US CA Sac Valley & Foot Hills

[boreal creek]

Good luck with that!

[spare garden]

police scanner? baofeng.

[bitter iron]

I usually tell them to get a HackRF and gnu-radio. Decode/listen to anything they want.

[spare garden]

this bcd536hp is pretty nice

I just need to find me a cryptography expert so I can decrypt the firmware

[mighty finch]

ha

[bitter iron]

I attended a class at BlackHat about using power glitching to extract private jkeys from firmware. That's a skill best performed at midnight, under a new moon, standing inside a pentagram drawn in goat's blood.

naked.

[spare garden]

I have the key

just need someone with the knowledge to help 🫠

because I potato brain

[mighty finch]

to be fair now quangshen is the answer

but all i know is qs and hackrf

and also dont have much interest in licencing.

[boreal creek]

They are interesting. I dropped one of the unofficial firmware on mine

[mighty finch]

i am hams biggest enemy

lol

[boreal creek]

My point to those people is they don’t have any interest in learning or practicing. And thing they are going to inbox a radio for the first time in a grid down and try to make it work.

[mighty finch]

true

i am genuinly interested.

just dont care about a club or paying the state

and far deeper then buying and waiting to use

still wanna figure out how to get the chp on the scanner, got everyone but them 😦

htats far off topic tho

[spare garden]

which what scanner

[mighty finch]

i got a hackrf

i figure it should do the trick

[spare garden]

42.xxx mhz?

[mighty finch]

yeah but i never catch anything

i keep the qs on when i commute but never hear them

plenty of psco/calfire

and sac pd

i am very new and unlicensed so its not surpising i havent figured it out.

[spare garden]

42.440 active now

oh uh, it was

received with my 2 inch antenna

[bitter iron]

is 42.440 CHP?

[mighty finch]

42.xxx

[spare garden]

of course

[mighty finch]

tehy got a bunch of freqs

up and down cali

[spare garden]

42. 120 160 440 920

[mighty finch]

^

[spare garden]

possibly more

[mighty finch]

and so im tuned into green

which should be greater sac to foothills if im not mistaken

mystery to me.

also they do some kind of multi band thing

where the cars and dispatch arent on the same freqs.

or so i thought.

[spare garden]

that's correct

[mighty finch]

i bookmarked a whole ass essay about it

And so ideally I don't care to hear dispatch so much as the nearest car

Idk this is not mesh related.

I did catch a new node today in sac.

[spare garden]

the correct answer is "no". best sent a few seconds after you received the question

[bitter iron]

do you have a full nodeid on that Rak1 node?

[mighty finch]

lol

[mighty finch]

2 hour delay but then

[spare garden]

I wonder how many people know "node number" and "user id" are the same thing

[bitter iron]

In that case above, they're not.

[spare garden]

orly

[bitter iron]

1683794694 != 0x99a34093

[spare garden]

le derp. what is node number then?!?

what is user id?!?!?

[bitter iron]

User ID is based on the HW mac address of the node itself.

no idea what node number is

[spare garden]

but this user id doesn't look like the typical nodeid

[mighty finch]

so can i dm ya about the chp thing if ya got a minute

[spare garden]

on which node?

[mighty finch]

haha

[spare garden]

https://www.radioreference.com/db/aid/995

[mighty finch]

oh yeah

i have read it a few times, but cant really understand why i cant hear em on my local freq

[spare garden]

bigger antenna; better receiver

and make sure you're on FM and not AM

[mighty finch]

yeahi hear a tone rather then voices.

sounds digital, but allegedly the freq is fm

[spare garden]

which frequency?

[mighty finch]

ahh so auburn is 42.720

but like im in sac atm and 42.200

should hit.

as should 42.280

[spare garden]

just put them all in and scan

how many frequencies a second does your scanner scan at?

[mighty finch]

ahh i think 5 or so.

pdq

[spare garden]

@_@

[mighty finch]

it flips thru em fast as hell

[spare garden]

mine does 85 a second and i think it's way too slow

i have another that does 200 a second

[mighty finch]

man idk i only have about 12 saved

so its like faster then i can see

its a qs5

it cant be the fastest

[spare garden]

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806416777273.html you need this

[mighty finch]

man it says not a damn thing about what it does there on the link

[spare garden]

it's a SI4732. self explanatory

[mighty finch]

and what you have to desolder the modules on board?

[spare garden]

just a couple parts

[mighty finch]

or it comes populated and is added to

bahaha

thats like pretty much a job for ants.

not 100% sure i can accomplish that task myself

[spare garden]

learning is fun

[mighty finch]

sure, but i dont have unlimited radios to trash

also i thought qs was already full band?

i cant really find anything explaining why the chip is better

lots of amazon radios with it though,.

[spare garden]

just because the firmware lets you do it doesn't mean the hardware is capable enough

[mighty finch]

interesting

[mighty finch]

So it just can't receive freqs that low?

need the eli5 because i am peasant

[spare garden]

it just receives like crap

[mighty finch]

Gotcha

[spare garden]

kinda like you can use your computer video card to transmit audio to an AM receiver... but it'll sound like crap

[boreal creek]

😮 I might have to get a couple of those!

These UV-K5's have pretty neat modding community around them.

Pretty neat update now to the iOS app. I heard something like this was coming.

Also, button on the bottom right which lets you filter what's displayed in the nodes list.

[mighty finch]

online only! nice!

[mighty finch]

itss interesting how many different firwares are out for qs

[boreal creek]

I'm really digging this add in board. I really want to do that mod.

Did a little reading.... looks like this hop count is enabled by the NeighborInfo module, which isn't in the iOS app yet. So to the CLI I go.

[spare garden]

wot

[spare garden]

hop count does not depend on neighborinfo, i think

and... i really do suggest you not enable neighborinfo until 2.3.4

save your flash from premature wear. save your node from missing packets.

[boreal creek]

no? The only node i see with hop count belongs to a guy who says he enabled it. And looking into the docs on that module, it seems to make sense. I could be wrong though.

[spare garden]

i have neighborinfo disabled on all my nodes. i can still see "hop count" (hop limit and hop start) on the debug panel of the android app

all nodes in the route must be on newer firmware to pass on hop_start

[boreal creek]

hmm, I will research a little more.

I wonder if the online nodes not showing a hop count was because they were direct.

[spare garden]

might be. would be nice to have an indicator of direct neighbors

right now it's probably just blank for both "no hop_start" and "neighbor", yeh?

or might it display 0 hops?

[boreal creek]

Top two nodes are mine. Doesn’t say 0 hops, or direct, or anything.

[spare garden]

guess you can't tell between neighbor and old fw node then

AND if a neighbor is on old fw that'll screw up things even more, lol

[boreal creek]

yeah

[mighty finch]

Also I have hopcount on my macbook

Neighbors have 0 hop count?

[clear kestrel]

@boreal creek @fickle wedge are you guys available to give me some feedback on three antennas if I go up the hill?

[spare garden]

why am i not included

i can give all the feedback you'd want

[boreal creek]

I am

[clear kestrel]

Because I’m no longer near the land of Oak.

[spare garden]

https://tenor.com/view/baywatch-zac-efron-gif-19809637

[boreal creek]

Your car appreciates that too.

[spare garden]

car windows*

[mighty finch]

Another mystery node today.

This one in auburn

This one doesn't show in my node list.

[boreal creek]

I just saw that one too

[clear kestrel]

Which node should I direct message?

