It sure is on longfast and default. It hasn't been on routerclient for several weeks now. The one you are probably looking at is no longer live (with the O), and hasn't been for over a month. Not sure why it is still showing on the map. For some reason it's showing the NbRb node over in SLP.
#US - Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro
sour cedar
dreamy sapphire
yeah I'm a fan of meshmap over liam's because meshmap makes nodes fall off faster
and yeah I was looking at repeabo
sour cedar
It's all good. What am I missing to get it to show on the meshmap?
dreamy sapphire
meshmap.net pulls from MQTT, so you either need a phone link, networked station node, or a link to someone with one of those
I turned mqtt off for my linux-native futzing around
I've enabled mqtt, if I get a link to you then your stuff will show up on meshmap
sour cedar
got it. That's what I thought.
dreamy sapphire
what's the dbi of your roof node?
I wonder if my neighbors house and trees is too tall to hit a high dbi antenna from you, and in my car it's too high to hit it from the ground
sour cedar
I have a 6dBi up there.
dreamy sapphire
should smash right through a tree then. I'll hit it up with my bandit soon and see if I pick you up from 65
"soon" a few days likely
sour cedar
Sounds good.
dreamy sapphire
if you look up in this channel you'll see my printed part for a car node
junior cosmos
Just reconnecting to my node this morning and seen I missed your message! Received all the way up in Isanti!
quaint marlin
There is a node going up soon that will cover most of Blaine, should make it easy for you guys to connect and get further south as well.
Still need to figure out some sort of bridge repeater location to get through mounds view and/or spring lake park
Might even need two, depending on the location(s)... that's a tall stretch between 694 and 10
ripe vector
Would a hangar at ANE help?
quaint marlin
Would a hangar at ANE help?
I'm referring to a solar that @heady marsh had mentioned at ANE
anything there will help. He thinks he can get one on the tower, which would chefs kiss
a hangar would be alright, the tower would work more than 2x better
heady marsh
We can do it.
No problem. There is also an unused radio tower about 50' tall a mile from the airport on an old utility building. That may have even better coverage than the airport. Also.... Top of Medtronic building might be best of all. Cant think of anything taller in the area.
@quaint marlin @ripe vector @sour cedar - Lets setup a Blaine node mission! Lets GOOOO!
quaint marlin
I'm always gonna opt for placement where you have permission. If they will let you do the ATC tower, that would be best. I can provide the node.
@nova wigeon I'm getting direct connection to the roof node, nice!
nova wigeon
<@1164660969914499209> I'm getting direct connection to the roof node, nice!
Nice! I have done almost nothing beyond setting it on the roof, It's been a hectic week but I hope to dig into my Meshtastic pile this week!
quaint marlin
You should have an easier time with it, knowing you should be able to (even from indoors) use the roof node as a jumping-off point to reach the rest of the mesh.
When all is said and done, it's still not (and likely never will be) a very busy chat experience. It's more of a "hey that's another option!" option
But soon we'll have at least one BBS set up, and that will make it a little more useable as a tool to communicate
ripe vector
@heady marsh the old ammunition plant is already at 1100ft. Highest elevation for miles. Wonder if there are still old towers up there
quaint marlin
the water tower is up, and clearly isn't in use. That would be one water tower I would say is OK to use
heady marsh
<@1082848976811872337> the old ammunition plant is already at 1100ft. Highest el...
I think they pulled down most things. Water-tower like Brew says might be a good choice.
@quaint marlin - Control tower is a go. I know the controllers.
viral pebble
does medtronic still have an amateur radio club? they might be the easiest route to get a node up there
quaint marlin
@nova wigeon I should say - I forgot to set a static GPS position for the rooftop node, I was in a hurry and forgot to do that. You don't need to have one set, it will work just fine without.
ripe vector
<@708792125117956157> - Control tower is a go. I know the controllers.
How tall is the tower?
quaint marlin
does medtronic still have an amateur radio club? they might be the easiest route...
I would be surprised if Medtronic allowed any radio stuff on their roof(s). They deal with a lot of EE stuff there. They are one of my clients and it takes 10 meetings to get anything done at all for stuff they DO want.
viral pebble
sounds pretty believable based on my short med tech experience
either way this is the club https://www.qrz.com/db/W0MDT
quaint marlin
Given that info, there may be a chance if there were an employee that pitched it, but I really doubt a bunch of rando's from the internet would be allowed.
the ANE ATC tower covers much of the same area
heady marsh
I would be surprised if Medtronic allowed any radio stuff on their roof(s). They...
Medtronic has a 2m repeater on their roof (a good one) I can reach stillwater from it.
wide umbra
They were a pretty active club for many years, haven't paid attention more recently if things have changed
quaint marlin
website last updated 2018
(and designed in 2003 apparently)
if anyone has an "in" there, I'd say go for it. Could even build a monster node for it. Otherwise I'd suggest go with what we know we can get.
sounds like we could get on the ATC tower and ammo water tower within a week or two and have the whole area covered
heady marsh
Given that info, there may be a chance if there were an employee that pitched it...
Medtroic still pays for and maintains a 70cm HAM repeater. (not personally funded) There is a very good chance we can get one up there.
quaint marlin
do you (or anyone) have a direct contact there? I am just a sub-sub contractor on some web projects, they won't know me from a hole in the wall, and I've never set foot in any of their buildings
heady marsh
do you (or anyone) have a direct contact there? I am just a sub-sub contractor o...
This is how we get it done.
they maintain the tower
quaint marlin
since you're a ham, any interest in reaching out to them?
If they're game, I would chip in hardware to make a node just like the one I put up in roseville. Would cover a big chunk of the northwest burbs too.
heady marsh
since you're a ham, any interest in reaching out to them?
yep can.
Just messaged the club president. Will keep you posted
quaint marlin
As I drive past the state fair, I wonder if we'll see a lot of nodes during those two weeks of the fair?
dreamy sapphire
if we can get it 120 feet up which is the rough height of the medtronic building
quaint marlin
Just went and scoped out that abandonded golf course - it's definitely under development now but there are places outside of it that are almost as advantageous that a node could (and likely will) go up.
Pretty insane coverage for a street light node
dreamy sapphire
wow
quaint marlin
it'll be diminished some because of trees but it will certainly be better than the [none at all] bulk coverage in maplewood currently. I know there are a few nodes over there but they're all pocket or indoor as far as I can tell.
There is another spot I noticed - a little 2 story corner store/mercado on top of a giant hill on E 7th, I'd have to talk with the building owner but it's got similar (perhaps even better) coverage:
dreamy sapphire
thats some good maplewood coverage
quaint marlin
thats some good maplewood coverage
I'm half-tempted to put a big antenna on it, just because it's got such a footprint.
I will just need to probably bolster the node with a 3rd magnet so it has less chance of rotating or falling if the wind hits it the wrong way.
The upside is, the streetlight I've got in mind is totally out of the way, there's not even a sidewalk by it.
So there's no chance of it hitting someone or something if it were to fall (which it won't)
that means I'll need to modify the Install Wizard™ to work with a 3rd magnet.
wish the streetlight were taller but ya gets what ya gets
It's not even in anyone's yard, which makes it even better
dreamy sapphire
If you need a reprint hmu
How is the tool holding up durability wise? I recall the walls were pretty thin
quaint marlin
it's super solid
i mean it's not like i play street hockey with it
just picked up a new yetiwurks repeater node at the office!
quaint marlin
How is the tool holding up durability wise? I recall the walls were pretty thin
My next brainfart/invention might be to figure out a way to use an extension pole to get a node to the top of a curved streetlight. I'm still thinking about it and I want to stick to my "no moving parts" philosophy.
I am starting to find it a little limiting that I almost "need" to have one of these 90deg style streetlights to get optimal/safe node placement.
dreamy sapphire
I could maybe print a 90 degree adapter for the extension poles so you have a big curve, but I dont know how to model threads
quaint marlin
the paintbrush adapter I already use may be the actual solution, I just haven't tried it out in a "sideways" situation like that. It's very very adjustable and strong.
if anything, I may actually just need a weird "bent" handle adapter, if you recall the handle and the basket are two different parts bolted together.
dreamy sapphire
true, a 45 degree wouldnt even be hard
robust flax
Like this
quaint marlin
i'll have to show ya my extension pole and install wizard so you'll see what i mean. i went through a few attachments and hooks, most of which are made for hanging christmas lights etc but some are for window cleaning etc
haughty vigil
which branch is this? 👀
nova wigeon
which branch is this? 👀
It is firmware-t-deck-2.4.3.b79cac5-update.bin, and now I can't remember what worked to install it, definitely took about a dozen tries 😛
I have some of that documented for a video, although again, the developers are not recommending anyone actually use this firmware since it's not even ready for Alpha testing. I haven't even gotten it to reliably send or receive messages.
haughty vigil
Found what I believe is the branch/repo for it! https://github.com/meshtastic/device-ui
quaint marlin
yeah you can't set config options etc so it's effectively just a UI mock-up
quaint marlin
nice range!
yeah chances are they are set to too few hops
send a message telling them to set hops to 7
quaint marlin
is today the first day of the fair?
quaint marlin
nor do i but i live and operate nearby so i generally plan outings based on traffic bs
random mantle
yep, today's the first day
quaint marlin
i like the fair in theory but in practice it's one of those things i'm ok doing every five years
i would go regularly if it were a few bucks to get in but the price makes it too much of an event
random mantle
If the ticket price shocks you, the food prices won't improve your view. I'm going tomorrow 😁
robust flax
I'm big craving some fair food.. I'll probably get disappointed that it doesn't taste right.. such decisions
quaint marlin
it never really tasted all that great imo
deep frying is ok but i don't need everything battered
there are still some things i like doing there like the giant slide and the ski lift thingies
robust flax
The state fair is the only place to get a pronto pup...
viral pebble
I’ll be going there to make a Harry Singh’s stop at some point
grand lance
Going to the fair with some of my family today!
