get them assembled and take it up to the hills and paint it and deploy it

[solar garnet]

You’re definitely getting it done! I hope my repeater will see yours soon

My ipex to N bulkheads are finally showing up this weekend

[sharp pilot]

Awesome. I should have this one up early next week. once the weather is nice

[silk flare]

Nice work on the repeaters gents!!

[timber raven]

Here here!

[solar garnet]

I’m out mobile. Anyone see me on long fast?

I see a lot of nodes active now and I don’t have MQTT connected

[timber raven]

Checking now!

[timber raven]

What’s your node called?

[solar garnet]

I’m gone now

[shadow rock]

Has been an interesting day out in Forest Grove. A few days back, I got my RPICO connected to house wifi, placed atop a second floor window, and set to do uplink only MQTT to a broker on the house network. With a lot of help from mian over in #mqtt, have a subscription script that is echoing out MQTT traffic the RPICO publishes...it's just a CLI now. Did some testing with my nodes to verify it was working, and it was interesting to see the dance of messages that go by, even for minimal traffic.

Sometime around 9pm last night, a repeater went live within 200 yards of where I was hoping to place one to get some coverage out of the gravy bowl our house is in...the pour spout points to the repeater site. Started seeing quite a bit of traffic, was able to test house-to-house from home to a friend's place through the repeater. Drove around a bit to see if the LOS app's predictions for dead spots were correct...pretty much...and looked for a good place to site a "golden spike" to tie that repeater's coverage to Satellite II's coverage. By afternoon, things may have figured that out for themselves. Have gotten about 50 active node contacts in the last hour, at the house, where I figured it'd never be anything but self-traffic. And the output of the subscription script is finally slowing down a bit...was pretty crazy for a while there.

[sharp pilot]

are you able to see YCM5 from FG?

[shadow rock]

It got onto my node list at 15:20 today, not since. Probably someone mobile linked things up briefly.

[sharp pilot]

At least you can see it.

[timber raven]

Awesome man, thanks for sharing this!

[shadow rock]

The "BASE" node is indoors, but is reporting rxSnr of about -11 for traffic from the repeater, so the wall to the house, the houses across the street, the pile'o'trees don't seem to be a problem. Repeater is 1.5 miles away. Doesn't have a great view due south.

[turbid sequoia]

Is this a real location?

[bronze compass]

I was just wondering about that

[shadow rock]

I even picked that one up in FG...limping in at hopcount 0.

[timber raven]

I wondered the same, could it be a manually entered location?

[turbid sequoia]

Likely a node that is online in town but not getting updated position from a GPS or client app.

[solar garnet]

Just a couple pieces of mounting hardware and my 1st repeater is ready

If it looks like @sharp pilot it’s because I basically used his build list

[sharp pilot]

Looks good

[solar garnet]

RAKWisBlock RPTR

LoRa radio and baseboard
https://store.rakwireless.com/products/wisblock-meshtastic-starter-kit

Solar controller power connection
https://a.co/d/2ITZLJ0

915 MHz antenna connection
https://a.co/d/coDhZTj

Battery
https://a.co/d/9782A9c

Antenna
https://a.co/d/10Xt5VU

Enclosure
https://a.co/d/0HJYGUZ

Solar panel
https://a.co/d/gfFACvU

Solar panel plug
https://a.co/d/1oJDMzY

[sharp pilot]

Nice list

[solar garnet]

I couldn’t get the USB plug through the case so I’m going to use the onboard solar controller

[sharp pilot]

That works

[sharp pilot]

Dont forget to change the polarity on your battery before you plug it in

You lift up the plastic tabs on the PH 2.0 connector and swap the wires

[solar garnet]

I got it done a few days ago but thanks for the reminder

[shadow rock]

Just picked up YCM5 from FG again.

[solar garnet]

I’m @ 1000’ temporary but good results

[idle trail]

saw your message at 10:49

you said you were near victor point

[solar garnet]

Awesome. Headed out

[sharp pilot]

Got my solar panel setup for my new remote repeater

This way I can adjust it and move it closer to the ground

and I can also adjust the angle

[sharp pilot]

Also added some split loom over the USB cable to the panel for some extra UV and weatehr protections

[idle trail]

where will this repeater be placed

[sharp pilot]

Its going where the existing one is. This will replace it

its got a taller mast and a better antenna and has a RAK with GPS

and larger panel

should maintain a charge in those dark winter days

[idle trail]

ahh

[sharp pilot]

I am going to rebuild the existing one and find another spot to put it.

once we have some sunny and warmer weather I will take it up and paint it and install it. has to be decent weather to paint it

[dusky niche]

Does anyone have a source for just a couple of the 1.5mm JST (PH?) connectors that the Wisblock solar port takes? They are on Amazon if you want a 500 piece assortment. They are cheap enough, but I couldn't use that many in 100 life times...