[fickle wedge]

@clear kestrel I can get 1 hop to your Solar node and 2 to your JB2

@clear kestrel I am listening if you want to send

[mighty finch]

Does that mean he's on mqtt?

[fickle wedge]

@boreal creek did you have to turn on neighborinfo to get hop count?

I see @clear kestrel actual and jb2 having a "Hops away" count of 1 and 2 respectively

[boreal creek]

I don't have MQTT enabled, so I don't think so.

[mighty finch]

Rgr.

[boreal creek]

I did not enable it, and I'm getting it from some nodes. I held off based on what @spare garden said.

[boreal creek]

My app shows it 3 hops away, but since tracert fails I don't know which 3.

[mighty finch]

Wtf

[fickle wedge]

Not getting any of those. I am f6ea

[mighty finch]

I do have a tiny antenna on right now

[boreal creek]

I thought that sounded familiar. haha. Maybe cuz JB put the antenna up.

[mighty finch]

Not appearing in node list

[fickle wedge]

a.k.a. DM7

a.k.a. AD6DM-7

[mighty finch]

Neither are in my list.

[fickle wedge]

well you did see my "hi mesh" so /shrug

[spare garden]

just wait 5 minutes

[mighty finch]

Not sure why either of yall are not on the list or named.

Distance?

[spare garden]

unknown nodes can also reboot and they'll send out nodeinfo

[mighty finch]

This is neat af tho.

Real people out there.

[clear kestrel]

If dennis and I have 1 hop between us, what is the swr reading we’re see for each other. Is it the node between us? Or our devices swr?

[boreal creek]

I would assume the device he's hearing it from

[fickle wedge]

You mean SNR right

[spare garden]

snr comes from the lora chip directly, not the packet.

[boreal creek]

Because that would be the only signal he hears

[mighty finch]

Hmmm

Looks like I'm too quiet?

[clear kestrel]

Yes

[fickle wedge]

I was like how does he know my antenna's SWR 😂

[clear kestrel]

Ha!

So who are you hoping through?

Is it one of your own nodes?

[mighty finch]

Hmm.

Why can't I clap back! Lol

Do I just need better antenna?

[fickle wedge]

Yes, it's DM7 -> EGS1 (my solar node) -> JBSR

[fickle wedge]

Yes

[mighty finch]

I mean 6dm-7 is on mqtt and can't hear me tho?

[fickle wedge]

@mighty finch what is your node id

[mighty finch]

Shouldn't mqtt fwd it out to ya?how are there only 4 of us and so many motes...

[fickle wedge]

I don't have downlink enabled for mqtt

I don't want internet noise

I only do uplink to share position

[mighty finch]

Oh damn okay, you just helped me understand downlink.

I see

Essentially I am hearing yall but yall are out of range/downlink disabled.

And/or both have mqtt

[fickle wedge]

probably

[clear kestrel]

@boreal creek not reaching you today?

[mighty finch]

I am not hearing true rf comms

[boreal creek]

I hear you, but I don’t think you hear me.

[mighty finch]

If I turn downlink off I will ONLY hear rf distance

[clear kestrel]

Nope, not receiving you

[boreal creek]

Maybe it’s cuz I switched back antennas. Maybe I should try the other real quick

[fickle wedge]

@clear kestrel probably related to your putting things up, but now I see Cramstyr, PGR, and AB0OO in "online nodes" again.

[fickle wedge]

I have not seen cee4 or 666 on my nodes list, only meshmap

[mighty finch]

Rgr.

So you don't go to the city or the hills.

Got it.

😉

[clear kestrel]

So I’m not hitting you directly dennis, does that mean you can’t give me a signal report?

Snr

Sorry for the mix up earlier

[fickle wedge]

all I know is it says JBSR has a 6.50dB "good" signal

[boreal creek]

Removed the Gizont, back in the CDEByte.

[clear kestrel]

I think that means you have good signal with your roof antenna

[fickle wedge]

JB Actual node has a 5.75dB SNR with RSSI -38dB

[clear kestrel]

It’s your roof antenna for sure

[fickle wedge]

why would they be different if it's between my roof and 20 ft away

[mighty finch]

God?

[clear kestrel]

That node is deep in my backpack, antenna parallel to the ground.

[fickle wedge]

I think you are right JB

all the nodes, no matter where they are, are from 5.75 to 7dB

[clear kestrel]

Where is @spare garden

[fickle wedge]

That can't be right.

[boreal creek]

@fickle wedge I read it as that SNR is your reception of the message on that hop, which it sounds like is from your outdoor node.

[fickle wedge]

I'm not a good signal person 😄

I will always say "599"

😂

[boreal creek]

Haha

[spare garden]

how's my alphanumerics coming through?

[boreal creek]

It makes sense though…. The app reports what your radio heard. If you heard it from another node, that’s just the signal from that repeating node.

[spare garden]

in an ideal mesh, most of your received packets will be near -20 SNR

(because that's how meshtastic works)

the farthest node should be the one to repeat a signal

[boreal creek]

Yeah, it wants to throw the message farther on the first hop

[mighty finch]

Lol I can't tell him it's mqtt

Oh the irony

Or wait is he here

It's cuz I had mqtt down enabled

And you both have up

Yall are not near me

[clear kestrel]

I don’t know I didn’t think to just check the node we’re hoping though.

So there you go. Getting -14.75

And that’s not your big daddy hamfest antenna, right?

[fickle wedge]

It's my little daddy AOA antenna as recommended by The Comms Channel

RSSI 0dB, dang

[clear kestrel]

I don’t do mqtt

[mighty finch]

So how do I hear ya but you can't hear me.

You must be jbsr

This kinda implies you are on mqtt

[clear kestrel]

I’m hitting Dennis who is using mqtt

[mighty finch]

And I flipped off downlink, now is silent

[fickle wedge]

Also, I'm sending with 5 hops so if you actually hear JB, he could also be repeating my msgs to you

But more than likely it's MQTT downlink

[mighty finch]

Yep

Both if yall are 30+ mi away

[spare garden]

this is called "1 internet away"

[mighty finch]

Yep, I'm just understanding why you and others are so passionately against downlink.

Precom

If you will

Before I had enabled mqtt I had no com tho

But hey were about to put up a node in the city.

With a big nice antenna

[clear kestrel]

Did you get those Dennis? Now testing the PGR antenna.

Amazon special

I have electrical tape sound the elbow to keep water out. Think that might affect signal?

[mighty finch]

lol

how tf do you see them 60km out?

[fickle wedge]

@clear kestrel from the router

[spare garden]

wow clear photo

[mighty finch]

thats like 30 ish miles init?

also wtf man

this is america

use the good units

[boreal creek]

I’m getting PGR

[mighty finch]

like while we can

[trim veldt]

I just got the PGR message

[magic plume]

I'm seeing messages from PGR and JB and DM7 too, but I don't think I can get any messages out to them

[clear kestrel]

Thanks, nothing from JBSR?

[boreal creek]

CONO! You found us!

[magic plume]

Hahaha yep finally figured out the discord link!

[fickle wedge]

I think JB is tying all of us together

with his newfangled antennae

[boreal creek]

Yup!