nova wigeon
Hey local mesh people, I have a chance to go flying in a small plane this evening, what meshtastic-related nonsense should I do with that? I checked with the pilot and they're OK with it. Should I just spam LongFast with approx position every few minutes, or turn on some kind of regular message with GPS enabled? I think we'll be over the TC Metro and then dip over to Wisconsin. I'd be interested to hear back who received me and where!
viral pebble
should be fun. do you know what your altitude will be?
nova wigeon
I believe the lowest is 1,000ft, forecast says clouds around 4,000ft so I imagine we'll stay below that.
quaint marlin
I thnk no matter what you're gonna pick up a lot of nodes, and a lot of nodes will hear your messages. Not sure if it'll go two ways because of how fast you'll be moving (and thus things like buildings and trees and hills getting in the way of peoples' replies)?
nova wigeon
Should I enable "Neighbor Info" and set a low interval? Not 100% sure what that does.
viral pebble
If you set your telemetry updates to one minute or something I bet a lot of people pick you up
nova wigeon
Was there a workaround for meshmap.net? All my browsers and ISP block it due to some SSL error.
quaint marlin
I am able to get there in some browsers, and I think in Chrome once I went there in incognito
although right now an MQTT change has apparently nuked meshmap.net - here's the site right now:
I think the issue was that precise location data was being used, even if the node owner didn't want it to.
quaint marlin
Seems I can't get an ack today
I have those days too. quit/restart apps, it sometimes helps, as does resetting your BLE connection to host devices
the host apps sometimes get into a weird "not really connected" state but still "act" like they are connected.
it gets even more sketchy if you connect to your radio(s) with more than one device.
nova wigeon
I found this one, I guess I'll just use it instead: https://meshtastic.liamcottle.net/
dreamy sapphire
I presume it also wont be updated until the mqtt server is figured out
Looks like you cant directly subscribe to /msh anymore, gotta be more specific topics and those maps subscribe to /msh to get all the info
viral pebble
liamcottle map guy enabled eternal location history without consulting anyone
mqtt broker maintainer has stated the location data is eventually going away entirely on the default channel
nova wigeon
I'm going to be airborne in a couple hours spamming LongFast from SFP2 / Saveitforparts 2, if anyone wants to report later I'm interested!
dreamy sapphire
I'll hope to see you, I'll be outside in a few hours for a double date
are you making a video of this?
quaint marlin
Quick snapshot of the Chicago area mesh that I've been spying on the last couple days. They have some interesting challenges.
at least 6 or 7 of these nodes are G2's in very high places
dreamy sapphire
Sweet
quaint marlin
I wish I understood the procedure of getting node info.
I guess the node ID comes through, and then when that node ID finally sends a telemetry broadcast, that you receive that must be when the ???'s become real info
dreamy sapphire
I believe they're just periodic packets with the coords, nodename and etc info
I wish there was a way to request nodeinfo on the fly
quaint marlin
YES
dreamy sapphire
Never did get nodeinfo from the plane, but I've gotten a few messages
quaint marlin
that would be a great use of having GPS coords in the nodeDB
dreamy sapphire
quaint marlin
even if it were a lengthy procedure, like it took its time (5-10 minutes) to do it, I'd love that feature
fading torrent
If anyone wants to chat on the Chicagoland Mesh discord you’re more than welcome to join. We have lots of people on who are in the midwest! https://ChicagolandMesh.org/discord
dreamy sapphire
I wonder what it would take to get MSP and Chicago linked up
Probably quite a lot
robust flax
I wonder what it would take to get MSP and Chicago linked up
EW
nova wigeon
I only got one message back when we were over Oakland Cemetery. Seemed to get a few delivery acknowledgements
dreamy sapphire
sweet setup
nova wigeon
dreamy sapphire
looks like a fun time
nova wigeon
It was! I'll probably have some kind of video with this 😁
quaint marlin
Probably quite a lot
besides probably converting all traffic over to something like ham frequencies for longer distance, it would probably take something like a modified BBS, as opposed to regular-ol'-meshtastic.
I would think that major meshes could someday communicate (sans-internet) by recreating sort of a "FIDOnet" from the old BBS days. Basically just some shared chat rooms or USENET-style newsgroups that run on grid-independent servers like the BBS can.
I don't think meshtastic will ever have the native ability to connect large meshes to large meshes, there's not enough space on the frequencies. The only way I can see it happening is if/when the ability for the radios to "hop" to and from frequency slots as part of the routing protocol were to be developed.
and then you'd still potentially have the issue of oversaturation of the frequency slots.
robust flax
Might not be to bad to program a backhaul type setup where it grabs messages from a channel and can retransmit on another..
But, plugging two large areas together would limit everything
dreamy sapphire
Here goes the bandit!
viral pebble
linking up metros seems like a bad idea for the reasons you're describing. I could see linking up tons of much smaller communities though
robust flax
That makes more sense for sure
robust flax
It would be much easier if the earth was flat
quaint marlin
iowa is pretty flat 🌽
viral pebble
people in the state tend to clump around the parts that dip into river valleys and where there's a bunch of stuff in the way for some reason though
nova wigeon
Gotta partner with that "Smokestacks and Silos" historic district I always see when driving through Iowa
viral pebble
I’ve lived here off and on for decades and I’m literally on the historic preservation commission for the city I live in and I still have no idea what that is
dreamy sapphire
Idk who this is way the hell up 65, but I like them already
quaint marlin
I’ve lived here off and on for decades and I’m literally on the historic preserv...
OK back from Chicago. Interesting meshtastic scene they have there!
Sorry @viral pebble didn't mean to reply to your post
viral pebble
lmao np
quaint marlin
So Chicago mesh has some weird challenges that we don't really have to think about, at least the downtown area. Several people have G2's like 600-800 feet high, but they are either in offices or condo/apartment windows. As far as I could tell no building-toppers. So as far as I can tell they have to account for a LOT of buildings being in the way of their signal, and for a relative lack of ultra-high rooftop space.
and of course their downtown is absolutely huge, probably 10x the size of both mpls/stp downtowns combined.
someone there did some sort of a scripting thing with mqtt to transpose everything that is said on their LongFast channel to feed to a Discord channel, which is novel.
quaint marlin
also picked up my first Brooklyn Park node -
and a state fair node
and apparently picked up a bunch of new Ichi nodes!
fading torrent
someone there did some sort of a scripting thing with mqtt to transpose everythi...
Yup, custom made. And we got the square generation working
quaint marlin
Hey is anyone able to see telemetry or anything else from RV2? I'll head out there later today for a sanity check but I'm not seeing any telemetry since the 23rd
quaint marlin
it's making me wonder if I need to install a reboot timer.
just make it manually reboot every X hours to minimize the chance of lockup
dreamy sapphire
I usually get an RV2 ping when Ichi commutes past my house
We'll see if I still do so now that the bandit is a car node
quaint marlin
I was just a few blocks away from it, and cannot connect in anyway. I think it is either frozen or perhaps there's a power issue. The one unknown about this set up is the charge controller, and if it can handle the heat. My guess is the answer is no
dreamy sapphire
Any ventilation on it?
And/or could you wire a temp sensor in and use the environmental telemetry?
quaint marlin
No ventilation... It's not fully air-tight
the solar cable going into one of the glands is smaller than the smallest the gland can compress, so air can definitely get in or out, but "circulation" is likely not happening at all.
I will be putting a temp sensor in there, yes. Just ordered one.
Both of my big coverage nodes are currently offline, RV2 and R6.... so I will be doing some diagnostics on RV2 tomorrow, and building a node to flat-out replace R6 in the coming days. Both are quite experimental, as in nobody's really done either of these types in the wild to my knowledge.
dreamy sapphire
Whoever named their G2 "gspot2" is going in the naughty corner
quaint marlin
also ngl...
this is a great node name
I'd been thinking about other LoRa pun node names, but most of mine were extremely niche 80's goth, and I don't think anyone would get them.
quaint marlin
This is where I was going with it, but I'm definitely older than all yall 😄
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SueBR3UuMSo
if anyone names their node after this band, I am going to immediately be their lifelong friend
Those of you who have met me (and it's probably damn near a majority of people in this room) know you couldn't guess I'm a huge fan of goth music, but here I am.
For you younger folks, there are still bands doing similar things if you're into that dark aesthetic:
https://youtu.be/yZmBBo8R3xE?si=QjGzsutReJvqUx9Y
This concludes Brew's sunday night drunken posting.
random mantle
That's all new to me. About as close as I got was Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses from.. .1987(?)
quaint marlin
That's all new to me. About as close as I got was Depeche Mode's Music for the ...
that is definitely on a similar track. That you even know what it is, is good! 😄
random mantle
it seems adjacent, though
quaint marlin
also holy shit, unskippable ads... I feel truly sorry for anyone without YT premium!
random mantle
definitely, RIP
random mantle
I have 2 more nodes to name, and 2 more in the mail. Gotta figure out a theme.
ripe vector
Whoever named their G2 "gspot2" is going in the naughty corner
@heady marsh
random mantle
@ripe vector my son is a junior at Jefferson, so if I can cultivate an interest in him hauling a node around with him, you may see one in the neighborhood soon
ripe vector
I’ll build a node for him if he can get it to the rooftop 😂
random mantle
I'll see if he has the connections, but he's an introvert nerd like his dad 😂
quaint marlin
@nova wigeon I picked up your airplane messages in roseville, I just now am finally back in town to see them.
nova wigeon
<@1164660969914499209> I picked up your airplane messages in roseville, I just n...
Nice! I'm just working on a video about that now, I'll have to throw in some screenshots from here
quaint marlin
So I didn't get a chance to get on the roof today, too much going on in the AM.... but I should be able to tomorrow, and I have a theory on what happened. Node was live for 8-9 days. That is probably the amount of time the G2 can run in heavy-ish traffic on that big battery I made. Not 100% sure on that but it sorta makes sense. My theory is that one or both of the solar panel wires did not stay in the terminals, and the node ran on battery power until it ran out.
nova wigeon
Suppose I should ask first, @dreamy sapphire do you mind if I use one or two of your screenshots of mesh pings from the plane?
quaint marlin
I'm HOPING that's what it is. I don't want it to be the other theory, which is that the Renogy or any other piece of hardware baked to a crisp in the hot temps.
dreamy sapphire
Suppose I should ask first, <@173669080388075528> do you mind if I use one or tw...