[solar garnet]

Agreed. I have a local friend checking his supply

Not sure why it wasn’t included in the kit

[dusky niche]

They probably get them as a set when they make the boards and throw the female sides away!🤣

[dusky niche]

Ah screw it, went ahead and bought 100 pieces on Amazon. If anyone needs some, send a SASE to...😄

Should be interesting crimping these buggers on the wires...

[sharp pilot]

Has anyone had any luck with the wisrak GPS antenna working inside an enclosure?

[silk flare]

Heh you’ll get the hang of it, expect to go through quite a few of the metal connectors when learning.

[sonic plover]

I bought a pack, went through 10 without success, and just bought some pre-made ones from Rokland

[timber raven]

@sharp pilot Have you consider going with a yagi instead of an omni?

[sharp pilot]

yes, but I want to be able to hit my house also. So the omni is the best of both worlds

[timber raven]

Ah, gotcha 👍🏼

[idle trail]

@shell river is one of your nodes a router?

[shell river]

Haven’t tried setting it to router because even though it sees a lot of nodes, only one or two have better than “fair” signal. We could give it a try though.

[idle trail]

your node covers a good part of this river and lower area

well and parts of 217

[shell river]

Cool, I’ll switch it to Router & Client now.

[shell river]

Done! 🐈‍⬛

[shadow rock]

Am picking up Murturtle in Forest Grove.

[idle trail]

nice

im up by skyline right now

but not los to beaverton

[shadow rock]

Getting to my house with hoplimit 2. At least one hop is from the repeater above Sttringtown Road.

[sharp pilot]

can you see YCM5 from up there?

[idle trail]

yes

[sharp pilot]

sweet

[idle trail]

i can message

i se 3 4 and 5

[sharp pilot]

3 is down right now, but 6 is up in its place

[idle trail]

i messaged all of them

[sharp pilot]

i got your msg on YCM4

[idle trail]

Noce

[solar garnet]

Whose nodes are on?

[idle trail]

im in the car rn

MRTR

[shell river]

CAT0 on 24/7

[solar garnet]

I’m at 3400’ in the coast range

[shell river]

Not seeing NT3S at the moment. That’s some good altitude!

[shell river]

Better charge your phone soon 😉

[sharp pilot]

where about are you?

[solar garnet]

44.92332, -123.57316

[sharp pilot]

I have direct LOS to you from my house

[solar garnet]

Noice. I’ll be up here again next Saturday for longer

[shell river]

YCM5 is probably the most southerly node on my list.

[sharp pilot]

I did traceroute and it went from my node on the house direct to you

[sharp pilot]

would be nice to get a repeater up there

[solar garnet]

Heading out

[idle trail]

@ashen spruce how accurate is your node location

Solar base

[ashen spruce]

It's close but not where the node actually is located. Should be good enough for coverage estimation though

[idle trail]

Im visitng someone and the snr went crazy

[ashen spruce]

In a good way, I hope?

[sharp pilot]

is everyone working on getting their firmware updated so we can re-populate meshnet?

[turbid sequoia]

What's meshnet?

[idle trail]

No lol my grandmother

In a good way

Whats a waypoint?

[lyric zephyr]

Latest Stable or Alpha?

[idle trail]

Im on 2.3.2 but idk if its alpha or beta

[sharp pilot]

Stable

Meshtastic Firmware 2.3.2.63df972 Beta Latest
@github-actions github-actions released this 2 weeks ago
v2.3.2.63df972
63df972
Important

This release changes the MQTT root prefix to msh/2/e to bring it in line with the QR code version. So if you are connected to an MQTT broker, you will not be able to communicate with your peers that have not yet made the upgrade.

