US CA Sac Valley & Foot Hills

[bitter iron]

my harness has an exipration date of 2009. OTOH, I wear it about once a year, and it only has to work ONCE.

[idle sentinel]

yea mine doesn't quite fit, and the metal has some corrision so I don't trust it

[pearl terrace]

Someone wanna come climb my parents’ 40’ comms pole to stick a node up there?

[bitter iron]

hard pass. I spent a year going around north georgia taking down old TV towers for fun and (little) profit, and that was about the closest I ever came to dying aside from getting shot at.

and motorcycles. 🙂

[pearl terrace]

Haha

Fair fair

I’ll do it someday, I just don’t like it

I also wanna run something else up there, I just don’t know what yet. Maybe another AREDN node if mine works well

[bitter iron]

That moment when you think, "Do it ride it to the ground? Do I try to jump? Where's the closest hospital? Does my wife KNOW I love her?"

[pearl terrace]

Yeahhhhh

Nope

[clear kestrel]

Does their tower have a wide view into the valley?

[pearl terrace]

It might have a good view to hit the mountains on either side

Different than my in laws places

This is in Turlock

[idle sentinel]

Here's the plots from Diablo and Vaca

[bitter iron]

Nice....

[idle sentinel]

this is at a -127dbm recieve - i'm going pretty poor rx conditions (crap anntena/inside house)

in reality it should be much better

[bitter iron]

I remember running those plots and PRAYING for -92 dbm receive for my WISP.

[clear kestrel]

Oh, gotcha. I was thinking about Mountain Ranch

[pearl terrace]

yeah sorry wrong site

funny enough though, my in laws also have a 40' comms tower as well

the area is too hilly to run any los stuff though, it'd be good for ham radio ops

[frosty carbon]

Oh hell naw

If you ask me about taking down a crap tower I'm gonna say get everyone away, pass out celebratory brews, and cut the guy wires at an outer anchor

Won't work for self supported of course but yeah

[bitter iron]

step 1: sawzall 1 leg at the base and support with a 4x4

[frosty carbon]

They go charmingly fast once you drop the guys

[bitter iron]

charmingly. Even more impressive when it's a dump truck that accidentally takes out the guys with it's raised dump.

[frosty carbon]

I haven't used slack in ages and it looks like it wants me to have an invite? If that's the case can you send it to me at [e-mail]

Or a landscaper

[idle sentinel]

that link should be an invite

[bitter iron]

"My internet doesn't work right now"
"yeah.... about that....":

[idle sentinel]

checks

[frosty carbon]

That's why I'm glad the Walnut Grove towers have their anchors on big raised pedestals

[idle sentinel]

so if you have an account it should just work

[frosty carbon]

A couple years ago we had to do emergency repairs after it was found one of the anchors on JV had a badly corroded part

Okay

[bitter iron]

"Is that supposed to look like that?" "Oh, shit." Love it.

[frosty carbon]

Oh yeah I don't have an account already and it doesn't want to let me create one without an sfwem.net email.

Cloud services are so great LMAO

https://youtu.be/nTlTbHnqu2Q this one didn't like a category 5 hurricane

[bitter iron]

After Katrina hit, we lost a tower in a swamp on the Mississippi/Louisiana state line. and I mean LOST it. Parts of it sank into the bayou and were never found. The roof of the radio shack was 3/4 mile away

mother nature. ain't nothing like her.
I love all these guys on the facebook page with their tupperware and 3d printed "outdoor" enclosures. UV is gonna kill that stuff in about 6 weeks.

[pearl terrace]

Same

[frosty carbon]

You can buy good outdoor enclosures easily, that's what I do

[bitter iron]

yep. I think I'd go with metal for something 2000 feet up a tower, instead of plastic.

[frosty carbon]

Yep

Plastic is fine for portable nodes

[idle sentinel]

The vaca node will be plastic but a proper uv rated bud style box, but its not going to be up a tower. Diablo will be inside the building.

[clear kestrel]

@open rivet do you have cell service up there? We got your test messages.

[pearl terrace]

I’m getting them here

I responded to them, don’t think they made it back tho

[tropic matrix]

same here, got the message but no response.