Go for it!
nova wigeon
Thanks!
dreamy sapphire
I'm HOPING that's what it is. I don't want it to be the other theory, which is t...
A G2 ripping on battery for 9 days is no small feat
Now that the bandit is offline as a car node I dont hit @junior cosmos on their commute 
robust flax
Probably need actual battery levels. Maybe time to ditch the weird sensor deal?
nova wigeon
Meshing while flying, don't tell the cops!
quaint marlin
Probably need actual battery levels. Maybe time to ditch the weird sensor deal...
sensor?
robust flax
Don't you have a sensor board that gave wonky results monitoring the power?
quaint marlin
the wonky results were actually me looking at someone else's node stats because the stupid Mac app didn't refresh that part of the screen 🥇
I actually have to change a setting via the CLI to make that work anyhow, which I'll be doing while up there
quaint marlin
anyone else lose trees last night? I've got a huge pine tree on my house
my whole neighborhood and the next one over is covered in large downed branches and trees
and in other WTF news.... RV2 is back up. Not sure how.
I didn't go up there.
random mantle
maybe the storm jostled something back into place
quaint marlin
hahah seriously
I'm curious to drive past it and see if it's all still up there! 😄
that is actually a possibility
quaint marlin
here we go, the wind decided that I should be given the perfect opportunity for a tree-top node:
the tree top is right at ground level for me. Should be great LOS
dreamy sapphire
Luckily no trees fell here, nor power outs
My servers are on a battery backup anyway, but still
random mantle
A friend in EP says Xcel is telling them Wednesday afternoon is when their power will be back. I think SLP is in a similar state
wide umbra
Friend in richfield is hearing Thurs afternoon for theirs
grand lance
Luckily in our area of south Mpls some people didn't lose power at all, and others only for 3-4 hours. Though we lost a honey locust tree and those are supposed to be better able to withstand the wind than other species. 🤷♂️
quaint marlin
A friend in EP says Xcel is telling them Wednesday afternoon is when their power...
My power is somehow not out, nor is my internet even though a 40 foot portion of this tree is pinning both of those cables to the ground
random mantle
I was wondering if that's what that was. Yikes
quaint marlin
The one that is perilously on the edge will probably fall with the slightest breeze and that likely will yank the phone/DSL cable further, but I think it won't fully destroy it.
quaint marlin
Some of those thunderclaps last night were nutty though
I knew right away, the wind woke me up without any thunder. I was like "this is the bad kind of wind"... and when the tree hit the house (and the ground) as you could imagine it was a different noise than usual.
dreamy sapphire
The one that is perilously on the edge will probably fall with the slightest bre...
probably should call the internet company to put in a repair order anyway
quaint marlin
yeah, I will end up doing that. They're very used to me calling with problems that are their fault...it'll be a refreshing change that it was natural causes.
either way I can't do diddly squat until Xcel has time to get over here, or the issue gets worse.
Very much stuck in a LIMB-o (nyuk nyuk nyuk)
nova wigeon
I know some people in St. Paul who have been told Thursday or later for their power. We were lucky to only go out for a couple hours. I'm kind of amazed / proud that my dumpster satellite dish and redneck pole stayed in place.
quaint marlin
I suspect I'll have a tree on my house well through the weekend.
candid grove
Anything at the State Fair?
quaint marlin
one of my friends is there right now with his node, and there are at least two others
candid grove
I'm going Friday
quaint marlin
there's a node named Neibert that has been there for a few days, there's a5e4 is also there quite a bit, my guess is RV long-term fair people
or they work there
There's someone who lives very closeby that runs a static node, and both of my roseville building nodes should provide coverage (RV2 keeps going up and down and I haven't had time to get there yet)
dreamy sapphire
I believe the Neibert guy is in Mounds View and thats the node I've been struggling to contact for some reason
if we can get a good link that should get me on the roseville area mesh
quaint marlin
I am toying with the idea of putting a G2 on my other roseville office too, since I have a spare.
I just have to build the solar/battery setup
with that I should be able to get signal out to you directly from there
also it's easier for me to get on the roof there since I don't have to get there between 6-11am
that'll give me more chance to goof around with setups, etc
quaint marlin
if someone had a Yagi they wanted to donate to the effort I'd be willing to put a second node up and have it act as a repeater pointed north.
this seems like it'd be pretty sweet:
dreamy sapphire
a few strategically placed yagis around the metro could be a tremendous boost to the network
quaint marlin
I've always wanted to experiment with one, maybe I'll snag this one and build a non-G2 node around it since I have a drawer full of the damned things
I've got an idea, I'll throw together a Voltaic/AirBuddy node on my building in Roseville/New Brighton and point a yagi toward 65 and 10. That way all I have to do is buy the antenna and I've got all the rest of the parts ready to deploy.
I'll let you know when I'm ready to deploy because I'll need help testing.
Ordered. "Sept 2-3" delivery.
dreamy sapphire
sweeet
quaint marlin
I've already got the node built, just need to attach the yagi and the node to the same pole.
dreamy sapphire
13dbi is pretty nuts
think itll hit cell tower problems where you dont get signal right underneath them?
quaint marlin
I don't need the signal
I've already got an 8dbi up there and my office directly underneath (inside the building, duh) picks it up. There's enough bleedthrough
I'm saying I'm putting a Second node up there that will just be a repeater, so there will be two.
quaint marlin
I backed out of getting the yagi after several people mentioned they have had very little luck with them. I’m just gonna convert RV1 into a G2 node and blast everyone in the area
sour cedar
I did bring my mobile node to the fair the last couple of days. Had a few messages here and there, but pretty quiet overall.
quaint marlin
my big node that covers the fairgrounds decided to shit the bed in an intermittent way. I need to get up to the roof and troubleshoot. It keeps going up and down which indicates a battery or charger issue
for instance... now it's back up... but it was down most of yesterday.
and actually looking at the coverage map again, it doesn't really cover much of the fairgrounds... I hadn't really looked until now. Doh!
quaint marlin
all right, R8 is live in Maplewood, on some high ground street lights
Let me know if it pops up in anybody's list or if all of a sudden node counts starts going up
quaint marlin
Xcel crew here taking care of the downed lines!
I'm curious if anyone in or near any of the red zones on this HWT map can see R8:
https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=SRW4MHK2
quaint marlin
is anyone in here B6BC ?
Moundsview/Spring Lake Park area
BTW I set all the nodes that I had up as Repeaters back to Client. I was just running Repeater on a few as a test.
I also hate that having them as a repeater removes them from the node list, and makes it a pain to see their stats at a glance.
dreamy sapphire
whats the functional difference between router and repeater besides client list?
dreamy sapphire
do repeaters take off a hop?
quaint marlin
I've heard that they don't. However I don't know for sure that is the case.
OK here's a pretty definitive answer on that:
that was in regards to a 2.1.x firmware question... but I'd imagine they haven't changed that.
if repeaters increment hops, it seems like there ain't much use for them to be repeaters.
Speaking of incrementing hops, I'm currently enjoying an ice cold IPA and waiting to see if the incoming storms blow the downed trees off my house.
dreamy sapphire
it does say minimal overhead, so perhaps they're just more power efficient
if the efficiencies come from not sending nodeinfo, it's not that much more efficient
quaint marlin
and I think it turns off other things like wifi, screen, and maybe even BLE.
at least it used to, I think maybe they re-enabled that
check out the Role Comparison chart
(assuming those are up to date)
looks like it only really counts on ESP32 nodes, where there is a power saving mode.
which would effect G2's because they are ESP32. That said, if you've got a G2 node in a good repeater/router location, at least from my experience, you're gonna be visiting it pretty regularly so might as well keep it off power saving.
robust flax
There's a nader!
quaint marlin
thankfully just a nice heavy summer rain here, almost no wind
So I ordered another refurb Galaxy Tab Active 2 from Amazon, and this time it came quite unceremoniously packaged in a regular cardboard box with a chincy apple knock-off charger... BUT... it came with the exact same protective case already installed, that I'd ordered for my first one (and ordered one for this one as well) so the $30 case was free!
making the total (effective) cost of the refurb tablet under 60 bucks. Noice.
already have it all set up and ready to rock
@robust flax did you guys get something nasty down in the southwest? Or were you in the inner metro?
ripe vector
Mmmmm G2s
dreamy sapphire
bringing back the shoulder node design, new prototype on the printer
quaint marlin
it's got blood vessels!
random mantle
Tree supports are so cool
ripe vector
what are your plans?
Home? Car? Not sure yet. What’s a stable firmware to run on the G2?
quaint marlin
2.3.13 is still the go-to as far as I know.
It's not even available on the meshtastic flasher site anymore...
they are incredible car nodes.
and honestly I don't know if it matters what firmware version you use if it's a car node.
IMO car nodes should probably be repeaters for an on-person node you've already got on you.
and by "repeater" i mean "client" since they all cost a hop anyways.
ripe vector
Ok. I’m running 2.3.13
Range on this thing is crazy good. Haven’t even turned up the power yet
quaint marlin
they are excellent nodes. The only issue they have is power consumption
dreamy sapphire
model looks fine in cad, pull it off the printer and suddenly "thats wrong, thats wrong, how did I forget that?"
quaint marlin
Quick reminder - if anyone is looking to build an amplified NON-G2 node for your home HQ, I have a pile of perfectly functional 4W amps that are great for home or vehicle use, but are not good for solar/outdoor applications.
