US Nebraska

[gilded tide]

to me, 4db of loss is fine. This isn't an engineered path that I need to make some specific margin on.

It's still positive gain in the end.

[quasi beacon]

Makes sense. Well fingers crossed it performs well in the current configuration.

[narrow ledge]

Yeah, I had a G2 on a rooftop downtown and just couldn’t hear anything. It’s been replaced with a Heltec (DT16). I’ve got LH02 running on a Rak Mini with good results in ROUTER_LATE.

[gilded tide]

And MEAD to NOMA is line of sight and should have 16db of margin. They don't hear each other though.

[narrow ledge]

I do seem to get NOMA consistently. Seems to be a tomorrow away. I’ve seen some trace routes go through it but I haven’t had much luck getting a trace route to it. I’ll keep trying.

[gilded tide]

It'll probably be the end of October before I can swap NOMA. Sigh.

[narrow ledge]

DT16 was offline for a couple of weeks but it’s back online now.

Btw, if you’re using iOS26 I’d recommend you update the Meshtastic app. It supports TCPIP now which is nice.

[gilded tide]

lol, no rotten fruit here 😉

[narrow ledge]

Nice job, Matt!

[gilded tide]

the node is serial to a windows box

I don't "use" meshtastic lol. I only put up infrastructure. So if anyone tries to message......

unless I am doing maintenance, I won't see those messages.

It seems we have a decent number of users, up to 88 now.

[quasi beacon]

How many 0 hops are you getting? Must be receiving ok now. That's a good chunk of the nodes in the metro area.

By the way, just went through my node list and logs. Very confident that the big uptick in traffic for me today is NOMAs rebroadcasts. So thank you! 😊

[gilded tide]

Just 5 direct

[quasi beacon]

Interesting, at least 1 of those must be catching a lot and passing it to NOMA.

@eager raven is Delta still at the top of the office building out west?

[gilded tide]

That would seem to support that I'm not hearing as well as transmitting.

oh well, off to bed.

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, makes sense.

Good to see all the activity this week!

[gilded tide]

After chatting with some devs, it appears the "deaf" G2s may not be deaf, but instead have a "routing algorithm" issue in handling node information. There are related bugs being addressed in 2.7.10+ that may impact this.

[tawdry compass]

Perhaps contact Neil, the inventor? He always seems to be responsive.

[gilded tide]

He was in the conversation.

[young vortex]

Just caught NOMA from west Lincoln with this flyover.

[gilded tide]

NOMA got kicked in the pants this morning... I reflashed it while testing. Had one report that the signal increased +20db, however, no apparent change on the receive side.

[quasi beacon]

Phenomenal TX performance out of NOMA right now. Receiving at +5db SNR and -95db rssi on my home node in Bellevue, but can't get a direct trace to it.

I fired up my old 1 watt solar node for testing and it can trace direct, but the RX/TX is quite lopsided.

[gilded tide]

Quite irritating to say the least

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, so much potential if it could receive as well as it transmits.

[gilded tide]

On my todo "soon" will be to swap it for a rak. the extra 9db of tx is pointless if it can't hear.

[gilded tide]

The G2 I have at home (VLY) is also "deaf". After reflashing it, it's now being heard "in Omaha" but I can't hear "anyone."

[quasi beacon]

Yeah I'm seeing VLY 3 hops away. Do you have a Rak at home that you could hook to the same antenna for comparison?

[gilded tide]

I do, but it doesn't have wifi, so it would just "be there."

MJrakG1 is now "up"

[quasi beacon]

I've found the rak Bluetooth range to be very good. Close to wifi in some cases. But I do still prefer to run a heltec at home for wifi. I'm curious if the rak will pick up anything that the G2 didn't.

[gilded tide]

Yes, the rak made connection with the rest of the mesh, proving the g2 still has receive issues.

a message from noma to mjrakg1 was almost instantaneous

[quasi beacon]

Yeah I see mjrakg1 at 4 hops to Bellevue. So NOMA never reached VLY?

[gilded tide]

nope. the mesh could hear vly, but vly couldn't hear the mesh

[quasi beacon]

That's interesting. Always heard previously that the G2 struggled in high noise environments, but I assume that wasn't the case with your home installation. They must just have poor RX performance in general.

Did anyone see the messages from AMC T1000 today? Had it up on a pole at a prospective location in Papillon. Thought it would be better, but wasn't seeing many nodes direct.

[gilded tide]

my home is relatively rf quiet, living "out of town." Neil indicates that "usually" they have exceptional rx.

fwiw.... the msg from noma to mjrakg1 came direct.

That is exactly the performance I was expecting from that location.

-114 and the yagi isn't aimed at noma

I also hear merlin and b02c (k0eli) direct

[gilded tide]

lol, and... in the valley of Valley, I can hear LH02 direct on the rak

[quasi beacon]

Wow that's impressive! From one end of the metro to the other.

[quasi crane]

Hello!! I'm new to all this and was wondering what modem setting the local nodes use? just got my first node and wasn't sure! :)

[gilded tide]

longfast

[scarlet iron]

Got 2 Heltek V3s up as Re01 & Re02. I can't really see nothing in the basement here so I'm going to chuck em in the cars till I can get something up on the roof.

[quasi beacon]

What's your approximate location?

[scarlet iron]

Over by college heights park

[quasi beacon]

There's some decent elevation in that part of Bellevue. Used to have a router node not far from there that performed great.

Can you put one in a West facing window on the highest level of the house to test?

[scarlet iron]

Idk I've been paying attention to the elevation recently and I THINK im in a vally so I dont have much hope for it.

Oh cool! It worked! Im seeing stuff!!

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, you're right. college heights park is on the other side of those really high spots in east bellevue. So most signals are going to be blocked to the west. But you're probably line of sight (or close) to LH02 straight north of you in Council Bluffs.

[quasi beacon]

Are you seeing any nodes other than your second one that list an SNR/RSSI instead of number of hops?

[scarlet iron]

Closest I see is LH02 which is 1 hop away

[quasi beacon]

Do you see LH02 direct on your other node? Maybe that's your 1 hop

Or you could try a trace route to LH02 to see what node you're direct to

[scarlet iron]

How did I see NOMA first?

[quasi beacon]

Pretty weak signal, but if you can get a node outside, you'll be able to hear everything from CB/downtown.

[quasi beacon]

LH02 rebroadcasted NOMAs status update.

[scarlet iron]

Trace route just kinda times out

[quasi beacon]

Since LH02 is in a router mode, it will relay everything that it hears

Not surprised on the traceroute. Rarely reliable unless you have a solid signal in both directions.

[quasi beacon]

By the way, assuming LH02 is your only 0 hop, try a North facing window as high as you can get.

[scarlet iron]

So everything im picking up is bouncing from LH02?

Or are there unlisted nodes?

[quasi beacon]

Anonymous repeater nodes are possible but not typical. Since you see LH02 direct, good chance all of your traffic is hopping through it.

[scarlet iron]

I see 14 on the list but it says 34/34 online?

[quasi beacon]

In the node list drop-down, check "include unknown"

That will bring in nodes that you received something from without having all their information

[scarlet iron]

Neat! Okay that explains it. I'm only picking up stuff in north Omaha. I got a good spot in west Bellevue I can set up a node. Hopefully that'll bridge me over these hills.

[quasi beacon]

Unfortunately, that probably won't reach you unless it's a great spot on a tower. If you're at the same elevation as the park (~1,050') you've got +100-200' of elevation gain to the west and northwest. For anything coming from west bellevue, you'll be in the shadow of that ridge line roughly along forest drive and bellevue blvd south (that's where I had my old router node and it was a fantastic location!)

[scarlet iron]

Yeaaaah 😢 I just mocked it up in the site planner and it doesn't look good.

[tawdry compass]

Merlin to LH02

[narrow ledge]

@gilded tide Not sure if you did anything, but I am getting more consistent traceroutes from downtown to NOMA.

[narrow ledge]

One or two hops out, direct back.

[gilded tide]

No changes at this time. Devs are working on the issue, seems to be AFC/AGC related on the receive side.

[scarlet iron]

Shout out to "Wizard selling garlic bread" for having the sickest node name ever pop up during my reel.

[narrow ledge]

Mountain. 🤣

[scarlet iron]

REBA is assembled and ready for final mounting. I've been picking up chatter just sitting on the back porch. Can't wait to see how my signal is when she's bolted 10 feet above the chimney.

[quasi beacon]

Solar powered, or just take it down to recharge once a month?

[scarlet iron]

@quasi beacon Solar powered, I got a little 5w panel to put underneath it. Im AMAZED at how long the battery lasts though. The Helteks drain %10 an hour. Wisblock? 2% a DAY.

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, the rak just sips power. Figure about 1 watt-hour, per day. Or less with a quiet mesh.

[scarlet iron]

Getting traces!!!

[quasi beacon]

I saw your message earlier! Got a trace through. LH02 is definitely your link to the mesh.

[quasi beacon]

I'm curious if you saw the response from f6f8?

[scarlet iron]

Yup! I'm looking into an alternate way south but there's just so many damn hills.

[scarlet iron]

No, I don't even have a F6F8 on my list. Only response I see is from 0348

[narrow ledge]

Nice job, @scarlet iron !

[peak badger]

I have a RAK4631 solar near 156/Pacific. It hasn't dropped below 95% battery since I put it out nearly 4 months ago. I receive from Loes Hills and DT16, Valley, Merlin, etc, and have good connections to alpha, bravo, charlie, and the benson nodes.

I keep that particular node up for infrastructure but don't communicate on it. It works well for connecting directly to mobile nodes within ~3 miles

I think DCSO realized their mobile nodes' GPS were visible and changed their settings.

[calm arch]

Brand new to the hobby, currently one node running in the chalco area, Wio Tracker L1, trying to currently mesh because I know the omaha network has quite some growth, but I don't seem to be picking up anything. Will be upgrading antenna eventually, and I do have a licensed gmrs station as well.

[quasi beacon]

Welcome! I think there are a few nodes that should be able to reach the chalco area. Can you get the device up high outside or in an attic?

[calm arch]

I'm on the third floor, and it's by the window which faces west

the antenna I have coming will mount outside on the balcony railing

[quasi beacon]

Does the balcony face West as well? I don't recall if anyone is out that way, but I suspect most connections will be to the north and east of you.

[calm arch]

yes, but will also have a bit of a view north. my gmrs is mounted out there and has no issue rx/tx to bellevue

[quasi beacon]

I'm in Bellevue and there's a few others in the area. We don't have a great setup though (probably not at good as the gmrs repeater.)

[calm arch]

yea that repeater is really nice

[quasi beacon]

Gmrs range even at 5 watts is going to be significantly better than what you'll get on meshtastic from node to node.

[calm arch]

yea that's true. I'd expect at least something though. I had it going while I was coming back into town, 680 to 80, and didn't seem to pick up anything.

[gilded tide]

I'll be pulling NOMA down on my next trip to that location. it's unfortunate that two different devices have such poor performance at that site.

[narrow ledge]

I'm sorry to hear that. I can tell you that NOMA has made a big difference for bringing the larger mesh into downtown. I'm seeing more reliable traceroutes and message traffic than before NOMA.

[calm arch]

Brought the node to work and picked up 9 and counting. So at least I know now my node works. I have an antenna arriving today, so hopefully that will fix meshing from home

[quasi beacon]

That's too bad it isn't performing as expected. I would echo what Scott said though. At least for me in Bellevue, most of the nodes on my list are hopping in through NOMA.

[calm arch]

Just picked up noma

[scarlet iron]

Looks like my apartment has LOS to a couple of nodes! Can't wait to see what a proper antenna can see.

[calm arch]

Tested my base antenna inside through concrete walls, still grabbed over 20 nodes. Looking forward to mounting it back down in Chalco to see what I get

[quasi beacon]

Nice! Is this the spot in West Bellevue you mentioned previously? AMC Home and F6f8 are mine. Not far from twin creek.

Whats your node name btw?

[scarlet iron]

@quasi beacon Yup! My little pocket nodes are RE01 & RE02. I got one of em sitting on the east facing balcony to test. I'm over off Galvin rd.

[glacial merlin]

Logging on for the first time in a minute. What happened to LongFast in our area?

[glacial merlin]

Never mind, figured it out!

[empty vault]

Hello from Lincoln! Mr Bezos is delivering 2 MakerHawk Heltec V3s tomorrow

[calm arch]

Just meshed with @quasi beacon 🙌
Looks like no hops

[quasi beacon]

Nice! Is that from the balcony location?

[calm arch]

Yup. All mounted up

[quasi beacon]

I see CLCO on both home nodes but looks like 3 hops to me.

[calm arch]

Got it. Thanks 💯

[calm arch]

Hope to see some nodes pop up in Gretna and Ashland. Get us closer to connecting to Lincoln

[young vortex]

I think the ticket to connecting Lincoln to Omaha would be getting one somewhere near Cersco.

