us - NYC metro

[glossy pine]

Is that all from Lora or is it Mqtt too?

[radiant cairn]

🖖there aren’t as many nodes out here as there are in the city, lots of hills out this way, not good for mesh, much more localized areas.

[edgy blaze]

That’s all Lora. Granted I can rarely get messages past my little corner of that mess.

[brazen spear]

Sure glad I have a backend on these hard to reach rooftops. Maybe consider a pi in there so you can update firmware remotely or hit the reset button through a gpio trigger.

Can you send me the stl for thar rak mount?

[midnight mural]

@glossy pine I sent you a PM from under the Roosevelt Island Tram just to see if it would make it down to you.

It says “acknowledged by another node”. What does that mean? Awaiting delivery to you by another node?

[jaunty harness]

it means another node heard your message and it should have attempted to retransmit it to the rest of the mesh that can hear it

I got your DM to me at 1 hop so whatever is hearing you is getting out just fine

[midnight mural]

Sweet! Thank you! Today was the most action I’ve seen in awhile!

I was out for a walk, enjoying the sun 😎

[glossy pine]

I got it!

But I’m on the west side now and can’t reply, when I get back to the East River

I’ve got 3 radios in the mail to fill in some gaps

[midnight mural]

Wooooo!

[untold cargo]

anyone else around from Long Island? I can RX a couple of nodes in CT, but nothing local

[daring moth]

Yes. I grew up in Great Neck, NY. I still visit my hometown on weekends.

[bronze wren]

I occasionally visit the ronkonkoma area and it's very quiet out there. I have considered putting up a solar node at the in-laws but there's not much use if I'm not out there frequently to maintain it.

[daring moth]

Can you do what @gardener2549 does? Namely, connect a SSH accessible Raspberry Pi to the internet, and a Meshtastic node to it. Then create a couple python scripts, one to reboot the node, and another to put it into the firmware update bootloader mode.

[bronze wren]

I've been considering that but I just don't have spare pis sitting around at the moment.

I want to create a node where the pi stays powered down and occasionally gets powered on to check for updates from some well known spot so I can keep the thing solar powered on smaller cells.

There are some other ideas I have for firmware updates at a dinstance but most of the time I'd want to pi to power down if it's solar powered. Maybe even control the power state of the pi via LoRa admin commands and some GPIOs.

[untold cargo]

I grew up in greenvale. Live near the nissequogue river in smithtown now

there's a node near my job called Salients' bbs, but i have never picked it up. only see it on the map.

https://meshmap.net/#202840352

that one

[untold cargo]

that's all doable. if you have an optimum account you could even connect to their wifi

[bronze wren]

Oh. Not too bad. Looks a bit south of where I'd have line of sight bit I should do a little LoRa flavored war driving for signals around there again sometime.

Last visit was end of January. I might see about visiting in April and setting something up if I can procure the parts.

[untold cargo]

I drive through ronkokoma every day during the weke

*week

what do people use for lora wardriving?

I was thinking of checking the 900mhz noise floor wiht my rtl-sdr

[bronze wren]

I mostly just check my device screen as I wander ... nothing actually organized but I have considered hooking a script up to log in more detail. Esp signal strength data with my current coords. I move between queens, brooklyn, and manhattan on a regular basis with various nodes and just check what nodes I see come and go.

Some areas are quiet enough that it's not super interesting.

The other issue is tx seems to be a bit harder where I'll be able to rx but never get anything out.

[untold cargo]

same - i wonder if the guys in CT are running ampifiers

(i'm an engineer/software/hardware hobbiest... so i've got the toys to do this sort of thing.. the time is the hard part lol)

[bronze wren]

Must be or at least I have tried quite a few ant setups with no middle coax and line of site for a good distance and still fail to tx to something I can rx.

[terse gull]

You recommend the 10?

[abstract iron]

so weird how this works sometimes. no cloud check but get responses

[jaunty harness]

means someone heard you, but you didn't hear their ack

[abstract iron]

man my RPI3 will just not BT to my window node. grumble

[midnight mural]

@abstract iron what are you doing with your raspi3 specifically??

[abstract iron]

trying to run MeshSense on my rpi3 and connect it to my window node. I'm deep in BLE traces

I can't exactly figure out if it's the chipset/behavior of the rpi3 hardware or a bluez hardware thing

is there markdown in here

oh nice

2025-03-22 21:46:06.100009 > HCI Event: Command Status (0x0f) plen 4
    LE Read Remote Used Features (0x08|0x0016) status 0x00 ncmd 1
2025-03-22 21:46:06.402967 > HCI Event: LE Meta Event (0x3e) plen 12
    LE Read Remote Used Features Complete
      status 0x3e handle 64
      Error: Connection Failed to be Established

this is when I'm trying to connect. seems weird? I ordered a diff BT USB dongle to try in case it's the rpi3 hw

it seems like the rpi sends it read remote features and it just replies error and disconnects connection failed to be estab (status 0x3e)

[radiant cairn]

It works - the price was right.

[midnight mural]

@abstract iron that’s neat software.

I wish I had a good spot to put a solid home node up. I’m sure that would be fun hooked up to my desktop/network.

[abstract iron]

yah. I'm getting your msgs btw

last one "node map bumping"

[jaunty harness]

weird, can you connect your 3 to anything else? i usually just get away with just basic bluetoothctl trust AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF + enter pin, even easier if you have gui, though i've never really pushed a Pi's BT range or come to think of it used it on a 3B

[sonic prism]

I have a meshsense docker container on my Pi but you need to patch out the BLE stuff because it’s not fully supported on Pi if I recall.

https://github.com/jake-b/MeshSense

[abstract iron]

oh nice thank you I'll take a look

I'm actually not sure if I've ever BT anything on this particular rpi3 but if you scan you find a zillion devices. idk

oh this solar node only has BLE I think tho. not wifi

[abstract iron]

got a StarTech 0bda:8771 usb BLE and I'm connecting! back to software problems

disabled onboard rpi3 bt

someones's got a cat waterfeeder that blasts BLE laugh

[glossy pine]

Managed to pickup messages from PDD and Pork all the way from Ridgewood last night, hard to believe but there they were

Also my device battery somehow ran to zero last night, maybe from sitting in a cold window not plugged in, but it seems to have reset all my user info to default

[jaunty harness]

cold will def affect the battery but node should have shutdown on it's own when it saw 3.3V but if it was bouncing around 3.3V it might have been browning out

do you have a backup of your keys? that and the channel cfg are the biggest losses, but it's all a lot easier to manage if you have a backup from meshtastic --export-config or the Android app

[glossy pine]

I’m on the iOS and OsX app

Big key loss maybe that’s why I’m getting encrypted send failure messages when I try to dm

It’s ok once I get home again just gotta start exchanging node info all over again lol

[jaunty harness]

yeah, the other person needs to forget your node on their device/app to pick up your new ones

[glossy pine]

Forget me but don’t forgettt meeee

[jaunty harness]

you can run meshtastic from osx cli no prob, it's not too crazy of an install process either

https://meshtastic.org/docs/software/python/cli/installation/?install-python-cli=macos

[abstract iron]

Xam I had you down even by the JMZ when you DMd. who's hopping us down that way?

[glossy pine]

Not sure! I think you’re close enough to the train platform I could still catch you over the bldgs

[abstract iron]

I'm kind of over by driggs pizza if you guys know that

[glossy pine]

Yeah right by the train

Amazing how consistent our signal is, it’s gotta be bouncing off the tower

I keep trying to find good research on what sorts of glass or at what angles reflections occur

[glossy pine]

forgive my ignorance 🙏 but how do I re-import my old keys into the repowered device

[jaunty harness]

in iOS/macOS app you can copy/paste in Settings > Security and should trigger reboot with the restored keys

from cli you'd have a config.yaml with like config: security: privateKey: base64:1234... publicKey: base64:abcd... and then meshtastic --config config.yaml

[glossy pine]

Thank you!

An angel loses its wings everytime I reset my nodedb

[midnight mural]

I ended up deleting you from my list @glossy pine, I’ll probably pick you back up tonight 😎

[glossy pine]

I’ve got my keys saved now for the future so shouldn’t hopefully have to do it again

[glossy pine]

man without zilla in my node i can barely get out lmao

[abstract iron]

anyone running MeshSense and can pop up developer tools to see what the URI is for the websocket? my frontend cant WS

just gets conn refused. frontend is up

[brazen spear]

At central park today. No apparent coverage. Olmstead will hopefully cover the whole park.

[glossy pine]

What’s…Olmstead?

[daring moth]

One of NYC Mesh's locations. NYC Mesh is a community-run ISP. They happen to have good locations to put Meshtastic nodes at. @gardener2549 has been installing Meshtastic nodes at a subset of their locations. As for where the Olmstead node would likely be at, visit https://map.nycmesh.net/nodes/584.

[midnight mural]

@brazen spear Pinged from Central Park South today, but was not in the park either

[glossy pine]

We really need one on top of 1 south First in wburg

That would connect everyone in wburg to everyone in the city and bushwick

At least downtown in the city

[jaunty harness]

isn't haqer over there?

[normal osprey]

Yeah, I’m at One South First. We can’t put a node on the roof cuz a) it’s closed for the winter b) they watch what we do way too closely. A rogue node on the roof would be taken down pretty quickly, I imagine.

My Domino Park node is in my 41st floor window facing Manhattan, for now.

My T-Echo gets some serious reach from the 1S1 roof though!!

[glossy pine]

Ahh man I can see the north side of your building from my window but not the face toward the city! Too bad

[normal osprey]

Won’t matter cuz I’m moving that node to N 7th ASAP

[glossy pine]

Still on the waterfront? I have a solar node coming for my apt to keep at home and another one to put at a friends place

[normal osprey]

Yup, it’ll be outdoors still on the waterfront. Will rename the node to something appropriate at that time.

[glossy pine]

Hopefully I can hit it

[normal osprey]

I’ll post here once it’s live and lots of testing will be done then!

[glossy pine]

Unfortunately my apt has bad sightlines tho a little and I am still working on my super for the roof lol

[glossy pine]

@normal osprey

[normal osprey]

This is the best I can do for you at the moment! 😂

[glossy pine]

Amazing how just being around that corner makes all the diff

Gotta get some edge diffraction going round the corner

[toxic warren]

hi nyc. I just walked to the store to grab some essentials. Does the city seems really dead ?

[abstract iron]

felt that way this weekend. wasn't sure if last week of ski trips or something?

roads seemed normal for Mon, rain

[glossy pine]

I think just cold last night everyone ready for that warm spring energy

[jaunty harness]

anyone know who's running !2c15b44e (and more specifically, why it's sending messages out every ~min / util % allows)

[exotic merlin]

👋🏼 Hi mesh.

Is anyone else running a Heltec v3? Several times now I've seen the battery run down to zero while it's plugged in. Is this a known issue? Perhaps with a workaround?

[daring moth]

This channel is specific to the NYC metro area. To increase your chances of getting a good answer, I'd recommend asking in #help.

[jaunty harness]

Welcome! Don't have a Heltec V3, but that def doesn't sound right. Is the battery definitely good? There's something of a cliff with LiPos around 30-40% where they drop more severely but if it's plugged in it shouldn't also be draining

Actually.. if the charger wasn't sufficient it could show charging but still drain I suppose

[midnight mural]

@exotic merlin My OG node was a heltec v3 and I did not behave well in regards to the battery, in my opinion, and returned it for a wisblock pocket v2. Too variable for me

And also I saw you pop up on the map the other day 👋

[exotic merlin]

Nice to see you here Pizza Delivery Dude!

Thanks for the tips.

[glossy pine]

Welcome @exotic merlin !