[fickle wedge]

I was sending in Rancho Cordova but the messages weren't getting relayed out. Something was acknowledging them.

[clear kestrel]

@fickle wedge I got your “Testing 123”

Would be nice to have time stamps on messages. I wonder if there is a request submitted for that. I think the android app has it.

[pearl terrace]

I think it’s supposed to go there

My node doesn’t have good time though and idk how to properly set it

[clear kestrel]

Nice. Thanks!

[open rivet]

I got a good traceroute via Turlock mesh. We will see what ot does

[clear kestrel]

From up there or are you back down now?

[pearl terrace]

Weird wonder why I can’t get a route back up to you via TM1

[open rivet]

From on the hill. I am on wY to livermore now

[clear kestrel]

It has a listening problem. 😉

[open rivet]

I'm starting to think that way too... give it a week and see

[clear kestrel]

It can hear your strong signal when you're near it, but it can't hear weaker signals from afar?

[pearl terrace]

That’s just a general problem with lora I think

RX is pretty decent, but TX is an issue since these devices are such low power

[open rivet]

But I did send a tr to TM and Turlock taco successfully so it seems to hear when it wants to.

[pearl terrace]

Well that’s good

I still get pings from it on a regular basis

Through TM1 to my router node

[open rivet]

I have it set for client-router so I can still see it by BT when I get up there... I wonder if that has something to do with it

[clear kestrel]

For me Router Client has been the most stable of the 3 prioritized roles.

Did you do the factory erase from the app?

[open rivet]

FYI I wiped it and reloaded withv2.3.4 beta

[clear kestrel]

When you say wiped, what procedure did you use?

[open rivet]

The erase uf2, it reboots, connect with term and see the format complete message, the copy th FW file and config from Android app from scratch.

[clear kestrel]

Perfect

https://tenor.com/view/hmmm-thinking-confused-gif-14450462

This?

[open rivet]

It has a pasternack PE510M1018 antenna 6db omni 900-928 mhz on it.

[clear kestrel]

If you were closer I'd give you one of mine to take up there to see if it's the location or the node.

[open rivet]

Correct on the procedure for rak erase

Yeah, it is 30 feet below a 74 watt vhf paging transmitter... could be desense

But it shoul benefit from the isolation of the vertical seperation.

[clear kestrel]

You were not receiving any of our messages on your FED2 node either?

So you had two nodes up there, neither were receiving, but both were reaching very far away.

[open rivet]

Fed 2 dropped out of range quickly as we drove down the hill

Worse comes to worse I will move it to my alternate site.

[clear kestrel]

After you sent the "test" from FED2. People replied in Turlock, Pine Grove, El Dorado Hills, and I think Elk Grove.

[open rivet]

Another thought is because it looks down on so much population line of site the there may just be a huge noise floor...

Would have stuck around longer on the hill but had to get coworker back to livermore by 4pm before he went into overtime...

[pearl terrace]

wonder if a filter would help

[clear kestrel]

@open rivet I share your frustration. We'll all play radio with you till we get it figured out.

[clear kestrel]

That will rule out the desense. Assuming that's not another tower.

[clear kestrel]

Damn, firmware is moving fast. 2.3.6 is now a stable beta and 2.3.7 is the new alpha.

[open rivet]

@Jb Actual yes, it is my 300 footer but all the transmitters are a couple hundred feet up and higher so quieter at ground level. Downside is a few hundred feet lower with less Tracy LOS.

[open rivet]

Hrmm... I wonder if the ATT cellular is making them deaf... maybe a bandpass filter is in order....

[fiery heath]

Damn they don’t slow down

[clear kestrel]

Props to those working on it.

[idle sentinel]

2.3.6 had a connectivity issue with a iphone and heltec v3. so if you have that combo you may need to stay on 2.3.4

[clear kestrel]

I have everything on 2.3.7 now, minus my hill node that I'm visiting tomorrow.

[idle sentinel]

yea I looked at 2.3.7, it looks stable enough for me, the only major change is the esp32 sleep fix, and that could have been the issue we encountered. I just put the VACA router into 2.3.7 as well.

On a side note, I've determined the rakwireless ethernet module is not stable. I can ping it, but mqtt doesn't stay connected, and management over IP doesn't work well; I can't load half the settings. I may have to pull it off my roof node.

