EU - Spain

[copper carbon]

oh it’s your node?

[ripe coral]

yup, it's sat next to me on my desk

[copper carbon]

ah

[ripe coral]

But I know why you're seeing it there - I had it with me in the office on Monday when the apagon happened!

[copper carbon]

I saw it yesterday

3pm

last time it was seen

[copper carbon]

haha

[ripe coral]

You'd have seen it via the mesh no doubt, via Montalt router or something

It's been on my desk for a couple of days now 🙂

[copper carbon]

ah syrah

[full trout]

so between the heltec t114 and the lilygo t3s3 you would choose the heltec? @ripe coral

[ripe coral]

I would choose the Heltec, yeah

Depends on what you want to do, obvs.

T3S3 is ESP32 based, so it's better for a fixed base location with network/Wifi, say if you want to do MQTT for map uploads

T114's have much better battery life as they're nrf based.

Unsure on radio differences, I think they're both using the same.

SX1276 in the T3S3, SX1262 in the T114

So yes, definitely the T114 (unless you need wifi/mqtt!)

[copper carbon]

okay

and the t-echo?

better than both?

or eh

[ripe coral]

t-echo is very similar to the T114, nrf based (so no wifi for MQTT)

They've also released a T-Echo lite which is kinda funky, as it's quite cheap: https://lilygo.cc/products/t-echo-lite

[copper carbon]

that’s just the PCB 😭

[ripe coral]

PCB+Case, depdends how you're going to use it 🙂

[copper carbon]

anyways, I already have the heltec v3 which has wifi

[ripe coral]

I quite like the idea of that as i've been pulling my t-echo's out of the cases and putting them in waterproof housings, for example

[copper carbon]

but i’d need to buy the nrf, the radio chip, the battery, everything no?

[ripe coral]

There's also this: https://www.elecrow.com/thinknode-m1-meshtastic-lora-signal-transceiver-powered-by-nrf52840-with-154-screen-support-gps.html

You'd need to get a battery, but the nrf, radio, gps etc is on the T-echo Lite. it's not suitable for a stand alone pocket node though, no, more for if you want to put one permanently mounted somewhere.

[copper carbon]

ohhhh

then yeah it’s fine

$15? wow

[ripe coral]

This ThinkNode M1 is basically a T-Echo in a different case design, as far as I can see - I've not got one of these

[full trout]

I use wifi to connect to the node with my phone, the t114 not having wifi is a downside

I doubt that the bluetooth signal will reach my room from where the node is placed

[ripe coral]

Yeah, I think you'd be best with something ESP32 based then, the T3S3 is a good shout tbh

I bought one that I was going to permanently mount on the antenna mast, but I never got round to using it tbh

Weirdly, looking at it now and it says on it that it has a SX1262

[full trout]

There are different variants

[ripe coral]

The spec's I just read said it has the older radio

[full trout]

I saw a listing on aliexpress where you could choose between the sx1262 and the other one

[copper carbon]

same

I don’t need wifi tho

I have balcony

next to my phone

so I get the t114

[full trout]

probably a better option

it has a very low power consumption

[copper carbon]

ah nice

it would be nice to have a node that has a high transmit power

[full trout]

all of them have around the same

[copper carbon]

yeah sadly

well I could get an externally powered antenna

I mean imagine if I connected all of barcelona

from my balcony

[ripe coral]

The Station G9 actually goes up quite high transmit power, but it's spendy

It also has an LNA and filter, for better receive sensitivity, it's really the only node which is considerably different than the others in that respect

But spendy.

For a node to carry around, these are hard to beat tbh: https://www.seeedstudio.com/SenseCAP-Card-Tracker-T1000-E-for-LoRaWAN-p-6408.html

[copper carbon]

my friend has that

I was about to mention it

[ripe coral]

Another option for you @full trout https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-ESP32S3-for-Meshtastic-LoRa-with-3D-Printed-Enclosure-p-6314.html

There's quite a lot of new nodes been released recently

I like this one too: https://heltec.org/project/meshpocket/

[copper carbon]

magsafe????

wow!

[ripe coral]

Yeah, not sure it does much via magsafe aside from charge the phone, but still, kinda cool

[full trout]

Are these less known nodes harder to use with meshtastic? Or is it as simple as the more well known devices

for example flashing the firmware

[ripe coral]

I think as long as you see it on flasher.meshtastic.org you're going to be fine

Certainly most of the ESP32 based devices are all the same in terms of flashing

I'm just flashing the T3S3 with it now, so I'll tell you if it works in a second 🙂

Yup, worked fine 🙂

It's a very fast device too this one, even compared to the Station G9

I remembered the other thing I like about it, there's an antenna connector soldered onto the board, no pigtails, so better signal path, great little board actually.

[full trout]

yeah, ill probably end up buying this one

[ripe coral]

I should really get around to mounting this one up the pole, I kind of got stalled because I had issues with my 3d printer and couldn't print a case

then tbh, by the time I put the node on Montalt I'd figured having a local node didn't help that much anyway as that one's doing all the heavy lifting!

[full trout]

are 3d printed cases water resistant?

[ripe coral]

Not really, but you can paint them which protects it

It depends on the material too, ABS is theoretically more water proof, but it's harder to print. I've generally just printed stuff in PLA and then painted it to make it water resistant

[full trout]

I also want to put a temperature sensor, so I would need a new housing for the node with some ventilation

[ripe coral]

I went through a whole process of upgrading my 3d printer with a chamber and chamber heater, new nozzle etc, to make it better, but it's not quite working yet, lol

Yeah, could be possible to print something suitable, for sure

[full trout]

I have a simple method that gives me good results with abs

simply by putting a plastic box on top of my printer and a lava lamp inside the box to give it a bit of extra heat

it prints abs flawlessly

Stock ender 3 too

[ripe coral]

hah, yeah, that was my last attempt, I used plastic sheeting and an old filament bulb for heating - never quite worked for me 😦

I'm a bit more hi-tech this time, I've built a proper enclosure out of wood, with heat insulation and even a chamber heater. Then upgraded my hot-end, so it should be great once it's running again.