I also have heltec v2 also strange battery drains, seemingly when it gets cold

But I’ve never had it happen when it’s plugged in. Also I had some settings going where it was sending out reports too often so I turned that off and it seems to have improved.

[midnight mural]

What’s that button in the middle of the enclosure @glossy pine ?

[exotic merlin]

Update: ah, this thing just won’t take a charge. Left it off and charging over night and it didn’t do the trick.

I’ll see you all on the mesh when my next device arrives! ✌️

[glossy pine]

It’s not a button, I think it may be a mounting slot for the panel.

Put it in the window but not on yet. I think I have to dismantle it internally in order to be able to plug in the usbc cable bc it won’t fit otherwise

[jaunty harness]

yeah it looks like its meant for a conduit connector

Seems interesting for winterized solar build though lion/lipo seems to be fine for our winters as of late https://www.theverge.com/news/631357/elecom-power-bank-battery-sodium-ion

[tropic gulch]

Trollin

[abstract iron]

damn sometimes I get Grand St direct over here in WB... faint but there

pretty impressive

[jaunty harness]

huh I'd have imagined better #s than what I get east of BQE but apparently not?

[abstract iron]

idk - obstructions here to SW vs your shot down grand etc(??) this the indoor t1e too

shrug. outdoor solar node doesnt have any signal from grand. weird

[glossy pine]

I can dm them every other day

[jaunty harness]

Oh I’m not a straight shot down Grand but parallelish st that does seem to hit it and Vernon pretty reliably even from technically 3rd flr through a window

ayyy I'm seeing W2ASM-1 - that was quick!

[glossy pine]

I wanna try to get a reliable connect to him

Hard from where I am need to do some roof tops

[midnight mural]

I’m in the suburbs of Mass…..I’m the only node 😦

I got flack from someone in Conn about all the plane chatter lol.
Oh well, I’ll be back in the pizza belt soon

[abstract iron]

wow yeah I've got Vernon2 also right now

[rare sparrow]

Just got it today 🙌

[jaunty harness]

They are fun little things

[abstract iron]

amazing Rx on them

[normal osprey]

GrandSt is my favorite node. Direct line of sight and consistent traceroutes.

Shoutout to my 5 unread DMs I can’t see.

[jaunty harness]

yeah i'm almost ready to move the femtofox to the window and enjoy MaxNodes: 500 + MaxMessageQueue: 100

[proven grove]

What's holding you back?

Just found out that Native requires a network connection to run. Might be configurable but it's not obvious how to disable that

[abstract iron]

what is that

[jaunty harness]

uconsole ~ https://www.clockworkpi.com/uconsole

[jaunty harness]

laziness + unsure if it'll sit right on the window sill + haven't gotten to trying to get meshsense running headless/no-gpu

[daring moth]

- it'll look cool - it'll expand the mesh.

[jaunty harness]

hah there's already a 1W Ikoka Nano v3 there, it's not like it'll be a radio upgrade 8)

[proven grove]

Seeing "ikoka" at this point is triggering for me lmao

[glossy pine]

ok got it working! sorry for the confusion of name changes on my nodes

left the one i was using as the same thing in the end, added "SolarGoat"

[jaunty harness]

LOL I still like `em, last weekend built 4 for buddy in Austin (well built 5, but I got to keep 1)

[bronze wren]

I need to build an AC mounted unit for the built-in wall gap I have. Anyone try this strategy? It will stick a bit further out and be on something solid and stable so I feel more comfortable putting it outside.

[jaunty harness]

good idea! maybe magnets for easy mounting to the AC cover?

[terse gull]

i'm interested in this. can you share a pic when it's done?

[bronze wren]

Got some magnets for a different project on the way. I might try but I worry about a bird knocking it off somehow. I guess I could tether it with a cord.

[terse gull]

i have a through wall unit i could put it on... i worry about it falling too much though, could pull a tether through though.

[bronze wren]

Def will be sharing any interesting/novel builds. Right now I have one of my nodes taped to my window with packing tape lol... recent move so it's super hacky but it works ok. Line of site to midtown from queens but it's narrow and a bit far so I want to improve the visibility by moving it outside and this seems like the most reasonable spot for it that I can administer.

[terse gull]

which antenna have you had success with?

[bronze wren]

I am still experimenting. It seems like my largest can rx quite well but I have yet to get a trace to work on it. So I expect my unit cant drive enough power for it.

The whip ant from muzi seels to be a better trade-off but I am a novice with radio stuff so beyond the basic setup and orientation I have very little working knowledge (learning).

[terse gull]

yah trying to find a Dbi sweet spot for my location.

btw I saw someone hang the antenna from the window lock with what looks like thread. I may try it as I really don't like sticking it to the inside window with tape

[bronze wren]

If tx power is the issue I need to keep the node close to the antenna either way so I either have to go solar and find a way to print a mount for my window ledge or attach it to my AC where I can squeeze a wire through to keep it powered even if I do end up using my solar panel.

[normal osprey]

Got your home solar node DM but it has fallen into the abyss of DMs

[glossy pine]

amazing that it worked! the new antenna doing big things

maybe now once i picked up w2asm it'll bounce through you to him

[terse gull]

which antenna?

[glossy pine]

oh nothing special just a better house node

that seems to be getting much stronger signal

[proven grove]

I have magnets, silicone wrapped, that no bird aside from maybe Big Bird will be able to knock down... and they're not expensive. 1 sec lemme find the link

[proven grove]

Little guys: 4pcs Rubber Coated Magnets with... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SLPDSNF?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Big bois: Magnetpro 4 Pieces Strong Rubber... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9M17LZM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

the big ones hold my roof node on top of a Tahoe. It's never budged.

2 of the little ones are holding a node on an iron railing and it hasn't moved either, but it's not super high so I'm a little more apprehensive about it. are you mounting on the side of the AC or on top of it?

[bronze wren]

Thanks. I'll give some stuff I have a shot but these will be good options. Got lots of rock doves and mourning doves around here so I'll be mostly looking to keep them from nesting and shitting on things. 😅

[glossy pine]

kjmagnetics.com also has good options for every kind of magnet if youd like to avoid amz

[bronze wren]

Always nice to skip amazon when I can. It depresses me how much stuff is stuck there and aliexpress as the only options.

[glossy pine]

kj has amazing selection

[bronze wren]

Already love this site. Small business FTW.

[glossy pine]

ive been using them for magnet stuff for 15 years

[jaunty harness]

ooooo nice, shipping from PA should be pretty quick too

[glossy pine]

finally got a dm to you @jaunty harness this new node has me in solid dm range of 8 people

[jaunty harness]

I'm curious who we're hopped through, guessing either fa5a / Domino Park or GrandSt but usually surprised with the actual result

[glossy pine]

i think we are close enough that when i sent it it said we had a direct connection

A traceroute just now said we were going through GrandStreet who i also have dc to

seems to go in and out whether we can reach each other with my new device

[jaunty harness]

ahhh GrandSt nice - and yeah, that sure does sound like the mesh here in NYC

[glossy pine]

I love it

[glossy pine]

Why use medium fast rather than long fast (where everyone is already)

[daring moth]

1a) It's less crowded.
1b) As it's not the default, there's less of a chance that people will change their nodes to ROUTER or similar when they're not in the most ideal location for one.
2) More data throughput.

[glossy pine]

nobody is there so it works smoother, Roger

[daring moth]

and it's faster, at the cost of range between hops.

[jaunty harness]

1/2 the transmission time at the cost of like 10% range, so message has better chances of getting out at the cost of a few blocks distance other clients should be retransmitting to cover anyway

[glossy pine]

That little bit of distance in this environment with patchy coverage and lots of obstacles seems like it could be crucial, to improve transmit times that don’t seem like they’re our number 1 issue at least in nyc

Also if each radio loses 10% range doesn’t that mean a 20% loss of range between any two devices

[jaunty harness]

range here is deminished far more by concrete and steel than switching modem preset from LongFast -> MediumFast

[exotic merlin]

After one more night of charging it suddenly came back to life. I don’t know what to believe about this Heltec anymore.

[terse gull]

weirdly can't transmit at all but am seeing new nodes populate

[jaunty harness]

HAH thats just it - it's just replacing a 1W node with a different 1W node

for the record: I motived up, cut a new ethernet cable and pork - femtofox / 🦊 is now the current window node. there's is DEFINITELY no tape involved at all, nope - not at all.

using the TE Connectivity Linx ant the Austin Mesh people are so into, it had lower SWR than the old hinge champ thats usually in the window so see how it works

[midnight mural]

That’s my life inside at home, outside is better, but I have to head towards the east river to really get a message out, or to Central Park.

Still crickets up here in Mass….got a plane today, that was it.

[jaunty harness]

I was in Cambridge couple weeks back and was pretty popping. Springfield is also pretty covered down into CT. Apparently they're pretty big on MQTT there.

[cyan drum]

Impossible for me to get my signal out. Just about ready to give up.

Tried 4 nodes, multiple antennas, two nodes got stolen

Always see everyone else in Channel 0 chatting but am never able to participate. Just doesnt bring me any happiness anymore. Only frustration.

[maiden thistle]

Roof nodes are the answer

[glossy pine]

Or bring the box outside and look for signs of life

[normal osprey]

height is might

[normal osprey]

sorry to hear your experience with meshtastic isn’t great. i think the way we are using it across NYC wasn’t its intended use case so the experience will never be amazing. i’m extremely high up and can only consistently trace route two nodes (only two nodes I have actual clear line of sight to… so working as intended).

my main use case is music festivals and other relatively close range situations… and it has worked flawlessly there.

Also, I hope you forge ahead but if you decide to get rid of your nodes, i have some deserving friends who would happily take them.

[abstract iron]

bkBubbler where you at? can you get something outside, even if just on the other side of the glass?

[bronze wren]

Yeah. Sucks to see stuff get stolen. I've scouted a few spots I'd consider hiding a public solar node here but I am guessing it'd be stolen pretty fast. I'd really love to find someone with a rooftop at the top of the hill around maspeth.

I'd donate a node, no question it would help get signals north.

I just can't seem to tx well enough in elmhurst even though I see just short of 150 nodes here in my window.

[daring moth]

I don't believe I have rooftop access at my apartment in Briarwood, NY. However, the apartment is on the 7th (topmost) floor.

[bronze wren]

I know the super in my building so I might ask if he can run a node up there for me. The place has cameras all over so I'm pretty sure management would catch if I went up myself but that'd be just above the 7th floor with a good view if I can get it on a pole.

Annoyance would be firmware updates though...

The fire escape could almost work but it is set in on the facade so it doesn't give lateral line of sight.

I have a building next to me that would be even better even in a window and some baristas at one of the local cafes live there so I might give that a shot if I can bring it up when they're less busy.

[blissful moon]

so this group.. is like NYC and NJ right? do we have a mqtt topic?

[bronze wren]

I don't use MQTT to populate the node lists, not sure if others have found it useful?

[blissful moon]

got a few nodes.. different use case. rak that will be a weather station.. T-deck personal device. heltec v3 connected to mqtt, one sensecap indicator to leave at my work in manhattan.. and a main one to communicate with the mesh.. is t-beam.. with external antenna (Need to replace to a better one)

is usefull when you can't reach the mesh.. like if I need to comunicate from the office to home.. unfortunally has a node in manhattan set as router.. which doesn't let me get home.. too many hop;s

[glossy pine]

I don’t use mqtt bc I want to build a radio-only comms network so this thing will keep working if everything goes ta hell

[daring moth]

Looking at a topographic map, it seems that most of Elmhurst is between 50 and 100 ft above sea level. Whereas my apartment building is between 120 and 130 ft above sea level. However, my Meshtastic nodes are currently offline.