2.3.2.63df972 Beta is the one that changes the MQTT prefix

that's why meshmap doesn't have many nodes on it

[sharp pilot]

Sorry, meant https://meshmap.net/

[turbid sequoia]

Oh I should have guessed that, sorry. You don't all have to update. The node(s) that link our mesh determine the topic everyone is broadcast on. I took my MQTT node offline a few days ago. Just fired it back up. You should see locations showing up in meshmap shortly.

msh/US/2/e/LongFast/!6d00f3d8 is me

[sharp pilot]

I have a NIC for my RAK, if I connect it to the interwebs, will it talk to the MQTT server?

[turbid sequoia]

It should

[sharp pilot]

ok

[turbid sequoia]

I haven't hooked a rak up to ethernet. Some people have issues.

[sharp pilot]

ok

[ashen spruce]

I've updated all of my nodes. Looking forward to having others update so that the hop_start field will become more prevalent/ available

[sharp pilot]

all of mine are updated also

except YCM5 in the hills. I plan to get to that this week

[silk flare]

I’ve got my nodes updated too so I can see hop count as well

[timber raven]

I updated mine to 2.3.3.8187fa7 Alpha for the hell of it. 🤷‍♂️

[shadow quest]

I know a lot of people use the maker lipo battery, but is there a reason not to consider this one? It's slightly bigger, but has a controller in it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF3WGHWN

It's also a two pack and 15000 mAh. So half price for 150% battery and a charge controller.

[sharp pilot]

I have heard that the power banks will shut down/turn off if there is not enough current draw from them. These boards barely use any current. SO that could be an issue

also how would it charge if its plugged into the USB C port?

I think the boards are designed to only charge whatever is plugged into the battery port and USB c is the main power in

[shadow quest]

It is USB 3.0 (X2) for out put. USB C (and mini) for charging. It's also been running for an hour and still on.

I opened the back so it should be black all the way. Was looking at designing a new case so I opened it up.

[lyric zephyr]

FIrmware updated to latest stable. Hops showing up on iOS app. BTW, I'm only reporting location through MQTT, not any channel. I show up on map under topic "msh/US/OR/2/map/"

[turbid sequoia]

I'm curious if the cells are labeled 15000mAh. They look a bit too small for that capacity. Either way, if these are "allways on" they are great battery banks to consider!

[lusty ledge]

Another thing to consider is thermal regulation that some power banks have. This could be a good or bad thing depending on application. Good if you’re ok with it shutting down to protect damaging batteries. Not so good if you need it to be still running in cold weather.

[shadow quest]

@turbid sequoia It does say 15000 mAh on the battery.

@lusty ledge Definitely. I actually bought them with the intentions of disconnecting the board and just wiring it straight to a jst connection.

[turbid sequoia]

That's great! You could run a busy RAK without GPS for about 2 months on that.

[turbid sequoia]

Worst case your RAK keeps running until the fire consumes it.

[shadow quest]

@turbid sequoia Got a 6w solar panel for it as well. The only thing I don't like is using the USB on the Rak it doesn't show battery level.

[sharp pilot]

How much more power does the GPS module consume?

[shadow quest]

May have to desoslder the USB connection on one side and hard wire a jst connection in so it reads battery percentage. Unless there's a way to do it from USB c port on the Rak.

[turbid sequoia]

There have been some improvements since I did any testing. Rough guess is 2x.

[sharp pilot]

ok

so i guess if I have a stationary router, there really is no need for a GPS unit

[turbid sequoia]

I have a couple of GPS modules but haven't found a need for them. Really only very useful on a Tracker node.

[sharp pilot]

yeah, was thinking hte same thing

[turbid sequoia]

All my units are fixed installs or handhelds connected to a phone.

[sharp pilot]

How much power does the BOSH environmental sensor use?

[turbid sequoia]

I don't know

[sharp pilot]

I looked it up on hte spec sheet. its pretty low

15uA to 350 uA

I could set it to update every hour or so. that should reduce consumption

[ashen spruce]

Is the owner of the bmnt (!1f9ff960) node in here somewhere? That's a great location...

[sharp pilot]

Gonna put my home node on MQTT do I need to change the root topic to mesh/2/e. ?

Currently it's

msh/us

[shadow rock]

You're going to do this, both up and down, to the public MQTT broker?

[sharp pilot]

just uplink

I am new to the mqtt concept, trying to get a grasp of it

do we have something that is regonal ?

I set uplink on hte public channel

[shadow rock]

I'm the wrong person to ask....I am using uplink only to a private broker.