[narrow ledge]

Here's my Meshsense map. It's filling in nicely.

[narrow ledge]

Here's my proof that NOMA is making a big improvement in the metro mesh. The node, BZYB, is at my girlfriend's house near Elmwood Park. It's been there for about a year and I rarely see it downtown. Now I see it quite regularly and even get traceroutes through, thanks NOMA. I hope you'll change your mind, @gilded tide 🙂

[narrow ledge]

And I got a message ACK back!

[scarlet iron]

This is SICK!

[scarlet iron]

What are the odds we could get a node on the First national bank of Omaha? It's the tallest building in Nebraska and has LOS to. Fuck... Everything. It's a bank so they're probably super paranoid about security but has anyone asked? Do you think it would be worth throwing together a presentation?

[twin fern]

Never hurts to ask

Little bummed to not see any of the above screenshots picking up my Ashland node.

[narrow ledge]

What's its node address? I can look at my logs.

[twin fern]

!d51f5d41 "Vash"

I'll have to check on it this weekend and make sure it's still running. I don't know why it wouldn't be.

[narrow ledge]

Not seeing it in my logs. I can't say I've ever noticed anything past Chalco making it to me.

[twin fern]

It was making it to Omaha fairly regularly, at least RX. TX I'm less sure.

[calm arch]

Would love a node on the water tower on 144th & Q. Would help cover a lot of south west.
Sapp bros would be great too

[toxic viper]

Hello, just fired up a node in GI, I see from search results here that a node has been seen in the past there, nothing so far though.

Was expecting that but you gotta start somewhere!

[gilded tide]

There is a significant commercial Lora installation there. It is a no-go.

[gilded tide]

I've seen it from Mead. Mead TX is currently disabled due to the deafness of that node.

[calm arch]

I just noticed 2 nodes near davenport popped up. That’s over 200 miles 🧐

Figured it out. One is on an airplane, and it managed to grab a node in eastern Iowa while passing through

[scarlet iron]

Is there anything we can do to keep NOMA alive? I have a direct to it from my apartment. Sad to see such a good node go.

[narrow ledge]

@gilded tide Can we twist your arm? I do think it's working better that originally suspected. I could donate some equipment, if that helps. (Or for other strategic deployments)

[narrow ledge]

Do you experts out there think there’s any value in having NOMA in ROUTER mode? Even if a little deaf, I think it might be in a good position to be visible by many nodes across the area.

[quasi beacon]

Yeah I agree. I don't think there are any other routers with wide coverage in the area. Not sure if Delta is in the same spot still, but its running client now. So they wouldn't be stepping on each other.

[tawdry compass]

There appear to be a couple of hidden routers that I encounter once in a while.

also the grnm node in router_client that everyone has attempted to contact is still around.

[narrow ledge]

Hey, Folks! At approximately 15:00 today (Sunday) I’m going to try sending a Meshtastic node aloft by kite. I’ve never done this before so I’m not quite sure how it’s going to go. I’ll post again once it’s up.

[quasi beacon]

Cool, good day for it! Guessing it will be one of your T1000's?

[narrow ledge]

It’s up. KITE.

[quasi beacon]

Strong direct connect to my home node in Bellevue

[narrow ledge]

Cool! Are you seeing any new nodes from farther away?

Putting a lot of faith in this single tent stake, keychain carabiner, and alpine loop knot. But this way I don’t have to hold it.

[quasi beacon]

Haven't noticed yet, still sitting at about 60 active nodes online at the moment

[hushed knot]

Not home but I’ll be interesting to see if one of my nodes at home saw it.

…I hope they’re charged. I really need to get a solar node and desk node set up.

[narrow ledge]

I’d like to put more line out but have to consider what happens if it drops suddenly.

[narrow ledge]

Yeah, let us know!

[quasi beacon]

Are you within ble range of the kite node, or just looking at everything through x3?

[narrow ledge]

The loop on the T1000E is too long. I’m afraid it’s wrapping around the other lines, drawing the foil in on itself. I’ll need to rig that differently next time. I’ll probably get a bigger kite, too. This is fun!

[quasi beacon]

Nevermind, just saw your message on the mesh. 😂

[narrow ledge]

FFX1 is in my car. Might be stealing a hop. I should turn that off next time.

[quasi beacon]

wouldn't hurt to run router for the test rather than router late. that way it will rebroadcast first and cut down on the radio clutter a bit

[narrow ledge]

I’ll try that next time. I didn’t set up an admin key so I’d have to bring it down to BLE range.

[quasi beacon]

How many online nodes is X3 seeing? That should be close to what the kite sees, minus maybe a few that run out of hops at the kite.

[narrow ledge]

Airborne node, KITE, is back in the air. Now in ROUTER mode.

I’ll clear my node DB on FFX3 and let it rebuild.

[quasi beacon]

The "online" metric is only based on the last 2 hours I believe, so shouldn't need to clear it out to get a good idea of what it's seeing

[narrow ledge]

Have y’all seen any differences in mesh topology since I switched KITE to ROUTER mode?

I also let out another 40 feet or so.

[quasi beacon]

yeah, my "online" count just ticked up. Was hovering just under 60 and is now up to 65.

Also lots of 1 and 2 hops in the last 20 minutes. I don't have a good way of tracking this, but subjectively it seems to have improved further.

[narrow ledge]

And just like that, the wind died at 17:45. I’m packing it in and calling this a fun, successful test. If anyone wants to share findings, I’d be glad to hear it.

[tame pendant]

You rock it scott go home pop a cold beer and ger on the radio

[narrow ledge]

Looks like KITE's max reported height was 396m (1299 ft) and my station on the ground, FFX1, reported 321m (1053 ft), for a difference of about 147 feet off the ground. Pretty cool for nothing more than some nylon, string, and wind power. The kite stayed aloft for about 2h:45m.

Here's what my KITE node saw direct (0 hops)

[quasi beacon]

Nice! I'm sure it was within range of many more nodes than that, maybe that didn't happen to transmit while it was up. My secondary node at home for example (f6f8) would have definitely hit the kite direct and didn't show up on this list. Also, for what it's worth, my "online" nodes are back down to mid 50's, was mid 60's when the kite was in the air in router mode.

[quasi beacon]

Your math was 100' short. 😀 How much line did you have? If you figure a 45 degree angle to get 250' agl, that would have been about 350' of line out.

[narrow ledge]

I did get this report from Dan in CB:

CB1 -> LH02 -> NOMA -> f6f8 -> KITE

[narrow ledge]

Oh dang. My math skills. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[quasi beacon]

Gotta love those crazy traceroutes. LH02 and Noma both should have been direct to kite. Makes you wonder if thats a traceroute anomoly or if the same kind of wierdness happens with normal messages too.

Although I suppose one possible explanation is that the kite node was up so high it was receiving other stronger signals during the first few hops of the traceroute.

[tame pendant]

next windy weekend you should take it to the top of the condo and let it fly from there

[narrow ledge]

Tempting! But I have to be mindful of what’s downwind when the breeze stops and the kite falls. I did put my phone number and a reward if found label in the tracker device, just in case.

Y’all help me think of some good spots for kite nodes. Ideally it should already be a high elevation, with lots of room in the prevailing wind direction, but I could see how even in a low lying area that it might be useful to get some coverage for nodes in that space.

[narrow ledge]

Memorial Park works well. Tony Renze did that once.

[tame pendant]

out in the middle of the lake take the sail boat out for the day and fly it from the boat

Fairmont park

[calm arch]

Tempted to mount my mobile to my fpv drone and send it up for a bit

[narrow ledge]

That'd be cool!

[narrow ledge]

My Meshsense map is looking pretty good today!

[narrow ledge]

I might go put the kite up at the riverfront today. I'm on-call for work, so I can't get too far.

[quasi beacon]

Cool, I'll be over at the iowa West fieldhouse today. Will take a t1000 and watch for the kite node.

[narrow ledge]

Airborne node, KITE, is flying at the riverfront. Any copy?

[quasi beacon]

Not seeing it yet. I'll step outside in a minute. All I'm seeing direct from indoors is ad90, is that your rooftop node?

[narrow ledge]

Yes. DT16 I think. Not sure the kite can do any better than that node here.

[narrow ledge]

Are you 3B33?

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, that's my t1000

[narrow ledge]

KITE is back up, now with 500 feet of line.

[tawdry compass]

I'm seeing KITE at 192nd & dodge

[narrow ledge]

Airborne node, KITE, is up at Memorial Park. Any copy?

[glad canopy]

https://tenor.com/view/corn-corn-field-corn-maze-whats-up-corn-farm-gif-15957915

Just getting started with Meshtastic. The map makes it seem like there's not much out here but this channel gives me hope 😅

[quasi beacon]

Welcome! Yeah, plenty of nodes in the Omaha metro area. What's your location?

[glad canopy]

I'm down in Bellevue. Tis a silly area

[quasi beacon]

Me too, there's maybe a dozen or so of us in Bellevue.

[glad canopy]

Bought a cheap node off Amazon and figured I'd test drive this to see how it goes. I need a new hobby (so I've been told) so this is it. Former HAM guy too

[glad canopy]

Oh nice. Didn't know it was that busy

(side note, node may be the wrong terminology and I'm dumb)

[quasi beacon]

Nice, have you fired it up yet?

[glad canopy]

Not yet. I ordered it today so I'm waiting til Thursday. Friend of mine in Colorado got me interested in this. He's doing a test run there too

Ideally if it goes well I'll get something semi-permanent mounted to my house

Speaking of Bellevue when looking at that map of nodes near me I can only imagine someone tossed this into a tree 🤣

[quasi beacon]

Haha! This is over by me. The public channel provides approximate locations. There's usually 4 or more that show up in that spot south of Anderson grove elementary. But their actual locations could be a mile or more away

[glad canopy]

I figured they were approximate locations allowing some fuzzing for anonymity. But a mile away is quite a bit. I might just be able to reach it then if I'm lucky from my house. I'm just outside of its range according to the map

[quasi beacon]

If you're a mile from this spot in any direction, really good chance you'll have access to the mesh via one of my nodes. My home node is usually seeing around 50 online at any given time.

[glad canopy]

50 at any time?!? And here I was thinking I'd be lucky to see like 6 people in the Omaha metro area. That's pretty exciting. I just checked. I'm 1.8 miles.

So possibly not

[quasi beacon]

Yeah there's probably 100-150 online in the metro. It's just that not every area links up well to the full mesh. 1.8 miles should be doable if you're not down in a valley or inside a metal/concrete structure.

I used to have a router node at the top of a tall tree in East Bellevue that regularly connected 20 miles out

[glad canopy]

I'm very surprised at that because that map was really making me think it's a ghost town. Lincoln more so. I'm on a bit of a hill so I might be able to reach it then

[glad canopy]

I'm tempted to do either this or something in my roof assuming it can get through the roof material okay. I'm a big wuss for heights and also don't want to put stuff on my roof

Oh wait I'd have to get power up there....wonder if I can run one of these off PoE...

[quasi beacon]

Yeah understandable. I have some roof mounted stuff. I would suggest just starting with the node inside near a window or in the attic and see how it does.

[glad canopy]

Oh good idea

I'll definitely try that first

[peak badger]

@glad canopy Check out Peakmesh on etsy. Their premade solar nodes are very high quality. Lots of options.

There's a ton of nodes across Omaha. There was one around 680 & Fort for a few months that seems to have dropped off lately. Now looks like a gap in connectivity between central and west O. There's a few of us with consistent infrastructure nodes. Only a small percentage have GPS enabled and set to broadcast on the public channel.

[narrow ledge]

Welcome @glad canopy and @peak badger !

[glad canopy]

Thanks!

[glad canopy]

Oh I will. Thank you

[glad canopy]

Shooting a message out as a ac14

I only see this. I assume this is a general channel. I'm not seeing much else

[quasi beacon]

Chick on the link icon next to messages. That will tell you if you've received any node info

[narrow ledge]

Hi Caboose. I had to restart my Meshsense earlier today, so I lost some logs. Not seeing AC14 since about 4pm downtown.

[quasi beacon]

And yes, that's the default channel. The check mark next to your message indicates at least 1 node saw and acknowledged your message

[narrow ledge]

LH02 solar seems to be working OK in its first season with shorter days. Started the morning with 90% battery, then was showing as powered through midday, even with the cloud cover. Currently at 92% as of a couple of hours ago. Of course, it's not really winter yet.

Caboose: try direct messaging other nodes. Messaging is going through much better now that LH02 and NOMA are talking to each other pretty well.

I often get private message ACKs back more than I get completed traceroutes.

[glad canopy]

I'll give that a shot. Sorry was having issues

Just sent another

[quasi beacon]

I just got your message in Bellevue. Did you see a response from F6F8?

[glad canopy]

Yay! Yes I did

[quasi beacon]

Says you're 1 hop away from me as well. However, traceroute won't go through (typical 😂.)