[normal osprey]

i don’t use mqtt and have no interest. it kinda defeats the purpose of meshtastic/lora for me personally.

[daring moth]

IIRC, Meshtastic nodes store the last 30 messages, so you can retrieve them from a node when you get back home.

[bronze wren]

I do want to build a little redundant store and retrieve system over-the-top of the meshtastic protocol for delayed reliable messaging at some point since I find the current setup pretty much unusable outside of my personal nodes. I'd put this on much bigger nodes, probably RPis where I could store everything and then nodes could switch to medium fast or short fast to download the missed log.

For most others it'd just be a regular client node and still work like others, but for registered clients it could at least improve messaging and allow some forwarding of channels by sync of devices from one super node of sorts to another.

So then you have a sneaker net for those of us hopping between neighborhoods alot, but still using LoRa rather than a crutch over MQTT.

The issue is mostly making sure compatibility isn't broken. We don't need more fragmentation for the core mesh and basic messaging features for those who don't need more than that.

I still plan on trying to make my connectivity better anyway with new node placement and antenna work but NYC is just hard for so many reasons so I'd like having ways to bridge that even if it's by foot.

[glossy pine]

Did someone say bridge node ?

[bronze wren]

hehe. bridge is kinda overloaded depending on context.

I am more so thinking about eventual delivery options for partitioned meshes (esp useful where the tx and rx reach is so asymmetric). I don't care if it takes me 2 extra hours to get something if it eventually works.

[jaunty harness]

welcome! i'm also in the no-mqtt camp, hard enough on the nodedb with what can see over RF and mesh is nowhere near stable enough to think about bridging in/out. The T-Beam uses an older radio (SX1276) and is 1/2 of a known incompatibility issue communicating with the new LR1110 radio in devices such as Seeed's T1000E which is due to an earlier design decision on Meshtastic's part to use a non-standard sync word for LoRA. Both devices work fine with the far more common SX1262 radio but something to be aware of for something you intend to use as your "main" stationary node. also: pleasepleaseplease don't use the ROUTER role as there is no actual benefit unless you are in an amazing location at tremendous height (like say.... ~100th flr of WTC1) because without both of those all a ROUTER or REPEATER are doing is actually diminishing the mesh by preempting other CLIENTs from retransmitting messages. CLIENT + CLIENT_MUTE are the way as they will still perform the infra-like function of repeating while still playing nicely with the rest of the mesh. You are more likely to get a message between home<->office to work by bumping hops to 4 or 5, or changing radio/antenna positions than you will ever get out of a running a infra role.

[sonic prism]

For remote access, I'm using a Pi node (or a FemtoFox) running Nebula Mesh VPN. Think free self-hosted, owner-controled encryption version of TailScale. Works great. Can SSH in and run Contact or web client from pretty much any device on my Mesh VPN.

I do use MQTT to capture telemetry, but only downlink

[cyan drum]

I have a node on a fire escape railing

[cyan drum]

I don’t just give stuff away, sorry.

[blissful moon]

thank you very much about the infos.. I didn't know about the SX1276.. with that I will replace with a rak. about router I know about.. What I was complaning is someone in manhattan set as router but for sure is not in a good location.. But I hear you.. I will try increase the hops and etc.. and the mqtt just for homeassistant.. One question.. SX1262 works in all frequency right? I purchased by mistake a T-deck 433 but because was external antena I just added a regular 915 antenna and set as US and is working.. I just want to confirm if I am not crazy.

[daring moth]

Received in Briarwood, NY:

[blissful moon]

Received in WestOrange NJ

[jaunty harness]

OH!! Sorry I misunderstood... which is the offending ROUTER, oopoo30? There's a few ROUTER/ROUTER_CLIENT running older firmware that definitely aren't helping anything because of how they preempt CLIENTs and how they interact with newly discovered nodes (sending out their own NODEINFO) and send out their own metrics more often/with less consideration of current airtime usage. Far as the T-Deck that's definitely something I wouldn't expect to work as I believe LilyGo has two distinct SX1262 based radios for 433 and 866/915, but worth checking what freqs are listed on the LoRa radio in the bottom right of the back of the PCB

You could also setup your own private MQTT broker if you're only looking to improve your own devices, otherwise there's the public broker which would also work if you're using a private channel with uplink/downlink enabled but worth giving the hops a +1 or +2 bump and see if that helps deliverability.

[jaunty harness]

OH and I was mistaken on what antenna I deployed on the Femtofox, not actually the TE Connectivity Linx but a Taolgas (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/taoglas-limited/TI-09-A-0111/2332695) - it was like 1.067 or 1.076 SWR @ 906.875MHz when I tested which is pretty damn amazing, and def see a small but noticeable improvement to SNR/RSSI to GrandSt/Vernon2

[daring moth]

Received in Briarwood, NY:

[rare sparrow]

Insane range 🤯

[daring moth]

The node that sent that message is two hops away. 🤷

[rare sparrow]

My tiny tiny antenna could never 🥲

Look at my error rate

[daring moth]

I have the same node as you.

[rare sparrow]

They are exceptional in receiving messages

[rare sparrow]

Transmitting not so much 😂

[daring moth]

Either that, or it could be that so many messages are constantly being sent, with only a small percentage actually getting through.

[blissful moon]

yeah.. I have homeassistant at home and run's a mqtt server.. I'm going to use because I'm assembling a weather station and I will have that presented at homeassistant.

[blissful moon]

I guess I was lucky.. Is a T-Deck+ and had the external antenna and a sticker saying 433. But even that with a regular 915 antenna worked without a problem.

[midnight mural]

Still not in any good areas in Mass. 😦

Sorry no pizza delivery this weekend

I did see the cambridgemesh.net node flying in @jaunty harness earlier this week, but not much since the downtown area

[jaunty harness]

oh nice, they actually have a site now (have a couple friends in the area, one in cambridge with a node that is in a shitty spot and only really gets out over mqtt)

[jaunty harness]

yeah that's wild. i've built 433 node but never saw anything but didn't use a great (915) antenna

[abstract iron]

nice! glad to see that. I was facing uptown from Chelsea, dozen floors up

and my meeting was boring so I was trying to sneak out some msgs heh

down to try 433 I have antennas but no node

[jaunty harness]

I have some RA01SC radios which are 433 so can build you one... BUT as I understand you can't xmit on 433 unlicensed legally? def could be wrong on that

[jaunty harness]

if you're running meshsense with auto-traceroute enabled (default) please set it to something more sane like 1440 mins (1 day) maybe? static nodes don't move and it's hard enough to get an adhoc one out as-is

[radiant cairn]

Done

[proven grove]

Lookie what I just saw for the first time on my home cluster

[abstract iron]

ive got a license

[jaunty harness]

oh wow! that's the desk node too currently @ 5hops (window currently Femto @ 4)

[jaunty harness]

well then shit, after work i'll build up a 433 Faketec v4 for ya 8)

[jaunty harness]

awesome, ty!! are you also in contact with some of the others in NJ also running it like Louis-WO-G2-Node/ R2G2 / !a2e98660 ?(the short name always make me think it's Zumble as he has R2G1)

[blissful moon]

anybody using Waveshare SX1262 pi hat?

[jaunty harness]

oh no, stay away from that one - can search on this discord but basically has probs sending "long" messages (e.g. > 64-100 chars). the MeshADV hat is the usual recommended goto, currently rocking a Femtofox PCB with 1W E22-900M30S on the 3B (literally just two meshtasticd cfg lines different from the MeshADV)

https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/1282176912545808405 <-- link to MeshADV thread in #1174474453359526050

there's also NomDeTom's other hat, the Liberty Meshmess, but haven't built up one yet since did the Femtofox PCBs first -https://github.com/NomDeTom/Liberty_MeshMess

[blissful moon]

yeah I want to confirm that.. I wish I could return.

[jaunty harness]

apparently some people have had better results with it than others, so worth a shot to see if it yours is a rare good one or at least works well enough for you own uses but in general it's one of the community designed hats that gets recommended for something reliable

[glossy pine]

Dang can’t quite get enough solar juice from my apt window to keep the house node running entirely from it

[radiant cairn]

Yep, we’re usually radio active on packet and/or HF. R2G2 and some of the others over on the ridge here

[abstract iron]

xam I Rx you. not sure if my ack getting out

re your bridge texts

thought my solar node might be dead but seems ok

[jaunty harness]

heh same, saw the bridge message but unsure if myne got out as well (and don't see Zilla response either)

[glossy pine]

Got your dm too

Still figuring out how to manage having two devices lmao

[abstract iron]

I'm down to only carrying the t1e. seems to work better than the WinMesh pocket no matter the antenna

[midnight mural]

The wismesh pocket?

[jaunty harness]

heh yeah pretty sure that's what he meant. the original was the tried-and-true 4631 + 1900# baseboard, v2 is the newer board-one. can tell them apart by the size of the OLED (0.96?.98" on the v1 / 1.3" on the v2)

i've used the same hw and it's good so i'd blame the antenna they ship if Rokland wasn't actually a decent / reputable company so sounds more like the T1000E is just that much better RX cause of the newer LR1110 radio (vs the SX1262 in the 4631 used in both wismesh pockets)

[proven grove]

What's going on today... it's like someone sent up a node on a low orbit satellite lol

[jaunty harness]

https://tenor.com/bVsaV.gif

In theory there's a straight shot from LilyBX to Dobbs Ferry... if you got rid of the trees. There's a bridge over Metro North tracks in Mamaroneck and on the right day I could see straight down to the Bronx

[proven grove]

"if you got rid of the trees..."
And the hills and the buildings lol

[midnight mural]

The reason I ask is I have a Wismesh Pocket V2, I have a different antenna and I feel like it does not Tx well, so that’s why I’m asking about it

I am in the Boston suburbs, I have all of these nodes doing the bounce thing…..can’t send a damn thing out

[abstract iron]

W2ASM I RX you not sure if we have mesh path both directions

[abstract iron]

I've tried diff antennas on WinMesh. it might rx ok but tx always seems weak. I guess I could do a Rx comparison...

[midnight mural]

I have a different antenna on my wismesh pocket….should I put the stock one back on?

[abstract iron]

stock is very small? I took it off immediately

I've tried the Muzi works .. some AliExpress ones... that solid one linked here...

[glossy pine]

The short antenna on my heltec seems at first glance to work just as well in our conditions as the longer one and it makes it easier to carry and more discrete

[jaunty harness]

yeah I have stubby gizont on pork - mobile (rak) and the t-deck - it works fine for a mobile node but def better RX than TX

i am liking this taoglas for the window node right now, especially for a $9 antenna https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/taoglas-limited/TI-09-A-0111/2332695

[daring moth]

Are there any antennas with equal or better TX compared to its RX?

[jaunty harness]

just the magical ones everyone else has 😄

[glossy pine]

I seem to be getting great tx and rx with it, prob bc in the city the distances are not big

[abstract iron]

https://www.reddit.com/r/meshtastic/comments/1jmosz5/meshtastic_balloon_livestream_starting_soon/

[glossy pine]

I was just talking with someone the other day how kites off building tops would rule

Or balloons

[midnight mural]

I’m a little confused.

Is the wismesh pocket not a good device?

If it is, should I use the stock antenna or the muzi?

I ask because I feel like I Rx orders of magnitude better than Tx.

[daring moth]

If all of us RX orders of magnitude better than we TX, then we're obviously not RX-ing everything. My theory is that only a small percentage of messages actually go through, but because Meshtastic adoption is significant in NYC, even a tiny fraction of a lot of messages is still quite a bit of messages. Hence, the observation from any one person that they "RX better than they TX".