You can litereally just have one.
dreamy sapphire
Hmmmm.... Chatgpt says its possible to create a hand crank dynamo meshtastic node. Theres enough power in the arms to run it pretty easily
At least an nrf52 node
That goes on the project list
quaint marlin
I bet you could hand-crank a 500mah battery in like a half hour, and that would get you nearly a whole day with a 4631
here ya go, skip the middle man, it's already made!
the big question: can you trust the single 1 star review where "it didn't charge my phone"?
dreamy sapphire
yeah looked at those reviews and ran away lmao
There were a few listings for the same thing, all bad, but really I just need the dynamo inside
Cloverleaf and 65 intersection done, new fixtures are up. Full of traffic cams, but those poles near the power lines are clear
Could be a contender for the 65 thoroughfare
dreamy sapphire
There were a few listings for the same thing, all bad, but really I just need th...
Or just disassemble the dynamo radio on my camping bag
quaint marlin
Cloverleaf and 65 intersection done, new fixtures are up. Full of traffic cams, ...
that is a lot of cameras. I'd probably rather not put one on with that many eyes.
nova wigeon
That goes on the project list
Hmm, I have a power supply project that doesn't quite charge a phone, but I wonder if it will run a node?
dreamy sapphire
The RAK19007 will run at just under 500mah, most phones dont even trickle at less than 500mah
In fact the 19007 can sometimes draw so little current that phantom draw circuitry kicks in and shuts off some usb power banks
viral pebble
haha, that happens consistently when I've run them off power banks
dreamy sapphire
You need more draw or just dump some power to heat to keep them running ya
viral pebble
I ended up getting a usb power bank from voltaic systems that is "always on" but then I just went to lipo batteries
quaint marlin
Biiiiig tracert
I was driving to the office
quaint marlin
I ended up getting a usb power bank from voltaic systems that is "always on" but...
I've got a bunch of these, and I just took a small one apart for science.... and so I can put it into small nodes!
it was NOT easy to take apart.
quaint marlin
I ended up getting a usb power bank from voltaic systems that is "always on" but...
the voltaics' big upside for solar nodes is that you power the RAK via USB so if you ever get too low on voltage, it will auto-wake when there is enough juice in the bank
The node map from my office is lookin' SHARP
I don't get @robust flax 's nodes for some reason
dreamy sapphire
We're so close to a permanent link
After labor day lets find a time to install the hoa buster
Fingers crossed the hoabuster can hit yeti too
quaint marlin
there's a 2nd Yeti node now
it doesn't have GPS coords so I don't know where it may be
but I pick it up at home and in roseville
dreamy sapphire
Damn I dont even get it from my house and I'm almost directly between you
I blame the cookie cutter neighborhood
quaint marlin
there's no way I'm getting it direct, it's got hops
dreamy sapphire
Crunched the numbers, you could totally gut a t-deck plus and slap a hand dynamo on there for an emergency phoneless meshtastic node
It'd certainly have a bigger chassis, but afaik the upcoming tdeck plus is the only meshtastic device that has a keyboard AND gps, negating a phone entirely if you wish
quaint marlin
Who's got that G2 node in Mounds View? Gspot2
oh that may have been in a car... the GPS reports it on the road at 65 & 10
dreamy sapphire
Definitely in a car, its been migrating around
Whoever has it is going in the naughty corner for that name
ripe vector
Who's got that G2 node in Mounds View? `Gspot2`
My brother
dreamy sapphire
Take him to the naughty corner
quaint marlin
there's someone pinging longfast from a sensecap card!
is anyone else seeing that?
it's 3 hops from me, no coords
oh wait it does have coords
at the state fair
I don't think they are getting my replies
I'm looking for a good place to put a temporary node up for the fair, but man there just isn't a good spot right around there.
At least, not streetlights
ripe vector
… magnet node at top of Ferris wheel ..?
quaint marlin
hahahah that would be hilarious until someone thought it was a bomb
may have found a place, checking coverage...
eh.... gets the northern half of the fair
is the fairgrounds in a big bowl or something? It's hard to get coverage in there
ripe vector
hahahah that would be hilarious until someone thought it was a bomb
Slap a NOAA or national weather service sticker on it.
swift bay
Hey, that's me with the card! I got your message, but couldn't get a response out. I think the south side of the fair is really brutal for propagation
dreamy sapphire
look how little blue there is. Designing for no supports is hard, but worth it
grand lance
look how little blue there is. Designing for no supports is hard, but worth it
In addition to the model design I've been using the feature in PrusaSlicer where you can set different layer heights for different parts of the model. You can get away with a little more overhang if you print that part with thinner layers.
dreamy sapphire
by the time the prototype is done printing I've got another file ready, sans last minute changes
I couldnt imagine having a hobby like this before 3d printers, it would have been so hard
quaint marlin
I couldnt imagine having a hobby like this before 3d printers, it would have bee...
it'd probably just be a bunch of increasingly small project cases and pelicans. I still hae two tiny pelicans that I used originally as car node containers.
quaint marlin
Hey, that's me with the card! I got your message, but couldn't get a response ou...
The fairgrounds seem to be in quite a bowl that is hard to get signal into. I've been trying to scope out temporary node locations to get it on the mesh but short of getting on top of a U of M STP building, there's not much!
swift bay
There are some decent spots inside the fair, but that's a whole can of worms logistically. A strategically placed sector antenna on the st paul campus might be the best solution.
quaint marlin
I'll scope it out tomorrow as well and see if I can get something on one of the bridges on Snelling or something
swift bay
north side seems to get out okay - at least near the campground. It's really anything south of dan patch avenue that gets completely absorbed.
quaint marlin
yeah... I've got an insanely powerful node on top of a building on Hamline and 36 but even that can't reach the south side of that bowl.
good lord! Even if put one up on top of United Crushers elevator it STILL doesn't get enough of the fairgrounds, yet it covers like a solid 25% of the entire metro area.
swift bay
You can snipe it from the stp campus: https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=CCXTULJ3 This is on ruttan hall.
quaint marlin
I don't have an "in" with the U...
otherwise I'd definitely already have a huge node on the buildings 😄
any students around?!
swift bay
hi :p
quaint marlin
get me in the door, I'll build the node!
swift bay
having done some exploration there previously, i'll say that you don't even need door access. just a bit of core strength.
quaint marlin
that link doesn't seem correct
that's popping up a location I already have a (currently dead) node on
swift bay
whoops, url screwup. https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=MWGS746L
quaint marlin
I'm definitely no breaking and entering on state property, just FYI 😄
I'm all about the grey area stuff but not the "go to jail for a long time" stuff
I'll make a node for ya if you are willing to install it
quaint marlin
just have to figure out how it needs to get attached. Is it magnetic, hose clamps, laying flat, antenna mount, etc etc etc
dreamy sapphire
fuzzy skin? 👀
viral pebble
just have to figure out how it needs to get attached. Is it magnetic, hose clamp...
are you putting up these guys? https://store.rokland.com/products/rak-wireless-unify-enclosure-ip65-solar-panel-integrated-915-mhz-bluetooth-antenna?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=3e1e216ec&pr_rec_pid=6966331867219&pr_ref_pid=7233509392467&pr_seq=uniform
quaint marlin
I have a couple of those up but they are mostly reserved for temporary or drone useage
I use the larger version, the 100x150mm one
as it has a much larger solar panel and more room for batteries.
viral pebble
that one has the real antenna mount too yeah?
quaint marlin
I buy the ones that have no holes, and I make holes.
The little ones you linked (again I drill a hole for SMA or N bulkhead) are great for lightweight temporary nodes, either magnet-back or for my drone drop/retrieve harness
viral pebble
I'm assuming the integrated antenna is about as good as the little goober that comes with a heltec v3?
quaint marlin
I only have one node that I use the integrated one, that's the indoor one at my office, and all I need it to do is make it to the big node on the roof 😄
and it works for that
I'm gonna stick this one up today near the fair to try and get some coverage
viral pebble
nice nice. convincing sticker
quaint marlin
it's got 6000mah in there, will last at least 2 months, most likely 3-4
all my publicly viewable nodes have the MN Dept of Communications logo 😄
a very real, definitely-exists department.
viral pebble
I'm definitely not writing that idea down for later
quaint marlin
I have a sheet of the stickers if anyone needs, they hold up very well in the weather!
viral pebble
I got a pack of these. my wife put one on her water bottle https://duramarktechnologies.com/iso-triangle-exposure-radio-frequency/
quaint marlin
I try to make mine look as benign as possible (as they are totally benign) - no "warning" look about it
just another box on a pole, not worthy of extra inspection
viral pebble
someone must be in a plane again. I keep picking up Roseville 2 (G2) 100k from down here
quaint marlin
you in iowa right now?
I found the spot to cover a good chunk of the fair... the big question will be if I can get to the rest of the network from there....
viral pebble
yeah, Mason City. a friend of mine has an ISP down here and we put a node up on the (barely) 2nd tallest building downtown yesterday, and I've been getting little blips from nodes here and there...I'm wondering if I'm actually getting some crazy intermittent propagation. Roseville G2 is someone here, right?
quaint marlin
yeah that's me, it's a G2 with a 10dbi antenna 75 feet above ground
viral pebble
oh nice
quaint marlin
so it's possible you will get telemetry updates directly, they seem to have a mind of their own
I thiiiink they are unencrypted and short, so they have a good chance of making it really long distances
viral pebble
oh that makes way more sense then
quaint marlin
i mean that's still 130 miles.....
so we could be approaching some sort of MT world record 😄
viral pebble
my money is on a plane, there’s a lot of elevation and curvature of the earth in the way
I think the ionosphere conditions that could help propagation don’t really work at these shorter wavelengths vs HF either, but I will say times I notice this stuff it seems to happen around or just after sunrise and around or just before sunset…who knows. LoRa has crazy tiny channel widths and 915 tends to reflect off of everything, is my understanding. so even if it’s unlikely, maybe a signal is outright bouncing off something, maybe even a plane if the signal is short enough
quaint marlin
state fair area coverage that should be reliable-ish once I put this node up today:
the question remains whether it will reach the rest of the mesh
it splashes a lot of area that to my knowledge doesn't have any/many nodes
the best chance it has for known nodes is to get all the way over to R8 that I put up in maplewood
Ha, was right, Yeti is at the fair
just hollered on longfast
viral pebble
I wish you could do a heywhatsthat but the red stain is based on the elevation of a client you punch in instead of just altitude
dreamy sapphire
I got a pack of these. my wife put one on her water bottle https://duramarktechn...