It's an old CR10S, so similar to the ender 3 IIRC

I just need to finish the door on the enclosure, my woodworking skills are really bad though

[full trout]

that was my initial plan too, but i got too lazy

[ripe coral]

Yeah, sorta same tbh

I have too many projects and not enough time or enthusiasm 🙂

[full trout]

I think that the most important thing is to not have any gaps for the air to escape

without any air currents

[ripe coral]

Yup, for sure. controlling the temp and minimising drafts I think is critical

Hence why the door is taking so long, because I'm really bad at getting it to fit and not leak air 🙂

[full trout]

hahaha

[ripe coral]

I sealed the rest of the case with foil/heatproof stuff and silicon sealant, so it's really airtight

But because of my woodworking, the door is not, hah

I mean, it doesn't even fit at the moment, it'll need a lot of work with sandpaper 🙂

[full trout]

This is how my printer looks rn

[ripe coral]

Simple but effective!

[full trout]

The box wasn't big enough so i had to put a blanket

it seals the air pretty good

it's able to print large abs parts without warping

but the printing temperatures are maxed out and the electronics are also inside the heated box

[ripe coral]

That was back in feb, before I added the heat proofing/insulation etc

[full trout]

wow, looks professional

[ripe coral]

It really isn't, it's all scrap wood I had laying around

The electronics are now outside of the 'box', I lengthened the original wiring and it runs through a hole in the side

the controls now sit where the UPS is sat in that pic

There's a chamber heater inside too, so it should be able to keep the chamber hot enough for printing carbon fibre infused filament, hopefully

[full trout]

yeah, there are so many interesting filaments that I have to try out

[ripe coral]

It's very solid, mounted to the walls and floor so there's no vibration too, so hopefully I'll be able to get good print speeds without inducing any wobble etc

I'd love to be able to print in some of these new engineering filaments, yeah, they look awesome

being able to print stuff that'd last outside would be cool

[full trout]

If my setup gives good results i'm sure this will too

[ripe coral]

sanding/priming/painting is a real pain

Hope so!

I need to finish decorating the living room then I can get back to it 🙂

[full trout]

I want to try smoothing abs with acetone, that's why i wanted to print abs in the first place

i saw some results that look awesome

[ripe coral]

I've seen the results of that, looks really good!

yeah, getting that kind of finish any other way takes a lot of work

[full trout]

it would take a lot of time to sand and paint a part

to make it look like that

[ripe coral]

yup, even with high build primer, you have to sand a lot, then prime, paint, paint, paint, smooth, paint

The thing I found the most annoying also, is that when you have multiple parts that fit together, the painting and sanding changes the fitment, which adds more complexity

Being able to just print and smooth would be way easier

[full trout]

I can never get 3d printed parts to fit together

the tolerance is always off

there is a setting for it in cura but i still have to sand parts that have to fit with eachother

[ripe coral]

Hmm, I've not had that problem with stuff straight off the printer. I did a calibration cube and dialled it in a long time ago, since then it's been ok

Make sure everythings tight - no excess play in the belts or anything

[full trout]

i've never calibrated my printer, so maybe that's the problem

[ripe coral]

Especially with stuff you print at the same time, you should find it's pretty close

calibration cube is worth doing!

It was a while ago, but it was simple from memory - print the cube, measure it, add in the measurements to the printer config to correct it

[full trout]

i'll look up a tutorial

[ripe coral]

Until I did that it was a nightmare with things like screws/nuts/bolts to hold parts together, as nothing would ever fit

[full trout]

I don't have a caliper or something precise to measure the cube

might have to buy one

[ripe coral]

Handy to have!

Especially for measuring stuff you're printing to fit 🙂

I lost mine and have been resisting buying a new one

It'll turn up the second I buy one and I know it's in the garage somewhere

I need to get the printer back up and running next actually, have so many half finished projects I want to print stuff for

[copper carbon]

did you guys get this?

[ripe coral]

nope

[copper carbon]

hmm

[full trout]

I can't connecto to my node

[ripe coral]

Very odd

It's like there's a black hole around Barcelona 🙂

[copper carbon]

what’s you guys’ hop count?

[full trout]

my node is begging to be retired it just crashed or something

[ripe coral]

I wonder if Montalt is still active actually

[full trout]

i think mine is set at 4 or 5

[full trout]

what's the setup for montalt?

it's solar powered?

[ripe coral]

Yeah, it has 4 old 18650's and a solar panel

it's been running since I put it there without issue, but I don't... oh, scrub that, it's just replied to me

[full trout]

nice

my node completely stopped working

[ripe coral]

I got a "Recibido en Girona siftah"

So we can get to Girona but not Barcelona 🙂

[full trout]

maybe the messages are getting routed through my node but because it's not working right they are not re transmitted

[ripe coral]

ok, so, next challenge, I think we need to think where to put another solar repeater to connect Mataro/Arenys to Barcelona

[full trout]

i'll try to unplug mine

[ripe coral]

I set Montalt to be a router, so it should really be repeating quite aggressively

[copper carbon]

I just sent like 10 messages with yagi

no ack

trace route fails

[full trout]

my node should be doing that job because i've got clear LOS to bcn and mataró, but it's not really working

[ripe coral]

Hmm, what height at you at then?

I can't imagine your position is actually much different (signal wise) from where I put the Montalt node tbh

[copper carbon]

we need tibidabo

[ripe coral]

The Montalt node isn't actually on Montalt btw, it's a few hundred metres away, closer to BCN

We have two or three large hills between us and BCN, even from the 597 metres of Montalt

I think someone has put one on/near Tibidabo tbh, the Collserola one

[copper carbon]

well I have nodes in mataró

they should see you

[full trout]

this is the view from where my node is

you can see most of barcelona and mataró is a bit covered

[copper carbon]

is that red light the 3 chimneys?

[full trout]

yes

[copper carbon]

well the problem is probably that the signal can’t travel that far

[ripe coral]

oh wow, that's amazing how much of BCN you can see

[copper carbon]

need a better antenna perhaps

[full trout]

i'll buy the lilygo with a gizont antenna

[ripe coral]

Where Luu is, is pretty great LOS back to you too, so it's kinda odd you two can't see each other

[copper carbon]

exactly.