I initallty thought it was overheating, but even with the box it's in at 65ish degrees, and reboots/facotry resets later it still doesn't work.

[frosty carbon]

Which peak on Diablo?

KOVR/KMAX has stuff on the north peak

That weird shaped building

[idle sentinel]

North at W6CX's aka old KTNC site

I have access to south, but we're limited on antennas there

talking about that ; I need to get ready for the ATV net

[pearl terrace]

Are people only doing wired ESP32 updates or is there a stable OTA update process?

[spare garden]

there's an unstable OTA update process

[clear kestrel]

Unstable as in don't do it?

[pearl terrace]

Wasn’t sure if that got stable or not

[spare garden]

"at your own risk... of having to plug in a USB cable"

[pearl terrace]

Are there docs anywhere on it?

Or do I just push the button

[clear kestrel]

Did you press it?

[pearl terrace]

I haven’t yet I’m scared

😂

[clear kestrel]

https://tenor.com/view/bill-hader-watching-eating-popcorn-oh-yeah-watchin-gif-15104515578762580154

[pearl terrace]

I don’t think it can be done yet with later versions

Hang on I’ll press it

Yeah it doesn’t do anything other than tell the device to accept OTA updates but you need an app to push them

https://github.com/garthvh/Meshtastic-Flasher-OTA-ESP32

This one specifically which hasn’t been updated

[boreal creek]

I might have to update. My RAK on 2.3.4 looks like it checked out again.

I don’t think I want to deal with it this late. Sounds like a tomorrow task.

[clear kestrel]

What's the symtom?

[spare garden]

no blinky green led. it's either on or off

[spare garden]

do you connect to it via Bluetooth?

[clear kestrel]

@fiery heath Got your message, but no content.

[fiery heath]

Uh oh I think I had my first butt mesh 🤣🤣

[clear kestrel]

That's a first 😂

[fiery heath]

I sent one before that but I see the blank one in my end 🤣

[clear kestrel]

The ole mesh butt dial

[fiery heath]

lol oh yeah had to be when I put it in my pocket after I sent

[spare garden]

||||

[clear kestrel]

Sometimes I'll send a "T" to my nodes, in direct message, for testing or to try differnt ringtones. I've exited the app and come back to find a bunch of missed messaged in the public channel. I have to scroll way to up clear them. I hope you guys aren't getting those.

They're usually blank messages

[fiery heath]

Hahahaha naaah but that’s what has to be done to hear them lol

[spare garden]

bb:d=32,o=5,b=565:f6,p,f6,4p,p,f6,p,f6,2p,p,b6,p,b6,p,b6,p,b6,p,b,p,b,p,b,p,b,p,b,p,b,p,b,p,b,1p.,2p.,p

[clear kestrel]

Not sure how it's bleeding over from a direct message to the public channel.

[spare garden]

it isn't

[fiery heath]

Yeah we don’t get anything atleast on my end

[clear kestrel]

Yeah yeah, Rick Roll 🙄

[spare garden]

try it out

[clear kestrel]

Good. Thanks for letting me know

[clear kestrel]

Fool me once, shame on them, fool me twice shame on they.

[spare garden]

lol

rickroll is NGGYU:d=8,o=5,b=200:c,d,f,d,4a,p,4a,p,4g,2p,c,d,f,d,4g,p,4g,p,4f,2p,c,d,f,d,4f,p,4g,p,4e,p,4d,4c,4p,c,p,4g,4p,4f

beginning of nyancat is nc:d=16,o=5,b=160:d#,e,8f#,8b,d#,e,f#,b,c#6,d#6,c#6,a#,8b,8f#,d#,e,8f#,8b,c#6,a#,b,c#6,e6,d#6,e6,c#6

[fiery heath]

I loaded it up now I wait

https://tenor.com/view/calling-jesse-ridgway-mcjuggernuggets-talking-on-the-phone-waiting-for-reply-gif-22012753

[spare garden]

https://tenor.com/view/rick-roll-rick-ashley-never-gonna-give-you-up-gif-22113173

[boreal creek]

Don’t know, except no periodic packets being sent out showing battery, and I can’t traceroute it

[boreal creek]

I can… it’s just in my backyard up on a pole.