Wanna find out who in the room is a scientist vs a plumber? Ask them to pronounce "unionized"
viral pebble
heh
I like this one. I should have ordered some. just random ass warnings wherever you want them https://duramarktechnologies.com/iso-triangle-warning/
dreamy sapphire
viral pebble
That one goes on my plugin Prius
quaint marlin
ha and it's got none of my nodes on it
I suppose because I disable mqqt on all of them
quaint marlin
if you're at the fair, send out some pings on longfast
random mantle
I was there yesterday but didn't feel like hauling extra stuff with me
quaint marlin
understandable. I just know we have at least one active MT user at the fair right now
swift bay
sadly, not there today - the crowds are going to be crazy.
quaint marlin
Yeah last weekend, and nice weather
If you happen to fall into one of these areas of coverage give it a whirl.
random mantle
Up at my sister's in crystal this afternoon; not seeing anybody so far. I'll see if she's cool with me putting a node on the roof at some point.
quaint marlin
Finally figured out we can do an attic node in my bud's place in Inver Grove Heights. Going to see what I can do to make it a big dawg. It's not a great location but it's a difficult location so I'd like to bludgeon the problem with POWER
dreamy sapphire
I'm in Duluth for the weekend but dont expect any hits, never seen a peep up here on meshmap
quaint marlin
you ARE the mesh while in duluth
the whole place is on a hillside, it might be either a nightmare, or a dream to mesh it up
dreamy sapphire
Man a G2 by those cell towers on the hill would fuck so hard
And talk to... absolutely nobody
quaint marlin
My sister bought some property and a cabin up near there, when I get up there I'll bring a big ol' node with, though I have no idea where it is in relation to duluth... I just know it's in the area-ish
quaint marlin
we've got people at the fair making it to the mesh, WOO!
also just for S&G, I'm making all my remote nodes have a 🍻 as the short name.
random mantle
I grew up there; yeah, coverage would be a different challenge
quaint marlin
You could probably just put a few big nodes facing the hill and then one or two at the top (if possible) and get them all talking with each other and have an easy-ish time of it
quaint marlin
the bigger challenge in duluth may be snow and wind
dreamy sapphire
That pesky wind blowing away the radio
quaint marlin
more likely ripping the solar panel off it
those things gotta be attached very well or they're a sail
also I can't help but notice that the house with 4 routers is now completely gone from my node lists. I wonder if they changed them all to repeaters, or if they decided to not use Freq Slot 20 😄
VICTORY🇺🇸
dreamy sapphire
quaint marlin
not gonna act like it was THE reason, but the mesh is working way, way better the last few days.
once I can get R6 replaced, St Paul is pretty much covered. I will make a larger node to take the place of the State Fair connect node, because it's actually a pretty good location.
I know that for me one of the reasons it's working better is that RV2 is up... and I think that's down to the sunny skies.
I still have to figure out WTF is going on with that thing
@ripe vector said he is picking up RV2 way deep into bloomington!
quaint marlin
BTW I've got a lead on a 25th floor balcony in downtown STP. I should know more about it soon.
Don't know which way it faces, but it should be a simple solar install, just a matter of what direction it covers.
swift bay
There are still some brutal spots on the fairgrounds but the south end seems much better compared to Friday. RV2 is a sniper!
quaint marlin
why doesn't that airplane with the banner have a node?
somebody get on that for next year
dreamy sapphire
Someone call saveitforparts, our apparent airplane node expert
quaint marlin
Seriously though, it's a slow-moving plane that literally just circles the fair all day and night. I'll call them and see if they'll stick a node in the window.
BTW @dreamy sapphire I just tested a Bandit Nano on a 5200mah 12v pack, feeding the node via XT30 and it lasted just a hair over 48 hours. So you could use one as a weekend base camp node if you didn't leave it plugged in the entire time.
like unplug it overnight, etc.
the XT30 is the best way to get it the higher voltage that it craves
dreamy sapphire
I realized the bandit in my car had its antenna turned around and the wind blew it into the folded orientation
quaint marlin
There are still some brutal spots on the fairgrounds but the south end seems muc...
Do you mean RV2 o R2? Both could theoretically be giving signal
also I would have no reservations at all about contacting the Space Needle people (It's a very small family-owned company) and seeing if they'd "sponsor" or allow me to put a node up on top of it.
quaint marlin
BTW if anyone wants to see the streetlight node system in action (and you're near the fair) go drive down Pierce Butler and at Prior Ave there is a nice tall streetlight with the R2 FairLink node on the backside of it.
if I had an extension to my extension pole I would have put it higher (and it would provide better coverage) -- but I mean 6'2" me, plus my reach, plus the 25' pole is the best I can do 😄
it's easily the tallest St Paul streetlight I've encountered.
quaint marlin
I realized the bandit in my car had its antenna turned around and the wind blew ...
That's probably due to the adapter I'm using on there, I think it's able to spin freely if it's not cranked down super tight.
dreamy sapphire
Probably solveable with a 3d printer, but I also probably wont bother
random mantle
From down in Savage. I'm pretty sure I can hear it from here regularly.
quaint marlin
It is most likely just telemetry info, but ifyou can get messages into the central area mesh itll spread the word
quaint marlin
@dreamy sapphire in order to make a Bandit a really good base camp node, assuming you have some sort of 12v power (like a Jackery or similar) you could run it off this, and really take advantage of the Bandit's extra TX/RX power:
same with putting one in a car, as long as you're OK with a giant fugly cord going to it... I'd keep it under the seat 😄
dreamy sapphire
usb-pd can do 12v, I wonder if I could whip up a pd adapter
quaint marlin
so far I haven't seen a PD that actually delivers 12
at least, not to the Bandit. I think maybe the bandit itself doesn't have any higher PD profiles than 5v
dreamy sapphire
ah no, I meant a usb-c to XT60 adapter with a small IC that negotiates 12v
quaint marlin
ah, gotcha
quaint marlin
Let me know if such a thing exists, that would be nice too. The issue for me is that so many of the available cig-lighter chargers have sketch-at-best specs.
dreamy sapphire
Looks like said adapters exist but all look like 20v
quaint marlin
it's a little like how amazon has hundreds of handheld "EDC" flashlights that have lumen ratings that would blind anyone within 10 miles if it were ever turned on.
there is little to no actual vetting of most product descriptions or specs
wide umbra
it's a little like how amazon has hundreds of handheld "EDC" flashlights that ha...
LOL I too am in this world
random mantle
I got a couple pd boards a few years back off Kickstarter that do up to 20v I think. I'll have to check the specs
Ah, it was crowd supply, and apparently you can't get them there anymore https://www.crowdsupply.com/ryan-ma/pd-micro
quaint marlin
probably started too many car fires 😄
swift bay
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5807 this is my go-to for PD negotiation
I use it for my QRP labs QMX mini to power it off of a USB C battery bank. Works pretty well.
for USB-C PD car chargers, I haven't had any issues with anything from anker or ugreen.
quaint marlin
for USB-C PD car chargers, I haven't had any issues with anything from anker or ...
I use Anker PD for both of my car G2 nodes and they work great. I just know that Bandits want as much juice as they can possibly get... and they don't really give you any indication that they're not getting enough... so they just are sorta... average... unless they're getting that sweet, sweet high voltage.
I ran a bandit as my home node off of a PD wall charger which I thought was giving enough beans.. but I got very lame/average results from it... and I was all ready to chalk bandits off as overpriced/useless. Then I plugged it in via a more powerful laptop charger, and BOOM... all of the sudden there was a big difference. Apparently it's even better if you just feed it straight up 12v from the XT30. No negotiation, just beans.
swift bay
I wonder if it wants "12 but actually more like 14.2" i.e a battery
Seems to take up to 16 volts. You could try driving it at 15v off the pd. That's a less common negotiation though. It really depends on what profiles the charger supports.
quaint marlin
yeah, and I don't know what profiles the bandit itself has available.
wide umbra
you could probably hit up radiomaster and ask them, they are pretty open about their designs
quaint marlin
I just opened a ticket to ask. We'll see what they say!
fading torrent
The first ever ChicagolandMesh.org balloon launch is happening on September 7th 2024! Please spread the word, more info can be found here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e0vJ86mXsF4RTgzS3747uXyfoqMdXQv2SG9s6peL5hk/edit and on our Discord server here https://discord.gg/qYWAuCGeDu?event=1280726859507568732
dreamy sapphire
Napkin math says the horizon at max altitude could be upwards of 600km, a radius that completely obliterates heywhatsthat
viral pebble
lol, yeah. when I punched in the balloon altitude before there was just straight up artifacting across the red stain
viral pebble
a super cool thing would be to coordinate balloon launches and get a couple up at the same time with nodes on them
quaint marlin
HIDE YO NODE DB!!!