[full trout]

i think that the weak ling is our nodes

mine at least

[copper carbon]

yeah

[copper carbon]

even with clear LOS I don’t think the signal reaches that far

[full trout]

it should

[copper carbon]

eh

[ripe coral]

From your relative heights... I think it should tbh

[full trout]

the current meshtastic record is 331km

and the previous one was 254km

[copper carbon]

it’s a good 30km

between us

so yeah ig

[full trout]

300km not 30

[copper carbon]

it should work

only thing is

i’m facing the other way

[copper carbon]

as you can see here

[full trout]

oh, so the building is blocking us

[copper carbon]

yeah

but

there’s nodes in the street in front of me

with a LOS of you

so it should be redirected to me

[ripe coral]

The height matters though, quite a bit - I'd expect you to get lots of nodes visible on the other side of the city though, so it does suggest your node isn't performing great

[copper carbon]

maybe yeah

[ripe coral]

I wouldn't expect nodes at ground level ot reach out to Seba tbh

[copper carbon]

it’s a lot of buildings, traffic, noise

[ripe coral]

Too many buildings in the way

yup

[copper carbon]

a lot of signal noise

[ripe coral]

Buildings really attenuate the signal, even trees do

Even from my office in the city I couldn't see you and I'm only a few blocks away there, so... must be something odd 🙂

[copper carbon]

barcelona wifis. busses, phones

[copper carbon]

it’s my TX maybe

pass by my building tmr

or whenever

you can

[full trout]

and there is no way of you putting the node on the rooftop of the building, right?

[ripe coral]

If, for example, you're on the front of the sea/beach, I'd expect you'd see Seba or Montalt nodes

Going off the picture, you see a lot of lights along the sea front

[copper carbon]

yeah I can, but it’s a large rooftop, so some signal from an angle will be lost

probably a bad idea to put it on top

i’d have to mount it like on a corner

[ripe coral]

If you have access to the roof it'd be interesting to test one day - tape a node to a selfie pole and hold it up or something, then send a couple of test and wait 🙂

[copper carbon]

look again in the picture and tell me where you would put it

I can access roof when I want, it’s a pool

[ripe coral]

ah, of course, forgot that!

I reckon Castell de Buriac would be an awesome location for another repeater too

[copper carbon]

I would need a ladder to access the top part of the roof, because the whole thing is like a faraday cage

gonna go to sleep now

[full trout]

okay

[copper carbon]

i’ll be back talk tomorrow and i’ll see if I end up buying the t144

[full trout]

i'll probably buy the lilygo tomorrow

[copper carbon]

ah nice

[full trout]

@ripe coral does the lilygo t3s3 have a sma-m or sma-f connector? i'm looking for an antenna but can't find any info

[ripe coral]

Umm, it's the normal one most these nodes have

SMA-Female on the node

needs an antenna with an SMA-Male

[full trout]

ok, and I remember you said that there are 2 types of gizont antennas, one with a narrower base than the other

and one worked a bit better than the other

do you remember which one was the one that worked better?

[ripe coral]

https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005006359246399.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.220.694d194dSDmrd4&gatewayAdapt=glo2esp

This is the listing I bought from

Both the 400mm and 200mm work great, I've not really noticed any performance difference between the two of them, though I've not tested scientifically!

Oh

https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005004607615001.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.10.401f194dgP7929&gatewayAdapt=glo2esp

I also ordered from this seller, they sell single and a little cheaper, though the shipping is more

Color: 868MHz SMA M

[full trout]

i'll just buy the single one

ok, so i'm also going to sleep now and tomorrow i'll buy the lilygo with the antenna

[ripe coral]

This looks like a good potential spot to put another repeater too: https://maps.app.goo.gl/sYQLtfRNahR5NZxLA

Good plan!

I should hit the hay too tbh, more decorating to do tomorrow 😭

[full trout]

Looks like a really good spot based on the review photos

[full trout]

just ordered the lilygo with the gizont, should come next week if ecoscooting do their job

[ripe coral]

Nice, that'll be quick from AliExpress tbh, usually takes longer for me!

I just picked up some stuff today that's been lost in the delivery network for weeks

I think the EcoScooting guy dropped it at the collection point thinking I'd be able to pick it up quicker, but they sort of lost it, then it took weeks to find out where it'd be left🤣

[full trout]

Sometimes the ecoscooting guy marks the package as delivered at the collection point but they don't really deliver it until like a week later

And another problem that i've been getting recently is that the package has nothing to do with the thing i've ordered. I don't know if it's ecoscooting's mistake or the seller in china.

I remember I bought a video cable and they delivered me a gold plated south african coin. They gave me my money back and I got to keep the coin, which is nice.

[ripe coral]

Yup, he does the same for me too, probably the same guy!

I've not had the wrong thing yet, it's usually correct - I did have one package delivered for someone on a different urbanicacion, same number but different urb, haha

You may have a hard time spending gold plated south african coins round here but it's worth a try

maybe one of the guys on the beach selling fake goods 🙂

[ripe coral]

A friend from work just got his first node setup, it's possible you'll see him Luu as he's able to see ITWorm

He's in Montcada area

[copper carbon]

oh nice

[ripe coral]

Active recruitment, best way to grow the mesh 😂

[copper carbon]

is it any of these?

[ripe coral]

Nope!

[copper carbon]

whats te hex?

[ripe coral]

"Meshtastic b100"

[copper carbon]

don't see it

[ripe coral]

Interesting - are you seeing ITWorm today? he could see that

He was literally sending his kid onto the roof with the node, haha

[ripe coral]

So, today he's in the office on Llacuna

So you might see a node

[copper carbon]

let me check

I'm at homr

[ripe coral]

Ah sweet! What's your node called?

Tasiro?

[copper carbon]

Its meshtstic 15cc

[copper carbon]

I see this as wel

[ripe coral]

He's 8999, it's a T1000-E

I just pinged him the Discord again 🙂

[copper carbon]

booyah

not much I can see tho

weak signal

[ripe coral]

Sweeet!

He's on the other side of the building from where you are, so that's better than when I last tried!

[copper carbon]

yeah

i’m surprised by the range of the t1000e tho

it’s a small little thing

[ripe coral]

Yeah, I've been quite surprised, for such a small antenna it works well - really good rf design

it's like the Ultra G2, very compact but the RF design is excellent, especially when it's in a pocket it's been designed to work and use your body as the antenna 🙂

[copper carbon]

yeah

I bet he doesn’t see me tho

[ripe coral]

Will be an interesting test for sure!