[mighty finch]

"all" << >>

[boreal creek]

As soon as it went up, I started seeing a lot. Can’t talk to them, but I can hear them

[mighty finch]

:--p

thats neat tho

hoping this antenna were getting in the mail will open up traffic in sacr

[boreal creek]

@magic plume , hopefully when my RAK gets here I can fix that and we can get messages out to him. It’s been spotty for me in the past

[clear kestrel]

Not as good as the other antenna

Maybe delete this

[mighty finch]

too accurate

[magic plume]

For sure! We'll see if my node helps too when I finally get it up on my roof

[mighty finch]

😄

[boreal creek]

@clear kestrel , just remember even a 2-3db difference is HUGE.

https://tenor.com/view/yuge-huge-donald-trump-gif-7357158

[clear kestrel]

I was seeing a .5 db difference from his message

Now he’s saying both of them were -1.0 snr

[clear kestrel]

Thank you though. I really don’t know what good and bad snr is. Just getting reading and then going to go read about it.

Antenna 1 and 2 (from left to right) had almost the same snr

Around -.5 to -1

[spare garden]

I only see 1 antenna

or maybe 2

[clear kestrel]

Correct me if I’m wrong @fickle wedge

[fickle wedge]

you're right

[clear kestrel]

Antenna 3 and 4 are the same gizont and only tested one of them.

[fickle wedge]

Your heltec stock antenna first reported -17 snr, then it went to -18.8

did you get my replies?

[clear kestrel]

The gizont 17cm had -2.0snr

[clear kestrel]

Yes

[spare garden]

with the long antenna, positioning is very important. half a degree tilt could affect snr by a lot

[clear kestrel]

It was plum vertical. The gizonts have a little curve to the left 😉

[boreal creek]

my gizont lays to the left a little also.

[spare garden]

sometimes a strategic tilt in a certain direction can help things

[clear kestrel]

Thank you @fickle wedge. One day I hope to reach all of you. @boreal creek I don’t know what the deal was today?

[boreal creek]

I don't either. It's hit or miss sometimes.

[fickle wedge]

New contest award, Worked All Sac Valley

hehehe

Whois FEA7

[clear kestrel]

Did you get my message from tractor supply?

[fickle wedge]

@clear kestrel Last one I got was that JBSR was in your backpack, probably still in the loop

[clear kestrel]

Dang. That means PGR is not in a good spot

[fickle wedge]

I have that Online filter on

PGR dropped off. Used to be 1 hop away

All I see now is JB Repeater 2, 2 hops away

[clear kestrel]

The only way you could see JB 2 is if it’s going through PGR

It’s in the same spot where I used to get good comms with @boreal creek

[boreal creek]

But now the universe hates me.

[clear kestrel]

Did RAK1 ever say what city he was from?

Hope he finds his way here.

[clear kestrel]

Nah, you’re just a ladder and a new rak node away from installing your roof top solar node.

[mighty finch]

loud and clear in sac

[boreal creek]

Who's 919c?

[mighty finch]

no clue

invited them here said they had a link

rsi and snr doubled too, so farther away?

or clouds?

[fickle wedge]

Did you guys see the flyover messages

I saw them when I got home, otherwise would have tried to reply

[boreal creek]

I did not. I should check my "router" to see if it got it.

[clear kestrel]

Wouldn’t your router have relayed it to your indoor node?

[clear kestrel]

I did not, but I was following the comments on the bay area group.

[boreal creek]

Ideally, unless hop count reached.

Honest question though, a transceiver on a commercial flight?

I haven't flown in nearly 20 years, but I recall all the push to have all electronics off and phones in airplane mode.

[spare garden]

these days airplanes have wifi

[boreal creek]

true

didn't think about that. Wifi was barely a thing last time I flex, and it certainly wasn't on an aircraft in fligt. lol

[clear kestrel]

It was loosely enforced at best. As soon as the flight attendant went back to their seat for take off, many people would be back on their phones. If it was a real threat, there would be thousands of documented cases by now. I think the airlines just gave up fighting phone addicted costumers.

[spare garden]

https://youtu.be/JYAq-7sOzXQ?si=LJ6G05VYF8Bb7CM5

[clear kestrel]

Ha! I had just copied that from the Bay Area group

Came here to paste it and you beat me to it

[boreal creek]

I can haz T-Echo’s finally. Almost took a month to arrive

[boreal creek]

"But muh pacemaker!"

[clear kestrel]

@boreal creek were you wanting to try the very long range - slow setting?

I’d be interested to see if that helps some of us on the fringe.

[boreal creek]

It would be a fun test. I’d be interested. That would make us incompatible with the rest of the mesh though, but would still be a fun test.

[clear kestrel]

If it works well, maybe we can convert them 😉

All that really matters is our local community for now. We can always keep an extra node on the default channel. Let’s test first.

I bought two more rak devices last night.

[spare garden]

i have 3 more arriving friday

[clear kestrel]

I think my PGR node has a hardware issue. I don’t know if there is radio interference from the tower it’s near, which is locking it up, or it can’t handle the mesh traffic, but it stops relaying messages, receiving admin commands, Bluetooth commands and direct messages. But it still sends device metrics.

This is also a node that I fed backwards power, so I already have prejudice towards it.

[spare garden]

neighborinfo off?

[clear kestrel]

If that’s what it is by default.

[clear kestrel]

To put on hill tops between you and us to unite our meshes? 🤝

[spare garden]

probably sprinkle them on random rooftops

[clear kestrel]

Is it in the app settings?

[spare garden]

modules

[clear kestrel]

I’ve nuked this node a few times. So it should have factory settings for the most part.

[spare garden]

i'm curious to know if neighborinfo is on by default too

[spare garden]

oh. it doesn't show up on the apple app

gotta use android for that 1337 stuff

[clear kestrel]

What about webui?

[spare garden]

yes that works too, i believe

[clear kestrel]

@spare garden have you come across similar issues or any issues from nodes near transmission/repeater sites?

[spare garden]

not really

but raks derping themselves are nothing new.

upon flash storage corruption it does a factory reset, methinks
there really needs to be a way to program in "factory settings" for when that happens

[clear kestrel]

https://tenor.com/view/im-going-in-timmy-turner-tiny-timmy-fairly-odd-parents-im-about-to-enter-gif-23883177

I reinstalled the boot loader which you helped me with, and I’ve drag and dropped the nrf52 factory erase file multiple times.

Neighborhood info module is disabled by default. At least mine is and I’ve never touched it.

[mighty finch]

i swear theres a new gps accuracy setting but cant find it in android app.

am i crazy?

[spare garden]

individual channel settings

and... you're crazy.

[mighty finch]

ahhh

that checks out actually

i wired 8 powersupplys inverted to day.

do not trust me.

[boreal creek]

Mmm. Negative voltage.

[mighty finch]

luckily, someone else came and also explained i labled them backwards

so at least they were accurately labled

[clear kestrel]

What do you guys know about shielding in these ipex to sma or ipex to type N?

[spare garden]

too long. make it shorter

[clear kestrel]

It was the shortest one they had. I’ll see if I can find a shorter one.

The gray one came with my Amazon antenna. The one on the n type I bought from Rokland with that big antenna. Should I consider upgrading the gray cable?

[spare garden]

you know you want to

[clear kestrel]

I do, but was that a fix for a broken off ipex connector?

[spare garden]

yes xD

how did you know

[clear kestrel]

Because in your words “if it ain’t broke, don’t broke it”

So does shielding matter that much or is length more of a concern. (Insert length/girth jokes here) 😉

[spare garden]

both \o/

[clear kestrel]

So what is the preferred wire shielding so I can go buy some new connectors.