[sharp pilot]

ok

[shadow rock]

Be careful...it's all too easy to go a step too far and flood the local mesh with traffic from all over. If you check out #mqtt there are folks who refer to it as a DDOS attack.

[sharp pilot]

if I turn it off on the public channel will it still broadcast to the map? thats all i really care about

[shadow rock]

Again, I don't know. pdxlocs seems pretty crisp on that stuff. I am battling with home IT and home automation issues this evening.

[lyric zephyr]

They added position reporting to the MQTT setup page, so you no longer need to enable uplink separately on a channel just for the map.

[sharp pilot]

Perfect. Thanks

[shut willow]

PARC meeting now talking Meshtastic and ARDEN

Also: done moving, not organized at all, so most of my mesh stuff is still buried in boxes... But I will be getting back to this stuff soon

[shadow quest]

Bouncing between Clackamas and Eagle Creek the next few days for work. I wish there was an android way to delete individual users so I don't have to dump all nodes.

[turbid sequoia]

Why do you have to dump all nodes?

[shadow quest]

@turbid sequoia Because my OCD doesn't like having a long list of unseen nodes and I rarely cross the mountains.

@turbid sequoia And of the 25 + I've picked up today few seem to be a part of the discord. So if or when I add mqtt it'd be nice to message them.

@turbid sequoia Or be able to set groups in the app based on location. I asked before about being able to download user database so you could upload it for traveling and resync when you get home.

@turbid sequoia You're all good. I was behind a steering wheel 14 hours today so I get it.

[turbid sequoia]

groups would be a nice feature

[shadow quest]

I don't know enough coding to attempt it. I was told being able to sync the user database would be a spoofing nightmare. But maybe app side would work better.

[turbid sequoia]

In my usage I find the local nodes populate fast enough. Depends if you're moving around of course.

I would wipe my db every couple of days but now the mesh is so big the old ones fall off the list in about a day.

[shadow quest]

It's taken a few days for people to repopulate on the other side of the mountains. People I know are active because I'm getting messages from "Unknown Username". Until we both move around to the same side of a hill.

[turbid sequoia]

I'm changing my node name to Unknown Username.

[shadow quest]

@turbid sequoia It made mine Italicized. I changed it back. Seems like bad things would happen.

[turbid sequoia]

https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-Android/pull/958

[shadow quest]

@turbid sequoia Wonderful! As someone who doesn't GitHub well, what does that mean? I see it is approved, but how does one implement it?

[turbid sequoia]

Was just added 3 hours ago. Should be out when 2.2.4 is released.

[shadow quest]

Yeah I saw it just got released. Thanks for tracking that down.

[turbid sequoia]

I love a little #github with my Cheerios

[sharp pilot]

Been quiet in here today

[timber raven]

I was thinking the same thing. What’ve you been upto Cactus?

[sharp pilot]

painting my new node. plan to deploy it today in the hills

[sharp pilot]

So I have MQTT turned on on one of my nodes and it is connected to the internet via the ethernet module on a RAK. It has a static IP and I can ping it internally. But it is not updating on meshmap.net. Any ideas?

I do NOT have MQTT turned on, on any of my channels. I just have it on for meshmap.net updates.

[solar garnet]

I think you must have tx enabled

[sharp pilot]

where is that?

[solar garnet]

Primary channel setting

[sharp pilot]

uplink

I just enabled it

[sharp pilot]

still no worky... oh well

[edgy leaf]

Uplink is not needed if you have Map Reporting enabled, but you need to have a valid position

[sharp pilot]

I have it set to a static position

and smart position is disabled

[edgy leaf]

There have been some recent changes to fixed position. Which version of the Android app do you have?

[sharp pilot]

map reporting is set to hihg precision

2.3.2

it worked a couple days ago

[edgy leaf]

Are you able to update the Android app to 2.3.3? New admin messages have been added in that release, which are needed for new firmware

[sharp pilot]

ok

lemme check

guss I can always download the apk

app has been updated

should i toggle fixed position off and back on?

[edgy leaf]

Yes, maybe try that.

[last patrol]

Woohoo!

I'm in Wilsonville.

(Between WIlsonville and Aurora/Canby)

[sharp pilot]

I will give it some time to see if it shows up

[sharp pilot]

Welcome

[last patrol]

Thanks.

I'm still trying to make my first connection.