[copper carbon]

this is my current set up

I can switch between them

[ripe coral]

You can literally see our office in your pic

[copper carbon]

hahah is it that black building?

ohh

well

go to the window

[ripe coral]

Pretty sure it's that one, unless my memory is bad

[copper carbon]

wait that’s super close

[ripe coral]

I'm working from home today, haha

[copper carbon]

ah same

is your friend there?

your coworker

[ripe coral]

Yeah, I think he went into a meeting, hopefully he'll join the discord shortly

[copper carbon]

ah nice

we can tell him to leave his node near the window

on my side

that would definitely get a connection

imo

it’s 100% direct LOS

i’m not sure why 3 hops

[native oasis]

Howdy, that's my node 🙂

[copper carbon]

heyy

how’s it going?

siftah mentioned you

[copper carbon]

is this your building?

[native oasis]

That's my office indeed, but as Siftah mentionned I'm on the other side but I can easily leave the card on the other side. Let me do that.

[copper carbon]

yeah try that

you can still connect via bluetooth

[native oasis]

Yup, the only problem we might face is that the building is 9 story high, I'm on the 1st floor and only have LOS till 3rd floor.

[copper carbon]

take a picture of my building

let me see what floors you can see

[native oasis]

I suppose that’s the one?

[copper carbon]

the black building

the tall one

[native oasis]

Yup

[copper carbon]

let me go to the roof

wait a second

[native oasis]

I’ll need to restart the node quick to remove the buzzer

[ripe coral]

It seems like it should really be a direct connection when there's basically LOS

It's so weird, must be a huge amount of inteference with it being in the city

[native oasis]

I'm back online

[ripe coral]

I'll have to put rtl_sdr on a laptop and see how much pops up, probably loads of temperature monitors and things

[copper carbon]

try now

i’m in the roof

[native oasis]

What do you want me to try?

[copper carbon]

send message

[native oasis]

To Siftah or you?

Which is your node?

[copper carbon]

to the main chat

channel

primary

[native oasis]

Trying.

[copper carbon]

make sure nothing is between us

[native oasis]

Maximum retry has been done.

I'll retry.

[copper carbon]

yeah weird

[native oasis]

I'll turn the card around in case, it's more directional.

[ripe coral]

That's super weird.

Literally LOS and less than a km, there must be a lot of inteference

[copper carbon]

yeah

[native oasis]

Same problem. Let me lift the card higher.

[ripe coral]

That metal shielding may be doing something too, faraday cage I guess

[native oasis]

Same. We also have some metal sheet on our side. Right above the windows.

[copper carbon]

okay I stuck it out completely

[native oasis]

I'm trying to move the node around different position.

[copper carbon]

try switching to very long range - slow mode

[ripe coral]

vertical is always best for the nodes antenna, doesn't matter which way up, but as close to vertical as possible 🙂

[copper carbon]

it’s completely vertical but upside down

[native oasis]

I seem to be receiving fine, but I'm not sending strong enough. Maybe the windows are too thick.

[ripe coral]

vertical but upside down is fine, works the same

[ripe coral]

So, in theory, the size of the holes matter

Like a microwave has mesh on the screen, sized for 2.4ghz, if the holes are smaller or larger they wouldn't work

[copper carbon]

what holes

[ripe coral]

same with this - I'm not entirely sure what size the holes would need to be to block 868mhz, but it could be something similar

[copper carbon]

no the antenna isn’t behind the holes

[ripe coral]

on the metal on the windows (on either building really, but mostly felixs office)

[native oasis]

I'll come with a better node next week.

[copper carbon]

its sticking outside, its not inside

[copper carbon]

wait before try to switch to very long range slows

[ripe coral]

There's a metal mesh on the windows on Atomsk building too though

[copper carbon]

oh

then open the window

or maybe try to go outside

or wait, do you have access to the roof?

[native oasis]

Give me a minute

I can go outside

[copper carbon]

okay

[native oasis]

Looks like it worked

[copper carbon]

it did?

[native oasis]

It says confirmed

[copper carbon]

Yes!

[native oasis]

Are you 15cc?

[copper carbon]

yes

@ripe coral it works

signal fair

did you receive my direct message?

[native oasis]

No

[copper carbon]

try sending me a direct message

[native oasis]

Can you try again

[copper carbon]

it says unknown public key

[ripe coral]

Aha, so it's probably the window shielding!

[native oasis]

I’m trying

[copper carbon]

I receive your message

[ripe coral]

The key sharing seems to take longer, wonder if it's only shared with a nodeinfo packet or something

[copper carbon]

I receive but I can’t send

[native oasis]

Funny I see no message on my history

[copper carbon]

send your public key

in settings->security

[native oasis]

KzIbS2tRqpaFe45u13bCWA9iUb3JPb2pXS6Z4pFFhyU=

That’s my problem

I think there is an app problem

I see your notification now

[copper carbon]

I sent you message and it says you received

yeah

[native oasis]

But no message in the DM view

[copper carbon]

try closing and reopening app

[native oasis]

I have done that already

[copper carbon]

I sent a hi

[native oasis]

Received notification

But nothing still

[copper carbon]

did you turn off your node?

[native oasis]

In the DM view

Nope, it’s running

[copper carbon]

it’s showing not message receive now

[native oasis]

Let me disconnect and reconnect

I have received a test and can see history

But not my new messages

[copper carbon]

oh ok

[native oasis]

Well I need to get back to work :), I’ll bring something better next week

[copper carbon]

okay nice 😊

at least we got it working

[ripe coral]

Progress

[copper carbon]

looks like your traffic went through 062d

before reaching mine

but me to you was direct

I connected my yagi to my node and moved it around, now I always get acknowledgment from nodes

wow i’m getting a lot of nodes now

i’m actually visible

I had mounted the yagi wrong before

[native oasis]

Is that a feature of the mesh, that it tries to route the message back through a different path? Because I did try to route from from my T1000E to my home node. The way in was direct, but the way back went to a node a few kms away.

[copper carbon]

yeah

[ripe coral]

It's flood routing so, yeah, it's not in any based on logic 🙂

[copper carbon]

hey you’re back

i’ve talked to my close friend from here to montjuïc

with meshtastic

[ripe coral]

A part of the algo is that when a node hears a message, it waits a $random amount of time to retransmit it. If another node waits <$random and transmits already, then it doesn't bother (AFAIU). So there's an element of random to how things get routed

Ah, you got better results with the yagi?