[glossy pine]

even simple tests with friends will show the msg received rates are not great and dependent on multiple points of failure. But it works at all!

[midnight mural]

My comment today is based on being out in the Boston suburbs this weekend…..I see 48 nodes, can get messages, can’t send shit out.

[proven grove]

My EDC is a rak4631 with a ceramic antenna inside the enclosure. Great for listening, meh for Tx. I keep that on CLIENT_MUTE.

When I'm running around for work in NYC I usually have my boomer in my backpack which is a Washtastic (E22-900M33S) and a Gizont 3dB N-type antenna, tuned to 906.875mhz (I think it's like 200-300mm), which I leave on CLIENT mode, which kinda acts as a loudspeaker for my lil guy.

[glossy pine]

I been traveling around with my lil heltec in client mute lately but it feels too antisocial to not be contributing to forwarding so I changed it back

[proven grove]

I tend to have multiple nodes with me, so I only leave one at any given time on CLIENT

[glossy pine]

workin my way there

[normal osprey]

I usually just carry a T1000-E around NYC, on flights, etc.

At EDC Las Vegas, my plan is to carry a T1000-E on client mute and a T-Echo on client.

[glossy pine]

Any recs for devices like this form factor but that use Meshtastic

Any good recs for something like this but that has Meshtastic?
https://lilygo.cc/products/t-deck-pro

Wanna be able to mesh without bringing my phone

[daring moth]

Just get a separate smartphone on the used market for Meshtastic.

[glossy pine]

Thanks for the tip, I’m looking for this form in the meantime

[daring moth]

There is the T-Deck Plus, but the internal antenna and battery life aren't that great.

[daring moth]

Or if you're looking for an e-paper display specifically: https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2

[glossy pine]

If it had a lora radio built in I’d do it

[radiant cairn]

The T-deck plus has space/cutouts to easily add an sma connector and external antenna. Battery is also replaceable.

[jaunty harness]

yeah any of the t-decks for a prebuilt option, otherwise there's DIYs like meshenger

[glossy pine]

Any recs for how to start learning about building them

I want to make monstrous contraptions

[jaunty harness]

in #nrf52 there's a DIY LoRa modules and NRF boards thread which is out-standing

[abstract iron]

is it ok if I run MeshSense on a node that isn't the primary node of the location? i.e. if I run it through a client_mute node that needs my birdfeeder for all traffic

instead of running it directly against the outside node

[jaunty harness]

yeah that should work, in theory it'll see less traffic than the primary but it should still work

[glossy pine]

Weird issues getting my solar panel working.

Doesn’t seem to be charging

[jaunty harness]

What cardinal direction is it facing, and tried ~40’ angle?

[glossy pine]

South, yeah it’s angled. I’m in touch with the guy who assembled the hardware gonna see

But I think it’s bc my window doesn’t get enough direct over the day

I don’t know

[jaunty harness]

huh, yeah that sounds like you got the basic positioning right - are the windows maybe treated with UV film?

[glossy pine]

I don’t think so I have thriving plants

I need some sort of volt meter to test the solar panel with maybe

[daring moth]

#1300525496945348648 has multiple available to use during Open House events.

[jaunty harness]

if it's got a usb output there's cheap inline volt/amp meters, another option is an INA219/INA3221 over i2c to the node itself and then see the power telemetry in an app / over RF

[abstract iron]

what solar you got Xam?

mine is weirdly amazing. unlike the uncertainty I have the WinMesh pocket, the solar is amazing

[glossy pine]

Oh man when it’s working I can get DMs to and from 8 nodes around me

I got this one off Etsy…

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1467080096/

[midnight mural]

What other are you using besides the wismesh pocket?

[proven grove]

I had every intention of making one of these with an nrf52 mcu and a LR1110 radio, but the inkhud gui can't handle text input yet.

[jaunty harness]

if you release the gerbers... my hotplate is ready

[proven grove]

I'm working on.... something.

Won't use the traditional MCU/Radio though, I love using the combo modules...

[proven grove]

This is one of the two variants, utilizing this display: https://www.good-display.com/product/613.html

MS24SF1 is the mcu/radio combo

[glossy pine]

wait you cant type on ink displays?

[proven grove]

The inkhud UI doesn't support it.

[glossy pine]

ahh

dang

[proven grove]

If you forego that, you can.

[glossy pine]

big downside

[proven grove]

I.e. I made this before I knew that limitation:

[glossy pine]

fire

[proven grove]

Canned message nav wheel, but it means jack since the UI doesn't support it

[glossy pine]

too bad looks rad

[proven grove]

Even had the GROVE connector on the bottom for the cardkb to connect to.

[glossy pine]

keyboard?

[proven grove]

The battery protection and charge circuit don't work, but it's a great desktop node now lol

[proven grove]

Yep, 1 sec lemme find the link

[proven grove]

The case for it makes it look pretty official

[glossy pine]

also fire lol

wait does that work with the eink screen

or you cant do any input at all

[proven grove]

https://www.tindie.com/products/harukitoreda/cardkb-i2c-keyboard-case/

[proven grove]

With inkhud, nothing. On default 2.6.3 firmware, you can (I think). I haven't bothered to try to be honest lol

And this is why I haven't looked back lol

[glossy pine]

man i love the eink screens

ultra jealous of that vibe

[midnight mural]

yes, I want a large 17”+ eink screen….dashboards oh my

They are definitely a cool display tech

[jaunty harness]

those are all beautiful!!

[proven grove]

The one I'm really trying to finish is either the MS24 or the ME25 with the 3.97" eink display. Just keep running into a damn charger issue. once that's cleared up i can print some proto's and actually lock down the hardware for the builds. Just annoying how all the display ribbons don't match up. Need a separate placement for each of them. The idea is to glue the raw board onto the PCB, to make it a single piece. Like most professional boards are made. The one in the picture above is a display carrier board that just makes the whole package super bulky

[brazen spear]

Buy a multimeter

https://a.co/d/bkhsErU

[abstract iron]

1. Seedstudio t1000e. 2. https://store.rokland.com/products/lowmesh-pocket-s-portable-solar-node-compatible-withmeshtastic-915-mhz in window 3. winmesh pocket

I Velcro'd this onto a birdfeeder as camouflage and stuck it outside my window

from the ground it doesn't look too interesting since no external antenna

[glossy pine]

That’s a great one, too bad it’s sold out

Is it weather proof?

[abstract iron]

it's working both for RF and birds 😸

it claims no properties of weatherproofing but I taped the edges and stuck it out there

I really wanted to just get started

and it keeps functioning fine even though the storms. if it dies I'll re evaluate

the temp sensor goes crazy in direct sunlight. I actually wonder (without opening it up to check this theory) if the sensor picks up not only sun heat but is close enough to sense the battery heat charge

like yesterday at 1 PM it said 107F or something

otherwise it'd accurate

[tropic gulch]

This is very funny and cool

[glossy pine]

This was a fantastic rec thank you so much

[glossy pine]

Man the west side and Hudson is quiet as a mouse compared to the East River where it’s flowing all the time

[midnight mural]

I got a RX from the Hudson Valley on my flight home today 😎

I really need an antenna analyzer….im tired of not knowing if these things are in the range they claim. I really want to be in the action. I had the most TXing and RXing at 21000 feet than the last 5 days combined.

[normal osprey]

https://tenor.com/view/im-doing-my-part-serious-stare-gif-11979677

[rare sparrow]

South Brooklyn has 0 activity...

[jaunty harness]

Aursinc NanoVNA is ~$50 and will let you measure SWR (as well as a whole bunch of other stuff)

[midnight mural]

Thank you for the rec 😎

[jaunty harness]

no prob! it's what I have, there's a bunch of yt tutorials on how to do the initial calibration of the unit and then set it up for SWR measurements

[midnight mural]

Ahhh! I’ve probably have seen it then! I know there is a super popular one, but haven’t started looking yet…..figured I’d wait to see if radio was going to be an additional hobby (I think so)

@jaunty harness your pihat just showed up for me

[jaunty harness]

woooo, that's the desk node (hence CM)

[midnight mural]

I’m out on the east river, breezy out here

I’m testing the stock antenna with my wismesh pocket….i dunno if it is worse or the weather outside is affecting it (or both)

@radiant cairn I think your tdeck thinks it’s in the future by a few minutes

[abstract iron]

I put the stock on my WinMesh before I left home to let it update its nodedb

I'm temp upstate there isn't a single node anywhere

I'm about to be going over the GWB if anyone's got range on that

[midnight mural]

I got your ack, but my radio didn’t

[rare sparrow]

I can see it tho

[midnight mural]

I just assume my ZILLA went through but I did not get the ack from that. I dunno.

[abstract iron]

yes I had your msg

no nodeinfo tho I didn't know it was you

so pizza were we direct?

I couldn't get a trace but moving car etc

[glossy pine]

I saw you too from outside film forum 🦖

[abstract iron]

pretty cool just a t1e inside a car

[midnight mural]

Yeah, I got your dm 😎

[radiant cairn]

It also thinks it’s somewhere it isn’t

[rare sparrow]

Finally

Took a while

[midnight mural]

Wooooooo!

[glossy pine]

mannn aint gettin things out for shit today is it bc of the weather

[abstract iron]

ill ping you

btw has anyone ripped apart the MeshSense app to undeerstand the RPCs and websocket format? I can't get it running and my desire to read JS is pretty low.... basically tl;dr the thing runs but it never sees my bluetooth-based nodes (even tho I can connect to them and see it scanning on the API side)

would be cool if I could just drive a get status req or something

xam I got a check but not PersonCheck off your xam2

[rare sparrow]

Acknowledged by another node 🥲

we are probably too far apart

[abstract iron]

Hey xam your xam2 has the [ RedCircle crossed out KEy ] logo

in the nodelist

Uno sorry I am not paying attention what's your nodeid?

[rare sparrow]

9556

[rare sparrow]

i can only see xam but not you tho

ur not in my nodelist

[abstract iron]

Ok I have your nodeid but no info

msging

you're 4 hops tho

I figure a traceroute wil work 😂

[proven grove]

Just flew out of LGA to Savannah, and flying over NC practically filled my node DB, and I did a DB wipe before takeoff.... they are very serious about their mesh down here lol

[terse gull]

i'm in a part of the city which has sub-par coverage. it's not terrible but not good. i have decent height. is ROUTER_LATE overkill?

[daring moth]

The main downside with ROUTER_LATE is that it increases channel utilization, which is a very finite resource. It's only good if there's a known physical barrier that you want all messages to be rebroadcasted across, such as a hilltop. However, if there are multiple paths for messages to travel around the barrier, stick to using CLIENT.

[terse gull]

got it. ty

[daring moth]

I guess one other use-case for ROUTER_LATE is thst you can use such a node to mitigate the negative effects of badly placed ROUTERs or REPEATERs, at the cost of increased channel utilization.

[terse gull]

is the calculation behind channel utilization documented someplace obvious? i can't find.

[midnight mural]

I felt the same way flying over Tenn, saw tons of nodes there.

I’m excited to see the socal mesh in a month!

[proven grove]

Depresses me a little for how "young" our mesh is, but I gotta remember how densely populated the tristate area is and the rf unfriendliness that is NYC

[abstract iron]

can you reply from the plane or just get a quick glimpse,m

?

[proven grove]

I sent a few messages, but no idea if anyone heard me

[glossy pine]

Wat do I do

I reset the db let’s see see

This device is causing me some trouble not surprising it’s got new probs today. Some cable came loose in the connection between solar panel and device so I gotta open and usbc charge it every 3rd day

[glossy pine]

I am continuously amazed any of this stuff works at all, and impressed at how recently this software has evolved to its current state. It seems like the number of nodes coming online goes up by the day, which suggests that improvements will be coming!