[frosty carbon]

People use atv here? Okay now I know I need to set up my weird old video gear 😄

(there will be colorful video feedback nonsense)

[frosty carbon]

Ahhhhh cool. What does it take to get up there now? No one from our station has been in over five years because we've been too understaffed

It'll have no trouble talking to a router on Joint Venture, I can see Diablo from there.

Currently we have a microwave path from Transtower next door to Diablo, then there's a hop from there to kpix in San Francisco

[clear kestrel]

I feel your struggles. Hopefully a nuke and flash will do the trick. I had one node that I had to update the bootloader on. It's not that difficult. That was the one that wouldn't update OTA. If the nuke and flash doesn't work, I'd try that.

[idle sentinel]

I'm having similar weirdness. I'll try upgrading as well

[idle sentinel]

Connections, and a 4x4 truck. We're able to be there due to knowing the site owner from when the ham building burned. We have a ATV repeater there, and some 3ghz AREDN stuff.

All of the ATV stuff is DVB-S/S2; so it's digital. The current repeater does some funky stuff breaking it back to analog then back to digital because it was built like 8 years ago. I'm working on a new design utilizing the TS IP stream and switching it using TSDuck in a server; with plans to do some muxing of the ts streams.

[pearl terrace]

Mmm more acronyms to look up

[idle sentinel]

what whats?

[pearl terrace]

ATV

[idle sentinel]

Amateur Television

aka video over RF

[pearl terrace]

I know about AREDN, am super interested in getting something set up, just haven’t yet

[idle sentinel]

is an amateur radio nerd

[clear kestrel]

I joined a DMR talkgroup called "ATV" because I thought it was about four wheelers. 🤪

[idle sentinel]

lol

so you met the ATN guys in socal/arizona

ATN = Amateur Televsion Network

[clear kestrel]

I listened to them 😉

[idle sentinel]

we do nets with them on the Diablo repeater

[pearl terrace]

I feel like I can actually hit the Diablo repeaters

I haven’t tried in awhile

[idle sentinel]

where are you?

[pearl terrace]

Turlock

[idle sentinel]

you should be able to

[pearl terrace]

I just figured out what’s wrong with my base station

So that’s fun, now just gotta figure out how to get it fixed

After that, should be on air a little more

[clear kestrel]

What happend?

[pearl terrace]

I or someone else connected a dynamic mic instead of electret and blew out the audio circuit or a portion of it

I probed the pins and I’m not getting voltage where I should be

So I think I can just get a dynamic mic and make an adapter cable but I’m not 100% sure yet

[clear kestrel]

How much was the radio?

[pearl terrace]

Free

So I’m not complaining too much, it’s a great radio for free, I just haven’t been able to do anything with it and that’s been frustrating

[clear kestrel]

Tinkering is fun when it works.

[idle sentinel]

Its all fun and games until the drivers fail in your ts-2000 and they dont make them anyore, and the replacement board forces you to buy a FT-991a

[pearl terrace]

Yeah it was just disheartening at the time, made me not keep trying to fix it lol

On the plus side, I randomly found a gps interface I thought I bought, but couldn’t find an email receipt for, so I assumed i didn’t

Just made $150….that’s how that works right

[idle sentinel]

yes. 100%

https://tenor.com/view/the-house-will-ferrell-the-math-seems-to-check-out-gif-8225008

[pearl terrace]

And now I’m gonna spend the entire weekend at autocross wondering if my speedo would work correctly if I had installed that instead

[idle sentinel]

speedo not need, use engine sound

boom = too much.

[pearl terrace]

Tell my ECU that

At some point in the drive cycle it figures out that you are driving and it is not getting a speed reading

And then rev limits at 4-4.5K

[open rivet]

Ordered a bandpass filter... there are cell transmitters on the site znd I think that is wat is killing the receiver.... 15 days for delivery 😫

[clear kestrel]

Which one did you get?