[copper carbon]

yeah

I had placed it wrong before

[ripe coral]

Yeah - had visitors this afternoon and had to cook them BBQ 🙂

[copper carbon]

I can’t place it anywhere on a wall or on a stick, even the slight approach causes a massive interference, so I stuck it on the glass

[copper carbon]

ah nice

this is no good

I wish I could’ve put it there

[ripe coral]

Interesting! I would hazard a guess that the edge of that wall has a metal rod in it for the edging of the plaster, that would be effectively changing the length of that rear element and knocking it out of tune

[copper carbon]

I can’t even screw it in the panel in my balcony, too much interference there as well

[copper carbon]

ohhhhh yeah

because before I had the yagi with the back bar behind a piece of metal, so when I changed it, everything changed

[ripe coral]

That's a semi-educated guess, I'm not super knowledgeable on RF, just from what I've read etc

[copper carbon]

like it just can’t be near anything

[ripe coral]

That's likely, yeah, large pieces of metal near an antenna will change it's tune, for sure

[copper carbon]

no yeah it was a great guess, I think that’s definitely the reason

[ripe coral]

especially with something sensitive like a Yagi

[copper carbon]

yeah

I need to mount it on the air particles

😂

[ripe coral]

wood sticks!

[copper carbon]

yeah

[ripe coral]

Like a bamboo or brush handle, dry wood is a good thing

[copper carbon]

aah yep

[ripe coral]

Or plastic tubing (depends on the type, but I think PVC water pipe, for example, is a good thing)

[copper carbon]

i’ll try

[ripe coral]

I find this whole idea that pieces of metal being close to each other, but not touching, can affect antennas quite bizarre. As it's not like an electrical circuit is being made where metal joins, but clearly for the purposes of radio it has a big effect.

[copper carbon]

yeah high frequencies like 868

[ripe coral]

It's like some of the car mounts where there's a piece of metal on both sides of the car glass, but it still works for an antenna - that is very counter intuitive to me

There's no circuit there, but it still works as a way of passing off RF

[copper carbon]

I have another friend who has been trying to join the mesh but he can’t because he’s in a building near glories

too many walls

he can send but can’t receive

so he gets max retransmission reached and people reply that they receive and I receive but he doesn’t receive those return messages

[ripe coral]

Could well be like earlier, metal on the outside of windows or the building creating a faraday cage effect :\

I think a lot of the smaller antennas that come with nodes are very hit and miss too

I've had good results with some, but similar looking antennas also perform badly, just depends how well it's been made

[copper carbon]

mhmm

[ripe coral]

I've tested a few with the VNA and there's a lot of variation in them

[copper carbon]

it’s the gizont

[ripe coral]

oh, those are usually pretty good! 😦

[copper carbon]

ya..

[copper carbon]

@ripe coral

my friend sent me this

[ripe coral]

Ah, is that the guy who's near Glories? I just sent a message that Atomsk received at home too!

[copper carbon]

yeah

[ripe coral]

I was trying to see if the Router Montseny node was still active, as we can both see that - but it looks like my message got out to him even without that node!

[copper carbon]

how come he gets your station g2 and I don’t?

it says last heard 5 months ago damn

[ripe coral]

I have literally no idea 😂

[copper carbon]

😂😂

it lives in quantum state

have you ever reached 062d or c2c4 nodes?

[ripe coral]

nope, neither are in my list

Even then, Atomsk received my message but I don't see his node in my node list

[copper carbon]

he received Atomsk node

@ripe coral my friends are joining the discord

one of them is BST04 which is from the Sarria area and the other is Gabi_GMR from glories

[ripe coral]

Sweet! Good to get more people active here 🙂

[mossy leaf]

heyy!

[silver crater]

Hi BST04!!

[native oasis]

Yes, I got Siftah's message last night because it seems that the Montseny Router works really well. It seems I got directly the message from the Montseny Router to my T1000-E because as I was indoor far from my home node without access to any other node.

The biggest problem seems to pass the corridor : Collesoral / Turo de Montcada / Serralada da Marina.

If you are up for it I wanted to go to the top of the Turo this week end with a node and try to bridge to Barcelona, which I can see but can't send message to.

From you building Luu there is direct LOS.

That's the first point: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mirador+d'+Occident/@41.4765801,2.1788687,1094m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x12a4bdba084e3635:0x999360459fb2d755!8m2!3d41.4750461!4d2.1743886!16s%2Fg%2F11g6xknsbc?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUwNS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

And then a bit higher : https://www.google.com/maps/place/Turó+de+Montcada/@41.477041,2.1769555,239m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x12a4bdb719a60399:0xa505743a4b0c6555!8m2!3d41.4772066!4d2.1764781!16s%2Fg%2F11g6xqvvm9?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUwNS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

[native oasis]

@ripe coral do you have a build list for the Montalt Router you made, I'd like to build one similar?

[ripe coral]

hah, I didn't even take a picture of it tbh

I can knock together a build list though

I'll take a walk up to the mountain and take some pictures of it, the gaffer tape holding it to a tree probably needs upgrading to a zip tie by now 🙂

[ripe coral]

https://github.com/Siftah/solar_node_bom/blob/main/README.md

[ripe coral]

Just looking around the junk in my office and I think I have enough bits left to make another solar node tbh

[ripe coral]

Just looking at Turo d'Montcada - only issue with that location might be how open it is (ie: hard to hide a node)

Wonder about somewhere more like this? https://maps.app.goo.gl/WsxjheH4sV71LF259

Dunno how much tree cover there is round there, doesn't look much better, but maybe a little. Probably needs an MTB or a hike around there to scout it out 🙂

[native oasis]

From the “wrong side of the building”

[native oasis]

Yes, I agree the test would be more to see if this solves the Valles to Barcelona communication.

[ripe coral]

Yeah, a good test!

[native oasis]

According to the map there are two nodes between the Turo and the location you shared. I'm not able to reach them consistently from my home.