[terse gull]

highly recommend a cavity filter for any stationary node... made a huge diff for me

[proven grove]

Coincidentally, mine just arrived today, will be setting that up next weekend when I'm home

[proven grove]

This means Zilla needs to delete your node from their DB, the key is stale

[glossy pine]

Got any good cavity filter recommendations?

[midnight mural]

I had someone in Conn giving me shit for pizza pinging from the plane. I don’t have many fucks to give

[jaunty harness]

LOL probable one of the people who run 7 hops to get around terrain which is why they show up down here occasionally (because they don't actually need 7 hops)

[jaunty harness]

https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/1263469765855285328 seems pretty popular but usually backlog as orders done in batches then closed until the next batch

[midnight mural]

Is this basically like the saw filter on the nooelec SDR amps?

[untold cargo]

Whoa i saw SLO1 meshed potato in the city yesterday

First via 5 hops then 2. Not bad from suffolk county

[jaunty harness]

mmm not quite functionally but same concept I guess? cavity filter removes everything but the freq it's tuned for, SAW is doing some filtering and then boosting

[midnight mural]

Ahhh, so just a filter, no amp. Got it.

[rare sparrow]

weird, so i got two nodes set up.

Node A is set to CLIENT
Node B is set to CLIENT_MUTE

Node A shows the message with hop 0, but Node B isn’t receiving that same message.

my only guess is that the original message has the hop set to 0

i have no way to confirm tho

[jaunty harness]

Which is set to 0, hopStart or hopLimit?

I think anything currently coming over network (eg MQTT or TCP/UDP) on 2.6.x is gonna end up with 0 so it’s not relayed

Your client may also have not retransmitted because it heard another node retransmit, and if client_mute never heard the original it wouldn’t hear the client repeat it

[rare sparrow]

their hopLimit is set to 0

or like u said it's from MQTT

[jaunty harness]

Pretty much, as I understand cavity is better at filtering part

[rare sparrow]

i didn't enable downlink uplink in the channel tho

unless there's another way for MQTT messages to sneak in

[abstract iron]

cavity filters are bidirectional I think?

[jaunty harness]

There’s specific lora.ignoreMqtt setting otherwise you hear others over MQTT, but yeah that shouldn’t happen under recent firmware where it’s setting hops 0 for mqtt

[brazen spear]

I saw those filters. There's also a bandpass filter available for like $30. Each of those cavity filters would double the cost of each solar repeater we built.

I'm sure it would improve certain nodes, especially Vernon which shares a roof with some high powered transceivers.

[daring moth]

solar repeater
I thought you set them to CLIENT. Did you change them to REPEATER?

[brazen spear]

No they're client. I just call them repeaters

[jaunty harness]

Still curious how Feeb makes out with cavity filter for 🦒 when it’s ready for redeploy

[abstract iron]

laugh

xam what the hell with this TR heh

I got all the way out of my faraday cage to another node then BACK to the birdnode??

pizza I got your pizza indoors msg

[normal osprey]

got the pizza ping indoors also

[glossy pine]

lmao

now that i have a node in my house i cant seem to avoid hopping through it with my mobile one

[midnight mural]

One of the few times I could message from inside my apt….i tried again immediately….no message sent lololol

[jaunty harness]

the lower the strength of the RXed signal, the shorter the duration before a CLIENT will retransmit - so the furthest that heard you should be first to pass it on, but then that happens again on the path back to you

[glossy pine]

Picking up a few nodes in lic while I’m over at MTFA

[daring moth]

How is that related to April Fools day?

[jaunty harness]

"picking up nodes" is the joke 8)

[glossy pine]

Lemme holla atcha node boi

[exotic merlin]

The Station G2 guy has some recommendations here: https://wiki.uniteng.com/en/meshtastic/station-g2 including the one already mentioned and this one: https://acasom.com/products/915mhz-cavity-filter-for-helium-network-amplifier-filter-sma-type-high-out-band-rejection

[glossy pine]

Ooh maybe I should get one for the home device

Might make it so we can reach each other more easily

Also I got onto the waitlist for the g2

[exotic merlin]

I believe you just get a small loss of power tx-ing through it.

[exotic merlin]

Oh no I must have gotten the last one

[glossy pine]

Need the house power

[whole basalt]

Just got my node today - will set up tomorrow - I'm in Manhattan - any advice?

[jaunty harness]

Welcome!! Best thing is just stick with the defaults for a start, especially CLIENT role and leaving hops at 3

[exotic merlin]

Welcome to the mesh!

[glossy pine]

Put it up high!

[spark sapphire]

Midtown to lower Manhattan or Dumbo, has anyone successfully achieved a 2-way communication?

[jaunty harness]

Welcome to you as well!! And yes, people have managed to DM. Problem is NYC is very RF hostile, especially the parts with lots of concrete and steel and you're not up high

[midnight mural]

I wish I could be hostile back to the RF

[midnight mural]

@glossy pine I haven’t been able to see your nodes in days 😦

[spark sapphire]

In Midtown, I would see 3–4 nodes, in DUMBO, it’s more like 80+.

Thanks for the info!

[midnight mural]

I’m in midtown, it’s rough for me. I have to come out to a path over the east river to get good transmissions out.

[glossy pine]

For some reason your node info hasn’t arrived to me yet. I’ll try hitting LongFast from the river front pier maybe gitcha

Also got some devices coming that I may be able to use for some improved transmission

[midnight mural]

What do you have and what’s coming???

[daring moth]

It's April, is the weather finally good enough to try out MediumFast?

[daring moth]

Or at least a non-default frequency slot?

[jaunty harness]

hehe sat would have been perfect if we knew in advance it was gonna be so dang nice, supposed to be rain into next week but could try for like sat 4/12 or sun 4/13?

[normal osprey]

I’ll be testing a non-default frequency slot in the coming weeks on my T1000-Es and T-Echoes in preparation for EDC Las Vegas in May.

[jaunty harness]

I think the special defcon 2024 firmware was MediumFast default but I could be wrong, feeb would know about anything special in the Burning Man firmware

[twin root]

ya i love those cavity filters but I dont ike the station g2

[rare sparrow]

how so

ohh this?

[blissful moon]

Who owns !33636994?

This guys is a heltech v3 set as router

[jaunty harness]

huh, i don't even have that one in my 200 node nodedb

looks like NJ got a newROUTER_CLIENT as well - too bad it's at least 2.5.x firmware as has a public key so it's actually just a regular CLIENT that's lying to the owner

[whole basalt]

Set up my node a few hours ago and still not on the map. Why is that?

[jaunty harness]

could be couple different things... does the device have a GPS and it's enabled? are you sharing location to device from your phone? are you looking at a MQTT driven map and don't have MQTT enabled?

[whole basalt]

I'm looking at the map in the app. I don't have GPS. I enabled MQTT. Perhaps its another setting?

[jaunty harness]

ahhh, yeah you'll need to set it up so the radio is using the phone's (superior) GPS positioning so your node has the location to share out the mesh. it sends one of those packets out over the mesh every... 45mins? maybe 60mins as long as airtime % is under 25%, otherwise it defers for a bit and tries again until it hits 3 and then just gives up for the next packet. to your phone/app it's every 60s like other metrics so you should def see yourself on that map if it's working.

[whole basalt]

I have the app on my ipad-no phone connection, just wifi. I then assume that is the problem?

[rare sparrow]

iPads does not have built-in GPS unfortunately (except Wi-Fi + Cellular one)

[whole basalt]

I guess I will either be happy with messaging or put the app on a phone.

[daring moth]

I recall seeing a node with those last four hexadecimal digits while at #1300525496945348648. IIRC, I was able to traceroute a them consistently from around the block along 6th Ave. However, this was a while ago, so I might be mixing them up with another node reachable from the same area.

[glossy pine]

I’ve got a friend in cobble hill willing to put a node on his roof. Any ideal candidates for devices for this?

[daring moth]

@viral spindle Why didn't you ask here?

[glossy pine]

That’s a cool device

[jaunty harness]

probably didn't know about the channel

[midnight mural]

I get shit TX inside in Manhattan, but I’m always down for “testing” if you see me pop up, hit me up

[daring moth]

That's @viral spindle's. I have a similar device, but with a different outer shell and antenna.

[jaunty harness]

what channel was that post even in, I can't find anything with discord search for from:kdubious

[azure quest]

any bx nodes?

[twin root]

it was shortfast and had some other enhancements like discarding any packet with a hop count greater than 3

[jaunty harness]

faster preset and the hop cap make total sense with organization and the size of the playa

[daring moth]

It was sent in #1015797742649495612 within the #1300525496945348648 Discord server.

[jaunty harness]

welcome!! there's a couple BX CLIENT nodes, should be able to see Harlem Relay and/or LilyBX routers which have good reach out to Brooklyn / Queens and sometimes Westchester

[azure quest]

Thanks for the welcome!

[proven grove]

And by "sometimes" he means "only near New Rochelle"...

[glossy pine]

Wait someone give me some advice on this

[daring moth]

If either you or you're friend are okay with some DIY tinkering, maybe consider this: https://meshtastic.org/docs/community/enclosures/rak/harbor-breeze-solar-hack/

[glossy pine]

I need to attend some of the hack Manhattan Project events and start learning how to do this stuff

Would like to start building radio monstrosities

[jaunty harness]

Hahah there’s one in Mount Vernon that occassionally pops up down here… oh wait that’s also technically near New Rochelle but it looks like near cross county mall (if that still exists? Where cross county meets 87/Central Ave)

[proven grove]

Cross County is still there lol. But so is the Cross County Parkway lol

[jaunty harness]

hah, i can still remember almost all the backroads between mamaroneck and hastings cause they were quicker than the cross-county

[daring moth]

So are you planning on attending Open House at 7 PM tonight?

[daring moth]

I saw call sign WA2JNF in my node DB. Would I have to mail them a letter to invite them to this Discord server?

[proven grove]

Cutting through Scarsdale by the police station? lol

[abstract iron]

I've got 68ca one of pork's high power nodes at work today

if you see 68ca or ZLLA P🔊 lets see what range we get

it's in Chelsea facing uptown

[abstract iron]

typically I look them up on qrz.com and email them

I can do that if you want

[daring moth]

Received in Briarwood, NY:

[jaunty harness]

HAH, more south - sometimes Ardsley Rd, more often the next one south that crosses Central Ave by Nathan's (why the fuck can I still remember the name of a road I haven't driven on in 30 years yet have to think on what I had for dinner last night)

[daring moth]

Is there an NYC-specific #random channel?

[jaunty harness]

this one 😄

[spark sapphire]

Fort Greene

[abstract iron]

I just invited wa2jnf

that's pretty great because ZLLA S is just my bird node

which just continues to run despite rain #nowarranty

[rare sparrow]

Technically we can have a thread under it 😂

[abstract iron]

this is pork's 1 watt build node..if anyone catches this

[daring moth]

Received in Briarwood, NY:

[daring moth]

Received in Briarwood, NY:

[abstract iron]

Yo! nice. that's pork's 1 watt and I'm using it here in GP in a classic dead mesh zone. works here!

not sure who my hop out is

the t1e never works at this location

Supermath that !nodeID are you?

[daring moth]

My node is:

[abstract iron]

damn, don't have

[abstract iron]

I tried sending a second message and it didn't get out...let me check my bird node

GP is weird

[jaunty harness]

I saw it @ 1 hop earlier, guess would be relaying through Domino if not then probably GrandSt... but with 1W on both sides who knows, it could have been the NJ Ambulance which I randomly am able to reach across manhattan and hit direct at times

[abstract iron]

got from GP back down to WB via unknown hops. pretty nice

[terse gull]

which antenna?