Waiting on better antennas.

[sharp pilot]

what is your node name? do you see any other nodes?

[last patrol]

I have two nodes, I see only those. 🙂

My node name is MrtH

[sharp pilot]

ok

do you plan to mount an larger external entanna?

[last patrol]

I do.

I'm getting some larger whips first.

[sharp pilot]

once you get it above the ground you might be able to see my node on hte coast range. depending on what your elevation is

[last patrol]

But then I'll likely get a big ole high gain external omni

My elevation is like.... 35 feet. 🙂

[sharp pilot]

well, not optimal 🙂

the higher you can get your antenna the more you will possibly be able to see

[last patrol]

Fingers crossed.

[hearty ferry]

👋 lurking from Washougal, WA

Powered up my radios yesterday

[last patrol]

Do you all just leave the settings basically default? I have no clue how to set up channels or what that means in terms of connecting with people.

[shadow quest]

Got tracking number for 4 new Rak today. Hoping for safe passage from China now!

[sharp pilot]

yes, leave the longfast channel default

[turbid sequoia]

Definitely have a glance at the docs. There's a lot to learn. Feel free to ask any questions here too!

[sharp pilot]

there are also good videos on how to create admin channels if you so desire

[turbid sequoia]

The Tips Page has some good basics

[sharp pilot]

Good source here
https://www.youtube.com/@The_Comms_Channel

[last patrol]

I do (or at least have done) a lot of long range FPV wing flights (5mi or more) and I'd love to put one of these on the plane to see how many nodes show up.

[sharp pilot]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLshzThxhw4O5JTOACGHzYSSd3soDhoXKK

[last patrol]

Could be cool to see a node moving fast as well. 🙂

[last patrol]

I'll binge this now.

[shadow quest]

@last patrol Definitely a lot of great information out there and this is also a great place to get help as well.

[solar garnet]

I find that ensuring primary channels is set to default and ensuring key is AQ== is important

Long fast

[shadow quest]

@sharp pilot Saw your node 5 today. But now that I'm parked it's not in my list anymore.

[sharp pilot]

I am going up today to replace that with a RAK and a bigger antenna, stay tuned. also this new one wil be YCM2

@shadow quest

[shadow quest]

I think you showed up at the Costco on 84th and Sunnybrook. But then now you're tag isn't even listed in App. I don't know this area well enough to know where your node is from there though. So it could be impressive or 5 ft away.

[sharp pilot]

YCM5 is up in the coast range

30 miles or so Southwest of PDX LOS

[bronze compass]

I saw some Hairy People nodes on my list yesterday

[timber raven]

Just saw you on the map for the first time today, welcome Hairy People!

[hearty ferry]

We are up on the hill above Washougal. Pretty good LOS across portland/troutdale.

trying to get D9DC reporting to the MQTT server

[timber raven]

I'm going to trace route you now, I have a direct to BMO and get routed through it often

That hill is a great spot to be!

Do you have a stock antenna or have you upgraded yet @hearty ferry ?

[hearty ferry]

stock garbage. I might have something better in my parts bin. Wanted to cobble together something mildly directional

[timber raven]

I've been looking into directional antennas as well, patch, panel, and yagi. Still learning, but I know that sending signal into the hill behind me doesn't do me any good.

I bought a better omni and it made a huge difference, for now.

[hearty ferry]

Yeah same here. I'm not ready to try and convince the landlord about putting something on the roof 😅

A J pole or slim jim would be pretty easy to build

[timber raven]

Your wife? 😂

[hearty ferry]

but that would be fairly omni

[hearty ferry]

well that too.... not sure how long I can get away with having it sitting in the window sill

I bought a wireless paper and V3 tracker from heltec that I have been playing with. I also have a couple RFM95 modules I was hoping to cobble together a Pi base station and free up the heltec units for mobile use

[timber raven]

Nice, you dove right in! Are you picking up many nodes from up on the hill?

[lyric zephyr]

FWIW, you're on my node list with position, updated 1 min ago.

[shadow quest]

@turbid sequoia Forget Node is now in the newest updated android App.

[timber raven]

Just DM'd you in Discord.

[hearty ferry]

Yeah I have a pretty big list. It seems not all of them are ones I have contacted (not sure how I got CrowTRobot outside of bend for example)

[timber raven]

Were you messing with mqtt? That's how you get nodes from outside your mesh on your map.