[open rivet]

Ascom 902 928 outdoor cavity filter

https://acasom.com/products/waterproof-915mhz-outdoor-cavity-filter-for-helium-network-filter-high-out-band-rejection

[idle sentinel]

that doesn't look big enough to be a cavity filter, and I don't see any plots so ymmv

[open rivet]

I will put it on the vna when it gets here and see what it looks like

[idle sentinel]

i take that back, it may - i found some others about the same size

[noble holly]

Hey, I'm in the area and will be setting up a few nodes when the shipments come through
2 Heltec V3s and a WisLock solar build on the way

[idle sentinel]

I know my 1200mhz ones are bigger, but they also are designed for higher power.

[clear kestrel]

Hey Shotty. Welcome to the group

[open rivet]

The more I think about it the more convinced it is the LTE transmitters on the site. We will see I guess.

[clear kestrel]

Where roughly are you located?

[clear kestrel]

How far away would you have to be from the tower to not be affected by them?

[noble holly]

Work in Arden on Fulton. Live off of Greenback and Elkhorn near 80

[idle sentinel]

depends on if it's in or out of band, if it's in band it may need a cavity pass filter, not a bandpass.

[open rivet]

This is supposedly a cavity @idle sentinel

[clear kestrel]

Been able to reach anyone yet?

[noble holly]

Parts are still on the boat

Just put in another order tonight with Rokland for the solar build

[clear kestrel]

Oh, gotcha. Well when they come in we'll be looking for you. And if you need any help setting them up, we got you covered.

[noble holly]

I'll probably get the 3d printing started for now to keep my mind off of things for a bit 😂 I'm excited is all

[clear kestrel]

I had the app installed before I got my nodes. I feel ya

[clear kestrel]

I just read up on it. Hope it solves your issue. You have such a great spot up there.

[boreal creek]

Welcome!

[fickle wedge]

hi @noble holly

[noble holly]

Hello 👋🏻

[zealous summit]

Meshtastic in the air! ✈️ 🪂
Program your Meshtastic device to primary channel name "PM" (Default encryption) and Medium Range / Fast in lora settings. The first jump will take place <t:1714240800:R>. Only program a node that is able to get line of sight of the sky. The name of the node in the sky should be Long Name: "parachutemobile.org 🪂" Short Name: "🪂". If you have any questions please ask me. If you are a ham radio operator you can also listen to 147.570 mhz.

Reposting this here from bay area as Sac should get LOS

[open rivet]

@clear kestrel based on research for medium range LTE about 100m. Unfotunatly that is not a luxury I have on these sites. I do have about 30 ft of vertical separation so there is at least that isolation. https://lora-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/LA-White-Paper-LoRaWAN-Gateways-1.pdf

[noble holly]

That parachute one is super cool. Wish I had a unit

[clear kestrel]

Thanks for getting back to me. I’m over 200m away from an ATT site. Whenever I had issues, I wondered if it was caused by interference from the tower.

Sounds like I’m in the clear.

[open rivet]

@clear kestrel the LTE radios like the ones on our sites transmit between 791 and 821 mhz at about 100 watts per channel. Hopefully the filter works to kill the out of band receiver desense because this is a great location to tie a chunk of the valley networks together. I would post pictures but that is a no-no for us on this dirt.

[clear kestrel]

Whoa, Atomic Energy Commission. They have quite the chunk of land there.

[fiery heath]

So this is the stock heltec antenna you got here?🤣🤣

Any of you guys added this onto a node and tried it out yet?

[clear kestrel]

I have not. Is that an amp?

[fiery heath]

Yeah no directional amp for 868-928

I used to add these to flipper zero modules for sub GHz stuff but it should be able to boost the shit out of a node in a needed spot .

Gonna try and get keaton on the map up in auburn with this guy and see if he can penetrate the miles and miles of oaks . I think the trees are eating up his signal

[clear kestrel]

https://tenor.com/view/shaking-tree-gif-12186438

They’ll do that.

@open rivet I can’t remember if we talked about your settings. What have you changed from default? Apparently there is a bug when turning off Bluetooth.

[open rivet]

@clear kestrel Bluetooth is still enabled up there.

[open rivet]

🤐

[clear kestrel]

I saw Oppenheimer. Pretty sure I have a TS/Q now 😜

[fiery heath]

We got lightning coming it seems .