[abstract iron]

it's the Alfa 915 N

[terse gull]

nice

always curious what dbi people are having success with

[jaunty harness]

Heh unfortunately the actual dbi of an antenna is often not what it was advertised/sold as

[normal osprey]

roof is open again. let’s see what nodes I can reach from here. already see ZLL1 on the display. that might be from before though.

Domino Park f25a

[abstract iron]

nice!!!!

I've got a few alive over here. zll1 zllp zlls and rac2

nice view

[daring moth]

Does anyone have any spare nRF52-based nodes that they'd be willing to sell to me? Specifically one that would fit in this: https://meshtastic.org/docs/community/enclosures/rak/harbor-breeze-solar-hack/
I can meet at a public space in central Queens, or at #1300525496945348648. I'd prefer to pay via Zelle.

[normal osprey]

I have a brand new RAK19003/4631 starter kit and brand new RAK19007/4631 starter kit just sitting around because I haven't taken the time to learn how to solder yet. Would be happy to sell them to you if you need.

[daring moth]

Okay. I'm going to wait if and when others answer, but I'm still considering that offer.

[azure quest]

I just messaged you @normal osprey

[terse rock]

message received at Brighton Beach

[normal osprey]

wow! My roof test message made it to Brighton Beach from Domino Park!

[normal osprey]

I don't see your message but just sent you one. Lmk what's up!

[terse rock]

I just sent one

[normal osprey]

Not on the roof with the f25a node anymore. but still have my window node Domino Park fa5a online.

[terse rock]

can't see it. My node NOVA installed on 17th floor.

[normal osprey]

Yeah, my windows are recessed and I'm facing west so most of my signal is going to manhattan and jersey. The roof is nice becuase I'm not blocked on the sides.

[terse rock]

planning to deploy wireless node somewhere at Coney Island park, like WisMesh Repeater Mini

[normal osprey]

got your brighton beach test message on LongFast on my fa5a window node (Domino Park)

[daring moth]

Okay, do you want to discuss the details further here or in a DM?

[daring moth]

That node is reachable in zero hops at the intersection of 37th St and 6th Ave in Manhattan, if you or anyone else wants to traceroute them continously until you find the maximum signal strength.

[normal osprey]

DM'd you!

[abstract iron]

got the Brighton also

[glossy pine]

How much

I wanna learn how to do that

[rare sparrow]

I bought the starter kit from Rockland

Amazon Prime next day shipping

https://a.co/d/51aBEdS

This

[jaunty harness]

Welcome!! Been seeing your node in Williamsburg, sometimes 1 sometimes 2 hopped - was wondering how high up it was to get here in 1 hop

Rokland ships from FL and is usually pretty quick, but hard to beat next day primola

[rare sparrow]

The seller is Rockland

They ship their stuff to Amazon warehouse

[daring moth]

Yep, that's a great option. I just figured someone here might have some spare underutilized Meshtastic nodes.

[jaunty harness]

feelin' awfully called out right now 😄

[rare sparrow]

Now I need a case 😂

[jaunty harness]

for a RAK 19007? I probably have an extra already printed if not can fire one off

[rare sparrow]

and a better antenna

Stock one is worse than T1000E

😭

[daring moth]

IIRC, the statement is applicable to @a_li3n as well.

[rare sparrow]

Bought TI.92.2113 the other day from Mouser

[jaunty harness]

hehe, yeah just been swamped all day so didn't see your request `til now - def have extras if you can't work it out with Haqer

[daring moth]

I might make another one if the first one turns out good, so I might end up purchasing from both of you.

[jaunty harness]

Older case for 19007 with OLED screen and SMA antenna

[normal osprey]

I've also printed some TonyG cases!

[jaunty harness]

otherwise search up "RAK 19007" on printables.com - there's a bunch of designs but yeah TonyG's stuff is good (and Alley Cat's stuff is just amazing 🤤 )

I migrated my OG 19007 and EDC 19007 into the "mini" case which is why I have fullsize extra : https://www.printables.com/model/455777-rak19007-minirak5005-mini-case-for-meshtastic

[proven grove]

What soldering do you need to do for a Rak!? That's the most modular of all the hardware platforms...

[azure quest]

will tariffs affect the modules

[proven grove]

Probably

Really happy I just got 20 new radios lol

[normal osprey]

I'll double check. I can't remember if it was the GPS module or maybe its with the TonyG cases? His instructions involve some soldering of wires.

[daring moth]

I don't know about their use-case, but https://meshtastic.org/docs/community/enclosures/rak/harbor-breeze-solar-hack/ does require soldering.

[azure quest]

you can use glue too; i believe

[proven grove]

Ok Tony's cases do require it, but others don't. Don't sleep on Rak, seriously. Very very well designed hardware.

[proven grove]

If you keep it, I'll print and solder the damn case for you haha I'll just trade you a 19007 board. You just need to pick it up lol

[normal osprey]

This is really good to know! I guess I picked a case that isn't great for someone who doesn't know how to solder yet. I bought these with high hopes and was hoping to have them ready for EDC Las Vegas in mid May.

I don't have to go with a TonyG case. I'm happy to use a different case if it's an easier build.

[daring moth]

Okay, @normal osprey is a little far from me, and they changed their mind anyways.

[daring moth]

@jaunty harness, would you like to DM or discuss the offer here?

[proven grove]

There's a really good one, just doesn't have a screen. Hang on

[proven grove]

https://makerworld.com/models/756323

[normal osprey]

Thank you! I previously thought I needed a screen. But now after having a few T1000-Es, I've realized I'm fine without a screen.

[proven grove]

Take that back, the damn power button requires it.

Ok think this ones ok: https://makerworld.com/models/219730

Smaller version: https://makerworld.com/models/242770

Both of those I don't bother with the 18650's and just use lipo packs

[normal osprey]

This smaller one looks better for my use case. I might go with this but its still a little bigger than I'd hoped since these are for music festivals and my friends aren't into radios/meshtastic at all.

I was hoping for something really small and sleek like the TonyG RAK19003-micro and RAK19007-mini.
https://www.printables.com/model/286664-rak19003-micro-case-for-meshtastic
https://www.printables.com/model/455777-rak19007-minirak5005-mini-case-for-meshtastic

Also, as Pork mentioned AlleyCat's cases are really nice too.

I'm leaning towards just learning how to solder (or doing the 19007 trade) so I can use the cases I want. I bought a soldering iron kit and wire already. Either way, this has given me the motivation to keep the two RAK starter kits and build them out before EDC LV. Thanks @proven grove!

[jaunty harness]

DM me, kinda swamped til tomorrow afternoon but def got some stuff

[jaunty harness]

the soldering for tonyg cases is pretty straightforward but def helps to cheat and use flux on the wires, tin the ends, then dip back into flux so when you go to solder to the tact switch its super easy. there's the official RAK IO expander which is duponts and keithmon also has a little breakout board that's.. qwiic / jst sh IIRC, but you can also solder i2c olen directly to the RAK baseboard as well as the user switch

https://store.rokland.com/pages/adding-a-user-button-rak19007

[brazen spear]

Yes there's LilyBX

[azure quest]

it's the closest one i got

[brazen spear]

Nice! You can hit it just fine?

That should always connect to Harlem relay and most of the time to vernon which connects to most of the rest of the city

[abstract iron]

still trying to get wa2jnf in here. invite url not working for himweirdly

and about to put ZLLA P 1 watt in uptown facing for the day

[daring moth]

It's on the Meshtastic homepage, but here's it: https://discord.com/invite/ktMAKGBnBs

[abstract iron]

nice ok. I had been just copying that link button on top right

[normal osprey]

got the ZLLA P microphone check

[abstract iron]

nice that's uptown facing from chel

sent that invite thanks supermath

[daring moth]

Oh, that's what this node ID is from? Or is this a different node?

[abstract iron]

68ca is zllaP

its a 1 watt build from pork... I moved a meeting to a downtown-facing room and at 1 PM I'll face it downtown

[jaunty harness]

it's a Donktastic (ProMicro + E22900M30S) and the chonky Alfa 915 antenna - good to see it doing something besides sitting on my workbench 😄

[abstract iron]

hope to wardrive/bike it a bit this weekend too

[tough acorn]

Finally got the invite link to work de WA2JNF (Metrotech)

[abstract iron]

welcome!!

stu de kd2axz

[rare sparrow]

Welcome!

[tough acorn]

Thanks, appreciate the warm welcome...

A year ago I was lucky to see half a dozen RF nodes. Now I see 58 locals, what a change...

Anyone on here ever throw up a Home Depot solar lawn light, housing a repeater on their roof??

[daring moth]

What I coincidence, I'm currently working on such a project, but for out my apartment window. Usually people get the one from Lowe's, so my decision to purchase from Home Depot is uncharted territory, as the physical layout and internal components are slightly different. See here for my journey: https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/1357744150887272570

[azure quest]

Anyone selling a RAK?

[daring moth]

@porkcube might be. Last night, they said they're busy until this afternoon. Maybe ping them in a couple hours?

[azure quest]

Ok. Thanks.

[blissful moon]

Selling a LILYGO T-Beam withbattery and printed case.

[azure quest]

I have a case and battery; just looking for the board.

[jaunty harness]

yes hi hello - sorry, had some work stuff to sort out but can chat now

I have a spare RAK 19007 baseboard but needs a Wisblock 4631 cpu+radio, and two board ones, one w/screen already in a case but needs antenna and lipo battery and another that board one + oled in the box I got cause I thought I killed the first one but it was just OLED that had Vcc/GND pins swapped from the label

if you're looking to order direct rokland.com is the official US reseller and ship from Florida, also they help support meshtastic and just good all around trustable vendor far as i'm aware (never had any issues with them personally or heard of others having probs)

[azure quest]

Just ordered one from rockland 👍

[jaunty harness]

awesome! and it also took me a while to get used to rokland vs rockland (i try and think RAK ~ rok + land)

[tough acorn]

Just turned on a UHF (400 MHz) node for a quick test and already seeing 12 local nodes. Last year could not see a single one. WA2JNF

[exotic merlin]

Can is ask what hardware are you using for that? Is it just a 70cm antenna on a standard Meshtastic board?

[tough acorn]

I am running a 433 LILGO board with a UHF stubby antenna on a third floor window at Metrotech. I will turn it back on again tomorrow.

Antenna is about two inches tall.

I think it runs in the 450 ham band so it may require a ham ticket to use.

Time to leave work and go home, bye all!!

[jaunty harness]

hehe I built rwlazilla a 433MHz node but has 915MHz antenna to play with, cause he's licensed - not sure he's had time to play with it yet

[tough acorn]

It will work a lot better with a 433 antenna on it!

[jaunty harness]

yeah i just only had 915MHz and the RA01SH radio has no ipex connector so it was 915 or nothing. someone reported using a 433MHz T-Deck w/915MHz ok so that was original inspiration to see what's up

[tough acorn]

He should try a six inch piece of wire in the antenna connector.

[jaunty harness]

hah true! would probably work better than the coiled 915MHz

[tough acorn]

Six inches is a quarter wavelength on uhf...

[jaunty harness]

Ahhh! I only know 33mm for 2.4GHz coming from background of WiFi, everything else I ask Google 😬

[blissful moon]

I'm the one.. I put last version of meshtastic with ui setup region as US and put a 915mhz antenna.

working as a champ. id e418

[jaunty harness]

@ W2ASM bunny bot!!

[tropic gulch]

Ooo we got a local celebrity

[blissful moon]

I'm receiving message from him.. LOL

[jaunty harness]

hah nice!!