[quasi beacon]

Where do you have the node placed? Has it moved since you received the response? Also, in your active node list, what are you seeing direct (it will have SNR/Rssi listed instead of number of hops.)

[glad canopy]

Yeah I was upstairs then went to the basement

I have a spare room I think I'll put it in with a USB charger which faces North

Got it on my wireless network now so hopefully I can just leave it

It keeps dropping off though. Not sure if I'm roaming between Access Points or what

Bluetooth was rough too

[quasi beacon]

Are you running old firmware? I have the same problem with a heltec on my roof. it has a decent wi-fi signal but my phone is constantly disconnecting from it on the network. It hasn't bothered me enough yet to get on the roof to reflash. 😂

[glad canopy]

Newest they had

Well newest stable I should say

[quasi beacon]

Yeah that should be good then.

[glad canopy]

I'm not sure if it's sleeping or what the deal is. I don't have deep sleep on. Hooked directly to it via USB it's fine and when I disconnect it's good for like 10 minutes

[quasi beacon]

If you're on the same network with your phone, go to... meshtastic.local/admin and then click on device report. It will give you the Rssi of the wifi connection

[glad canopy]

Yeah I can't even connect now

[quasi beacon]

That will at least tell you if it's a WiFi signal problem

[glad canopy]

Something on the board is shutting wifi off. Wonder if it hates 5GHz

[quasi beacon]

Oh that might be it. I think heltec v3 only works on 2.4

[glad canopy]

Shit. I'll move it over to my other network then

It shows connected which is the weird thing

[glad canopy]

Yeah that helped a lot

[glad canopy]

I have someone saying Hi but they're too many hops away 🤣. I assume everyone is staying at around 3 hops here?

[hazy frost]

I have mine set for 5.

[quasi beacon]

Yeah if it doesn't make it in 4 or 5 hops, it's not going to be a reliable connection anyway. How many nodes are you seeing direct? I still haven't been able to get a traceroute through, but you're only 1 hop away

[glad canopy]

The person who messaged me is 6 hops away. Let me see if I can get how many direct nodes I can see

[glad canopy]

I'll bump mine to 5

[glad canopy]

Just one it seems. I'm gonna have to build a unit in the attic it seems and get another at some point.

For now I'll just take this with me where I go I guess

[peak badger]

Rooftop or some other high mounted exterior node and at least one "mobile" node is generally reliable. Connection between your own rooftop and mobile node inside isn't generally a problem. It's when you try to connect to the rest of the mesh from inside a building.

[narrow ledge]

Here's the view from the public Meshsense map at https://meshsense.affirmatech.com/

It looks like FA16 and TDW1 are the only Meshsense stations uploading traffic to the online system. It might be useful if some nodes on the western edges of the area ran Meshsense to see if and how nodes out that way are participating in the larger mesh.

Meshsense has been criticized for generating too much traffic, but I understand it has been updated to minimize harmful traffic.

One thing I love about Meshsense is that I can scroll back and look at traffic and telemetry that happened in the past, including missed messages. It's useful to see how the mesh is working and what nodes are working together well.

[glad canopy]

Yeah I think that's what I need to do. Lessons learned I guess

Would a node in my attic work if I run POE power to it? I assume it can get through plywood and asphalt shingles

Obviously I'd have to do POE to USB C

[glad canopy]

This is really neat

[peak badger]

@glad canopy You're overcomplicating your setup. Just run a solar node. You can connect to it from a laptop via wifi, or your phone via bluetooth.

I've had a solar node up, uninterupted for 4+ months. I don't have the public channel as my primary, so it doesn't broadcast node info or GPS. The nodes you see on the mesh map are just the ones set to broadcast GPS and node info to the public channel.

It will still act as a repeater for the rest of the mesh, but give you more priacy.

[glad canopy]

I tend to do that with everything 😂

I'm also absolutely terrified of heights and my roof is steep with a three story drop

I guess I could put it on a pole and get it to like the second story

How's your solar node down with the heat and cold here?

[peak badger]

I have a peak mesh "magnet mover" that I just slapped on my chimney. It hasn't moved since I put it up. It hasn't dropped below 95% battery life. It has functioned flawlessly since day 1. They have other prebuilt models. There's a couple that you could just attach to a fence, a tree, or any vertical surface. Just put the solar panel facing south-ish in a normally sunny area and you should be fine.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PeakMesh

I don't have time to piece together a homebuilt node. I run about 8 different prebuilt ones from other companies. THESE are solid. Very high quality printed cases. Also try: Muzi Works, Seeed Studios, & RAK Wireless.

[glad canopy]

That gutter mount one is on my list now. That's perfect

[quasi beacon]

Is NOMA your 0 hop node?

[glad canopy]

Some tracker shows up as a direct connection and zero hops

[glad canopy]

I tossed out out on my back deck for an hour. No difference

[glad canopy]

Well apparently I can message your home node with it just sitting on my dining room table

[cyan peak]

I am rebuilding my house after a devastating fire and need a recommendation on a decent antenna to put in my attic. I know the rooftop would be better but my wife would not go for that.

[glad canopy]

I can't get that solar node soon enough. Can't see anything

[glad canopy]

Maybe you'd have luck in #antennas ?

I'd help but I honestly don't know jack squat at the moment

[peak badger]

Check out Rokland. Lots of options. You might try a birdhouse node. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1795323188/peakmesh-birdhouse-solar-meshtastic

[peak badger]

Let us know when it's up, Captain Caboose

[glad canopy]

Oh I absolutely will. Probably be sometime at the end of next month

[peak badger]

Where you place an antenna matters more than the quality of the antenna. A great antenna in a bad location (attic) is worse than an ok antenna in a great location (elevated outdoors).

[cyan peak]

I know that. My neighborhood is ~8 years old. My house is the tallest thing around by a long shot...

[tame pendant]

@narrow ledge i got a tower site if you want to put another solar node.

Elevation: 1348 ft.

physical facilities consist of a 170 ft. (51.8 M) steel lattice tower

total 1518 feet above sea level

[quasi beacon]

Wheres this at? I've got a solar/LTO setup looking for a good home

[tame pendant]

Just outside of Council Bluffs

[quasi beacon]

That's awesome! I'll message you.

[glad canopy]

Is that an old Long Lines tower?!?

[glad canopy]

Gonna be some great coverage with this

[quasi beacon]

You're totally right! Google search identified it as an old AT&T long lines tower!

It's a little far from the metro to provide strong local coverage... but could probably get close to linking des moines with the right setup on that end.

[peak badger]

We really just need a couple more infrastructure nodes near 680/Center and 72nd/Center

My friends and I had the idea of asking churches to let us place and maintain solar nodes.

[glad canopy]

That's awesome. And if we can get to Des Moines that would be amazing. i wish I had more contacts to help this spread but I'm relatively new to the area

[glad canopy]

So many churches have these massive signs that double as cell phone towers. One by me can be seen from a few miles away for example

[quasi beacon]

Yeah these are all over the metro. I assume you're talking about the one by tregaren? I suspect they wouldn't be allowed to put anything else radio related on those structures based on their agreements with the telco's.

[hazy frost]

If you haven't seen this yet, it's a nice tool for rf path analysis.

http://www.scadacore.com/field-tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/

It will plot the terrain between two points based on antenna height.

I used a similar tool for microwave path analysis when working with my Grandfather.

[glad canopy]

They mostly aren't used anymore but I could be wrong

[pure panther]

Been trying to think of a good spot to deploy a solar node I have, been eyeing around 108th and Q in Omaha, at least from the topological map it seems it should cover the nearby area decent enough. That being said I have almost no experience with picking a spot lol

The area near my home has a fairly unstable connection to the rest of Omaha unfortunately

[quasi beacon]

Looks like this spot would provide impressive coverage. But even installed at the top of the tower with a 1w transimitter, reach to the Omaha metro would mostly be limited to other infrastructure nodes. Probably wouldn't add much to the mesh here locally. This map from the meshtastic planner tool is 1 watt at 50m height to a receiving node at 2m height.

[glad canopy]

Might eventually get connected to Des Moines if we get a few more along the way. Maybe.

Man Lincoln doesn't have squat

Thought there would be a few at least. I only see 1

[hushed knot]

Yeah I am in Lincoln fairly frequently and have only seen 3 unique nodes.

[glad canopy]

What a bummer. Maybe someone needs to share the gospel of Meshtastic down there

[gilded tide]

I'd LOVE if Meshsense worked. It simply pukes on all the nodes I've tried it with bluetooth. I did get it to run against the G2s running wifi.

And I'm on my PC. It's odd that all the various maps providers only report subsets of nodes. VLY2, for example, sees several in west O, yet none of those report on affirmatech or any other map. We always see only a portion via the online tools.

[glad canopy]

I'm still trying to figure out how to add my node to a map

Well not my current one but my next one

[young vortex]

There are more than just a few, but we sure need more. I am working on sending a few out in the wild soon.

[narrow ledge]

Bluetooth always seems iffy. I've only done WiFi and direct connect and seem to have good results.

[spiral plume]

hello!

[spiral plume]

I am going to put a node on my roof from the signal hill neighborhood. It offers good coverage. I can see a whole
lot when cleaning my gutters.

[narrow ledge]

Welcome!

[narrow ledge]

I’m not familiar with that area, but with a name like Signal Hill it’s gotta be a good location for radio operations!

[spiral plume]

it is 120th & L street.

[pure panther]

That'll be good, higher than most of the area around it

[narrow ledge]

Hey folks. I’m testing something. Send DM to FA16 (!433d3634 ) with the word “ping”

[glad canopy]

Will do when I'm home. If I can see it

[spiral plume]

just sent

[glad canopy]

(I did send something)

[spiral plume]

maximum attempts tried

[glad canopy]

To me? Yeah I suck. My reception is garbage. Waiting to build an outside node

[spiral plume]

sorry, meant to FA16

I am currently waiting for my solar panel glue to dry on my enclosure. Working on getting a repeater node up in the air. The waiting is the hardest part.

[glad canopy]

Ah. I was able to reach them surprisingly

[spiral plume]

my location from my phone is all jacked up on my wisblock.

[glad canopy]

I'd imagine. I'm waiting for people to buy me stuff for my birthday. I'm sure my Amazon wish list is confusing as hell 🤣

[spiral plume]

gift card to rokland

[glad canopy]

I should do that 🤣.

[spiral plume]

I figured out that general epoxy just doesn’t hold as expected. My trail & error glue journey continues.

[glad canopy]

I'm sure with Wisblock and a random outdoor 12v lighting adapter is just confusing

[glad canopy]

That sucks

[spiral plume]

the panel on the left shit the bed. 3 years of exposure to the elements. Glad I bought a 5 pack

next project is affixing a mesh to an arrow and getting it to stick to a water tower with a neodymium.

[spiral plume]

it is what it is. Midwesterner grit is what I need. adapt and overcome… also being close to homedepot helps.

[glad canopy]

Lol, that definitely helps. I've been there too many times.

[quasi beacon]

I gave that a try. Got the check mark but not the DM ack.

[spiral plume]

Wow, just found out meshtastic won’t allow precise location in the default public channel. This explains my location woes. Apparently the ios app violated some sort of privacy rules.

[peak badger]

Lol

[narrow ledge]

Cool. Feel free to try again (and again). Maybe you’ll get through.

[narrow ledge]

Yes. It’s the iPhone app. You can set it up for higher precision with the command line app.

Here are the “pongs” my FA16 sent back out to “ping” messages

2025-11-06 15:18:44,418 INFO Bot reply sent to !433f0348: pong | hops 0 | sig -115 dBm / -9.8 dB | from Farnam 16 (FA16) | 15:18:44
2025-11-06 15:20:54,591 INFO Bot reply sent to !433f0348: pong | hops 0 | sig -118 dBm / -14.8 dB | from Farnam 16 (FA16) | 15:20:54
2025-11-06 15:56:49,954 INFO Bot reply sent to !433f0348: pong | bat 24% 3.47V | hops 1 | sig -100 dBm / -7.2 dB | from Farnam 16 (FA16) | 15:56:49
2025-11-06 16:35:54,111 INFO Bot reply sent to !251f0b6c: pong | bat 41% 3.80V | pos 41.25781,-95.93423 (22:31:23Z) | hops 0 | sig -30 dBm / 6.8 dB | from Farnam 16 (FA16) | 16:35:54
2025-11-06 16:50:09,177 INFO Bot reply sent to !251f0b6c: pong | bat 41% 3.80V | pos 41.25740,-95.93333 (22:46:47Z) | hops 0 | sig -72 dBm / 6.2 dB | from Farnam 16 (FA16) | 16:50:09
2025-11-06 17:59:30,498 INFO Bot reply sent to !da547878: pong | bat 101% 4.23V | hops 1 | sig -98 dBm / 0.2 dB | from Farnam 16 (FA16) | 17:59:30
2025-11-06 18:55:59,425 INFO Bot reply sent to !251f0b6c: pong | bat 26% 3.78V | pos 41.25670,-95.93484 (22:52:39Z) | hops 0 | sig -108 dBm / -10.0 dB | from Farnam 16 (FA16) | 18:55:59
2025-11-06 19:41:10,720 INFO Bot reply sent to !251f0b6c: pong | bat 24% 3.78V | pos 41.25803,-95.93699 (01:36:33Z) | hops 0 | sig -44 dBm / 5.5 dB | from Farnam 16 (FA16) | 19:41:10
2025-11-06 21:18:04,408 INFO Bot reply sent to !944df6f8: pong | bat 101% 4.32V | hops 3 | sig -37 dBm / 7.2 dB | from Farnam 16 (FA16) | 21:18:04

[quasi beacon]

That's cool, great way to test connection reliability from mobile node back to home base

Odd, I'm getting DM ack with my 1w setup but no "pong" response

[narrow ledge]

Yeah. Fun stuff. I’m no programmer, but having fun vibe coding cloud apps to interact with the python interface. I’ve got some ideas for dashboards, health monitors, movement trackers, scoreboards and maybe some silly stuff. Let me know if you have any ideas.