Make sure you unplug Any unneeded antennas that aren’t used from the goods , don’t see enough stuff out there about that lightning stuff . Be safe out there

[noble holly]

First supplies dropped off

If any of you need 3d printing, I've got 2 AnkerMake M5s ready to go. Not a great designer, but very experienced with printing.
Now I need to increase my stores of PETG and maybe ASA

[boreal creek]

Nice! I need to fire up my Ender 3… haven’t used it in a year or two, so going to need to calibrate it and dry the filament first.

[clear kestrel]

The ipex to type N pigtails, from Rokland, are stupid long.

Just ordered these 2” pigtails. https://a.co/d/5ShzSL0

@pearl terrace I looked for some similar length sma to type N for you, but couldn’t find any on Ali Express or Amazon.

[fiery heath]

Nice

[boreal creek]

Aw, look at that cute little battery!

[clear kestrel]

I think I could power my house with your battery. 😉

Excited to test out the Alfa antenna. First time hooking it up.

[boreal creek]

Oh snap! I didn’t even catch that!

[clear kestrel]

Kind of looks like a giraffe tail.

[clear kestrel]

Looking forward to seeing what you print.

[pearl terrace]

Thanks do you want a link to 1” ipex to N?

Nvm ignore me, I have 2” ones exactly like yours!

[clear kestrel]

Did anyone have a name populate with that “good evening” text?

[boreal creek]

Didn’t receive it

[clear kestrel]

Another ?

[clear kestrel]

When I click on message details, it says 0 hops away. I’m guessing that’s probably what all the ? Senders show up as.

[boreal creek]

Seeing multiple new nodes today.

[clear kestrel]

Did I butt dial someone?

[fiery heath]

Not yet

[fiery heath]

Ahh I saw that🤣

[clear kestrel]

Are they replying to me? I didn’t send anything

[fiery heath]

I have no clue where it or what it is/did

[noble holly]

O before E, except after C

[fickle wedge]

Yeah I have the rokland 12" pigtails as well, second time I ordered those I went with 6"

[clear kestrel]

I clicked add to cart on the one they recommended with my antenna. Didn’t realize they only carry 12” and 8”. I should have paid more attention.

[open nest]

Wisblock out for delivery 😬

Hopefully after the kids games I can get into it

[clear kestrel]

What’s your plan for it?

[spare garden]

world doomination!

[open nest]

Got the solar box for it.

Toss it up on top of the house

[boreal creek]

CON0 was doing a test on a rebuilt node.

[clear kestrel]

Thanks. The “empty message” threw me off.

[boreal creek]

Yeah. I received the message but I guess you didn’t.

[boreal creek]

https://tenor.com/view/the-same-thing-we-do-every-night-take-over-the-world-mad-pissed-angry-gif-4596927

[clear kestrel]

Classic

[clear kestrel]

Oops. Is that salvageable?

[spare garden]

most likely not

you can reuse the element, but probably can't get the connector back on

[clear kestrel]

To fragile anyway 😉

[spare garden]

at least it's only in 4 pieces and not like... a million

[trim veldt]

@clear kestrel is it common for the battery polarity on the wisblock to be backwards?

I was about to plug that battery in and the connector was going to align black to negative

[spare garden]

there is no standard, so technically it isn't backwards

negative towards edge.

positive towards center

[trim veldt]

Yea the battery is wired opposite

[spare garden]

remove terminals and swap

[trim veldt]

I needs to find a little tool to unpin the connector

[spare garden]

thin blade

knife, needle, exacto knife...

pointy tweezers

fingernails

[trim veldt]

I just kicked my heroin addition so im fresh out of needles

Addiction. Dammit. It’s not as funny if you misspell it

I have a jewelers screwdriver kit somewhere with a small flat

[clear kestrel]

Yes, they are. I mentioned that when I suggested that battery. You have to reverse the pins.

Good catch! I’m glad you didn’t fry your board.

[clear kestrel]

I’m waving at you from mt. Zion. Up here trying to make contacts with parachutist.

[boreal creek]

I did just watch a Youtube video a week back where they discussed this antenna design. I believe they called it a “sleeve dipole”. I wasn’t familiar with it before that.

[trim veldt]

Yea I remembered a mention somewhere which is why I looked

Got the pins swapped and it’s booting off battery

[clear kestrel]

Are you putting your solar node up the hill today?