[ripe coral]

I've a small issue of needing to finish decorating the living room and fix the brakes on my car this weekend, but we'll see, I might get to one of those locations on Sunday and be able to drop a solar node 🙂

The height definitely is the key to a lot of the node placement AFAICT. Montalt node is at 600 metres, 300 more than where I am and it's clearly seeing a lot more nodes 🙂

[ripe coral]

I'm now seeing nodes as far as Roses 🙂

[native oasis]

I’m seeing this node too from home

[ripe coral]

Just building up another solar node

I bought 6 cheap 18650's from NKON a while back to use and I can't find them, doh

I know they're here somewhere because I found the invoice for them 🙂

Needs the power connector soldering but it’s basically ready to go 👍🏻

[copper carbon]

oh! you received my test message!

from how far away?

I don’t know why I didn’t receive any notifications

[copper carbon]

I think I might buy this

from the website I wonder how long it takes to arrive

[ripe coral]

Yeah, those look like the cheapest low power nodes right now, think I’ll grab a couple for solar nodes as they’re half the price of the T114’s!

Been ages since I bought from them direct, but I’d expect a couple of weeks

[native oasis]

I was in the office. This on the side opposite to you.

[copper carbon]

ah

well that’s cool

you can receive

from my balcony

from the opposite side

inside

wow

[ripe coral]

Someone on the Telegram group appears to be planning to put a node on Montserrat

[copper carbon]

ah

there’s a telegram?

can you send link?

[ripe coral]

Hostia!

Telegram link: @MeshtasticGirona

It's called Girona but it's been renamed to Catalunya and covers all of Catalunya

[copper carbon]

they added all of thise?

i've joined it, my user is 0v3rcl0ck

I also bought a T1000-E and a T-Beam

I hope it reaches @ripe coral

[ripe coral]

These are locations they have access to and can deploy nodes apparently, the guy works in telecoms, didn’t say who with

[copper carbon]

ohhh

thats cool

[ripe coral]

Yeah, would end up with a mesh more robust than the mobile network 😂😂😂

[copper carbon]

hahah

yep

[full trout]

I've just seen this picture on the meshtastic reddit. It's funny to see how many nodes are in our area compared to the rest of spain

[full trout]

my t3s3 has arrived, should start picking up nodes soon

[copper carbon]

yeah

[copper carbon]

oh nice!

what’s your hex @full trout ?

[full trout]

It's called SebasT3S3

right now it's not in the best location

[copper carbon]

I don’t see it, maybe tell me the hex

the last 4 bytes of the MAC

[full trout]

is it in here?

i doubt that it will reach bcn with how its placed right now

I can see a node in bcn called c7dc

I'm starting to pick up more nodes from bcn, they're about 4 hops away

[copper carbon]

5d50

I don’t have it

[copper carbon]

now this sucks

I can’t connect to my heltec anymore

[full trout]

how did that happen?

[copper carbon]

yeah nvm it just takes 5 minutes to boot up

on every start

[ripe coral]

We're trendsetters! We persisted with our nodes and now it's having a snowball effect 🙂

I think @native oasis has been recruiting more nodee's too 😉

[full trout]

Awesome, my t3s3 is working way better than the heltec v2. This weekend I'll set it up in the pole where the heltec is mounted for better reception

[ripe coral]

Nice!

I definitely think you weren't getting as much of a connection as you should with the Heltec, so hopefully a big improvement 🙂

[copper carbon]

sadly i’m not receiving any messages

any nodes

nothing

heltec is definitely broken

i’m bummed

I wanted to test the range once I got my other node

but eh ig it’s whatever

[full trout]

Have you tried going to another place with good coverage just to make sure there isn't any weird thing going on at your current location?

sutch as interference or something

[copper carbon]

it's always worked at this spot and picked up nodes every like minute but now it hasn't updated since I messed with it and the booting times are like forever

it's just over

i'll wait for my next node

[ripe coral]

Tried a reflash?

Could be the firmware got corrupted or there's a bug with the version you've flashed, something like that.

Would also suggest resetting the app, in case there's a bug there

[copper carbon]

WOW

ITS SO GOOD

like I just turned it on in my room and I get alllll these nodes

one of them was -20 SNR outside with yagi uda and now it’s 10SNR in my room with that tiny antenna

the T1000-E

[full trout]

are you 5039?

[full trout]

@copper carbon

[copper carbon]

yes

[full trout]

I get your messages

[copper carbon]

wow

whats ur hex?

oh wait nvm

I got it

[full trout]

5d50

[copper carbon]

it's not showing for me

how can we proceed?

[full trout]

I think over time they should bind

i'm sending direct messages to you

[copper carbon]

hold on im rebooting

send

maybe send in general?

[full trout]

DM doesn't work i tried sending one on long fast

did you get anything?

[native oasis]

@copper carbon my experience is that in Barcelona you can receive very well with the T1000-E but it's much harder getting a message sent.

[copper carbon]

I think it’s good both ways

rn what’s happening is the opposite

[native oasis]

Interesting.

[copper carbon]

I just had a long chat with someone like 4km away

in private

[native oasis]

I don't know what's happening but for 2 days now, I don't have connection to Barcelona anymore. Looks like the Collserola node is not responding.

[copper carbon]

that’s odd

[ripe coral]

Need to deploy another solar node I think!

I have an idea for a location, but need to go scope it out and see!

[copper carbon]

alright!

[full trout]

luu I can se your node name now

check if you see mine on your list

[native oasis]

Just got your message Luu.

[copper carbon]

that’s odd

i’m in diagonal mar

[native oasis]

Did you get my reply?

[copper carbon]

yeah

that was far!

[native oasis]

Nice.

[copper carbon]

wow

let’s start a private chat

did you get my message?

[full trout]

@copper carbon check if i'm in your node list

i can see yours but private messages don't get through yet

[copper carbon]

oh I got it!

[full trout]

cool, does it say how many hops away?

[copper carbon]

i’m just in the middle of the streets now so nothing will happen

[full trout]

Ok

[copper carbon]

it says signal good?

0 hops

wtf

[full trout]

direct connection??