[glad canopy]

I got an ack but don't see me here

Probably have too weak of a signal where I am

[quasi beacon]

I finally got a "pong". Pretty neat! Weird thing is the DM ack should travel the same path as the pong message. Maybe its just a larger packet that is more prone to failure.

[narrow ledge]

I think that’s a reasonable assumption. Maybe I could make the script send a really short pong followed by a longer one. Or make a ping-short or ping-long. Or just leave it the way it is. 🤷🏻‍♂️🤣

[quasi beacon]

Nah it's good as is!

[peak badger]

Other than 0-1 hop, I've never seen trace routes to and from match.

Meshcore finds the strongest route and tries to duplicate paths. That's one area meshtastic could improve

[glad canopy]

I think because I didn't literally just send "ping" I may be to blame

[toxic viper]

I'm at UNMC today, was hoping I'd maybe catch something on my heltec v3 today but no luck so far

[spiral plume]

How do we know which nodes are doing the heavy lifting? Interested to know where the holes are in the metro area.

I plan on setting up a node at 120th & L and 84th & 370 with a high gain omni helium antenna.

I wanna be part of building a strong backbone in the area.

[peak badger]

Those are good locations. Also need coverage near 680/maple, and south/central O

[narrow ledge]

Running meshsense will give you a good idea of where the good paths are happening.

[stoic quail]

How do I become able to send messages here?

lol

Guess it just takes time?

Anyway...Hello from the only Omaha Metro node south of the Platte...apparently. 😉

[spiral plume]

Welcome! I’ve been here 2 days… but welcome.

[stoic quail]

👍

[quasi beacon]

Welcome! Is TR1 your node?

[stoic quail]

That belongs to a friend from Neb city. I was setting it up for him. My node is VCL0 or N8VCL.

[pure panther]

i get location pings fairly regularly from N8VCL 2 hops from me

[stoic quail]

🙋

[pure panther]

one of these day's ill set up a node on a hill somewhere near me and actually be able to talk back out of my valley lol

[glad canopy]

7F or Orch?

[stoic quail]

VCL0

[glad canopy]

Ah you're 2 hops away from me

DM'd you 🤣

[stoic quail]

Didn't get it. 🙁

[glad canopy]

Dang. I'm kind of in a no mans land north of you

Weirdly it shows acknowledged

[stoic quail]

Yeah, that means the first hop ack'd it. Not necessarily that it arrived...

[glad canopy]

Oh. Dang

[peak badger]

"2 hops" to you could mean 3 or more hops back. Try increasing the hop count for outgoing messages and you might have better success.

[glad canopy]

I'm already at 5. Guess I could do 6

[narrow ledge]

I see you a bit downtown. I think you have a good path to LH02 in the hills of north CB.

[spiral plume]

Old Millard router is going up today. Pray I don’t fall off my roof.

[narrow ledge]

Can't wait to see it on the mesh! Good luck!

[spiral plume]

Thanks. Just waiting for the rain to clear up.

[pure panther]

Nah the SNR is particularly bad from my home node, if I go to the either hill on the sides of me I can send and receive just fine. Might set up a node at the top, can't get it higher than the 30ft its at either without stealing the neighbors tree lol

[lunar matrix]

First node on the air! Blue1897a; 132nd and Blondo.

[narrow ledge]

Welcome! I’m hearing you downtown, but with a lot of hops. Did you find the discord from an on-air message?

[lunar matrix]

Yes.

I tried the ping but it is not getting through. Says acknowledged by another node only. Have mine set to 7 hops but still evidently not reaching you.

[narrow ledge]

It looks like I’ve seen you at FA16 in 3-5 hops, as well. Do you see LH02 or NOMA directly?

[spiral plume]

Old Millard Router is up in the air!

[narrow ledge]

I've seen your message traffic with VCL0, but haven't yet seen any info or position packets delivered to me downtown yet. Congrats!

[spiral plume]

Thanks! I disabled position because it was wrong coordinates. I am kinda miffed that meshtastic disabled precision position on the default channel. Maybe at some point I will figure out how to insert the position via command line.

[narrow ledge]

Try sending a DM to FA16 with the word PING

[spiral plume]

will definitely try when I get home.

The Tdeck pro is on the xmas list.

[narrow ledge]

The command line interface is pretty useful and not too hard to use. You might find yourself keeping a document of things to copy/paste.

[glad canopy]

Saw you pop in earlier today. Hello!

[lunar matrix]

Says 2 hops away; not direct.

[rustic sphinx]

I put my mesh stuff away months ago after I bought the Lilygo T-deck thing and it didnt have cool firmware. Has that changed?

[narrow ledge]

I'm not sure if the firmware for the T-deck has improved, but the general firmware has continues to improve, as does the experience of users and the resulting improved performance of the Omaha metro area mesh. Maybe you can jump back in!

[rustic sphinx]

Yeah I need to just a base station deal going at least. I went hard ininitially and then i had 3 devices pretty quick and then it was like...cool. Did that.

[spiral plume]

I am really digging the roof top unit with a smaller edc that let’s me roam around the house. I do not have reliable BT to the roof. Roof to living room is 1 hop. Not sure if this is bad for mesh congestion due to the nature of flood routing.

[quasi beacon]

Just set your mobile node to client mute. That way it's not rebroadcasting unnecessarily.

[spiral plume]

That’s a good idea. I have read stories online of mesh networks gone wrong. Also, i have a router (old mill). should I set that puppy to 7 hops?

[quasi beacon]

More than 5 probably doesn't make sense in most situations. How good is old mills coverage? Unless it's 0 hopping a bunch of unique nodes that other routers don't see, standard client mode is usually the best option.

[spiral plume]

I don’t know how good the coverage is. How do I tell? It is on a 10ft pole on my roof with a 3ft high gain omni. I live on a hill.

I filtered my nodes list by ‘direct’ and 16 of 90 nodes appear to be direct.

[quasi beacon]

If you're not sure, start with client mode. The thing with router is that it always rebroadcast which can potentially steal hops from other nodes that might otherwise reach unique areas. But yeah, 16 zero hops is pretty good.

[spiral plume]

Good advise. I set the role to client

[narrow ledge]

There's a new mode coming called CLIENT_BASE. It might work for the situation where you describe.

https://www.reddit.com/r/meshtastic/comments/1nptzeu/latest_alpha_firmware_has_support_for_client_base/

I'll let smarter folks than I explain it further.

[quasi beacon]

Your use case would make a lot of sense for the client "base" setting. Seems like a middle ground between client and router. I personally haven't played with this yet.

[quasi beacon]

Lol, I was just typing up the same thing... Have you tried out yet?

[narrow ledge]

Ha! I thought about it. I wondered if it might make sense where my rooftop node (DT16) could be CLIENT_BASE and my inside CLIENT_MUTE. But my FA16 seems to perform really well passing traffic. I might need to study it.

[spiral plume]

I am waiting for low quality image support on short/turbo mode.

[spiral plume]

Thanks for the input fellas/(gals?)

[peak badger]

I'll try out BASE at 156/Dodge. I only see ~8 direct nodes (filtering out offline ones). Noma, Merlin, TDN delta & Bravo, new Chalco ones, and sometimes GhostPlanet.

[spiral plume]

anyone here use the Alfa antenna on their projects? Curious if they are good performers.

I like the sturdiness of the N type connector. Sometimes the sma connectors in my projects feel a little weak and not weatherproof.

[gilded tide]

Granted... an N by itself isn't "weatherproof" either.

[spiral plume]

yes you are correct. Meant to say the bulkhead N connector has a gasket.

[hazy frost]

The usual method I've heard is three layers around connectors - electrical tape, self amalgamating tape, then electrical tape again.

[gilded tide]

The industry folks call that method "courtesy wrapping." Only tape the key moving pieces, then goo, then an overlay. Makes for much easier rework.

Without that inner layer of tape on moving pieces, it turns into almost an unreworkable connection. I've seen and performed connector cuts because the courtesy wrap was missing. When people are paying, it's faster and cheaper to cut it off than unwrap it.

[narrow ledge]

It's awesome we have real radio pros here to help us, along with knowledgeable hams and other smart folks.

[peak badger]

These work well.

I'm considering upgrading from an ALFA +5 dbi to RAK +8

I don't know if it's worthwhile on a 4631 node, or if that's too much antenna for the radio's output

[pure panther]

Haha I feel that

[spiral plume]

This CLI interface is the bee’s knees!

[gilded tide]

Ahem.... you can never have too much antenna (of course you can lol.)

Just remember, in an omni, the higher the gain, the less vertical beamwidth. If you need to reach into valleys or up vertically, you can actually end up with less gain in some desirable elevations.

[gilded tide]

Keep in mind, that the move from 5 to 8 gets you to a 5 foot (minimum) stick. Not everyone can do that aesthetics or mounting wise. If it isn't 5', then it isn't 6+db.

[gilded tide]

Over the summer, I used a gallon of xylol to soak and melt the mastic off about 2 dozen 7/8 - 1 5/8 connectors. In some cases, it took DAYS to soften, scrape, then drown again, before I could get some of them clean. You can't do that on a tower. Little things go a long way in ensuring maintainability.

[spiral plume]

Are you having trouble sending messages?

[glad canopy]

Yeah. I'm in a triangle of death

Or more accurately, I'm in a zone that is just out of reach of everyone around me

I plan on adding an outdoor node at the end of the month but until then I'm adrift on an island

[spiral plume]

where about’s are ya? I just gave my dad a node around 32nd and center and it is a dead zone there.

[gilded tide]

Is that JK-1?

[spiral plume]

yes.

[peak badger]

Unfortunately, Omaha has a lot of deadzones with all the foothills. It seems there are more roads and businesses along ridges and houses in the saddles and valleys. Mesh infrastructure could be improved with just a few nodes at altitude

[spiral plume]

Yes - height is might. I am working on an install on 84th & 370. That is sort of on a hill.

[quasi beacon]

I've got a potential location closer to 90th & 370. How high up would yours be installed?

[peak badger]

By the shopping center? Or north of the courthouse?

[spiral plume]

Ummm, it would be on the courthouse

[peak badger]

I've seen the thirsty five nodes pop up on the map near there.

[peak badger]

NICE

[spiral plume]

I had one there but the summer 2024 storm blew it off the pole. Gotta rebuild

[peak badger]

Tell the ancient guards there that they aren't protecting the nuclear codes.

[quasi beacon]

Nice! That should be a decent spot

[peak badger]

I'd like to get some on the cell towers at 144/center and 680/maple

[quasi beacon]

Whose arm do you have to pull to get it on the tower just east of the court house?

[peak badger]

Probably more than their arm...

[quasi beacon]

That would be a phenomenal spot!

[spiral plume]

yeah, it has complications. Gotta build a node like a nasa rover, cause each service visit is $1200 with a tower crew - lol

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, fair point. They're probably not keen on some random guy climbing it without proper gear. 😂

[spiral plume]

You would have to pay me a whole bitcoin to do that.

[quasi beacon]

Lol

[spiral plume]

2 bitcoins in the winter

[peak badger]

How about a whole lunch at bomb taco?

[spiral plume]

I was driving on center street and was thinking about slapping a node on top of the metal sculpture at pipal park around 75th street. Good spot on a hill.

[peak badger]

I want to start asking the small storage facilities and churches if they'll allow a node to be placed on their buildings. A lot of them already have cell towers

[spiral plume]

we gotta find some hvac technicians who enjoy taking bribes

[peak badger]

I have a reflective vest and a clipboard. No problem.

[spiral plume]

“gotta go on the roof and check the roto-girders”

[glad canopy]

About as South as South Bellevue can get 😂

[peak badger]

"Your flux capacitor needs to be winterized or the whole system will fail."

[quasi beacon]

Looks like the rooftop there is about 1140'. The spot I'm considering would be around 1180'. I need to do some more testing over there.

Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I enjoy scouting spots on google earth.