@wide umbra @dreamy sapphire @junior cosmos --- Radiomaster says this about the bandit:
Usb-c interface only supports ordinary 5V voltage, does not support PD or QC protocol, and when using USB, only power to the main chip, can not power to the RF chip, USB is only connected to the computer, used to update the firmware or transfer data, so if you want to power the Bandit Nano module, please use the remote control power supply. Or plug a 2S battery into the XT30 port.
sooooo....
if you've been using a bandit on USB, time to switch to XT30.
here is your best bet for full beans in the car:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C2GZLQKL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08884NKJQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and then this:
viral pebble
I'd seen you talking about the bandit, didn't realize it put out a full watt
quaint marlin
yep otherwise I wouldn't be talking about it 😄
it really excels at the RX end of things, it listens very well
but because they are so power hungry they aren't great for a pocket or solar node, but they're great in cars or as a base HQ node.
a brick of 6 18650's will only run it for about 48 hours at 12v.
viral pebble
I would expect so for how much current it can put into the radio
I wish the iOS app could just connect to a local node over wifi
dreamy sapphire
I mean, dumping an entire watt into the air takes a lot of energy
quaint marlin
the mac and ios apps would really benefit from a rework. i don't like that the ios app is entirely different from the android app.
i love the mac os app when it's working.
dreamy sapphire
I mostly dislike the android app doesnt work on Pixel devices with BTLE pairing
gotta bust out a C to C cable if my wife wants to use one of the pocket nodes
really puts a damper on the experience
quaint marlin
yeah that's odd
dreamy sapphire
like many weird bugs, it's a pixel thing
I want to love pixel phones but its always such a beta tester experience. Should have talked my wife into a samsung
viral pebble
the python CLI is also buggy. I had to fix a bug where you could not change channel settings on remote nodes at all. I don't know how I was the first person that ran into it, at least enough to pipe up. it seems like to normies the answer has been "it's not supported" but with no information why
I'm gonna be starting opening PRs to fix little crap as I see it
quaint marlin
gotta bust out a C to C cable if my wife wants to use one of the pocket nodes
with one of these really tiny C to C ribbon cables and a clever 3D printed "backpack" for the phone it could actually be really sweet to have it be able to act as an "all in one" node.
Especially if it were a tiny, power-sipping node like one of the new micro wisblocks.
having one of those that didn't even need a battery (assuming it's powered by the android device) would actually be pretty baller.
random mantle
I mostly dislike the android app doesnt work on Pixel devices with BTLE pairing
I don't think I've seen this issue? Are you talking about the constant re-pairing? If so, I fixed that with a fixed pin
quaint marlin
yeah and sometimes you can fix that by having your host device 'forget' the node and re-pair
dreamy sapphire
Nope, wouldnt connect period it was very strange
bold basin
Apologies in advance if this is a super dumb question, I'm very newbie here.
For those of you deploying Meshtastic nodes with solar panels around Minnesota, what happens in the winter when it snows, and the solar panels are covered?
Does that require going around and manually clearing the snow off?
dreamy sapphire
simply stuff so many batteries in there that it survives the entire winter 😄
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR63PJxzdy8
also, the airplane video is out!
random mantle
the python CLI is also buggy. I had to fix a bug where you could not change chan...
I've noticed problems when trying to cram too many settings into one command. I don't know if that problem is with the CLI, the device software, or both (probably both)
viral pebble
For sure, keeping the messages short is good if you’re using admin commands
quaint marlin
Apologies in advance if this is a super dumb question, I'm very newbie here.
For...
Also it doesn't hurt as much as you'd think, as long as you're using an efficient node like a RAK 4631, to just have the solar panel be perpendicular to the ground so that snow doesn't get as much of a chance to add up onto it.
If you use the equivalent of 12-15,000 mah worth of batteries, it will likely survive the winter just by gleaning whatever sunlight it can get.
quaint marlin
@nova wigeon great video! So much fun!
and during a Saints game no less, perfect timing!
@nova wigeon is the solar node still up? I drove by the other day and got an ACK but it was only from like a block away, which sorta made me wonder if it was the t-beam instead of the solar node.
dreamy sapphire
I really enjoyed the plane vid
quaint marlin
200,000 subscribers now too! Becoming a bonafide youtube microceleb! 😄
I actually stumbled on his channel quite a while ago because of railbike stuff. I still have many lofty railbike goals.
oh and @nova wigeon the smaller antenna is actually the bluetooth antenna. That solar node doesn't have a GPS unit in it.
Managed a 7.1mi one-hop message from 94/35W to my home node today on the way to Brooklyn Park!
I can't tell which node it bounced off of but I think it was the FairLink one, which makes me giddy.
dreamy sapphire
I was a bit giddy seeing my screenshots in the video
viral pebble
I had a good laugh seeing the mn dept of comm sticker
viral pebble
going to have my wife make a legit looking corresponding Iowa sticker I think. one problem is the new Iowa branding is absolutely hideous. I may go with the logo from the 70s
nova wigeon
<@1164660969914499209> great video! So much fun!
Thanks! I meant to spam it here yesterday but forgot, I've been extra distracted lately 🐿️
nova wigeon
<@1164660969914499209> is the solar node still up? I drove by the other day and ...
The one you gave me? It should be, I can check on it. I started to make a solar node for the silo at work but had the wrong battery connector, so that might have to wait until next week.
I've also been very distracted with a satellite data terminal I got my hands on, we need some Meshtastic satellites!
nova wigeon
<@1164660969914499209> is the solar node still up? I drove by the other day and ...
BT was working and blinky lights were blinking, but I got an error when I tried to send a test message, I'll power cycle and try again
random mantle
For sure, keeping the messages short is good if you’re using admin commands
sorry, I realize now that I wasn't clear. My problem was over serial, not on the admin channel. The first one I hit was that I couldn't set bluetooth off and wifi on within the same command. There are quite a few more; setting up a new device takes around 15 separate commands, in my experience 😦
Keeping those admin channel commands short seems wise, though, agreed.
quaint marlin
BT was working and blinky lights were blinking, but I got an error when I tried ...
If you send a message and you get the "Maximum amount of retransmission" error that just means it didn't reach another node. That's not unusual unless you have another node nearby, or you are sure you have mesh connectivity. A lot of times you just need to send again. I would say as a general rule, if you've got something you for some reason NEED someone else to see via meshtastic, keep spamming it until you get an actual response from the person you are trying to reach.
quaint marlin
if two nodes are, say, in the same room and one just cannot get an ACK, check to make sure the Lora settings are the same on both devices. Seems there's been a rash lately of nodes "forgetting" some settings due to a firmware bug when the device's internal storage (very small) fills up.
dreamy sapphire
Android app updated a few days ago and I can see client roles way easier now
Good update 👍
fading torrent
@nova wigeon Keep an eye out on Saturday September 7th for the ChicagolandMesh balloon. Maybe it would make a good video too?
Last time there was a balloon it was connecting Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan and Missouri and Illinois
Looks like there's going to be lots of other equipment on it too
nova wigeon
I saw that, I figured it might be a little far from us, and be going East with the prevailing wind
dreamy sapphire
the doc says it's a heltec 'tracker', is that the tracker role and does that still bounce packets like a client?
if so at apogee we should just barely get a link to Chicagoland
fading torrent
Its just the device model. It will be in client mode
The one from Iowa worked so guess we will need to wait and see, you never know
Its not really in Chicagoland because technically its closer to Iowa than Chicago but we'll see what happens. Thats the most fun part. Keep your nodes out and ready!
quaint marlin
Look at this spread in the north-central metro!
I am thinking I need to get a node or two in highland park to connect to you guys in Bloomington/Richfield
ripe vector
I am thinking I need to get a node or two in highland park to connect to you guy...
Tag team? I’ll help
quaint marlin
let's git r done
I'm focusing on getting my bud in inver grove heights connected to the mesh, but highland will be my next stop
ripe vector
A G2 at the top of the ski lift in hyland would do some crazy shit.. just sayin
quaint marlin
he's got an HOA problem so I'm putting together an attic node for him, potentially going G2 with it.
quaint marlin
A G2 at the top of the ski lift in hyland would do some crazy shit.. just sayin
there's a lot of great spots that would work great but are problematic to get back to...
if you knew someone that worked there, THAT would be a little better 😄
wide umbra
my G2 in the garage seems marginal with getting to RV2, i see it via beacons but not getting consistent messages through yet. thinking antenna upgrade and still have 2 more feet i can raise it there
quaint marlin
I know we've had some folks looking into ham repeater towers in the area as well... any news on any of those? or are they slow moving?
wide umbra
ive been away so havent made any progress on that from here yet, thanks for the reminder though. getting back into the swing of building this mesh
ripe vector
@quaint marlin @wide umbra between us 3 we could get south metro connected pretty quickly
random mantle
My son got the facility manager info at Jefferson HS in Bloomington. I'm not holding my breath, but I'll try to put together an email to him soon
dreamy sapphire
I went down to roseville again for Davannis
wife had a bad day at work so I got her out of the house and got some good food in her
Always makes me happy going into town and seeing 12 nodes pop up
wide umbra
Anyone seeing messages from Epson 2600?
random mantle
Not directly
wide umbra
Whoever is between us is doing the mqtt because I have it disabled
quaint marlin
I've been seeing Yeti doing some test messages, which for me means he's trying to set up some more infrastructure... great!
dreamy sapphire
How do you get a link to Yeti but I can't?
@fading torrent what firmware version is the Heltec tracker running? I hope it's at least 2.5.0
quaint marlin
How do you get a link to Yeti but I can't?
probably RV2 can pick him up, and that propagates to the rest of the mesh. That said, he can't hear me respond. It's just been a ping here and there from his t-echo
fading torrent
<@201060317541695488> what firmware version is the Heltec tracker running? I hop...
Honestly, I am not the one launching it so idk but ill ask
fading torrent
He said its on 2.4.2 (beta)
dreamy sapphire
Apparently 2.5 has some good range increases somehow
fading torrent
I told him
viral pebble
interesting. the admin channel/PKI stuff turned me off of doing 2.5 right now
when I tested 2.5 I just plain couldn't get the admin channel to work
fading torrent
when I tested 2.5 I just plain couldn't get the admin channel to work
They made it better with end to end encryption but the only way to configure it right now is the ios app
quaint marlin
I guess that explains why admin is now known as legacy admin in the iOS app
viral pebble
I just flashed master to my heltec that I pair with my phone and admin works again, at least. I'm curious what they could possibly change to get better range
I have a suspicion there are bugs where they are just outright dropping packets though, I can have clear line of sight and a traceroute will fail even when it should be direct. maybe I'll put my solar node on 2.5 and see if it's any better
quaint marlin
anyone here using "Joker" as their device name? Just popped into view.
robust flax
Hmm
random mantle
They made it better with end to end encryption but the only way to configure it ...
I'm glad to hear that; it seems pretty insecure that you either need separate keys for every node, or, if you use the same key, you risk someone having admin access to all your nodes if they get hold of just one. Big risk for publicly-accessible equipment.
viral pebble
if you're reusing the key you might as well use the PSK
random mantle
I meant PSK, but agreed.