[last patrol]

Is that the canvis.app map?

[hearty ferry]

its from the Web API

[last patrol]

The mqtt one?

[hearty ferry]

ahhh ok, I was trying to connect this module to the meshtastic MQTT server so maybe thats how they were populated

[shadow quest]

@hearty ferry My crowtrobot pings to Aloha. Could be a location spoof. If it doesn't have sat count it could be manually entered. Not sure if turning on location through phone does a sat count.

[hearty ferry]

I assumed I was getting other people's node database

[lyric zephyr]

@timber raven I saw your 10:46 am message on LongFast, down here in NE Salem.

[shadow quest]

@hearty ferry I think that neighbor info is just direct, except for mqtt. I honestly have no idea. Have seen "Unknown Username" when doing traceroute though.

@turbid sequoia Does NeighborInfo do more than one hop?

[hearty ferry]

I thought I saw a setting defaulted to 3 hops

[dusky niche]

(not sure how I got CrowTRobot outside of bend for example) I have been to Bend, but the Crow T Robot node has not! Weird 😵‍💫.

[timber raven]

Awesome, that was about a minute after I sent it, that's a decent distance.

[timber raven]

What's your node called?

[hearty ferry]

maybe you have the location obfuscation set really high? Or maybe it was a really bad location lock?

[dusky niche]

Probably just a fluke. Or someone else who really enjoys MST3K😆.

[sharp pilot]

YCM5 is now offline. Replaced by YCM1

I mean YCM2

You should be able to see YCM2 from PDX

[turbid sequoia]

Neighbor info doesn't currently do anything for the phone/web clients. It sends a packet with all it's 0-hop neighbors. It uses a lot of bandwidth so not recommended except for small/private meshes. It's really designed for use with the Network Management Client which is still in early development. I'm not sure but I believe it has to be switched on for every node between a sender and receiver to actually receive it.

[lyric zephyr]

Hoodview hv58

[timber raven]

Hmm, strange, don't see it on my map. Do you have mqtt on?

[sharp pilot]

Is the owner of TEC2 in here?

[lyric zephyr]

My MQTT is enabled only for position reporting. My MQTT uplink/downlink is disabled for LongFast primary channel. I do have a decent roof antenna so I see many of the PDX area nodes.

[hearty ferry]

I am still struggling to get my node reporting to the MQTT map

[lyric zephyr]

Does your node have GPS? Or are you reporting position from phone or fixed position?

[hearty ferry]

This one is fixed and connected via WiFi

[lyric zephyr]

The Fixed position is the one option I haven't used. I've had success with a GPS module or phone position.

[sharp pilot]

I have also been having probs with meshmap lately

Last 2 days it hasn't reported my position

I have a node at home that is connected to the Internet via Ethernet and it's not reporting

[hearty ferry]

I was wondering if it's something related to using the web interface. Was going to try setting the position through the CLI

[sharp pilot]

I have MQTT turned on with map reporting

[hearty ferry]

Ahhh so might not be my problem. Was following along with @sharp pilot this morning 😅

[sharp pilot]

But I see other nodes reported on the map today

[lyric zephyr]

I do have a secondary channel that has uplink/downlink and position reporting enabled. but it's private with a unique key. i sorta wonder if that 'helps' with MQTT position reporting.

[sonic plover]

Saw you pop up down here on the South bank of the Columbia!

[lyric zephyr]

Here is another map option to try: https://meshtastic.liamcottle.net/

[sharp pilot]

That's a nice map

Still doesn't show my node

Well it shows it offline

[lyric zephyr]

lol, ya, mine has always showed offline status, even though the position reports are current.

[hearty ferry]

Seems I have already filled up my node DB

[sharp pilot]

Mt.Hood from up here

[silk flare]

Oooh nice, is that one of the spots you've got nodes @sharp pilot ?

[sharp pilot]

Yes

Just put up a new one today. YCM2

[silk flare]

awesome!

[sharp pilot]

You probably see it from PDX

It has a 10db antenna on it. Very narrow beam width on it

[hearty ferry]

what sort of antenna is that? yagi?

[sharp pilot]

It's an Omni from Rockland

https://store.rokland.com/collections/all-helium-antennnas/products/10-dbi-backcountry-n-male-omni-outdoor-helium-915-mhz-antenna-48-for-rak-miner-2-nebra-indoor-bobcat-hotspots

I wanted a Omni so I can also hit my house which is about 60 degrees off from PDX

[daring steeple]

Most hops in a successful traceroute I have ever had. I have hops set to 7.