The pipal park sculpture looks interesting. I don't think there are many nodes over in that area.

[spiral plume]

who is running the merlin router?

[spiral plume]

yeah, it’s a sickness for sure: will it mesh?

[quasi beacon]

Pipal? Yeah, might not be a good enough spot for router mode, but it should reach plenty of the metro

[spiral plume]

I am not sure about routers being a good role. The meshtastic docs strongly discourage use.

[quasi beacon]

He's astrobob on here.

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, agreed. With a really good placement it can be useful though.

[spiral plume]

I could see them useful to connect clusters of nodes together that would otherwise be out of range of each-other.

[quasi beacon]

Yep, can also improve reliability and cut down on traffic in a busy mesh. But really needs to be a strategic location otherwise it can do more harm than good to the nearby nodes.

[narrow ledge]

Here’s my mobile unit. Not ideal, as it’s inside the car and uses a battery that needs to be charged every 5 days or so. But cost nothing to install, discreet, and no routing of cables or holes drilled.

Has anyone else experimented with permanent or semi permanent mobile installs?

[narrow ledge]

Excuse the crappy shrink wrap. I made a custom cable for the T1000-E and this 3000 mAh battery that will fit into a small enclosure.

[quasi beacon]

Nice! I have all the parts to make one that sticks to the roof with magnets but just haven't gotten around to it. Being inside the car like this is definitely safer for avoiding sticky fingers.

[narrow ledge]

And car washes.

[quasi beacon]

😂 yeah, forgetting that is totally something I would do.

[narrow ledge]

I thought about a shark fin enclosure like the FM and satellite radio antennas, but I think that involved getting in the headliner. I’m a nerd, but not nerdy enough to do that to my car.

If I had an old beater or utility vehicle I’d have ham and LoRa all over it. 😎

[narrow ledge]

And GMRS. I play with that more than ham these days.

[quasi beacon]

Yes!! I thought about designing/3D printing one that the T1000 would slip into vertically. Mag mounted without any holes. BLE keeps a decent connection from inside the car from some testing I did awhile back.

[narrow ledge]

I’d consider that. I’ve seen a few. Some nicer looking than others. Here’s one. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6938192

I don’t have a 3D printer. Like I need another hobby. 🤣

[hushed knot]

3d printing is the hobby that supports my other hobbies!

Nerf, disc golf, Meshtastic, biking, etc 😂

[hushed knot]

I don’t make it to nearly as much fun bike stuff as I use to otherwise I’d say I could probably print it and hand it to you next I run into you.

[spiral plume]

is the ‘taco ride’ still a thing?

[narrow ledge]

Oh, yeah. There two Taco Rides now. Each a little different. The original never really stops. But it does kinda dry up in the winter, though several folks still get together for in-town bar crawls.

The second is at the Bellevue Berry Farm. It starts up in April or May and runs until pumpkin season.

I do both, as well as lots of other personal and community rides. I usually have Meshtastic and FRS/GMRS with me.

Many Sundays I host a coffee ride in the cooler months.

Anyone feel free to reach out if you’re interested in the community group rides. All inclusive. All ability. Casual pace. No drop.

[quasi beacon]

Crazy northern lights happening right now from a solar storm. Just had a smoke detector go off for no apparent reason. Anyone seeing any electrical/radio anomalies?

[hazy frost]

From lake zorinsky

[narrow ledge]

Downtown, even! Usually we can’t see much meteorological phenomena.

[pure panther]

thanks guys i didnt know it was being all pink outside, took some photos myself

[spiral plume]

This is the kind of thing that happens before the ancient aliens emerge from the ground.

I am gonna see how my pocket node does today.

[empty vault]

"The Triangle of Death" sounds like something Caboose would make friends with in RvB. Also excited to hear how your outdoor node works eventually

[tawdry compass]

seeing the lights in the city is highly unusual. Major geomagnetic storm. Once in a lifetime event. I'm Merlin. it's set to router_late, so shouldn't interfere. Happy to change if anyone notices a problem. It's and G2, and they are supposed to be deaf anyways.

[narrow ledge]

Hey Merlin! Are you seeing the ping reports from FA16? I'm seeing you at 2-4 hops.

[tawdry compass]

Yep, I am seeing them. I can traceroute as well.

hops show as 2

[narrow ledge]

Cool! Glad to hear it. I am experimenting with a "meshbot" that can listen and answer questions. Trying sending DM to FA16. Start with "!ask" and then a question. It knows about local weather reporting nodes, some limited network awareness, and is wired up to a lightweight LLM model, so it can try to answer any question, like "tell me a meshtastic joke" or "what's a good GPS module." It's designed to not be too chatty.

[tawdry compass]

sounds interesting

[narrow ledge]

So like "!ask weather". Or "!ask tell me about node FFX1"

[narrow ledge]

Nice build!

[spiral plume]

Thanks. I tried to use the little sticky antenna supplied with the board and keep them internal for a more sleek form factor, however the coverage was very bad. The external BT and Lora antennas seem to be working much better.

[spiral plume]

will meshbot provide live bitcoin prices?

[narrow ledge]

Ha! It could!

Mostly I'd like it to provide very specific mesh health and local meshtastic info. Even then, nobody wants it clogging up the mesh. Maybe some tools like pings or an occasional announcements, like where to find our web site (coming soon), and maybe a welcome to new users, or an auto response to folks asking for an equipment check. Any other ideas?

I do have it passively logging mesh traffic so we can visualize on a web dashboard. Not quite like meshsense. No need to rewrite that. Maybe a watchdog for infrastructure nodes (low battery, sudden telemetry changes indicating failure, tampering, etc).

[spiral plume]

nice implementation! curious how you are interfacing the mesh to your back end code. Is there some sort of python api or are you piping through the CLI?

[narrow ledge]

Log ingest consists of a raspberry pi connecting to a Heltec V3 over wifi. A python script uses the meshtastic library to receive a stream of data from the radio and then push it into a cloud database. That's the easy part. The hard part is parsing and presenting the data in a reasonable, logical way. I've been colleting data for about a week. I plan to expose the data via APIs to a web portal where we can view mesh health and happenings via a community website dedicted to Omaha area meshtastic enthusiasts.

[spiral plume]

Router Late looks like a great update to meshtastic. Seems like a last ditch effort role to forward traffic if Router and Client fail to ‘cut the mustard.’ Thanks for putting that up to serve the community. The mesh docs are very helpful to me.

[narrow ledge]

I'd also consider providing ingest APIs or scripts for other folks who want to capture data from their nodes and push it into the cloud DBs to provide more ears on the mesh. It could run on any device, like a pi, linux, windows, or mac, or anything that can run python and had a TCP/IP or serial connecton to a meshtastic device.

[spiral plume]

Sounds fantastic. This kind of backhaul could provide some good analytics of the mesh network. Especially is these sniffer nodes are spread around the area.

[spiral plume]

Am I seeing your new node ‘Papillion’ in the spot south of 370?

[gilded tide]

That is one of my locations.

[quasi beacon]

Nice! Really strong signal to my location over near twin creek.

[spiral plume]

does it have altitude?

[quasi beacon]

On my home node I'm seeing it at +5 SNR, -83dbm... as if it were a block away. But haven't been able to get a direct outbound trace yet. It has definitely bumped my "online" node count though, sitting at 74 right now.

[gilded tide]

125'ish, 1230ish msl

[spiral plume]

nice. Where is it located? I was gonna install a node at 84th and HWY370, but I don’t want to duplicate efforts.

[gilded tide]

I can't disclose the exact spot, but it does look down on the courthouse.

[quasi beacon]

Yeah I think he has us pretty well beat with that height! 😂

[gilded tide]

This node is running a very alpha build as a test bed for the devs to work on the agc issue. That may contribute to your trace issue.

If they don't come up with something "soon" I'll switch it to a rak.

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, even with my 1 watt test node, the trace is pretty lopsided. Goes through direct though.

@stoic quail , you've got a solid connection to PAP. All my outbound traces are going through N8VCL.

[tawdry compass]

FWIW, here's Merlin's ping of Papillion.

[stoic quail]

I just wish there were more nodes down here

-5.5! Nice!

[spiral plume]

i cannot even get a good traceroute on papillion.

says I am 2 hops away

[tawdry compass]

Here's a Merlin ping of the Valley node. I assume it's ALOR's? Idk.

what is the the "ffff" node? repeater?

[quasi beacon]

That or just any other node that isn't already in your list.

I seem to remember reading that if you haven't received the full node info yet, it just shows ffff on the trace as unknown.

[peak badger]

How do I get ahold of the devs for Twatch S3 firmware support?

[gilded tide]

This is part of the consternation. Some nodes are heard at levels I expect, while most others are in the dirt or not heard at all.

[stoic quail]

Yeah, seems like "more art than science" a lot of the time.
"Oh look, I just heard node X!"
<Tracert node X>
No Response.

🤬

[gilded tide]

Read the docs 😉 https://github.com/orgs/meshtastic/discussions

[gilded tide]

At first I thought it was the "somewhat" known AGC issue with the G2s. However, I've swapped out to RAK at one site and there is no difference. If there is no further focus from the devs, I'll switch PAP to a heltec and see how it goes. The most frustrating part is that doing bench testing, shows the G2s work fine "all the time."

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, spotty RX performance seems to be a common theme with the high elevation nodes. It's interesting, just realized that my old "EBT" router in Bellevue was at the same elevation of ~1230' and didn't have any of these issues. It received great. Not sure how much of it was the antenna (6' Diamond BC920) or the two way amp with built in filter. Otherwise just a standard rak. It had LOS to my home at about a mile further than PAP, and I could hit that direct from inside my garage with a T1000. I can't seem to hit PAP direct from the node on my roof with a decent antenna, and this should be LOS as well.

If you want to borrow that BC920 or amp for testing, let me know.

[quasi beacon]

Worth a try, from what I've seen with most of my units, the Heltec is more stable but the base RX performance isn't nearly as good as Rak.

[gilded tide]

It's not the antenna. I do a lot of "900" work commercially. PAP is using a DB589Y. It's a go to workhorse for 8/900 work and I've placed a LOT of them. NOMA uses a midgain Terrawave 6dbd that I also install frequently. Unless going up 300+ with some close clients (not lora), downtilt isn't typically needed. I may swap to a low gain antenna just to see if it improves anything.

[quasi beacon]

Gawdamn that's a pricey unit!! 😂 Yeah that's frustrating that the results aren't as expected with great gear and location.

[gilded tide]

I do giggle a bit when folks complain about $10 antennas.

[tawdry compass]

My experience with the devs is that they are extremely proud of their code and do not tolerate suggestions or criticism at all. I hope you have better luck.

[gilded tide]

Yes, be very gentle and treat them as princesses.

And always remember.... they are volunteering. Their interests drive their work. Your work may not be their interest.

[gilded tide]

Yes, the VLYs are me. And if you see an ever changing list of macs, it's because I randomly swap units on the yagi pointed towards town. And of course when I'm programming units, they come and go and get injected into the mesh.

[spiral plume]

mesh-injection… sign me up

[tawdry compass]

What Yagi 's have you been using?

[spiral plume]

I am going through a mysterious repeater also. Wonder where is it.

[tawdry compass]

Yep, I suspect it might be a repeater, I have encountered it many times. I don't think it is helping.

[spiral plume]

repeater = bad ?

[narrow ledge]

I’m still looking at how PAP is interacting with downtown and eastern nodes. I’m hearing it directly downtown and have been able to get several traces and DMs through. But the hops are lopsided with more needed to reach it, but 0 in the response. I’ll keep watching. But I think PAP is making a huge difference in joining lobes together.

[spiral plume]

I am very close to PAP and cannot get a traceroute.

[narrow ledge]

The G2, despite being a spendy unit, are somewhat deaf. Their supporters say you just need better RF isolation, filtering, etc to make them hear as good as a $15 radio. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[spiral plume]

well that is sadness.

[gilded tide]

TY900s

[gilded tide]

Repeaters, when properly deployed, are not bad. The term "proper" is key. The same can be said for a router. For example, I don't run any of my nodes as routers, because they don't have "great" performance. The locations are suitable, but something about the hardware/software just isn't there.

Keep in mind, that in context, Meshtastic is extrememly immature.

I have access to great sites, but I've held off on deploying to most due to the odd behaviors we see. It's not worth the headache for me to put something up.

[spiral plume]

Yeah, I can see why some users are gravitating toward mesh core. I’ve been learning more about how paths are discovered. Also you can make custom routes(paths) if you don’t like the one chosen for you. And the max hop count is up to 64!

[empty vault]

Right after I bought a Heltec V3 I tried Meshtastic for a few days and could see quite a few nodes in Lincoln. Then I tried Mesh Core for a few days and didn't connect to a single node in Lincoln, Norfolk, or anywhere in-between. Mesh Core does sound neat though

[gilded tide]

And meshcore has better radio interface as well. If you have an rf issue like the G2 has, the first step is to dump meshtastic and change to meshcore for more indepth research.

kinda Apple vs Android (Meshtastic is Apple... take what it is, Meshcore is Android... you can get in and really work it.)