(I haven't tried the version with the e2e encryption yet)
somber ocean
With my T-Echo in Centerville, I see lot of nodes in my node-list and receive the occasional message. However, I never had a sent message acknowledged from home. When I'm in Blaine or Roseville, I typically get an ack. I'm trying to understand what is going on; does that mean I can receive farther than I can transmit? I sent several "testing from Centerville" messages, but always get "max retransmission reached". I'm about 11 miles from Roseville and about 9 miles from Yeti's node in Blaine, so it is pretty far with a low-power device and 17 cm Gizont 915 MHz antenna.
As a side note, I just flashed the 2.5 firmware. I saw the same behavior with 2.4.1
dreamy sapphire
What's your transmit power? I'm in Blaine (65 and 10) and at home is just a pocket rak with a gizont
The Roseville nodes are pretty easy to pick up, I can usually hear them before they hear me too
somber ocean
I'm not certain what the transmit power is on a T-Echo. It sips power, so probably not very high.
A Google search is telling me transmit power is 100 mw for the LilyGo T-Echo, same as the T-Beam.
viral pebble
I assume they’re all using the same SX1262 22dB radios
dreamy sapphire
The Raks can do 160mw
So they're a little bit louder. The Bandits apparently can belch out an entire watt if you ask them
viral pebble
Is that going to run into the 22dBm limit in the firmware in non-ham mode?
viral pebble
either way: I ordered a bandit!
random mantle
I'm thinking about it too
Might bridge that extra mile or two I need to actually be heard
somber ocean
I assume they’re all using the same SX1262 22dB radios
Yes, that is the radio on the T-Echo.
quaint marlin
With my T-Echo in Centerville, I see lot of nodes in my node-list and receive th...
I've seen your messages all the way in st paul on occasion (I am the roseville node guy for the most part) but I think even the mighty RV2 can't get signal all the way out to where you are in Centerville. Most of these devices can listen better than they can speak.
quaint marlin
Is that going to run into the 22dBm limit in the firmware in non-ham mode?
yes and no. I think the limits are there in part to deal with ERP numbers, and there's no accounting for antennas and cable loss, they just have to take a stab at it.
Looks like we've got our first MOA node! I picked it up so I have to assume it was outdoors as opposed to actually inside MOA
and I didn't pick it up when I was at IKEA today so I'm gonna assume it's not Lucas
quaint marlin
either way: I ordered a bandit!
Make sure you power it with the XT30 port, not USB.
It's pretty easy to get 12v direct that way, and it'll be as powerful as it can be.
viral pebble
Make sure you power it with the XT30 port, not USB.
Yeah, I’m planning on making it my car node. I got plenty of those connectors around for other DIY stuff
nice that it can take up to almost 17V cause I’m gonna give it 12V from the car
quaint marlin
nice that it can take up to almost 17V cause I’m gonna give it 12V from the car
That's what I'd recommend.
I was going out of my way to find powerful PD chargers and good USB-C cables for them, only to find that it won't do sheeeeit
ripe vector
Shows a 15mi approx location on my map
random mantle
heh, yeah
robust flax
Strange ...
random mantle
is not me, no
ripe vector
It’s weird. My other node picks it up as an exact location
robust flax
Mine as well
quaint marlin
I get a lot of nodes like that
one of Yeti's is like that, and someone's T-deck is as well
I think it has something to do with the level of which you share your location via longfast
quaint marlin
Got the go-ahead to put a solar node (and ham/gmrs repeater) on a grain silo in the Hamel/Medina area on hwy 55
Not insane coverage but should help the extreme west burbs get some reach
quaint marlin
wow, on my way to my soccer tournament this morning there are a ton of acks out in Blaine at last. In fact I'd say I got more acknowledgments than I might even get in some areas in Roseville. There must be a couple strong nodes around NSC
dreamy sapphire
1 hour until balloon launch. Not sure how long apogee will take but we wont see chicagoans until around then
dreamy sapphire
t-1hour
viral pebble
Super funny to see a grafana dashboard for a balloon
fading torrent
We have a special channel for balloon talk on the Chicagoland mesh discord visit https://chicagolandmesh.org/discord you do not need to be in Chicagoland to join
random mantle
I just heard dethbot2 and was even able to trace route (first time that's ever worked here!)
quaint marlin
nada
dreamy sapphire
Balloon launch soon™️
dreamy sapphire
Liftoff!
Keep your nodes handy, at apogee we might get a link to chicago
If we're really lucky it might just graze pennsylvania
fading torrent
@nova wigeon Liftoff
dreamy sapphire
21km, At 25-30 we should see it. @wide umbra you might see them first
wide umbra
What's the node name?
quaint marlin
as far as I can tell I've seen nothing from the balloon, at least not at home HQ
wait what, it POPPED?
dreamy sapphire
Yeah those high altitude balloons just go up until the pressure differential pops them
Its designed that way and the sensors are drop proof
It went almost 33% of the way to SPACE
robust flax
That's 66%left
random mantle
quaint marlin
So this is slightly odd -- while I was on my way to Blaine this AM and getting ACKs all over the place (at least over by 35W and then on 95th on the way to NSC) I was sending pings pretty regularly and getting acks from them.... but the only ones that actually made it to my home HQ node were literally the first and last pings I sent ("north node check" and "nsc davenport")
did any of you north burbs folks pick up any of those pings in longfast?
Hmmm... both of those that got home claimed they got here in 1 hop.. which I can only assume is via RV2.
that's a 14mi transmission with one hop and the only hope I can see it potentially hitting is one of my two nearby streetlight nodes that help me get some reach
wide umbra
I got both those messages down here. Did you get my ack on the first one?
random mantle
I got these, but they were definitely not direct in Savage
dreamy sapphire
I didnt get any of them
wide umbra
I got them all via one hop through the G2 node labeled "pilot"
Which appears to be around the intersection of larpenteur and hamline
quaint marlin
Which appears to be around the intersection of larpenteur and hamline
Thats my pilot. The position gets updated every few minutes so thats probably the last place you picked up telemetry from it
quaint marlin
I got both those messages down here. Did you get my ack on the first one?
I saw No replies from anyone.
wide umbra
Doh duh I should've connected those dots
dreamy sapphire
Who's got 49b9?
Every once in a while I get a direct link despite it being very far away, is it waaay the heck up in a skyscraper?
quaint marlin
Here is what I picked up yesterday from Centerville:
That was all me driving to the NSC in blaine, and then me at my office between games in roseville
quaint marlin
Every once in a while I get a direct link despite it being very far away, is it ...
That one pops up for me as well (and Code Fox from time to time)
quaint marlin
Here is what I picked up yesterday from Centerville:
So if you're picking up my car G2 (and probably RV1 as well since that's where that last DT message would have used as a slingshot) I bet if you had a G2 and maybe a decent fiberglass antenna you may actually get reliable-ish mesh connection.
dreamy sapphire
Gspot2 gets me on the roseville mesh a little bit. I can hear it, but it cant hear me
quaint marlin
still need a little connector node up near your area... or you need a more powerful home node still
if you have a south-facing window (or attic?!) you could plug in a G2 or bandit and see what kind of results you get.
I can't recall if we've ever established if an attic node is possible for you
dreamy sapphire
Only north and east unfortunately
I think the chimney hoabuster setup is my best option
dreamy sapphire
Newfren
quaint marlin
if that light pole node I shared with you does what it says it'll do, it'll cover a big patch of the northwest burbs. Spotty but still at least a decent chance of coverage.
I think it'll be my first two-pole install attempt.
Should get me up into the 40+ foot height range.
dreamy sapphire
Yeah those light towers are HUGE
random mantle
I'd love to see a video of how you do those, but I understand if you'd like to avoid video evidence, too 😂
quaint marlin
If you have a hi-viz vest and a hard hat you can accompany me on an install!
Here's the one potentially going up this week:
look at that spray on Brooklyn Park/Center, Robbinsdale, Hew Hope, etc
and a bizarre sploch out in Elk River
dreamy sapphire
That should hit yetiwurks easily
quaint marlin
I have a temp node ready to go, but I'm anticipating this being a good spot so I just ordered a couple missing parts to make it into a RAK150 year-round node
my temp node is unfortunately an SMA bulkhead so i won't be able to do a 5dbi antenna. The only SMA 5dbi's I have are too long and catch too much wind to survive out in the wild.
it'll have the venerable Taoglas TI.96 on there though, which several of my pole nodes have, and they do great.
mail call!
cavity filter from AirFrames specifically for frequency slot 20
dont have anywhere to put it at the moment so I'll just slap it on the home HQ and see if I notice anything. Probably not since I've got such shitty antenna placement
dreamy sapphire
Like a mechanic owned car, the radio guy has the poorest placed antenna
Tragedy of the commons
quaint marlin
I'd hesitate to call myself the radio guy, I'm just a tinkerer with poor budgeting skills 😄
or should I say "alternative" budgeting skills
dreamy sapphire
Do you think ax-man sells suction cups? I'll need something with grip strength for a window node design
Seems like an ax-man kinda product
dreamy sapphire
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805067959190.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt
Scratch that, this is way easier
quaint marlin
is it just me or is that one of those "if it seems too good to be true..." things?
dreamy sapphire
the first link is used by someone in the cyberdeck cafe discord and they say it works well
I'm thinking plop one of those in, negotiate 12v, then a stepdown converter from 12 to 5v for the RAK board
12v goes to the amp, 5v to the rak
quaint marlin
what situation are you looking at for that? To power the amp?
dreamy sapphire
yes, for the window unit with an amp in it
quaint marlin
I think these amps are a little too power hungry for that. I believe weehooper4 and myself both tried step-up converters and similar stuff and they tended to not be able to handle the load when actually transmitting, at least not reliably.
dreamy sapphire
with some clever circuitry it can be powered with just a USB PD
oh no, this uses USB PD or QC3.0 to negotiate 12v
quaint marlin
the problem I think is in how quickly the devices have to switch from TX to RX mode
dreamy sapphire
the 12v goes to the amp, and a bit of 12v is sipped off and stepped down to 5v for the RAK board, which just sips power
quaint marlin
I get it... I'm just wondering what problem you're aiming to solve.
plugging in two things?
quaint marlin
please believe me when I say - just plug in two things 😄
quaint marlin
the reason I say it is because all of these devices, the amps especially, are such a black box that if something is wrong you may never realize it, and you'll be getting no improvement or an actual NEGATIVE improvement.
these specific amps are very power-picky. They do not like running on power that fluctuates, so if that voltage/PD stepper doesn't have some sort of a capacitor on it (which it doesn't look like it does, after seeing a photo of the bottom) you may be bouncing around in voltage
the one of the big reasons they have failed in portable and solar nodes is because they are too picky about power source.
they're great as at-home or in-car amps because the power supply is stable and reliable.