[spare garden]

i forgot. i radio illiterate

[clear kestrel]

Who sent the discord invite this evening? I got it at my house! 🥳

[boreal creek]

That was me while driving home. I found a new node in the next neighborhood over and tried to DM them, but couldn’t get an acknowledgment, so I sprayed and prayed a bit. LOL

That was my new T-Echo wedged in between the dash and windshield.

[fickle wedge]

Hey folks

Good to see that the T-Echo works well @boreal creek

@clear kestrel I replied to your message

[clear kestrel]

I got the discord invite and the hi Jb

[mighty finch]

looking for suggestions to improve this --- 10.1.10.18 ping statistics --- 31177 packets transmitted, 11060 packets received, 64.5% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 2.770/338.422/15197.163/1306.430 ms

this is the s3 core without jump out board.

ap is about 20 ft away in the same room

[clear kestrel]

iOS update out

[clear kestrel]

You can filter direct contacts. That’s nice! Also I had been wanting to not have to sort though every node I’d ever had contact with, to find my nodes with my admin channel. Now they’re at the top of the list!

[fickle wedge]

nice

[clear kestrel]

Find anything else?

[mighty finch]

is there a nice write up about teh admin channel/

sounds useful

[clear kestrel]

Add a channel to each of your devices named “admin”. They must all have the same key. Within settings, you will now have a drop down to select which of your nodes you’d like to remotely change settings for. Your primary node will be over Bluetooth, the rest will be controlled over Lora.

[clear kestrel]

https://meshtastic.org/docs/configuration/remote-admin/

[mighty finch]

ohh awesome

[trim veldt]

I have been too busy with work to play with my devices , but that is helpful

It’s too bad I can’t have the iPhone app over WiFi to my local node or I’d use it more. The BT range is just too short

[clear kestrel]

There is a little baby heltec case on Etsy that holds a 1200mah battery. Running the little stubby heltec antenna. Have to keep it charged more often than a rak, similar to your cell phone, but I’m more likely to keep it on me than my larger cases with bigger batteries. I run it on client mute and let my outside node pass traffic.

[clear kestrel]

@trim veldt are you getting a ton of snow also?

[trim veldt]

I haven’t been home in 2 days but yea my cameras show it was very snowy

[clear kestrel]

Are you in Modesto? Do they have a mesh set up down there?

I’ve been waiting for your solar node to not say “PWD”

[spare garden]

if you're always near your own nodes with that, might as well set transmit power to 1 to save a lil bit of battery

[clear kestrel]

Now that’s just smart

[clear kestrel]

I’m excited to see the difference in power consumption

[spare garden]

don't be too excited. probably not much difference lol

would probably make way more difference if it were a sensor sending data once every minute.

[clear kestrel]

It’s about the same power consumption as before. If I could get my hands on an equally compact case for a rak, I’d part with the heltec.

[spare garden]

i think tropho had some keychain-sized ones

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1316310429/pony

damn, now i wanna design a compact case for a rak too

except i don't have one of them small base boards lol

[clear kestrel]

Me either. So I ordered a 19007 mini case from tropho

[clear kestrel]

@spare garden https://www.printables.com/model/623484-rak-meshtastic-starter-kit-no-additional-hardware-

This one caught my eye.

I like your 3d pen, heltec case better.

[spare garden]

my actual 3d printed one is pretty small

[clear kestrel]

Nice. I can never justify the price of a 3d printer and then I buy more 3d printed stuff that could have gone towards a printer.

[spare garden]

i bought my 3d printer as a box of parts, more for tinkering than for productive use

[boreal creek]

Testing

[fickle wedge]

@boreal creek any nodes of yours I should try to message?

[boreal creek]

This isnt the final location, or device, or height. LOL. This is ‘jfred1 solar testing’, b it maybe it will help visibility of ‘jfred1’, which is the T-Echo in my pocket.

[fickle wedge]

looks like it's pretty high up if it's above a dipole

I sent a message to a couple of yours @boreal creek

[spare garden]

where be yer neighborinfo lines

[boreal creek]

That dipole isn’t at operating height. That painters pole only has 1 section extended.

[clear kestrel]

Is your antenna still up? @boreal creek

[spare garden]

go max extendo

long pole, tiny antenna

...that was a bit disorienting.

[clear kestrel]

@boreal creek got your “teat” message. I’m getting “Acknowledged by another node” when I reply.

[boreal creek]

LOL, I had to check but I guess I did say “teat”.

[boreal creek]

The solar testing is.

[clear kestrel]

Any improvement over the window?

[mighty finch]

https://www.waveshare.com/sx1262-lorawan-hat.htm

https://www.waveshare.com/sx1262-868m-lora-hat.htm

are these the same but one has gps?

i have an extra pizero begging to become a node

[foggy vine]

I printed this case and liked it, however it wouldn't hold my RAK device and the 2000mah flat battery I had. Plus I added a longer antenna so it didn't work for me 😞

[clear kestrel]

https://tenor.com/view/make-it-fit-tight-shoes-gif-13125670

You’re asking a lot of that case. Sounds like you wanted a case that held a bigger battery and an external antenna.

I have the perfect solution! Buy another RAK device and a battery that fits that case 😜

[foggy vine]

The external antenna I got later, at first I was going to use the stock one from RAK. What was the case designed for in terms of battery? I don't know if the 2000mah I got is big for a 2000mah battery, but I was hoping it would of fit. Love the idea of the case though, no screws needed. 😄 . One of the few I could successfully print from my 3d printer also, not having a lot of luck with other cases 😦 . Need a better printer

[clear kestrel]

I searched high and low. The one picture I found of that case, opened up, with a battery, the battery details can’t be seen. There is a similar pocket node by tropho that uses a 500mah battery. Look what I found on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1316310429/rak19003-micro-internal-antenna-case-for?ref=share_v4_lx

I’m just pointing out the battery in his pictures and the battery he recommends in the listing. Not the case.

[clear kestrel]

That way better than my non existent 3d printer or printing skills.

Anyone else’s node count go up a lot today?

I saw one node with a website for its long name. turlockmesh.net. Takes you to their discord. One of the guys said he talked to DM7.

[keen willow]

I am looking for "Blue" Are you the owner, or do you know the owner - I was in the Southwest part of Folsom CA when the "Blue' node popped up. I did message 'Blue" and got the Cloud Checkmark so I am not sure if "Blue" got the message or not

[spare garden]

in SF, if it's the same Blue as the one I saw

oh wait different

[keen willow]

It could be a mobile unit so he could have been in SF. I have seen him several times even use his node as a hop to another node.

[clear kestrel]

Did you send them a link to this discord group?

I saw Eric asking about that Blue node on the Sacramento Facebook group.

[clear kestrel]

What about bluffs 1-2? Ever talked to that guy? He drives a lot with that node on highways 50 and 5.

[boreal creek]

You all need to start spamming the Discord link anytime you think you can get a message through to them. lol

[pearl terrace]

set it in your name so they join

that's what we're all doing in our area

[boreal creek]

Are you guys using a bitly link or something to shorten it?

[pearl terrace]

i just have a domain pointing at a discord redirect: https://turlockmesh.net

i'd recommend that, it allows you some flexibility to throw up a full web page there eventually too

that's my plan eventually

[boreal creek]

Oh yay! An excuse to buy yet another domain!

[clear kestrel]

It works. That’s how I found you guys on discord. Welcome to ours!