[gilded tide]

Supporters... lol. I probably represent the most extreme with capabilities. When NOMA was a G2, I had deployed a band pass filter that had a pass of 400KHz, with skirts that fell off at 30db/MHz. There was no change. RX amp was enabled and disabled, alpha code was applied, no change. A Rak4631 sits there today, delivering just about the same rx performance, but with 8db reduced tx compared to the G2.

[quasi beacon]

Is the noma rak running without a filter now?

[spiral plume]

you think the PA is causing rx loss of sensitivity? It has a SX1262 chipset. Same as the RAK.

[gilded tide]

No, there is still a filter, because I do that, just not a 4 cavity window filter.

And yes, I did run it without a filter, just to check.

[gilded tide]

I'm not going to say "good point"..... but... all of the devices I have run the sx12 chipset. I don't have anything that uses an LR or anything.

[empty vault]

I can't wait until I've read/watched enough YouTube to understand all of that

[spiral plume]

I just erected the 84th & 370 node (courthouse) for experimentation.

[gilded tide]

youTube U FTW!

[gilded tide]

hmmm... PAP has you direct.... let me add some tin foil.....

[spiral plume]

tin foil?

Is it causing issues?

[gilded tide]

lol, I was trying to make a funny. Let me block you by adding tin foil 😉

[narrow ledge]

Here are some traces from downtown to PAP. You can see they all take a longer way there, but my node is hearing PAP direct. But the really good news here is that the traces are working at all. That’s a definite improvement overall for the mesh. Thanks, Matt!

[spiral plume]

dang, 2 repeater hops in that trace.

what are those dB numbers in reference to?

[gilded tide]

received signal level

[spiral plume]

oh, db from the noise floor

[gilded tide]

and I'll note... I dont' know why the devs even put this out there. rssi is the first thing to look at, which is rarely reported. Then there is snr, which is a relative number ranging from -20ish to +10ish.

I say relative, because it is super "relative"... chipset and all kinds of stuff go into this rather vague number

[spiral plume]

dBm would be nice

[gilded tide]

rssi "is" dbm

[spiral plume]

but all in all, it doesn’t matter if my messages don’t go through - haha.

[gilded tide]

yep

[empty vault]

So I can see 8 nodes online, but when I send a message in LongFast I get the max transmission error. Is there anything I should verify?

I did read that could mean it was received but not acknowledged

[spiral plume]

we can check the mesh to see if you are coming through. what is your node name?

[narrow ledge]

I think this is pretty good evidence that NOMA and PAP are contributing greatly to bridging the east-west divide! Add in VCLO to the south, Bravo out west, and LH02 in the east, I think we've got a really good mesh going on.

[empty vault]

CUP1

[narrow ledge]

I'm not seeing it yet with the shortname CUP1. What's the hex ID or node ID?

[empty vault]

Node #
2661343916

[narrow ledge]

Unfortunately, not seeing it yet. Welcome!

[spiral plume]

can you give us your general location? Also, you can clear your node db and wait for the nodes to populate your node list, but that could take hours. But at least you know they are fresh.

[empty vault]

North West side of Lincoln

[narrow ledge]

Oh, that explains it. You’re not likely to see any Omaha area nodes, but hopefully you can help build up a Lincoln area mesh. Share and ask question here. Lots of smart folks are here ready to help you.

[spiral plume]

when are we gonna start casting votes on the ‘2025 Node of the Year’ award? 🏆

[gilded tide]

Just swapped a Heltec v4 in Valley. Surprise, direct to PAP!??!

[quasi beacon]

Nice! V4 has half watt TX right? Seems like a practical power level. Rak needs to do something similar.

[narrow ledge]

I saw someting like 850 mW on a YouTube test. Could that do what the G2 couldn't? I think I'll replace my rooftop V3 with a V4 and see how that works.

[quasi beacon]

I might do the same with my rooftop node. Didn't really have the space in the box for an external amp.

[empty vault]

Sorry I thought I had put Lincoln in the first question, but I definitely did not 🥲. It seems like Omaha is more talkative on here and on the mesh, but I'm happy to expand Lincoln

[quasi beacon]

How's the RX performance looking compared to G2 and Rak?

[narrow ledge]

It’s kind of a “build it and they will come” situation. If someone puts up a node and hears traffic, they are likely to want to use the mesh. If there’s nothing, then it might go into a drawer for a while. Run your node, send messages, try to connect with other users. Invite them here.

I just ordered V4 and will try to get it up Sunday. Honestly I wasn’t tracking since I switched to RAK in other places. But I like the V4 is a drop in replacement for V3. I’m hoping it’ll improve downtown connectivity.

[tawdry compass]

Broke out my old ROCI node and pinged PapioV4

[narrow ledge]

I’m not sure I can run a Heltec where LH02 is. The RAK Mini works well with solar power. Not sure I have the right size panel for a Heltec, especially running higher RF power. I’d have to run the numbers.

[tawdry compass]

It's always better to overpanel within voltage limits of the solar controller. Panels are cheap, but I'm a solar crank.

[narrow ledge]

I like the integrated charge controller on the RAK board. Just add a battery and go! I am not sure if the V4 has a similar ability.

[spiral plume]

I love the RAK, it is so efficient with power consumption.

[narrow ledge]

Yeah! My solar node hardly drops below 95% or so.

[tawdry compass]

Yes, they are. Pretty easy to use a small charge controller + motorcycle battery to power anything, though.

[spiral plume]

The Heltec V4 is going on the christmas list though. Fingers crossed, Santa, I’ve been a good node this year.

man, I cannot trace route anything. I got problems.

[spiral plume]

1700mAh battery lasts me 2 weeks in my pocket. simply amazing.

[narrow ledge]

Tweakers would steal that in a hearbeat where I have my stealth node. LOL. Gotta be more discreet. 🙂

[tawdry compass]

G2, or any esp32 or anything power hungry are easy to power with a small motorcycle battery, charge controller.

[tawdry compass]

They wouldn't know what they were looking at

[spiral plume]

and neither would the guy at the pawn shop

[tawdry compass]

Naah. easy to make it look like nothing.

[young vortex]

I'm in Lincoln

[gilded tide]

ya, 27-28dbm

[young vortex]

Not sure how I picked up PAP in Lincoln. Must have been a flyover but I don't have any new nodes that would indicate that.

[gilded tide]

the v4 does have a solar jack, however, I haven't been able to locate info on it.

[gilded tide]

Under 20 bucks.... buy buy buy!

[narrow ledge]

I did get a trace through from downtown to PAP4. 4 hops. I am hearing it around 4-5 hops, as well, but I don’t think it’s consistent. I’ll keep looking.

[quasi beacon]

Probably a flyover, I picked up some stuff from Sioux falls this morning. BUT... Not an impossible distance from Papillon based on the height and transmit power... At least to optimal spots in Lincoln. The old EBT setup in Bellevue sometimes connected with Lincoln when it was a Helium hotspot.

[tawdry compass]

Pap4 seems to be either direct or silent to me.

does anyone here know anything about meshcore? Is it worth investigating?

[gilded tide]

I'm not "current" on it, however, I much prefer it.

[spiral plume]

I’ve been learning a little about meshcore. From what I am reading it is a different beast. Some say that it is better suited for city-wide mesh networks that contain a good deal of stationary nodes. These nodes can be configured as routers. Also the route discovery works differently and the max hop count is 64. Some say that meshtastic is better suited for smaller networks where many of the nodes are moving around. I dunno. Seems meshtastic, given its deficits, has a great community, good deal of nodes in the area, and active developers.

[tawdry compass]

They will probably ban us for discussing it here. Just looking for someone that has dipped their toes.

[gilded tide]

I'd agree with Clinch's synopsis. Meshtastic is really for ad hoc. If you have fixed sites and you want to span 50+ miles, then Meshcore is where it's at.

[spiral plume]

Well, you pretty much have a 3 county swath of coverage with PAP and Valley V4 - lol

[gilded tide]

The key difference is Meshtastic floods every message. Meshcore doesn't.

[pure panther]

Or you like choosing what towers repeat your messages, think you can set it to only bounce from specific repeater

[tawdry compass]

But is anyone actually using it??

[gilded tide]

Yep. If you "know" where someone is, you can define specific routes, rather than flooding an entire area.

[spiral plume]

Yes, you have the option to explicitly call out your routes. Fully supports node boycotts.

[gilded tide]

I've dabbled with it. I'd prefer it, but "everyone" went Meshtastic here.

I could flip some sites over 😉

[pure panther]

I feel like that feature would benefit meshtastic a lot, especially in crowded areas

[spiral plume]

do you have a transfer switch labelled “meshcore / meshtastic” - lol

[gilded tide]

lol, my nodes are all pc backed via serial. I can reflash!

[spiral plume]

I feel like the ‘good idea fairy’ sprinkled some dust on me last night. But, it would be sweet if meshtastic developed a duplex mode where you would link 2 boards together and have a separate rx / tx channel pair.

But I am just a putz who cannot
code.

[gilded tide]

ahem.... v3 promises some "backhaul/distribution" capabilities

[pure panther]

Im honestly curious what caused the fork in the first place, it seems like there's a few good things on both, better combined especially as far as it being a mesh and more people makes it work better

[tawdry compass]

I have a stock of lora devices. Maybe a test sometime?

[gilded tide]

Same.

[spiral plume]

I have a ‘danny devito’ node right next to Matt’s Arnold Schwartzenegger PAP node. I can flash that to mesh core for testing if need be.

[tawdry compass]

I could put up a yagi on a pole, if need be. But no ideal high places, other than I'm on a hill. lol

[tawdry compass]

What's your device name?

[spiral plume]

ZK-4

[tawdry compass]

Must be fairly high, I'm direct from 192nd & dodge

[gilded tide]

And Bob, you're Merlin right? I frequently have that direct from "in the house" in Valley.

[tawdry compass]

Yes, Merlin, but after hearing the G2 stories, I replaced it with ROCI, a t-beam.

[spiral plume]

Honestly I thought it had good coverage, but I was tracerouting last night and was getting frustrated.

[gilded tide]

I really think the mystery repeater is the root of many issues.

[tawdry compass]

YEP! just as I suspected.

[gilded tide]

And another spot where Meshcore allows you to contain rogue nodes.

With Meshtastic, either an evildoer or an ignorant person can hose that entire network.

[tawdry compass]

I think there may be several rogue repeaters

[gilded tide]

Two thinks I

[spiral plume]

Yes, I agree. We have hurdles on meshtastic, doesn’t mean we cannot surmount problems.

[narrow ledge]

My understanding is that Meshcore is the future. Same devs. Interoperability. And maybe by late 2026 it’ll be the default firmware.

[tawdry compass]

same devs may be a problem.

[narrow ledge]

I’d be willing to set up some for testing in my area. Maybe a rooftop node.

[spiral plume]

Just spit-firing ideas here, could we possibly move to a different channel to ‘rid’ ourselves of the repeater woes?

[gilded tide]

Yes. But. I expect a lot of folks would have an issue in making the jump. It also doesn't fix the issue that it can just happen again.

And... it is entirely possible, that one of those repeaters would jump. The operator may not know what they've done.

[tawdry compass]

Yeah, there is a rouge router "garman", that has been around for a year or 2. all attempts to contact the owner have failed. I think he just set it up and forgot it.

[spiral plume]

FA16 needs to broadcast a daily reminder to “thou shall not have a repeater on my node”

[narrow ledge]

I understand some mesh communities evolve as we might. First stage is the public mesh on default settings. Then eventually new mesh with different attributes designed for a more managed approach. Both can coexist. Just need info out there to coordinate.

[tawdry compass]

Yeah, after hearing about the deafness of the G2's I ditched mine for an old t-beam and a small amp. I'm ROCI

[spiral plume]

Also, it must be acknowledged that many people on the mesh may not be able migrate as easily as their station nodes may be hard to access.

[narrow ledge]

I’ve set up a website for use by the local community. The idea is newcomers and experienced folks would have a place to go to learn how to participate.

[spiral plume]

thanks for doing that!

[tawdry compass]

I would be happy to experiment.

The austin mesh is in the process of testing meshcore right now.

[narrow ledge]

So shall we experiment with Meshcore in extreme alpha or try a new semi-private mesh?

[tawdry compass]

sorry for the spam.

[pure panther]

I'd be down to give that a shot, I have easy access to my nodes (and I accidentally locked myself out of one anyway because I installed grapheneOS on my phone, so gotta take it down anyhow.)

Thank being said, I don't contribute much from my location, so I'll just be an observer for the most part lmao

[tawdry compass]

I am open to either meshcore, or channel switching meshtastic. whatever.

[narrow ledge]

My assistant and consultant (ChatGPT) advised me against putting experimental Meshcore on something that has infrastructure capability. Could potentially impact the existing mesh.