You are more than welcome to try, but I at least beg you to try a control version of the experiment as well. I'm happy to provide another amp.
dreamy sapphire
do you know the polarity of the 12v input?
I have a center positive plug in 12v power supply that fits in the adapter on the amp
quaint marlin
I don't... but every one I've tried has worked without magic smoke, so probably whatever the "normal" polarity is?
dreamy sapphire
I think center positive is the more popular option
quaint marlin
yeah I think so too
dreamy sapphire
should I risk it for the biscuit?
quaint marlin
yeah i believe the output is RP
can't recall the input, can't check from this treadmill
i think the input also is
dreamy sapphire
yup, had to take the case apart and use the ipex tails
quaint marlin
new node found - anyone here know Blair Base Station?
doesn't have gps coords (at least not yet)
Also there's someone in my area-ish (over by the state fair) with a node named BBK-DRONE (!!!!!) where ya at? Last seen Sept 2
quaint marlin
@dreamy sapphire are you ever picking up Yeti Repeater 2?
I get metrics from it regularly, 3 hops away.
I only see the YetiMk1 one or two times a week
dreamy sapphire
I got it this morning, whopping 4 hops away though
I have a suspicion that the new brighton repeater (router) is messing something up around here
quaint marlin
it's also possible that firmware mismatches are going to start to become a problem.
I'm still a staunch 2.3.13 guy... I'm waiting for 2.5 or greater to be bulletproof/approved by people smarter than me
viral pebble
your concerns were the mesh algo itself shifting in implementation? besides general chatgpt-written code concerns heh
we just got copilot access at work and I am not really impressed so far
dreamy sapphire
I use chatgpt to figure out math for me
viral pebble
haha
viral pebble
the thing it's worst at? lol
dreamy sapphire
I had it do trig to figure out some distances
Had a piece that needed a 45 cut, I could measure the short side but needed the long side to be a certain length
It trigged it for me and I didnt have to remember how trig works
viral pebble
isn't that just pythogorean theorem?
dreamy sapphire
Pythag would be figuring out the hypotenuse which didnt matter to me
viral pebble
ah, misread
viral pebble
I'm doing a git diff v2.3.13.fblah in the firmware repo, there is a lot changed here heh. radio interface code and power interface code seem like the biggest chance of something odd happening. based on what I've seen with my nodes, my hunch is the thing missing packets based on when it's sleeping but I'm not sure
quaint marlin
since I have a lot of nodes out in the wild to update I'm waiting for a really compelling reason to go out and spend the better part of a day standing next to streetlights and climbing onto building roofs.
dreamy sapphire
This project is a bit too fast paced to have any semblance of an LTS release yet
viral pebble
for sure
quaint marlin
antenna indoors or outdoors?
viral pebble
I started looking at a diff between 2.4.0 and 2.3.13, and I gotta say.....there isn't anything in power handling or the actual mesh code that would account for poorer performance. there is some stuff -- there was an addition of a check for >25% chutil before sending nodeinfo, but that's not going to kick in for most of us
quaint marlin
the shorter one is 3dbi so it's gonna be OK but not great for punching through buildings/trees/etc
I went to 2.4 on a bunch of nodes and it had horrible results immediately...took me a while to get rolled back, that's why I'm being apprehensive about it
viral pebble
I'm still reading though 🙂 there is a big new power management mechanism though oops, that was the stress test module
dreamy sapphire
the shorter one is 3dbi so it's gonna be OK but not great for punching through b...
Unfortunately theres both and I still havent wrangled that adapter off the long boi yet
Do you remember what the adapter type was? Might be able to 3d print a wrench
quaint marlin
which antenna is it? got a pic?
viral pebble
I went to 2.4 on a bunch of nodes and it had horrible results immediately...took...
were they ROUTER_CLIENT? there is a specific change that makes it behave the same as CLIENT // Router Client is deprecated; Set it to client if (c.payload_variant.device.role == meshtastic_Config_DeviceConfig_Role_ROUTER_CLIENT) { config.device.role = meshtastic_Config_DeviceConfig_Role_CLIENT; if (moduleConfig.store_forward.enabled && !moduleConfig.store_forward.is_server) { moduleConfig.store_forward.is_server = true; changes |= SEGMENT_MODULECONFIG; requiresReboot = true; } }
quaint marlin
nope
viral pebble
I'll keep digging. I'm curious if I can find anything because I want to submit the PR if there's something subtle 🙂
quaint marlin
I don't even have what's probably the biggest/best node in the state running router
dreamy sapphire
A rokland 8dbi white fiberglass. Looks like N-type (male?) and a double female connector stuck onto a something
quaint marlin
aaah yeah that is an 8dbi and you're likely to get good results out of it. Pretty sure it's N Female.
dreamy sapphire
quaint marlin
is there still an adapter stuck on the antenna itself?
dreamy sapphire
Upon additional inspection, I think this in my hand is a single piece and I just need a gender bender
quaint marlin
what's the end that's on the antenna look like
dreamy sapphire
I think an Ntype male-male is what I need
Almost certainly an N female
The magnetic base thing is also that
quaint marlin
so yeah you just need a gender changer
the one in your previous pics is a N to SO238 adapter that I was using to get it to NMO mount using another adapter
because I couldn't find a straight up NMO to N adapter, had to stack 'em
dreamy sapphire
Ah, theres no wikipedia entry for NMO so I had a tough time finding pics of everything
quaint marlin
NMO seems to be mostly for vehicles
dreamy sapphire
I'll have to put a gender bender in my next amazon order along with the suction cups
I think if I make that solar backpack node hold two panels it should be largely self sufficient without the amp
quaint marlin
the 8dbi antenna isn't guaranteed to make things work but I'd say it has a chance.
I'm still gonna get that node put on that pole if at all possible tomorrow.
dreamy sapphire
If I print a dew proof enclosure I could stick the amp and board in the covered outdoor outlet on the deck
Stick the 8dbi on the railing
Only problem is the outlet cover has no cord opening
Add one to the side project counter
I forget, did you cancel that order for the 900mhz induction tranceiver?
quaint marlin
no, I got it. I canceled the order for the $100 yagi
dreamy sapphire
Get it tested yet? Hows it fair?
quaint marlin
You'd be welcome to try the induction antenna on your sliding door if you want! haha
at least if it falls off, it falls onto your porch not the highway
dreamy sapphire
Yeah I was a little worried about through glass magnets at highway speeds
quaint marlin
I SWR'd it but that's as far as I went with testing.
they aren't magnets, it's held on by adhesive
similar to like, a rear view mirror
dreamy sapphire
That would make quite a difference
I'm pretty sure my replacement side mirror is just VHB'd on and its still holding up wonderfully
quaint marlin
you need to have the glass SUPER clean on both sides, and they highly recommend 70'ish degree weather with low humidity for install
dreamy sapphire
Probably made someone at work mad cuz I clocked out and found it smashed
Unfortunately I didnt park in camera range
At that job I had access to all the cameras
quaint marlin
BTW I am currently this close [-------] to buying an aluminum pizza peel to use as the "install wizard" for situations like your chimney where the node's just gonna get placed on there sitting on its back.
dreamy sapphire
That wouldnt even be a bad idea
quaint marlin
and could/should work at least hopefully, to retrieve. May take some finesse, hearkening back to my days working at a pizza joint.
we just never had the oven 10 feet above our heads 😄
dreamy sapphire
Why not stick a phat magnet on the side and get a big block of steel on the end of the hook?
quaint marlin
not the worst idea!
dreamy sapphire
Or vice versa
Or even a printed hoop and the pole is just a veeery long pitchfork
quaint marlin
the node I'm thinking about building for your HOA buster isn't a RAK, it's a standard enclosure with the famous SoShine panel.... because I have a bunch of that kind of thing. It'd still sit flat, and still be very hard to notice
I actually have several hook attachments for the pole, that's how I first started out with these
quaint marlin
I think the hook/loop idea is actually good, the trick is finding where to attach the loop on the node. Space is very much at a premium.
dreamy sapphire
You also dont want it to rotate on you and be hard to place flat
So it'd have to be mindfully designed
quaint marlin
I think a printed one would be perfect if it can stand the UV exposure
now that I thought about it, it'd be super-duper simple design.
dreamy sapphire
Perhaps a steel sheet under the solar panel and an electromagnet on the pole
quaint marlin
because the bottom of the enclosure already has threaded holes.
so it's a total no-brainer
dreamy sapphire
I think a printed one would be perfect if it can stand the UV exposure
Let me check my filament database (reddit) and see the most UV resistant
Pretty sure petg is up there
quaint marlin
I mean, you can spray paint it....
dreamy sapphire
Petg is up there naked, but painted petg is even better
White gloss to keep the heat away
Even painted you dont want PLA just cuz it gets a bit bendy on a warm day
quaint marlin
the other thing is, it doesn't have to be printed. This would be really easy to do literally just with some bailing wire.
dreamy sapphire
Just basket-like loops extending over the solar panel?
quaint marlin
I'll draw it up real quick
dreamy sapphire
Hook goes in from the side, picks her up