[pearl terrace]

always a good excuse 😄

[fickle wedge]

Hi @pearl terrace

[fickle wedge]

It's not intuitive. I got the link from one of you initially but I was not in the Meshtastic server so the link didn't work

It was only after I thought to connect to Meshtastic that the link worked

Invites are disabled for regular users on this server

[spare garden]

am I a regular user

[boreal creek]

I'm not a graphics person, but if someone wants to create something cool for SacValleyMesh.com, let me know.

[spare garden]

ask chatgpt

[boreal creek]

man, I'm not used to that being a thing

[spare garden]

me neither. I've never even used it

[pearl terrace]

hello 😄

[fickle wedge]

@pearl terrace what nodes are you in the Sacvalley mesh?

My node count of seen nodes is 62 at this point

[boreal creek]

He's TurlockMesh... which prompted me to register SacValleyMesh.com

[spare garden]

mine is 103 🫠

[fickle wedge]

ooh, we have a sacvalleymesh domain now? Nice @boreal creek

What're we gonna put on it

[boreal creek]

My node count is way up too... I just think it's cuz each of us are buying our 9th and 10th domain.

[boreal creek]

a link to here. 😄

[fickle wedge]

lol

[boreal creek]

I dunno... I don't have plans. But I'll have it

if you're a web dev, let me know.

[spare garden]

I'm way behind on web stuff. I still stuck on html 4.01

[fickle wedge]

Should put up a placeholder page on it, saying join Meshtastic discord server then go to https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/1218658644703445173 US CA Sac Valley & Foot Hills subchannel

[pearl terrace]

chatgpt + dalle ftw

[fickle wedge]

AI art is always irritating

[boreal creek]

That's what I'm thinking. I literally just registered though, so I have a little bit of time for DNS stuff

[pearl terrace]

yes but…it is a good starting place

i'm not a good designer but i can use AI art to start on something

[boreal creek]

From Microsoft Copilot ... which uses DALL-E, I believe.

[spare garden]

remember to include some -- . ... ....

[pearl terrace]

whoa that's way better than just DALL-E

like…that's usable as is

[boreal creek]

it took a couple revisions, but yeah

[pearl terrace]

i asked chatgpt to actually use my specific text and it didn't do it

[spare garden]

the morse code be all wrong though 🫠

[boreal creek]

I like yours,,, "MESSHY MESSITY"

😄

[pearl terrace]

😂

[spare garden]

meshtitties

[pearl terrace]

is as if the AI was talking it itself…"meshy mesh meshhhyyyy messityyy"

@boreal creek can you do one for TurlockMesh.net?

[boreal creek]

lol, I can try... this is my first time really trying this. I just went to bing.com and then clicked copilot

[fickle wedge]

We're all fancy with logos when we can't even get our nodes to talk reliably yet

lol

Branding precedes the actual function

[boreal creek]

It took a couple tries... it kept going with TurlockMeesh.net. lol

not sure it's my thing, but that's what it came up with

[fickle wedge]

Meesh

it's better than just plain ol' "mesh", it's meesh

[boreal creek]

Mesh++

[pearl terrace]

meeessh

[pearl terrace]

tyvm 😄

[boreal creek]

http://www.sacvalleymesh.com/

It's really rough, but that's what you get for an AI generated logo and 5 minutes of my time. 😄

[fickle wedge]

It's probably better designed and more informative than 99% of ham websites.

😂

[boreal creek]

those websites were cutting edge when they were made! (in 1994!)

[spare garden]

is that mostly copy and paste?

[boreal creek]

I pasted the URL's

[spare garden]

which html spec did you follow?

[boreal creek]

whatever was in my brain from 20+ years ago

[spare garden]

ouch. it seems older than mine

your "click here" has an extra space at the front

but newer parsers be smart and don't display it, lol

[boreal creek]

fix't

[spare garden]

fast 👀

ssl next? 😄

[boreal creek]

I'm SSH'd into the box, so choose your preferred editor and go

[spare garden]

cat. ed.

[boreal creek]

hold up now. let's not get TOO crazy. lol

(re SSL cert)

[spare garden]

hey, i just enabled tls on my site a couple days ago

after like 17 years

[boreal creek]

I guess it's easier now with Let's Encrypt

[clear kestrel]

We're turning into our parents 🤪

[boreal creek]

Pretty much!

[clear kestrel]

Most of those are yours. They don't count. 😝

[boreal creek]

I actually changed the logo on the page again and went old school

[clear kestrel]

Not a bad idea, but it was pretty neat the way I clicked on the Turlockmesh.net and was instantly brought to their discord.

[clear kestrel]

Now I understand why it can't just link you straight to our discord. Nicely done JFred!

[pearl terrace]

Yeah I’m down south by a fair bit, hope to hit you guys some day!

I got my domain to redirect just by setting it in cloudflare

Page redirects >

[keen willow]

No, I did not because I am not sure if he is a Facebook Member or not

[clear kestrel]

Try sending this link to his node. http://www.sacvalleymesh.com/

[clear kestrel]

I've been wanting to try the alfa antenna that you often see being used. It's sold out on Rokland. https://store.rokland.com/products/alfa-aoa-915-5acm-5-dbi-omni-outdoor-915mhz-802-11ah-mini-antenna-for-lora-halow-application

I found one on walmart.com, but I'm not convinced it's not a counterfeit. https://www.walmart.com/ip/AL-FA-AOA-915-5ACM-5-dbi-Omni-Outdoor-915MHz-802-11ah-Antenna-for-LoRa-Helium/5032885829?clickid=wB-2nFSEpxyPRD8SnswZE109UkHRL2X-5VQs1o0&irgwc=1&sourceid=imp_wB-2nFSEpxyPRD8SnswZE109UkHRL2X-5VQs1o0&veh=aff&wmlspartner=imp_10579&affiliates_ad_id=565706&campaign_id=9383&sharedid=

[spare garden]

fake ones do exist.

[clear kestrel]

Kind of sus that that Alfa has a space in the name "AL FA"

[spare garden]

was just about to mention that, lol

[fickle wedge]

Those ALFA AOA's are good antennas. I tested I think a 1.2:1 SWR on them on the Nano VNA at 908MHz

[clear kestrel]

I signed up for an “in stock” notification.

There is an iOS Meshtastic update out

[boreal creek]

@keen willow , I don’t know if Eric is here, but I wanted to throw a small idea out there to making the FB group private. My thought is if we’re sharing more details about our precise locations, I’d rather keep that info between us rather than completely public.

[mighty finch]

i have eyes on him daily, coworker, got me into this.

blue is also his.

bluffs, bluffs 1-2 and blue

also

ir eally hope yalla rent spending time MAKING logos

https://www.design.com/maker/logos/page1?text=Sac Valley Mesh&textChanged=true&isFromLogoHome=true#show-onboarding-modal

[clear kestrel]

Let him know he's invited and that I'm curious about his mobile setup because I see him everywhere!

[mighty finch]

hes just not the most social type.

but ill bring it up tomorrow when i see him

[clear kestrel]

Ok. No biggy. I can respect that.

[mighty finch]

he got a few different hw models

even a fuckin echo

lucky fuck jumped at them a while back when they launched

[mighty finch]

in person he'll talk forever but no real online presense.

https://www.nooelec.com/store/ratlsnake-m6.html

we both have those on the cars

think he keeeps the tbeam in the car

not sure whats at home.

[clear kestrel]

Those are great. @boreal creek

[mighty finch]

we're trying to get a node on the roof of our work, but arent 100% sure what antenna we should be putting up

[clear kestrel]

That's awesome!