[obsidian hazel]

It’s nice seeing a few more Lincoln people showing up in the discord. Hopefully one day I can hear you deep in the wooded valley I live in here in Havelock 🥲

[narrow ledge]

Hey everyone — wanted to float an idea and see what people think.

Proposal: Create a separate, Omaha-area Meshtastic mesh using a different modem preset (MediumFast) and a secure primary channel.
The goal is to give local users a clean, reliable, low-noise mesh that isn’t affected by the random LongFast nodes currently flooding the area.

Why MediumFast?
• Completely incompatible with LongFast (their traffic won’t be heard)
• Faster + more efficient
• Great range for metro coverage
• Less airtime congestion
• Better for group chats, GPS, and sensors

What this would look like:
• A new secure primary channel (shared via QR code)
• Same hardware everyone already uses
• Optional backbone nodes on rooftops for metro coverage
• No change to people who want to keep their LongFast nodes separate

This isn’t a fork or a competing system — just a clean local mesh option we build together.

Curious what folks think. 👍👎
If there’s interest, I can help generate the QR, written guide, and setup instructions.

[narrow ledge]

Note that you can’t run both LongFast and MediumFast simultaneously on the same hardware. You’d either need to switch it out on your device or use a second device.

[young vortex]

What's your node name? I have a few, but my roof node is (R) Far West South Street.

[obsidian hazel]

HVLK is my rooftop node but I don’t check that one often. My main node lately has been TYLR (aka 10a4 whenever the database self destructs)

[narrow ledge]

Ok. I set a node up for MediumFast with Primary Channel OmaMesh

If you want to join, use the settings at this link. It will reconfigure your modem preset and add the channel.

https://meshtastic.org/e/?add=true#ChsSEEK4AKhRU70Uk_xdISEhJqgaB09tYU1lc2gSEQgBEAQ4AUAFSAFQHmgBwAYB

[pure panther]

I feel like this would be a fairly temporary fix and wouldn't take very long before lapsed updates and abandoned nodes created the same issues again, while it would simultaneously split the existing mesh enough to impact the integrity of the mesh as whole for both bands.

[spiral plume]

Not a bad idea. Question though - does meshtastic still determine frequency based on the primary channel name or is explicitly set now?

[narrow ledge]

Thanks for the feedback. My thought is that it takes action on the operators part to configure the second network, whereas the default is what you get right out of the box.

Certainly folks (bad actors, or more likely, uninformed) could set up this separate network and then go on to add in poorly configured devices, but it would be like a blank slate going forward.

[spiral plume]

Oh, I just answered my own question. Looks like the default frequency changes based on the setting (longfast/mediumfast…etc.)

was worried about landing in the same freq as default long fast and getting interference.

[narrow ledge]

I believe it’s a function of the modem preset and the name of the channel, unless a frequency skit is chosen. This may be important for nodes operating with frequency based filters.

[spiral plume]

I always thought it was screwy how the frequency slot is a hash of the primary channel name.

[narrow ledge]

That is a good point. But even if the same frequency is chosen, there are still ways packets can coexist in the same space. I’d think there’s already a lot of LoRa all over the spectrum. But getting away from LongFast default should be a good start.

And the default mesh can certainly stay. It’s not a competition. It’s just an alternative for folks who want to participate in a tighter, community focused mesh.

[tawdry compass]

Why not just try a different channel first, and see how that goes?

[spiral plume]

channel as in frequency?

[narrow ledge]

Some folks asked why we don’t just create a new LongFast channel instead of switching to MediumFast. Here’s the quick answer:

Changing the channel does not isolate us from the problems — because the problems come from LongFast itself.

LongFast nodes all share the same radio settings (SF7/BW250). Even if they’re on different channels, they still:
• Use the same frequencies
• Compete for the same airtime
• Collide with our packets
• Create retries, delays, and packet loss

So even on a private LongFast channel, we still get all the congestion and interference caused by misconfigured or spammy LongFast nodes in the area.

MediumFast avoids this completely because it uses a different LoRa modulation. LongFast and MediumFast can’t decode each other and don’t interfere with each other’s airtime, so the noisy LongFast layer simply disappears.

TL;DR:
A new LongFast channel hides our traffic, but doesn’t fix the interference.
MediumFast gives us a clean, reliable, Omaha-only mesh that doesn’t fight with the noisy default network.

FYI: Node RED3 is up on MediumFast, channel OmaMesh (primary), key

QrgAqFFTvRST/F0hISEmqA==

[tawdry compass]

Simplest thing that could possibly work??

[narrow ledge]

RED3 is vertically advantaged, but indoor placement affects overall effectiveness. I’m hoping that running RED3 like this can help experiment with a separate network on MF. I’ll set some other radios like this later.

[tawdry compass]

Might be worth it to research what other mesh's have attempted. I'll have a look.

[quasi beacon]

Sounds good! Hopefully the firmware is in a better place now from when we tried this a year ago. It was such a mess, and I ended up needing to climb a 50 ft tree to fix it afterwards. 😂 I'll change my spare nice over and see how it goes.

[tawdry compass]

Meanwhile, I flashed a device with Meshcore and it is sitting in the window. I Don't expect anything. It does seem easy to flash though. App is pretty simple.

[spiral plume]

I keep getting errors trying to save this to my rak

[quasi beacon]

I'm on the channel with a secondary node. Haven't seen anyone else yet

[spiral plume]

I just configured a node by hand, but it is taking OmaMesh and putting a space in there. Oma Mesh - I cannot fight it.

So my freq is gonna be off

anyway, I got 2 loaded

[spiral plume]

can you send a message?

[quasi beacon]

Have sent a couple, but no ack received.

[spiral plume]

I have no idea what frequency we are on, so I am on an island.

[narrow ledge]

I think the space is just a cosmetic thing.

[spiral plume]

gosh I hope so.

[narrow ledge]

Can your two see each other?

[spiral plume]

yes

however they both have the space. I am dubious of the space - lol

Once I get home I will update the roof node also. There is really good long/fast coverage in my area so I don’t foresee any mesh breakdowns.

[narrow ledge]

I kinda remember that. Why did we abort the effort? It seems like a good idea.

[gilded tide]

I've seen other meshs run a range of modulation schemes. They all "work"... just dependent on distance and user count, traffic load, etc.

[gilded tide]

Ultimately... I think some of the issues we are seeing were "being seen" by some users. I don't think they quite understood what they were doing and were not successfully changing their settings.

[spiral plume]

I got a roof node setup: gonna assign it as ‘repeater’

😜

joking.

[gilded tide]

I'm sending a flock of buzzards to roost on your node.... and do their business!

[spiral plume]

rage bait successful 🎣

[narrow ledge]

I now have three downtown nodes on the experimental OmaMesh MF channel. I’m feeding one into Meshsense so I won’t miss anything. Hope to see some more nodes fill in!

[gilded tide]

Sooo, my app doesn't do the qr.

You know... Androids. I don't even have the "scan" option. I know I've seen it in past versions.

[narrow ledge]

I was trying to do the CLI earlier but I think I need to do some updates.

What if you click the link?

https://meshtastic.org/e/#ChsSEEK4AKhRU70Uk_xdISEhJqgaB09tYU1lc2gSEQgBEAQ4AUAFSAFQHmgBwAYB

[gilded tide]

lol, this is on my pc.... not connected to nodes

[narrow ledge]

I can remotely admin LH02 but I’m not sure I want to take the gamble of bricking it from afar. 😆

[narrow ledge]

Not sure if changing presets and channel all at once would work and it might leave the radio in a funny state.

[gilded tide]

I guess the million dollar question.... are we using the default key?

[narrow ledge]

It doesn’t need to be secret. But I just took a generated key.

QrgAqFFTvRST/F0hISEmqA==

[gilded tide]

lol, so not "AQ=="

ValleyV4mf is online

[quasi beacon]

There were some strange issues that seemed to be firmware related. Some of it might have been operator error, but EBT ended up locked up in the process.

[gilded tide]

I won't say it was easy. the v4 took half a dozen power cycles before it started behaving. The Rak4631 just changed and went on.

This means I probably wouldn't make this change unless I was present to defudge it.

Or.... I'll take preconfigged units and just swap them. Then "no issue" lol.

For that matter... for those getting v4's.... I'll be curious to see your experience. The first two I get were in a bootloader when I received them. I tried flashing 2.7.14 first, no go, looped. Then 2.7.13, looped. Then 2.7.11 and they were ok. Both behaved the same way.

Be aware, only alpha is available for the v4's

After .11, they both took .14 with no issues

The next 2 I got were on 2.7.10. They updated to .14 with no issues.

Like most... if you have them USBd to a PC, they are bluetooth resistant. Must be on a charge only or brick power.

[spiral plume]

sounds like the heltec was being a real stinker

I see node 6e25 over in CB on medium/fast

[tawdry compass]

I think I'll just enjoy the view from the penny seats until you guys say OK. Unless I am needed. lol

[narrow ledge]

I guess that’s the first bit of success in that I haven’t seen any other than the ones I configured.

[spiral plume]

Is that the Loess Hills node?

[narrow ledge]

Yes. Are you seeing it direct?

[spiral plume]

1 hop away it says. Trace, no response

[narrow ledge]

One thing that confuses me, and maybe some of you smart folk can explain it, is that I have, effectively, my own mesh in my area. With a handful of radios in good spots, and virtually line of sight. Yet, I can't traceroute between these. My assumption was than on MF there would not be the kind of interference we expect on LF, yet, it seems like my nodes aren't seeing each other, when they often do directly on LF. 🤷‍♂️

[spiral plume]

From what I gather on Reddit, if you get a valid traceroute 1 out of 4 times you are considered lucky.

[gilded tide]

The key to remember, is that meshtastic is best effort flooding. There are no acks. If a node does hear something.... there is no retry.

[narrow ledge]

That's what I would expect on the default LF. I was hoping that with a new MF, where there aren't hundreds of devices operating there out of default, that the network would be zippy. The flip side is that with so much saturation on LF, it does help to build a rich network, even if it's not always useful. I'll admit, with all the new high elevation, professionally engineered nodes, traffic was getting pretty good.

[gilded tide]

that's one reason when you do back to back traces, you see different responses. The convolution/timing means, that a different node may beat another.

[gilded tide]

I think you are my magical link to the rest of the world

[tawdry compass]

I flipped roci over to the OmaMesh channel. Not seeing anything

[spiral plume]

I see you

[tawdry compass]

I am sgt. shultz. I see nothing!

[spiral plume]

Who knows, maybe monday we come back to longfast.

[narrow ledge]

If Meshcore is the future, then maybe that'll be the path.

[tawdry compass]

I'm for giving meshcore a go.

[spiral plume]

my brother can only take so many qr config links in one day - lol

[gilded tide]

get a new brother from another mother!

[tawdry compass]

OK, I bailed. back to longfast for me. Call me a wimp. Owned.

Well, it was a good time to rebuild my node list anyways. Meshtastic kinda smells. kinda.

[quasi beacon]

I might have goofed... scanned the QR on and old android version and assumed it would automatically set to medium fast, but it doesn't look like it did. Just to confirm, this should be frequency slot 88 (923.875mhz) correct?

Ahhh, there we go! I see 6106 direct

[narrow ledge]

I leave mine at default, which means auto calculated based on channel name.

[gilded tide]

ehhhh.... mine came up with 45.

Maybe that's whay I didn't see anyone

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, that would explain it.... on mine, I had the right channel name and psk, but for some reason it was on the long fast modem setting. had to manually change that.

[quasi beacon]

Did yours default to 88?

[gilded tide]

I just flipped up to 88

No, mine deduced 45

but I also couldn't qr it.....

[quasi beacon]

How did you do your settings on the courthouse node? I'm seeing that right now. It doesn't seem to hear me though.

[gilded tide]

on the mt 250 vs mc 62 bandwidth. Interestingly longfast tops out at 1kbps, whereas mc default does 2kbps in 25% of the bandwidth

[narrow ledge]

I'm not sure how to see it. In the app it shows as 0.

[quasi beacon]

does it show frequency at 923.875mhz?

[gilded tide]

must be an iphone 😉

[tawdry compass]

Good luck, Guys. you're gonna need it. 😅

[narrow ledge]

Ha! I can do CLI, too.

[gilded tide]

Look mr observer.... hahahah! We need more armchair warriors!

[tawdry compass]

Way too lazy for this. Onward, holy warriors!

[narrow ledge]

So you guys that are seeing each other, are you using slot 88?

[quasi beacon]

Mine just automatically went to 88... but it also started off on the wrong modem setting with the QR code scanned, so I don't know if that was right or not. I'm seeing the courthouse node now, but it doesn't hear me for message ack or traceroute.

[tawdry compass]

always stuff going on on 7.200 lol

[quasi beacon]

This is starting to feel similar to our experiement a year ago. 😂

[narrow ledge]

Oh, I just saw ZK-4! 2 hops. Position report.