[normal osprey]

Where is the Hops bot located?

[tropic gulch]

Ft Greene

[daring moth]

Located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
– https://w2asm.com/hops/

[exotic merlin]

Feature requests for Hops bot are welcome.

I was planning to implement some network analysis tools and make some kind of BBS to store messages for channels. Maybe add a message storage system so you can message people.

Right now you can DM hops or interact in LongFast.

If it ever gets annoying just let me know and I’ll get it out of the public channel.

[daring moth]

What context have I missed?

[jaunty harness]

have you seen tc2 bbs and meshing-around bot? plenty there to take inspiration from

[abstract iron]

is it still up? I tried DMing it

from Greenpoint no mesh per usual but now WB

[midnight mural]

I got connected to TC2 van this weekend in Virginia….def saw the BBS from an airplane over Tennessee a few weeks back.

Ok, so I was close

[jaunty harness]

AWESOME! Their YT videos are great

[abstract iron]

wow

[daring moth]

Received in Great Neck, NY:

[abstract iron]

Hey should we DM the bot or talk in public channel? Public channel seems...noisy?

[exotic merlin]

It's back up now. Commands have changed a little; see http://w2asm.com/hops

[daring moth]

Looking at a topographic map, it seems that the high school I graduated from (namely, Great Neck South High School) has the highest elevation in the area. I wonder if I could get a Meshtastic node there.

[abstract iron]

interesting TR

[daring moth]

I'm thinking of posting the following in the Great Neck South High School robotics team Discord server, in the #alumni channel. Well, when the FIRST Robotics Competition season is over. I'd like others to read it and give suggestions:

[daring moth]

I recently got into this hobby called Meshtastic. It's similar to amateur radio, but to quote their website:

Meshtastic utilizes LoRa, a long-range radio protocol, which is widely accessible in most regions without the need for additional licenses or certifications, unlike HAM radio operations.
These radios are designed to rebroadcast messages they receive, forming a mesh network. This setup ensures that every group member, including those at the furthest distance, can receive messages.
– https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction/

The reason why I'm mentioning this to the robotics team, is because I'd like to install a solar-powered repeater on Great Neck South school property, ideally on a roof. As Meshtastic works via near-line-of-sight propagation, it's best at high elevations, enabling it to reach over more obstructions. When I looked at a topographic map, the Great Neck South school property happens to be at the highest elevation in the region.

[daring moth]

BTW, as it's peak robotics season, it's probably going to be a while before I send the message above. I'm guessing it would be safe to send it sometime after April 25th. I hope I don't forget.

[glossy pine]

What is peak robotics season

[glossy pine]

Is it easier to catch the robots when they mate?

I think this is a robot baby (or a hel-txt built by HarukiToreda)

Some major limitations, first and foremost that it can only display last message rec’d, but has the data for all the other messages, and he and I separately are trying to modify the UI to show more of them

[daring moth]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRST_Robotics_Competition

[abstract iron]

I'm gonna be warbiking the 1 watt ZLLA P down to S Slope and beyond for some errands if anybody sees it come up

[glossy pine]

Hell yeah I’m about to bike out too

[tough acorn]

Anyone have any experience playing with the T1000-E ?

[daring moth]

Yes.

[tough acorn]

Decent performance with no external antenna?

[daring moth]

For receiving, yeah pretty reasonable. I can't say about transmitting, as I've never had a back-and-forth conversation with anyone on the mesh, at least not yet.

[daring moth]

It's on par, if not better, than this antenna on my T-Deck Plus: https://www.te.com/en/product-ANT-916-PW-QW-UFL.html

[tough acorn]

Unfortunately, the first thing to take a hit with a crap antenna is the transmit range, especially with these low power devices. They are going for $50 on Amazon with next morning delivery, not a cheap toy..

[rare sparrow]

It performed better than the stock RAK started kit antenna

I got better SNR and RSSI with my T100E

[tough acorn]

It might be the next toy to play with...

[daring moth]

Since I'm building a few #1357744150887272570s, I could sell you one of mine, likely at a discount since it's used. I have two.

[normal osprey]

Seems great for music festivals, hiking, flights, etc

Probably not great for long range communication. I can’t remember the dBi of the antenna but i recall its pattern being more of a bubble than spread out… so great for nodes nearby.

[daring moth]

However, the bubble aspect could be considered a good thing, as you wouldn't have to aim it upright to reach nearby nodes. You can just stuff it in a pocket or backpack and don't have to worry about orientation.

[rare sparrow]

from FCC:
https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/Z4T-T1000-E/7672569

(if ur interested in the patterns)

[normal osprey]

It’s a GREAT thing for me! My main use case for Meshtastic is music festivals. It’s literally the perfect device for me!

[abstract iron]

my t1e is great. EDC for sure

[exotic merlin]

Based on a few hours of logging, it's wild how much of the traffic is position and telemetry. Text messages are just 8% of packets on the network.

[daring moth]

According to someone in #general, at least.

[tough acorn]

I just put my UHF tbeam on the window sill here at Metrotech. If any sees it give a holler. I usually only run the 900MHz Heltec continuously.

[abstract iron]

Hey I got my messages out on the 1 watt all the way from down at Greenwood, and see them back on my home nodes up here in WB. pretty great meshing

I couldn't get a TR out but probably cdef involved

[tough acorn]

Are they on 900 or UHF?

[abstract iron]

900. down there I was using the pork 1 watt. it probably meshed through South Slope cdef. up here t1e indoors and the rokland solar on window

I haven't tried UHF yet but I have an unfinished node for it

[tough acorn]

1 watt on 900? I did not know anyone made a board with that much power....

[abstract iron]

pork is loaning it to me. I don't know if it's his build or a community design... #lowprioritypagingpork

here's the inside

it's got that Alfa 915 N connector antenna on it.

[rare sparrow]

DONK TASTIC 🧐

[azure quest]

Range test from Fort Greene
Please post approximate location on discord. https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/1202833898376138752 — Norwood, BX

[abstract iron]

Got you near Driggs Pizza WB

[frail grotto]

@azure quest received by pier 1 Brooklyn bridge

[normal osprey]

@spark sapphire received at domino park

[glossy pine]

Got you at the corlear’s hook soccer field

[spark sapphire]

Thank you all, I didn’t expect it to reach Norwood, BX (heltek v3, alpha 915)

[abstract iron]

rex you have good elevation or something?

[spark sapphire]

Not really, south facing apartment 7th floor. Im guessing WA2JNF retransmitted it.

[jaunty harness]

yeah that's a DIY - https://github.com/jycannel/DonkTastic_pcb/ there's also (cover your eyes a.li3n) Ikoka Nano (https://github.com/ndoo/ikoka-nano-meshtastic-device/) as well the Femtfox and Liberty_MeshMess designs that suppport the E22-900M30S radio as well the MeshAdv hat for raspis

[abstract iron]

well, great, anyway

[tough acorn]

WA2JNF is sitting inside of a third floor window.

[spark sapphire]

Wow! Almost all of my trace calls go through WA2JNF

[tough acorn]

I will have to start charging you for data.😀 The antenna is a half wave rubber duck taped to the inside of a window, not even 50 feet above the Flatbush Avenue Extension...

[exotic merlin]

Just shipped a new 🐇 Hops feature: messages to users.

You can now do
.message xam Hi Xam!
to message a user (xam in this case). You can address messages to long or short names.

To get your mail,
.mail
and it'll DM you the most recent 5 messages.

See https://w2asm.com/hops/ for the full set of commands.

pro-tip: DM commands to Hops work just fine, no need to post in channel.

[rare sparrow]

🙏

[abstract iron]

INFO file:ble_interface.py scan line:116 Scanning for BLE devices (takes 10 seconds)...
WARNING file:mesh_interface.py _sendToRadio line:1171 Not sending packet because protocol use is disabled by noProto
Connected to radio

do you all generally get serial log output over BLE?

I don't see anything on either the winmesh pocket or the winmesh solar

USB serial is so verbose...

WARN | 01:39:44 1018 [Router] No suitable channel found for decoding, hash was 0x97!

oh ...RTFM..instructions say it doesnt work over BLE

[midnight mural]

What am I missing here? Where is one sending those commands? Meshtastic app or discord app?

[abstract iron]

you write mesh DMs to the Hops node and it responds

that said I don't have a path to it right now

so it hasn't responded to me. but you can see it talking occasionally

[midnight mural]

I sent a message to W2ASM-1 ‘.help’ and got no reply after a few mins

[abstract iron]

the Hops node is nodeid .....

[midnight mural]

Oh damnit

[abstract iron]

a2e268c0

[midnight mural]

Bumblebee?

[abstract iron]

is that a former node name for it?

wow GrandSt is 0-hop to my indoors t1e

[midnight mural]

No. The icon for w2asm-2

[midnight mural]

I’m so confused at this point

[glossy pine]

W2ASM-2 is the old name of the Hops bot

w2asm-1 is still active and is asm

[amber edge]

hi! i have access to a few solid spots to put nodes in brooklyn (downtown brooklyn / fort greene / bed stuy)

looking forward to trying it out

[glossy pine]

heck yeah

[amber edge]

any recommendations for my first device?

[glossy pine]

the wis rak devices are nice

[amber edge]

@glossy pine have a link handy?

[glossy pine]

https://muzi.works/products/r1-with-external-antenna

[proven grove]

You forgot the Washtastic!

[glossy pine]

Making your own device is the cool way but i dont know how to do that

[amber edge]

not looking to DIY...yet

[glossy pine]

There’s already some great nodes running in fort green and around that area you should get good traffic

[proven grove]

Do you have access to a 3D printer?

[amber edge]

i just bought the one the sunmoon emoji sent

i think i have access to one

[proven grove]

Meh... I can't say anything bad about Muzi's stuff.
I would have pointed you to a Rak or a Heltec T114.
But both would require a case/battery/antenna.
One of the better starter devices out is a Lilygo T-Echo. It's a complete node, but needs a new Antenna.
For the price you paid for that node, I'd say a T-Deck Plus would have also been around that price-point. which is basically a standalone node, with its own UI, doesn't need a phone to work.

[amber edge]

is muzi's stuff not a complete node?

[proven grove]

it is, but it requires a phone to interact with the mesh. Not the end of the world.

[amber edge]

thanks for the info

[proven grove]

I know a thing or two about nodes lol. Most of the ones available, I've had some form of experience with.
I don't know jack about RF though, so default to the other members for that.
(These are just my offline nodes)

[jaunty harness]

good call! i actually added it to the list for next jlcpcb order. there's also the OG Hydra but it's ... so silly when you see it compared to what people have switched to doing with xiao nRF and Promicros

I can also neither confirm nor deny i may have accidentally soldered a E22-900M33S instead of a 30S on libertymess yesterday and need to roll custom fw before firing that thing up

[proven grove]

"accidently".... sure. I did the same thing with a Washtastic. But it wasn't an accident.

[exotic merlin]

Ah, you haven’t gotten it’s updated NodeInfo. Yeah, it was formerly 🐝 W2ASM-2 and then I changed it to 🐇 Hops.

DMing 🐝 ought to do the trick.

Commands here: http://w2asm.com/hops

[midnight mural]

Should I delete and wait to rediscover or will that happen eventually?

[glossy pine]

I think you should be able to just dm the one you’ve got

[proven grove]

Delete it, then potentially restart to kick off a nodeinfo packet.

Ideally, the other node you need to "rediscover" would be the one to restart, but that's not always possible.

After the delete, the next nodeinfo they send should resolve your issue

[rare sparrow]

🥹

Need a better antenna

[midnight mural]

I have terrible TX on my wispocket I feel like.