How many stories?

[mighty finch]

my home, to work.

ahh its like a 2 story building but the top is empty space

so we gotta find a tall ladder and sneak up there after work

but also we need to make a solar node

ideally

[clear kestrel]

That's way better than what a lot of people can do.

Low maintenance is nice.

[mighty finch]

ideally we dont want to go back up there for a long time.

skipping the permission part 🙂

[clear kestrel]

Except for major firmware updates, you shouldn't have to.

[mighty finch]

like the boss doesnt care but do the landlords? lol we dont really have roof access

ahh i think with admin channel you can push out fw updates cant you?

maybe i dreamed that

not seeing it in docs

[clear kestrel]

Done properly, it will just blend into the infrastructure up there.

[mighty finch]

yeah but us on the roof will send up flares haha

[clear kestrel]

No, not enough bandwith.

But you can do it over bluetooth

[mighty finch]

tru

[clear kestrel]

admin channel is just for changing settings

not sure if bluetooth will make it through the roof.

[mighty finch]

and yes, those nooelec antennas re INSANLY good

i had basicly never seen another node before it.

[fiery heath]

What up what up👹👹

[mighty finch]

oh there he is.

[fiery heath]

I will grant three wishes

[clear kestrel]

Is that Mr. Bluffs Mobile Stack?

[mighty finch]

the conquerer

[fiery heath]

Oh yeah this is the bluffs everything🤣

This group has blown up!

[clear kestrel]

I see your B1-2 node all over the place

You must drive a lot

[mighty finch]

@fiery heath

my place to the shop.

str8 fuckin line to the win

[fiery heath]

Yooooo we need to get a tower up there .

[mighty finch]

we need a bucket truck

[fiery heath]

Oh yeah I’m always testing these things out trying to see who else Is out there . Trying to entangle everyone . I think almost everyone’s on the map now aren’t they?

[fiery heath]

I’m gonna talk to that dude tomorrow and ask if we can put something on his tower

[clear kestrel]

I don't see Keaton yet

[fiery heath]

Yeah one we get him up and running on the map it will be the lighthouse that will reach a lot of nodes , hopefully on the tuba side too

[clear kestrel]

Unless you're 5238?

[mighty finch]

you do see and speak with him.

666, floatcar, and floathouse

[fiery heath]

And yo @clear kestrel what kinda antenna you guys running over there . One day you guys just kinda popped up

[clear kestrel]

Oh duh

I forgot I saw you in Benicia

[mighty finch]

yep!

that was before i got the good antenna too.

[clear kestrel]

What did you get?

[mighty finch]

the nooelec kit i posted

[clear kestrel]

It's just some cheapo off of Amazon

[fiery heath]

Well that cheapo is packing HEATTT

[clear kestrel]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095JTW6XM?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

[fiery heath]

Get the fuck out ! That’s what you’re using!

[clear kestrel]

I think it's the elevation that's helping

[mighty finch]

the nooelec antennas seem to make up for the low elevation somehow.

[fiery heath]

I got a 40$ log periodic antenna off Amazon pointed right at you guys down towards Jackson from where I’m at , and I have a nooelec antenna as a backup . The nooelec is freaky strong

[mighty finch]

is it straight?

the amazon antenna ya posted

[fiery heath]

Yeah looks like a bendy

[clear kestrel]

Yes, no bend at the elbow

[mighty finch]

reviews say its ass if bent

and also just antenna roulette?

damn you amazon.

[clear kestrel]

The nooelec is the omni and the periodic is the directional?

[fiery heath]

Yes

[spare garden]

no log periodic for meshtastic plzkthx

[fiery heath]

https://a.co/d/hsMU0I3

That’s what I’m using

[spare garden]

what a waste of signal

[fiery heath]

I guess ? But I got like 8 nodes here so I’m not worried at all

[spare garden]

a 6dBi omni will probably work better than that

[fiery heath]

And it got me 40 miles away

[spare garden]

(j/k i know nothing about antennas/RF)

[mighty finch]

whys that?

i thoguht more dbi =more better

[spare garden]

"up to" 10dBi

[fiery heath]

More DBI the more pointy the beam

[spare garden]

which means it's more like 2-3dBi at the meshtastic frequency range

maybe a bit more if you're lucky

[clear kestrel]

Unfortunately my node that overlooks the Valley is not "sanctioned"

So I can't do a big overt antenna

[mighty finch]

lol

[fiery heath]

Sanctioned ?

[spare garden]

make big covert antenna

[fiery heath]

Is it Iranian?

[mighty finch]

put it higher then they want to climb

[clear kestrel]

I know I'm not going to get permission so, so it's hiding

[mighty finch]

is some legality about this im unaware of?

oh i see

trespassing

[clear kestrel]

Without that node, I'm out of the game. It's a big ass hill between me and you.

[mighty finch]

rgr

[clear kestrel]

Which also means I'm not running solar so I have to charge it from time to time.

Luckily it's a RAK device and the battery lasts forever.

So, @fiery heath, what mobile antenna do you use?

[clear kestrel]

I wish

[mighty finch]

1/1.44 on my identical antenna

so i guess its not too bad

[spare garden]

my antenna has perfect swr

[clear kestrel]

You're out of control 🤦‍♂️

[spare garden]

i'm perfectly in control of my swr

[fiery heath]

Antenna theory I use the nooelec for my car

Oops no antenna theory

[clear kestrel]

I'll be looking into that antenna

[fiery heath]

Yeah it’s freaky . I think it’s more solid metal and just the physics of it makes it able to hold more amps .. like you can boost the shit out of it

[fiery heath]

Drone antennas are super legit for these

I use this on foot

[clear kestrel]

Is that thing directional?

[spare garden]

i bet that works better than your log periodic

[clear kestrel]

Is it bi directional?

[spare garden]

well, it's bidirectional more than omnidirectional xD

[clear kestrel]

Which side faces the enemy?

[spare garden]

but... it's mostly one direction

[spare garden]

think of it like a 2 element yagi

[clear kestrel]

Ok so the rf goes out toward the ends?

[spare garden]

the way the coax is pointing

pew pew pew

keep elements vertical (coax horizontal!) for meshtastic

[clear kestrel]

Oh, out the "top" so to speak

[spare garden]

https://www.antennaskit.com/files/web-Directional-Antenna-2-elements-108-150MHz-Protel-antennakit.webp like this

[clear kestrel]

Like that?

[fiery heath]

Yeah a good antenna fact sheet with some graphics is definitely needed with the mesh . People have been tuning their antennas wrong and everything . And is anyone using very slow long or whatever ?

[clear kestrel]

Not that I know of

[fiery heath]

Yes that was but alittle oval shape and wider , they have a parasitic mod you can do with them and make them more directional and more dbi

[clear kestrel]

Jfred and I had talked about testing it but we haven’t done it yet.

[fiery heath]

The very long slow gets a little more distance and in a way kinda more power but with just a little different frequency. I wonder if it helps with connection distance at all?

[clear kestrel]

I’m interested it testing it. Maybe we can get a few people on here to switch over for a little while to test.

I gotta run. I’ll catch up with you guys later. Glad to have you on here Mr. Bluffs 😉

[fiery heath]

Haha good to talk to you too bro ! And yeah let me know I have tons of nodes with nothing to do lol 🫡

[boreal creek]

Hey everyone

I didn’t see at the time, but while I was at little league practice, ‘Meshtastic 55FC’ drove by not too far away. I hope the new node name gets people here.