[gilded tide]

7105 varac here

[quasi beacon]

I might have hopped it... I just saw it direct one minute ago and i'm running the 1 watt node

[tawdry compass]

I do mostly JS8Call.

[gilded tide]

HAven't done that in ages

[narrow ledge]

I put my HF stuff away when I got busy. Hoping to get it back out again someday. I do enjoy the digi modes.

[gilded tide]

Is it still a thing?

[tawdry compass]

Yap

[quasi beacon]

If it went through mine, I don't think you're going to get a trace... I see it at -101dbm but still can't get anything through. Do you see F6F8?

[tawdry compass]

Been a HF guy for ages

[narrow ledge]

I liked JS8Call. Played with some store and forward. Fun stuff.

[gilded tide]

Kowabunga. 12 responses to a hb

Haven't seen that in years

I liked js8 until vara chat and varac came out. I prefer error free 🙂

[quasi beacon]

Hmm... there might be something weird with needing to clear nodedb when changing modem settings. I seem to recall issues not receiving until that was done when I've messed with this in the past

[gilded tide]

oh yea, you need to do a nodedb reset for sure

[tawdry compass]

I have tried varac a bit. Just never made many contacts.

[narrow ledge]

Guess I need to drive back up in the hills for a service call. But I'll do that for my at-home units now.

[gilded tide]

I'm still not seeing anyone. Not surprising. Merlin was my normal gateway out.

MAYBE... if we leave this running, when I make a run to 72nd and Dodge tomorrow afternoon, I'll see if my portable picks anyone up.

[narrow ledge]

Maybe it needs to "bake" for a while.

[tawdry compass]

I can plug Merlin back in, but I thought G2's were deaf? idk

[quasi beacon]

Just figured this out on the latest android version... scan the QR from your camera and when you hit the link it automatically opens the app with the new channel.

[gilded tide]

I don't know. I do know there is an agc issue.

I know that some nodes hear each other fine and dandy.

[quasi beacon]

It would only let me "add" I'll see what it does for default settings on my home node.

[gilded tide]

I know that swappign a g2 for a rak doesn't improve (my) reception at a given location.

[tawdry compass]

Did you see Roci?

[gilded tide]

nothing yet

granted... I had to hand key the key. No guarantees I didn't botch it.

[quasi beacon]

Yeah, the QR on android defaults to 88.

[tawdry compass]

Well, I switched roci back to longfast, If you like, I can replace with Merlin.

Nevermind, call me when it's over. lol

[quasi beacon]

Ugghhh.... the QR on the new app also doesn't automatically change the modem setting. Have to manually change that.

Maybe that was never part of the design, but seems like a lot of people will get tripped up over this.

[gilded tide]

I'll leave mine running, in case magical elven ducting happens overnight

[narrow ledge]

So ZK-4: what slot and frequency do you see. You’re the only node I’ve seen.

[tawdry compass]

yes, the magicyl physcotropic ducting. Could happen.

[narrow ledge]

So, yeah. I want to try out Meshcore. But the question is, now, while it’s still very experimental? Or wait until some alpha or beta released next year?

[gilded tide]

At least you have qr. I had uninstalled and got the latest earlier this week, now I don't have qr

[gilded tide]

I want to try it too. BUT.... I don't know that I want to stick up another stick at one of the existing sites.

[tawdry compass]

It was easy to flash.

[gilded tide]

I suppose I could rummage around and find a 900 duplexer and put both on one antenna.... I'll have to journey into the cave.

[gilded tide]

Oh I know. I have some units on the desk

[tawdry compass]

Of course.

Best I could do would be to put up a node with a low gain yagi on a mfg pole. Better than nothing

[narrow ledge]

Ok. I’ll try Meshcore on a couple of devices.

[tawdry compass]

I have one heltec V3 in the window on meshcore.

[narrow ledge]

Alright. Got it running on a T1000-E. No reports yet.

[gilded tide]

ok fellas, done for the night, gotta get up early tomorrow

[tawdry compass]

Just got a message that chicagoland mesh is trying out a medium fast channel this weekend,

[quasi beacon]

Scan it through your regular camera app, it automatically pulls up in the app. Took me awhile to figure that out. 😬

[spiral plume]

mediumfast OmaMesh with primary key QrgAqFFTvRST/F0hISEmqA==

[spiral plume]

I have no idea the frequency. That is hashed with a number of factors. I would prefer to manually call one out. But, this is meshtastic doing strange UI stuff.

[narrow ledge]

I was wrong about Meshcore. I don't think it's in any way affiliated with Meshtastic, and I don't expect that Meshtastic will eventually be Meshcore. I presume Meshtastic will improve over time, but I think it may always be someone limited for urban areas with potentially hundreds of nodes. Breakout meshes, like MediumFast, etc. may help with that. I'm still game to try Meshcore. I like the idea of being able to specify a path and perhaps with some management and oversight, strategic infrastructure nodes serving as repeaters might be best for communications, whereas Meshtastic as it is feel like a good ad-hoc IoT kinda of system.

[quasi beacon]

I see DT16 1 hop away. I'll let the med-fast experiment run through the weekend.

[narrow ledge]

Awesome!

[quasi beacon]

Have you seen any of the test messages from AMCH or f6f8?

[narrow ledge]

I've not. I have been posting messages, as well.

[quasi beacon]

I think we're losing a bit of range with the med-fast setting. Would really need some good infrastructure nodes to make it work well.

[narrow ledge]

Does this channel utilization say anything important? Could the slot be too busy?

[quasi beacon]

Or just everyone on it. And making up for it with more hops.bthe reduced air time might improve reliability.

[quasi beacon]

Wow that's high! Can't imagine it's Meshtastic related.

Is it consistently that high?

[spiral plume]

is it set to router? router roles have high air time / channel utilization.

[quasi beacon]

It's router late, but it's on the med-fast setting. Shouldn't be any meaningful traffic

[narrow ledge]

ROUTER_LATE, but presumably, there's little to no meshtastic traffic on MF

Could be LORA traffic there. Might need to study different slots.

Anyway, I now have two T1000-E cards on Meshcore. Nothing heard yet.

[spiral plume]

are we doing meshcore now? Oh I can never keep up

[quasi beacon]

I don't know if I have the patience to delve into that right now. 😂. Btw, is 3eb8 one of yours? Just popped up 2 hops away.

[narrow ledge]

3eb9: yes. Client Mute sitting on my desk. That's good news! If you're seeing nodes from miles away with just a handful of experimenter nodes out on MF, maybe that's a win.

[pure panther]

Set up my carry device with the core of mesh, will set up my other solar node tomorrow.

Might have made a mistake when showing the girlfriend (who just put it on her device), she likes the look of the app better, so that'll be fun later lmao

[young kernel]

Just set up a pair of those nodes in LNK. Nifty resurrection of a couple of Heltec v2s that would otherwise be collecting dust. Stock antennas on them for now, so not expecting a whole lot of range.

[spiral plume]

I am gonna have nodes ZK-1, ZK-3 & ZK-4 hang out in the new medium fast for a while to see how it goes. Meanwhile I am in a crisis: it’s the weekend and I ran out of mesh node making components. 😭

[narrow ledge]

I'm seeing ZK-4 downtown every now and then. 1 hop.

[narrow ledge]

I'm posting a link to a MF POC guide on the longfast public channel. Maybe that'll get some recruits.

[tawdry compass]

Now that I switched roci back to longfast, I can't send anything, even after a factory reset. I am bricked. re-flashing

[narrow ledge]

I push Meshcore on a T1000-E and put it outside on the roof. It’s running repeater mode. I have intermittent LoRa access to it from seven floors below, but I think it’s working. Let me know if you can see it. It’s not in the best position, but was the best I could do at the moment.

[tawdry compass]

Roci will no longer transmit correctly. Don't know why. switching to Merlin.

[quasi beacon]

The joys of Meshtastic! I had the same thing happen after our MF experiment last year, had to reflash.

[quasi beacon]

I might flash something to mesh core later today. Although that sort of thing should really be saved for a cold weather day. Not going to get many more 65 degree days.

[tawdry compass]

Yes, meshtastic code stinks! and the re=flash did not help. some bit somewhere got set and refuses to budge. Roci is bricked.

[quasi beacon]

Aw man, that sucks!

[tawdry compass]

Ya! a pox on the devs. May they all acquire bedbugs

[narrow ledge]

Is there a DFU/erase function?

[tawdry compass]

Yep. no workey

[narrow ledge]

Just resurrected the original LH01 solar node (mast, enclosure, RAK, panel, and antenna) and put Meshcore on it. Now I’m wondering where I might put it. Might just go prop it up on the rooftop in a discrete location and hope that nobody bothers it.

[spiral plume]

Scott you can write some code to bridge all 3 mesh networks you are connected to now - haha. Preface any messages with !MF, !LF, !MC, or !ALL to access different meshes. haha.

[narrow ledge]

Ok. It’s up there. Meshcore. Two repeaters. I have to use one to reach the other. Kinda fun pathing it out. I hope it’ll hear some other traffic soon.

[pure panther]

One thing I'm torn on if I do or don't like is as of now it seems like it doesn't do the "I'm here" pings.

[narrow ledge]

I’m on call for work so I can’t get too far away from home to enjoy the day. At least it was nice up on the roof.

[pure panther]

Which yeah, less noise and wasted network from the handheld, but it prevents me from seeing the last point I saw the other one.

[tawdry compass]

The android app has become less usable. I can't do a nodeDB reset anymore. and bluetooth is now problematic.

[spiral plume]

What is the config for meshcore in case I wanna setup a node?

[narrow ledge]

It’s pretty much flash and go. It does default region to EU so you have to change that. Then change things like the name. There are more knobs to twiddle in repeater mode. I’d recommend running a repeater to test things, if you have extra hardware.

[narrow ledge]

When you post in the public channel, you’ll see if any repeaters heard you. I’m not sure if it shows that other companion app users heard you.

[pure panther]

home nodes set up in the core, it's highly likely it wont transmit out from the valley i live in, will set up the second repeater and plunk it on a pole at the top of the hills sometime today or tomorrow.

[spiral plume]

ok I have my old millard repeater setup for meshcore. And a companion node.

[narrow ledge]

Not seeing anything yet. Be sure to occasionally sent out an advert and post in the public channel. I know repeaters can be set up to advert automatically but not sure if companions do.

[peak badger]

Flashed an unused v3 with meshcore. Trying it out

[narrow ledge]

FWIW: I set up a Room Server on a G2.

[narrow ledge]

Like an old school BBS. This could be fun.

[peak badger]

Is this what everyone else's preset defaulted to?

[peak badger]

I'll try sending a message on the public channel on Monday when I'm closer to downtown

[spiral plume]

yup

[tawdry compass]

https://w6hs.net/what-is-meshcore-off-grid-mesh-networking-with-inexpensive-lora-devices/

I have a Companion node and a repeater with a mobile antenna outside.

Not seeing anything yet

finally got Roci back to somewhat working. after a few reboots.

[gilded tide]

I was hoping Valley would see you, but I've heard nothing so far

[tawdry compass]

Yeah, I'm not seeing valley yet. If I can't I will switch back to the G2 Merlin

I'm direct to Papillion

and NOMA

[gilded tide]

so they are on meshtastic

so you have your meshcore still up?

[tawdry compass]

Yes, a repeater and a Companion node. repeater is on a mobile antenna on my gutter outside. Super-X node name

Sorry, I was talking about getting my meshtastic node back working. dough!

[pure panther]

What do you think the likelihood of a node staying on the side of a pole in public say 30 foot up would be? Asking for a friend lmao

[tawdry compass]

I have an extra G2 laying around, maybe I should make that my meshcore repeater.

[narrow ledge]

I saw ROCI on LongFast channel. Welcome back.

[tawdry compass]

I thought It was bricked for sure. lol

[narrow ledge]

Still nothing on MeshCore for me. I went on a short range testing bike ride this afternoon. I was surprised in some places where I was sure I’d have a path, but didn’t. But when it worked it was pretty neat.

One thing to keep in mind when moving or using trimesters that move: you may need to reset your paths from time to time. I think done of that is supposed to happen automatically, but you can force it.

[narrow ledge]

Do you have set it to automatically flood advert? Max rate is every three hours. I’d recommend everyone do that until the mesh gets dense.

[tawdry compass]

I think I did that. I will check. Yep repeater is set to flood.

Not seeing anything as of now

[pure panther]

I might not have set mine to do so, I'll check it tonight when I'm back

[tawdry compass]

OK, I just saw my first message on MeshCore. From ZK-1

[pure panther]

Weirdly I can get messages home from work, I didn't used to be able to do that. I'm not even sure why that would be the case because it's using the same bands in the same position and nothing else has changed. Logically it doesn't make sense to me

[spiral plume]

meshcore is snappy fast

[tawdry compass]

Make any contacts?

[spiral plume]

no, but the repeater confirmation is super fast.

[tawdry compass]

Yep. I have a single contact. Hoping for more