[copper carbon]

yeah idk how

[full trout]

try sending a message to me

[copper carbon]

i’m in the tram

[full trout]

oh ok

[copper carbon]

i’ll try in a bit

it says acknowledge

[full trout]

I got your messages

2

[copper carbon]

0 hops

so good

[full trout]

hmmm

[copper carbon]

which ones

damn

I get that with my friend as well

I can send but can’t receive

[full trout]

ill try to restart it

[copper carbon]

GOT IT

[full trout]

LETS GOOO

[copper carbon]

did you turn your node off?

it’s not showing you received

oh wait nvm

don’t listen to me

haha

[full trout]

It works great, the messages are instant

[copper carbon]

yeah

well that’s because I was in the side facing you

I wonder how it is for the other way

[full trout]

let's hope that it at least hop from another node

[copper carbon]

yeah

[full trout]

I got your test

[copper carbon]

this little thing is amazing

[copper carbon]

damnn

it says acknowledge by other node

[full trout]

but i get max retransmission

[copper carbon]

ah damn

well once I receive the T-beam let’s see what happens then

[full trout]

It was working great when you were facing the other way

[copper carbon]

yeah ofc

[full trout]

I wasn't expecting that

30+ km away

it's amazing

[copper carbon]

yeah crazy

[full trout]

line of sight is key with these radios

[copper carbon]

that’s true

[native oasis]

I have sent you a private message.

My node is not very reliable yet. I'm just trying out the solar panel and I'm not getting the success I want.

[copper carbon]

alright

@full trout are you ready for some tests?

i’m going to go to the roof

bc I might install a node on the top of my building

[full trout]

I wasn't home

[copper carbon]

ah ok

[full trout]

feel free to send me direct messages to see if they get delivered to my node

even if i'm not able to reply, you should get the icon indicating that my node has received it

for testing

[ripe coral]

So the new node is definitely working better then, for both of you!!!

[copper carbon]

yup

[copper carbon]

@full trout

I received your test

from other side

did you get my acknowledge?

[full trout]

Interesting, I got max retransmission reached

[copper carbon]

hm

not even acknowledge by another node?

[full trout]

nope

[copper carbon]

do you not have any nodes near you?

[full trout]

did you get the 2nd test?

[copper carbon]

nope

[full trout]

Yes, siftah's and many in mataró

ill try in longfast

[copper carbon]

were you in longlsow?

that's why

the other nodes have to be in longslow to receive anything

[full trout]

no, i ment that ill try in the public chat instead of direct message

[copper carbon]

ah

yeah try

[full trout]

but i also dont get acknowledged

[copper carbon]

weird

where is your node?

[full trout]

it's in the same spot as always, in a pole in my garden

with good LOS

[copper carbon]

what's the pole made of?

[full trout]

aluminium, but the antenna is not in contact with it

it's sticking out above the pole

[copper carbon]

hm

[full trout]

i'll try to reboot

still not working

@ripe coral are you getting my tests on long fast?

[copper carbon]

i'm tryiong android phone

how do I connect?

theres like no button in the app

do I connect through bluetooth in phone settings?

[ripe coral]

I saw a few from you this morning, yup

[copper carbon]

I mean I try to connect with my android phone from settings but it doesn't want to

just spamming connect nd nothing happens

[full trout]

there is a blue plus button on the app

[copper carbon]

oh yeah

im dumb

I got test for seba message

[ripe coral]

Woo!

[full trout]

i've sent a repply, it got acknowledged

did any of you receive it?

[ripe coral]

I did, yup

"Received siftah"

[full trout]

yes

I have to try different mounting places for my node maybe

[ripe coral]

You think it's not good where it is?

[full trout]

It was working great yesterday

[ripe coral]

There's some variability in each message; some get received, some don't, depending on which nodes it hops through, AFAICT

[full trout]

right now most of my messages don't get acknowledged on long fast

[ripe coral]

After 8:46am your signal got worse, according to the signal metrics on my node

[full trout]

that's very interesting

[ripe coral]

Hmm, well, looking back, it varies

it doesn't look consistent tbh

[full trout]

I got your test @copper carbon

[copper carbon]

ah nice

[full trout]

but my messages still dont get ack

[copper carbon]

weird

[full trout]

private messages work with siftah

[ripe coral]

Do you see the "ROUTER MONTSENY" node btw Seba?

(Not the Montalt one, the Montseny one)

[copper carbon]

I see it

[ripe coral]

I haven't seen the MONTSENY router for 18d on my local node, which I find odd

[copper carbon]

actualy no I don't see it

since I got my new node

it's not on my list

[ripe coral]

I think that was the one that was relaying a lot of messages from Girona etc

I think the MONTALT router has lost connection with it - I wonder if the antenna has slipped or something, will have to take a hike up to it and check it

[copper carbon]

me and my friends made a custom channel

it's fun

[copper carbon]

test received @full trout

[full trout]

how many did you get?

[copper carbon]

once

I did a thumbs up

[full trout]

i just found that i have 2 private chats with you, one always gets acknowledged but you don't receive the messages

[copper carbon]

ah

one is my other node

maybe?

the heltec is like in my closet now

[full trout]

this one always gets acknowledged

its from yesterday

[copper carbon]

I received the 21:40 one

[full trout]

and there is the other chat

[copper carbon]

ohh

[full trout]

with the thumbs up

[copper carbon]

you got the thumbs up!

sending a message now

[full trout]

but i have 2 chats with you

[copper carbon]

weird

[full trout]

i don't know how, they are from the same node

[copper carbon]

you also have two chats for 2250

I did the thumbs up with my watch bc it showed the notification on there

[full trout]

yes that's my heltec

[copper carbon]

https://meshtastic.org/e/?add=true#CiASEGPvyHOO6liBGRFhcRod6HoaB0Rpc2NvcmQlAgAAABIPCAE4A0ADSAFQG2gBwAYB

try sending messages in this channel I made

it’ll be for the four of us

you me Siftah and Atomsk

[native oasis]

What's that tool ?

[ripe coral]

It’s all good, those nodes all help the mesh still too 👍🏻

[ripe coral]

It’s just the Android client, if you go into more info for the node, there’s a tab for signal metrics which gives you a log of the metrics for the node

I presume it only works for signals you’ve received direct

[ripe coral]

One of these three things is the most powerful tool in your Meshtastic toolbox.

[ripe coral]

Right, I have a gap in my meetings so I'm going to take a walk up the mountain and see what's happening with the Montalt node.

[ripe coral]

Node is how I left it

[copper carbon]

sick

is there a problem with it?