[fickle wedge]

Howdy @fiery heath

wsup @boreal creek

[fiery heath]

Hey there @fickle wedge ! How goes the good sunny day?

[boreal creek]

Hey @fiery heath , welcome

[fiery heath]

Hey there thanks ! lol now all the nodes are people 🤣 cool to see everyone finally in a spot

[fickle wedge]

@fiery heath which nodes in this fine mesh of sac valley are yours? Mine are obviously any tagged AD6DM

[fiery heath]

I am actually updating mine now and they will all be BLUFFS at the beginning. I have one that’s blue but it’s being changed in about 5 min .

[fickle wedge]

Ah yes, the BLUFFs

I have tried to traceroute those bluff nodes, but was not successful

[fiery heath]

I do a lot of tests with them and sometimes are on and off , the past few weeks I just made a base node when I realized there were people out there on the mesh finally lol

Getting everything set and named tonight and probably going to try and make a node into a very slow very long node and see how the reach goes .

[fickle wedge]

I think it took mountain people like @clear kestrel putting up solar nodes that tied me to the rest of y'all. Otherwise I'm just here in a bowl of Elk Grove. I get pings here and there from Rancho Cordova or Tracy, but they are few and far between

[fiery heath]

Ahhhh yes all of a sudden the range went out to 40 miles and I put up an antenna higher and then everyone was on the map and it’s growing. I drove to Newport Beach this weekend and there are literally nodes all the way down to Mexico solid except on the 5 from Modesto to basically the grapevine . But if that gets filled I say in the nest 1-2 years there should be full state comms . Kinda cool

[fiery heath]

That node placement is pretty damn convenient !

[foggy vine]

I have a node up in West Placer County by hwy 65 yet haven't seen anyone yet 😞 . The Rebel Link 1 I see on meshmap.net seems closest but haven't had any communication.

[mighty finch]

at least its flat

🙂

[fiery heath]

🤣🤣

[clear kestrel]

The rak devices are so power efficient. I have one on a 3700mah battery that was last fully charged April 2nd at 7pm. It’s at 63% as of right now.

[fiery heath]

Hahahahaha that’s freaking fantastic! I those are the only ones I haven’t gotten yet . I need a few

[clear kestrel]

It’ll take another day of gathering data, but I think the soshine panel is overkill for a rak node. I guess I could have just looked at the numbers to figure that out.

[clear kestrel]

You have some on order?

[fiery heath]

Haha not yet been on a ham craze and raspberry pi’s figuring them out . But I think it’s almost over is waiting for them to stock them up .

I would love some usb c type ones

[clear kestrel]

Might as well start the wait now. It takes awhile for them to come from China. The cheapest option I’ve found is direct from rak. Coupon code “welcomeback10” for $10 off. They don’t sell the micro usb version anymore. Everything is USB C.

https://store.rakwireless.com/products/wisblock-meshtastic-starter-kit

[clear kestrel]

What are you using a pi for? Only one I have is running my DMR hotspot.

That was a short lived hobby.

[clear kestrel]

I’ve seen it on the mesh map, but it hasn’t made its way into the mesh over here yet. At least I don’t see it in my node list. Go higher 🤪

[fiery heath]

I have been getting into the sdr stuff pretty heavy and learning all the ham stuff for amateur . And never had a pi so thought why not lol so now I got a few 5’s and gonna make one a mesh something

[clear kestrel]

You’re a pioneer! I wait till people like you figure that stuff out and then copy you. 😝

[fiery heath]

Hahahah yeah figuring it all out now and when I get it all running I will definitely share it all🤙🏽🤙🏽

[clear kestrel]

I got a new RTL-SDR v4. Only played with it a little. Don’t have a strong grasp on the software I’m running or the plugins.

[fiery heath]

Ahhh those are sweet . I run 4 of them with Lena’s on them for trunk’d freqs and use DragonOS , comes with all the demodulators and decoder apps .. has everything. Super fun

Those are very capable ! The new 5 is out too I haven’t tried out yet

Got two hack rf I have been messing around with

[clear kestrel]

My county’s comms are all all analog and I haven’t found any trunked systems.

I have an old school uniden home patrol II that meets most of my needs.

[fiery heath]

Ahhh that’s right you’re out there out there. I got two p25 for corrections facility.. jails wild🤣🤣

[clear kestrel]

I'm pretty sure the home patrol does Phase 2 P25. I don't have anyone that uses that around here though.

Anyone interested in trying "very long - slow" in about an hour?

Test failed

You know that was for you

[fickle wedge]

The soshine panel recharges my (3750mAh x 2) batts from 92ish % to 100% in 3 hours of a morning.

It is a bit overpowered, yes.

[spare garden]

I have the tink rak solar enclosure. it takes a few weeks for the battery to become full.

add a gps and battery becomes dead in a week

[fickle wedge]

@clear kestrel then it takes another 5 days to get down to 92% again.

[boreal creek]

So I guess it will charge my 10,000 mAh battery decently then. 🤣

[fickle wedge]

I would say so

[boreal creek]

I’ll be prepared for a 3mo eclipse

[fiery heath]

lol

[fickle wedge]

The soshine is probably good for an ESP32 based solar node, but it is not smart to use a ESP32 because all of those currently cannot be firmware updated OTA

so you have to take it down

[spare garden]

more dynamite, moaaaar

[spare garden]

they can.

[boreal creek]

I have my T-Beam Supreme in the box being charged by the panel right now, with a single 18650.

I still need to get the giant ladder and mount it at its permanent location.

[fickle wedge]

i have yet to see it. Every ESP32 I know needs a USB connection

[spare garden]

I've seen it in action a few times.

[fickle wedge]

which ones

[spare garden]

and there was even ota update in the Android app like 2 years ago

for t-beam and friends

[fickle wedge]

interesting.

Have not seen the option

[spare garden]

give it like half more year and it might be back in web flasher form, lol

but right now ota tests look promising

[fickle wedge]

Not finding very much on the topic, only minor mentions or question in forum

[spare garden]

have you tried... discord?

[fickle wedge]

:trollface:

[spare garden]

[fickle wedge]

:trolled:

[spare garden]

[fickle wedge]

If it ain't documented it don't exist

[spare garden]

okay it doesn't exist

it's only there in the firmware files

[fickle wedge]

https://youtu.be/iNlqt3pvRFg?si=hnjeAteS3vmEwpxA&t=20

[clear kestrel]

I have a 16ft extension ladder. Probably too short.

[boreal creek]

Yeah, I need like a 24 footer. The eaves are 20 feet up alone

[clear kestrel]

I remember you telling me about that. I’ll let you know if mine behaves the same. I have a 3700mAh battery in that node.

[open nest]

hi

[boreal creek]

Hi @open nest !

@open nest are you in the Sac area? If so, approx location? What kind of devices do you have?

[open nest]

I'm up the hill, but I was driving around with my techo

I'll be driving around sac again today.

[fickle wedge]

@boreal creek great idea to tag your node with the URL

https://tenor.com/view/walking-dead-rick-daryl-what-confused-gif-5144949

Now ALL THE PEOPLE will come to Terminus!

[fiery heath]

🤣🤣🤣

Is anyone running a node from a pico?

[boreal creek]

Some of the people in the hills help provide some nice range boosts for us flat-landers. 🤣

[open nest]

Well, im in placerville

Every now and then I pick up someone traveling on 50 or at Safeway

Looking to get into this a little more in my spare time.