I am getting a home made wisblock setup this week from my buddy, I am excited to A-B test.

[brazen spear]

Where are the locations? Do you have power available to the roof? Solar is also an option. We made a tutorial for diy builds. Would love everyone's input for the next draft.

[daring moth]

Who is the target audience of that PDF? If it's meant for a wide audience, I don't think it's the best idea to go into such detail about the interfaces used to connect to a Meshtastic node, and about the routing algorithm (such as mentioning packets), especially right at the start on page 3.

[brazen spear]

I noticed some typos already 🫠

[daring moth]

I'm not necessarily suggesting that you remove the technical details, but I wouldn't want people to get overwhelmed right at the start.

[brazen spear]

Yes I agree. I think that "why" is more of a "how"

[daring moth]

If anyone wants to attend a "Meshtastic meetup" in Midtown Manhattan, @jaunty harness, @tough acorn, and I, depending on their schedules, are likely going to meet at #1300525496945348648 this Tuesday starting at 7 PM. The original purpose of the meetup was buying/selling Meshtastic nodes, but I figured I might as well invite others if they want to meet other people on this Discord, but in-person.

[daring moth]

More details about the venue here: https://hackmanhattan.com/

[glossy pine]

I would but ive got work that evening. hope to link with folks there soon

[midnight mural]

I’m interested but will not be able to attend as well

[rare sparrow]

same 🥲

[whole basalt]

Sounds good !

[daring moth]

BTW, the original two people besides me are still confirming their schedules to see whether they'll be available. Anyways, I hope to see you there.

[daring moth]

When do you (and/or anyone else) end your shift? Not always, but quite often the event is still open at midnight. I don't always stay that late, but I could if a member is still present at that time.

[tough acorn]

If anyone is going tomorrow to the Maker Space, hope to see you there...

[jaunty harness]

i can never be sure something work related won't be on fire but should be able to make it as planned

[abstract iron]

Anyone with iPhone app, is there a way to turn on notifications only for DMs, but not Channels?

Sorry can't do meetup tomorrow but interested in general

[jaunty harness]

I don't think you can filter one or the other, it's just both - at least it was last i was using iOS app

[rare sparrow]

This?

[jaunty harness]

maybe moving LongFast / AQ== to secondary and having a "private" primary?

[rare sparrow]

I never tried

And it did not give u a mute icon after u pressed it

[abstract iron]

oh nice hide alerts might do it

nice that worked thanks

[rare sparrow]

Np!

[abstract iron]

I did the Hide Alerts method

[rare sparrow]

I don’t know how to turn it back on tho😂

U press the hide alerts again?

[abstract iron]

Idk it will prob stay that way forever. gfs phone heh

[rare sparrow]

I’ll probably ask #apple later

[abstract iron]

Wasnt sure if the notif system on iOS allowed customize at app level etc

this works for now tho! thx

[rare sparrow]

At least Telegram has some type of customization

Like this

Add this to my wishlist for the iOS app 🙂‍↕️

[jaunty harness]

Have you stumbled onto the Live View in iOS yet?

[abstract iron]

was showing the donktastic (in the window) and t1e to a coworker today in office. I think with everything going on these days ppl find a backup intriguing...

[midnight mural]

What are your fan favorites for RAK19007 3D printed cases? I have access to one this week

[woven trellis]

Hello! Am new to the community. I’m curious if folks have recommendations on a node to get. I live in fidi, and don’t really have have good lines of sight.

Have already gotten the recommendation of the T1000-E. So am checking that out.

[rare sparrow]

Welcome !

[woven trellis]

Ideally am interested in shoving something onto a window so that I can use my phone and the app.

[daring moth]

How DIY would you like to go? I'm currently working on making a few #1357744150887272570s.

[daring moth]

Otherwise, this might be a good turnkey option: https://store.rakwireless.com/products/wishmesh-meshtastic-solar-repeater-mini

[amber edge]

@daring moth will you be selling nodes at the meetup tomorrow?

[daring moth]

Only one that I've planned on selling to @stuwho.

[amber edge]

Gotcha 👍🏻

[woven trellis]

I’m okay with a soldier iron, but don’t really have the space/tools to make… so more turnkey is better.

[daring moth]

There are a couple of makerspaces/hackerspaces in Manhattan that you could ask if you could borrow their tools and use at the location.

[abstract iron]

different people have different needs for stealth. I put a solar on a birdfeeder and pretend it's just the latter. and then use a t1e inside

outside made a huge difference in propagation for me but depends on your window types peenak

[exotic merlin]

Does anyone have experience with Store & Forward?

My node is reporting it's configured for store & forward

store_forward.enabled: True
store_forward.heartbeat: True
store_forward.records: 100
store_forward.history_return_max: 100
store_forward.history_return_window: 7200

I believe my Station G2 has the hardware for it, but it doesn't appear to actually be doing anything. No heartbeats. Not reporting as available in clients. There's some confusion on if you need to be in a router role to run "Store & Forward", but I see "Westfield South Side Router" running store & forward in a client role, so that should be fine.

What am I missing.

I may have asked prematurely.

I needed to meshtastic --set store_forward.is_server true for it to run store & forward as a non-router. That's now set but the functionality isn't showing up yet.

Hmm. Heartbeats are going out, but my client isn't picking up on it.

[tough acorn]

Was thinking of ordering one, but starting Wednesday it may cost an additional 😀 $50 just to make America great again..

[jaunty harness]

https://rokland.com is the main US distributor for RAK and quality vendor

[rare sparrow]

i checked they don't have the repeater mini

only the large one

[rare sparrow]

(also out of stock atm

[jaunty harness]

When I’ve ordered from RAK it took like 3 weeks, so … expect thumb twiddling if you do go direct

[neon forge]

Case is not waterproof but the new version sold at Rokland, the PCB is conformal coated now to help with protecting the internals.

[abstract iron]

I'm just using it against its own instructions... it's still working weeks later. shrug

and the bird just came by heh 😂

[exotic merlin]

Hell yeah, I just needed to be patient.

Hops is now storing and forwarding 🎉

Still not working, but further along anyway!

[glossy pine]

Oh right you can’t use LongFast or something like that

[exotic merlin]

As in I need to delete the channel? Weird feature.

[glossy pine]

I can’t remember exactly, I read it somewhere by accident maybe gpt knows

[jaunty harness]

IIRC S&F is using the "primary" channel, so you want to move the default one named LongFast / psk AQ== / freq slot 20 to secondary channel

[knotty jacinth]

stupid question, why wouldn't you want S&F on the public channel

[abstract iron]

is AC2YM in here?

[abstract iron]

I'm trying to invite them. they're zero hop to me at work

[glossy pine]

Love this device

Just got one recently really nice well designed works out the box great

[daring moth]

The newer Mini version? Cool.

[daring moth]

That was sent in #general. What's everyone's channel utilization?

[rare sparrow]

Ignore the 0%

That’s when I was indoor and no windows 🫨

But generally 15-20%

[jaunty harness]

every node should also be reporting it as part of their telemetry info

that guy in general is... quite opinionated to the point of refusing to consider he may actually be wrong/devs have way more datapoints from the public MQTT driving their decisions instead of just personal passion

on one hand, he's not wrong about the negative impact of infra roles and old firmware, but he's also not listing to b8b8 share how they dealt with things in Vancouver to create an awesome public mesh

and just poked around some nodes in meshsense, looks like the "infra" CLIENTs gardener put up are ~18% utilization, which considering their height and how much work they 've improved mesh in N Brooklyn seems fine - still under 25% ceiling that'd cut off re-transmission

fwiw: my 1W window node say 3% for it's latest reading 🤷

[daring moth]

Since this seems to also be a #random channel, at least last Wednesday, I guess it's okay to share this infrequent event:

[jaunty harness]

alright, heading out in a few from williamsburg - probably be at HackManhattan ~7:15 (checks outfit) khaki jeans, hoodie, grey/black lumberjacket and camo messenger bag if you look carefully you'll spy a T1000E hiding

[tough acorn]

I should be there before 7:30. Khaki FDNY baseball cap.

[daring moth]

I should be there in under 10 minutes.

BTW, Hack Manhattan is on the second floor. Enter by pressing a doorbell within a doorway. Not inside the beauty business, but to the left of it.

Who's Roof?

[tough acorn]

37 W34th Street.

1 stop away.

[daring moth]

No rush. 🙂

[normal osprey]

there should be a rule that we only message each other on the mesh when we arrive at meetups 😂

[exotic merlin]

After a few days of logging it looks like we're only at ~3% of traffic being messaging.

[jaunty harness]

that's just LongFast though right? (doesn't account for encrypted channels/DMs)

[normal osprey]

how far off is that from what we’d expect of messaging infrastructure that occasionally gets used for test messages?

[exotic merlin]

It's every packet visible to Hops which I believe includes DMs that I can't decipher.

[jaunty harness]

ahhh, yeah I see tons of of undecryptable packets in meshsense using the mesh - just not sure how those end up reflected in your chart

[exotic merlin]

I'm pulling out decoded.portnum on the raw packets.

Looks like I see 150 unique toId values.

Looks like I so happen to be the worst offender with telemetry by a lot

ok, hopefully I successfully shut that off

[jaunty harness]

mmm telemetry is funky, if you have an app connected you should be seeing them every 60s (to the app, not the mesh - those are usual firmware gated schedule)

i'm not sure how if those are flagged diff in the protobuffs but in serial console I def see them

[exotic merlin]

I'm connected via TCP Serial subscribed to

meshtastic.receive
meshtastic.receive.data
meshtastic.receive.data.IP_TUNNEL_APP
meshtastic.receive.position
meshtastic.receive.powerstress
meshtastic.receive.remotehw
meshtastic.receive.text
meshtastic.receive.user

[jaunty harness]

k, in serial it's usually like this (use the meshtasticd timestamp, not when stupid systemd/journalctl decides to actually update):

Apr 08 21:18:01 femtofox sh[3841]: INFO  | 21:16:21 526122 [DeviceTelemetry] Send packet to phone
Apr 08 21:18:01 femtofox sh[3841]: INFO  | 21:16:21 526122 Tell client we have new packets 13643
Apr 08 21:18:01 femtofox sh[3841]: ERROR | 21:16:22 526123 [RadioIf] Ignore received packet due to error=-7
Apr 08 21:18:01 femtofox sh[3841]: INFO  | 21:17:21 526182 [DeviceTelemetry] Send: air_util_tx=0.551000, channel_utilization=0.000000, battery_level=101, voltage=0.000000, uptime=526182
Apr 08 21:18:01 femtofox sh[3841]: INFO  | 21:17:21 526182 [DeviceTelemetry] Send packet to phone```

[spark sapphire]

We need a permanent device up there

[normal osprey]

i got that message at domino park also

[edgy blaze]

Heard it here in NJ.

[spark sapphire]

Fort Green south facing window.

[jaunty harness]

for a few days there was one on ~100th flr of 1WTC, hopefully 🦒 will be back in action

[normal osprey]

gone but not forgotten. will pour out some packets for the homie

[jaunty harness]

it's comin' back, I beleef

[brazen spear]

Olmstead will be showing up on the map but will not be deployed for a few weeks. Got a couple nycmesh volunteers who will put up a few of these poe faketek nodes that have been getting sadly dusty on my shelf instead of rained and snowed on like they're designed for.

Thank you @jaunty harness @proven grove and Woodbine folks for the donations.

[edgy blaze]

Know which direction it was/will be facing?

[brazen spear]

This should give coverage to most of Central Park and a chunk of the UWS.

[jaunty harness]

south/southwest to help cover NJ side was the intention as I recall