[ripe coral]

I don’t seem to be seeing Montseny from up here any more, my only guess would be the amount of vegetation and the moisture content has jumped up, causing the signal path to be worse 🤷🏼‍♂️

This is its view towards Mataro and BCN in the distance

It looks to be running fine, no signs of damage or anything

[copper carbon]

hm

odd

[ripe coral]

I just shut it down so I can test with another node, but it’s also not seeing Montseny any more

[copper carbon]

so weird

[ripe coral]

Yeah, very odd. Only 1 of 3 test messages from my home node reached it up there, which is bizarre as it was very consistent originally

It could well be the additional foliage that’s popped up since winter, that’s probably having a big effect on signal strength

[ripe coral]

I think this H2T is definitely doing weird stuff - I’m going to downgrade its firmware, since upgrading the firmware and resetting the node db a few hours ago it’s not picked up any new nodes 😂

[ripe coral]

Downgraded the firmware on the H2T/T114 and it's now finding new nodes again. Must be a firmware bug.

[native oasis]

Let's see If I get to see you again. You are not visible on my map for a few days now.

[ripe coral]

I reckon I'm only receiving about 1/5 messages from the wider network tbh

I just sent a message on the Discord channel

Wait, that's confusing hah

On the channel for the Discord which is on Meshtastic, called Discord, not on Discord.

[copper carbon]

how do you even update firmware without taking it down from the tree and plusgging it in a computer and stuff?

[copper carbon]

oh let me check

idk what to call it

can you send again?

[native oasis]

I can't join with this link. Looks like the iOS is a piece of ... Can you share the key of the channel?

[copper carbon]

yep

hold on

@native oasis Y+/Ic47qWIEZEWFxGh3oeg==

try that

[native oasis]

I have sent a message in the chat.

BTW I don't see you @copper carbon anymore either. I only ORIO in the poble nou.

[copper carbon]

I saw you 5 minutes ago but 4 hops

maybe a better connection would be if I put it on the other side of my building

[native oasis]

I saw you siftah!!!!!

[ripe coral]

Ahh! No way!

[copper carbon]

I will check when I get back to my house

[native oasis]

Have you received my reply?

[ripe coral]

On the "Discord" channel or something else?

[native oasis]

Yup on the "Discord" channerl.

[copper carbon]

oh damn

good idea after all to make that channel

[full trout]

I've also sent a reply on the discord channel but again i got max retransmission

[copper carbon]

I need to set a permanent node on the other side, it should connect you to all of barcelona

[copper carbon]

and would probably connect a lot of fellas near you

with a more stable connection

[ripe coral]

@native oasis You'll have to also call the channel "Discord" or it might not work, I think

[copper carbon]

I think that’s a client-side thing

[ripe coral]

Oh, you must have got it working as you're in the screen shot, ha

[copper carbon]

hear me out on this

would you guys ever wanna meetup?

or nah

[ripe coral]

We're in the town occasionally, yeah

[copper carbon]

yeah would be cool

your work is so close to me

we can go node-spotting

haha

[ripe coral]

I know there's a bunch of meetups that happen on the Telegram group too, but tbh I don't follow it that much as there's a lot of chat and I struggle to keep up with it

[copper carbon]

yeah me neither, I muted that

[ripe coral]

There must be a lot of nodes around the city by now

[copper carbon]

yeah

also we can look for places to potentially put nodes

[ripe coral]

Yup, I need to spend some time looking at the map again, as I think there needs to be at least another repeater between here and Barcelona to get a solid connection

Or at least moving the Montalt router node somewhere more optimal

[copper carbon]

yeah

[ripe coral]

It's tricky though, as too many nodes are likely to make things worse if they're not in the right spot

[copper carbon]

ah yeah

[ripe coral]

At some point, with enough nodes in the network, all the hops will get eaten up, and/or the airtime limits are going to start getting breached.

[copper carbon]

oh yeah, so how does that get solved?

that’s tricky

[ripe coral]

More people will need to be thinking about how they configure their nodes; setting them to CLIENT_MUTE for example, if they're a mobile node or not in a great location

[copper carbon]

what does client mute do?

[ripe coral]

the protocol was never really designed for more than 100 nodes either, so in reality, it just might not work too well

[copper carbon]

ah

[ripe coral]

It's odd I'm not seeing any replys on the Discord channel, I think my connection between here and the Montseny router isn't great

[copper carbon]

there should be unlimited hops option, like when a node acknowledges, it sends out that signal and if it receives the same signal again it ignores it

that would effectively broadcast one signal across an entire mesh

or just use client mute yeah

[ripe coral]

That would just flood the network entirely though

[copper carbon]

yeah I true

[ripe coral]

There's only a limited amount of airtime available

100 nodes + 3 hops (5 repetitions of each message) is already more than EU law permits on these frequencies I think (not entirely sure, but it's about right, depending on the volume of traffic)

[copper carbon]

damn

[ripe coral]

Ah, I received that test message!

[copper carbon]

you did?

wow

[ripe coral]

That was from a T1000-E too! haha, that's crazy

[copper carbon]

yepp

send a message

[ripe coral]

One sent

[copper carbon]

I got Sebas?

tf

[full trout]

I just sent a test

[copper carbon]

ah

[full trout]

it worked

[copper carbon]

nice

[full trout]

Got your response

[copper carbon]

it’s one hop

[full trout]

my connection doesn't seem to be very reliable

[copper carbon]

i’m going to see which node is hopping out messages

doing a traceroute

no response

[ripe coral]

I cannot get a traceroute to work to you Luu

[copper carbon]

hm

[full trout]

Traceroutes don't really work on me either

only works if there is a very good signal

[copper carbon]

the message says one hop

[ripe coral]

Not sure what these numbers mean though, is it that I receive you with only -16.5dB but you receive me with +4dB?

[full trout]

Are you not receiving Atomsk? @copper carbon

[copper carbon]

nope

[full trout]

i think so

it makes sense because of the g2's higher power

[ripe coral]

When I do the same for the MONTALT router, I get -0.5dB there and -13.5dB back

[ripe coral]

Yup, that could be it

[copper carbon]

before when I had my heltec, a node 300m away was -20 dB

now it’s like 8dB

[full trout]

The problem i have with siftah is that there is a mountain in between us

[ripe coral]

True, yeah

[copper carbon]

I thought you guys were neighbors

[ripe coral]

Neighbours round here is about 5km across a mountain though, haha