[topaz halo]

Ahoy meshers

[turbid sequoia]

what's the milage to CrowT from you?

[daring steeple]

Only 20 miles lol. I'm in Lafayette. Went to coast range to cactuses new node then straight back over the top of me into portland and around it back to Aloha

[sharp pilot]

@daring steeple did you actually go up to the node location today?

[daring steeple]

No. Just saw you said yamcomesh2 was up there today. This was from hime. Rebuilt omnius with a thermostat and fan. Going to get it on the roof this weekend

[sharp pilot]

my node is still not showing up on the meshmap. its a rack with ethernet and the latest firmware. This is frustratiing

I do not have uplink enabled on the default channel. just map updates

[daring steeple]

Yea my brothers node T-Bone won't show up either. Going to mess with settings this weekend.

[sharp pilot]

I even turned off encryption in hte Mqtt menu

[turbid sequoia]

can you see your rak on your local network with an ip scanner app or your router admin?

[sharp pilot]

yeah, its in the arp table and I can ping it

[turbid sequoia]

meshmap is updating. I just got an update on one of my nodes.

[sharp pilot]

none of my nodes have updated in the 2 days

[turbid sequoia]

I switched my mqtt node to map only about two days ago. it was sending everyone's location to the server/map. This is my first experience with the map setting

I have encryption turned on fwiw.

[sharp pilot]

I dont have mqtt enables on any of my channels, just hte settings you see in the image above

[turbid sequoia]

I'll check the rest of my settings when I get home tonight.

[sharp pilot]

ok, thanks

even still they should update through one of the nodes in PDX

they are all linked by LOS

[turbid sequoia]

apparently the map reporting feature only reports your own node, not the rest of your mesh.

[sharp pilot]

well, its not even doing that

so if i want other nodes on my mesh to report I have to enable uplink on hte default channel?

@daring steeple what settings do you have for your mqtt?

and wat FW are you running?

[leaden lagoon]

is the reason everybody disables mqtt forwarding down to the amount of radio traffic that requires, or the amount of CPU/battery?

[sharp pilot]

mostly radio traffic from what I have been told

it can spam the mesh with too much traffic

[leaden lagoon]

sounds like it needs a more sophisticated priority system beyond yes/no

[sharp pilot]

yeah, thats beyond me

[ashen spruce]

Wow, that's hilariously all over the place! Happy to participate in that route! 😂

[daring steeple]

Turned it off last weekend messing around. Only had unplink enabled. I'm at work or I would turn it back on and see if it works.

[sharp pilot]

well, I just did a test and used the proxy through my phone and its working now...

no uplink on hte default channel

it showed up on hte map right away

now lets enable uplink on hte default channel and see if my nodes show up

[turbid sequoia]

I'm using WiFi though, no Ethernet

[sharp pilot]

yeah. its working now that I did the proxy via my phone

but if you use wifi does that disable BT?

[turbid sequoia]

Yes, but I can connect via IP address

[sharp pilot]

oh

CLI or browser?

just point me in hte right driection I can figure it out

[turbid sequoia]

Android

[sharp pilot]

oh snap

way better range than BT

[daring steeple]

Thats how I use my heltec in Omnius. Works anywhere in the house

I think your now reporting my location. I just showed up on the map

[sharp pilot]

do you use your existing wifi or are you creating one on your device?

[daring steeple]

Existing wifi is what I use

[sharp pilot]

ok

[turbid sequoia]

Same

It's a mesh WiFi of course

[sharp pilot]

and disable BT for the wifi to work?

[turbid sequoia]

No need to disable BT. It happens automatically if you turn on WiFi.

[sharp pilot]

yeah, not working...

I put in hte wifi for my home and no go

[turbid sequoia]

If you're on a RAK, it doesn't have wifi

[sharp pilot]

well shit

that explains itt

[turbid sequoia]

Yup

[sharp pilot]

oh well

is what it is

thanks for the info

[turbid sequoia]

Odd that Ethernet doesn't work. I don't have a module to test it out.

[sharp pilot]

yeah, its odd. I can ping it and it shows up on the ARP table

would be nice if somewhere on the board it showed the MAC