[fiery heath]

lol I think I picked you up last week when I went up to that gold bug mine

Oh the nodes will be coming up that way soon for sure . Trying to get auburn on the map and it should all kinda trickle in after that

[clear kestrel]

@open nest welcome! I have your T-echo in my node list now. Says unknown age, so not sure when I picked you up. I was in Placerville a couple weeks ago and didn’t see anyone. Now there is a tower mounted node in Pollock Pines I see on the map. Meshtastic is spreading fast. When did you get your nodes?

[open nest]

Well, I start off my day by mather then travel all around south east sac

I just got my nose up last weekend

[clear kestrel]

That explains why we’re just now seeing you. Glad to have you!

[fickle wedge]

Glad so many nodes are popping up

[open nest]

I'm gonna have to put a repeater out where I live next.

[boreal creek]

What's your node name? I'm not far from Mather.

[open nest]

ld10101

[boreal creek]

man, how am I ever gonna remember your node name vs your discord name.

[open nest]

😵

[boreal creek]

oh, here we go. I did pick you up... last time early this morning

[open nest]

I bet you'll get me again around 4 then

[boreal creek]

TBH, if you're on 50, you're prob too far to get direct, but @clear kestrel has some good elevation and helps link a lot of us down here together.

[clear kestrel]

Does your home location have line of sight into the valley by any chance?

I just picked up AGST IN Davis 🤯

61 miles

[boreal creek]

I saw one out there on 80.... probably through you. I don't have a name, just "Meshtastic D674"

[clear kestrel]

That’s the one. I picked him up then too without his node info populating. He’s stilll on 80. I need to up my mobile game.

@boreal creek I put a second “PGR” out yesterday evening. I put your coordinates in my garmin so I had an azimuth to work with. I made sure to put it in a location that has no trees between us. It’s not as high, but before there were some trees in the way.

[boreal creek]

I saw that and was gonna ask

[spare garden]

https://tenor.com/view/cats-funny-animals-offended-nose-up-pride-gif-10704733

[fiery heath]

On point

[boreal creek]

Did anyone get a message from '1414' (Meshtastic 81f7)?

[clear kestrel]

Yeah, I did.

“Cq cq cq”

Did my reply come through?

[clear kestrel]

I just realized there is an addictive element to Meshtastic. Being that it only works sometimes, we’re being intermittently rewarded.

https://tenor.com/view/casino-oldpeople-oldpeopleonslots-slots-vegas-gif-27586086

😂

[spare garden]

what about the ones running 7-hop range tests for the past 9.5 hours

[clear kestrel]

Fox hunt!

[spare garden]

got gps position

but i think the node is in some shipping container

[clear kestrel]

That’ll be even easier 😉

Like in tracker role?

[spare garden]

[clear kestrel]

What makes you think it’s in a shipping container? 🤪

[spare garden]

because it moved over to san francisco for a bit

[fiery heath]

People use them to track stuff ?

[spare garden]

j/k there's a phone tethered to it

i just noticed.

[fiery heath]

Ahhhhh I was like dang they meshing human trafficking now 🤣🤣

[spare garden]

brb. chores.

[clear kestrel]

How can you tell there is a phone connected to it?

[spare garden]

packet id

[clear kestrel]

That was my first thought.

[spare garden]

packet id increments whether it's a lora packet or a bluetooth (phone) packet

[clear kestrel]

Interesting. Can that be seen in the app?

I’m not ignoring the fact that you have chores. 😬

[spare garden]

debug panel in android app

i was going to implement it in my logging script, but i got lazy

[boreal creek]

I didn't get it

[fiery heath]

Dang did id101 get up and running in our mesh from up there?

[clear kestrel]

I picked up his node info, but not his location.

[fiery heath]

Nice , I think by end of summer this is gonna be a big group

[clear kestrel]

My node count goes up everyday. I think you’re right.

You should see the picture in my first post for this group or whatever you call it.

Compared to now.

From March 16th to today, my node count went from like 10 to 60. That’s fast!

[boreal creek]

You mean this? lol

[clear kestrel]

Thanks. Did you have scroll all the way up or is there a faster way to get to the start? I tried to add the Sac Valley Mesh logo you came up to the first post so that it shows up in the connect list, but it looks like you can only add a photo when you first create the connect group. Or is it a channel? I’m new to discord.

[boreal creek]

Had to scroll all the way.... I don't do discord much either

[boreal creek]

Not the logo that I came up with... that Bing Copilot came up with. 🤣

[clear kestrel]

You meant what I knew

@fickle wedge my solar powered rak is holding at 4.08V

[fickle wedge]

word.

[clear kestrel]

Correct me if I’m wrong. The difference between 4.08 and 4.2 is not a lot of watt hours?

[fickle wedge]

I did not get any 1414

[clear kestrel]

So that behavior is probably meant for battery longevity?

[fickle wedge]

Right now I'm doing a write-up on my fun with a Linux-based dual-mode VARA FM/packet Winlink gateway that I built after much struggle with sound cards and BPQ.

[clear kestrel]

https://tenor.com/view/datadog-data-dog-dataism-dataist-datarecovery-gif-1021590645496425248

[boreal creek]

I’ve heard some neat things about VARA FM, but I’ve never tried it myself

I dont have coax running into the house, so I set up and play in bursts

[clear kestrel]

Just watched a video on VARA FM. Very cool.

[mighty finch]

i mean not really in the life of the battery.

[clear kestrel]

Perfect then. I’m not seeing any cons to the charging behavior of the rak 19007.

[mighty finch]

if it stays between 3.2 and 3.9 its ideak

ideal

theyre rated by charge cycles

and a cycle is 0-100

so if youre only going from 40-70% you're barely using the battery

staying at 4.0+ would be bad and stayinng below 3.0 would be bad for extended periods(months)

[spare garden]

my phone usually stays between 45% and 65% for the whole day

[mighty finch]

realisticly youll get exponentialy longer life out of batteries charged this way

[spare garden]

my motorcycle stays at 75% though because it needs to power 2 computers 🫠

[mighty finch]

think the chemistry in an auto battery is different

unless you have lion/lipo

conversion

[spare garden]

lithium ion

[mighty finch]

ah

[spare garden]

it's a $8k battery

[mighty finch]

zero bike?

[spare garden]

yes 😆

[mighty finch]

dang

id love to see one in person one day

bring it to sac

[spare garden]

I voided my warranty a week after I got it

[mighty finch]

its a nice day for a ride

[clear kestrel]

@fiery heath you were almost my furthest node down there on highway 5.

[spare garden]

I think that's a one way trip 😆

[mighty finch]

we got chargers man!

😄

[spare garden]

I'll be melted into a puddle by the time it finishes charging

[clear kestrel]

Why? Gets hot?

[mighty finch]

its not hot yet :-p

only 70 out there

[spare garden]

you live there. you should know, lol

the real bay area never gets hot.

[clear kestrel]

Maybe on your side of the Oakland hills.

Is it true if I go buy a tent at the thrift store, I can live anywhere I want in Oakland?

[spare garden]

only until they kick you off to another location

you can drive a stolen car with no problem too

it's only a problem if you get caught stealing one.

[clear kestrel]

Maybe I’ll spend my summer there. Where’s that van at?

[spare garden]

them old volkswagens are popular.

some people have had theirs stolen like 6 times in a year