[trim veldt]

I need to do a firmware update before I button up the case.

I’ll put it outside on a small hill first to watch battery levels

[clear kestrel]

Just did a trace route to the solar node. Goes through cramstyr2

[trim veldt]

I’m a bit on injured reserve right now , I jacked myself up a couple weeks ago, it feels like I dislocated my hip, so I’m not hiking the hill today for sure

Odd that cramstyr2 gets out the best

Based on where they are All at right now

[clear kestrel]

Might not be. This flood routing can be random.

[clear kestrel]

Bummer, that’s a hard one to Rest, elevate and compress. About all you can do is ice it and take NSAIDs

[boreal creek]

any successes?

[clear kestrel]

Not with the parachutist. This next jumper is jumping an HF rig and no Meshtastic device.

Not sure if the first jumper heard me. His signal was weak.

[clear kestrel]

@trim veldt is back on the mesh, so there was some success. Also made contact with Eric who is up at icehouse looking for a lost dog. We were hopping through RAK2.

[boreal creek]

I wish I had a permanent HF rig. Everything of mine has to be pulled out of a box and set up on the back patio. If I had a permanent station I would try to make contact.

I made contact with an aircraft up over Alaska from my backyard once.

[clear kestrel]

That’s so cool.

[spare garden]

audio contact?

[boreal creek]

It was. He was one of the pilots who was off rotation on a long flight. Said he was resting in the rest quarters playing radio.

[boreal creek]

Yes, SSB

[spare garden]

oh. I was about to say it must've had loud engines

[frosty carbon]

Oh well then now I know what to do with that Harmonic encoder someone gave me, just need a dvb exciter

Actually... huh. I have some dumb as a sock GatesAir exciters lying around at work. Not sure if they do dvb as well as ATSC though

Oh of course they only do dvb-t because uh that's what they were made for
Hmmm
I also have the terrible eurotek things lying around but I don't want to even look at those

https://youtu.be/HQzmwlWaopE I do not need to elaborate. In fact if I try it will just lead to angry hissing

Angry hissing.

The EK/UNM-4 (or whatever the number is) cards will output or decode DVB-S/DVB-S2 to a 70 MHz baseband

When they feel like it

I was just reading the mdarc page on it and it says the stuff I'm used to is difficulty level: hard lol

Yeah uh. I'm a broadcast engineer

[idle sentinel]

I took a sharpie to the side of the connector to be safe

[idle sentinel]

Yea i added the difficulty levels

Most people run a portsdown, but if you come in on 1279 s2 we can do mpeg2 or h264. We are planning a hill trip, and i want to swap the s2 reciever to be primary, we have seperate s and s2 right now

I run a portsdown with a lime sdr into a 18w amp, but i also have a s2 modulator and a mpeg2 encoder. Ive successfully modulated asi, working on other mpeg ts stuff when i have bandwidth to do so

[frosty carbon]

Cool beans

I'm gonna look into that. 🙂

Less involved than the stack of crap with loud fans I'd thought of initially

[idle sentinel]

yea, portsdown runs on a pi4, and you'll need a usb analog capture, or a logitech c920 (I thin that's the model) webcam, and a Pluto or Lime SDR, as well as a amp. I'm using a older downeast 18w, but dependining on where you're at a mimic driver into a wide-band amp amy be enough

[trim veldt]

I wonder what in the world the OIM solar stick test is running

35 miles away and hitting me as strong as my heltec on the other side of the house

[boreal creek]

Maybe it’s getting relayed through the device on the other side of the house?

[trim veldt]

That should mean it’s hitting me via LORA

Right ?

[boreal creek]

So the signal strength is just of the last hop to you? Just a guess… I’ve noticed similar here too with various nodes.

[trim veldt]

RSSI -31

[boreal creek]

Just my observation, I feel like that hop count display and that signal strength graph is somewhat random. LOL

[trim veldt]

Maybe it’s a bug , because that’s a decent hop@

[boreal creek]

Like sometimes it would seem to appear that a node is direct to me even when it’s not really possible. I’m not exactly sure what the code does to decide what to display.

This is the part that I’m having to retrain my brain on… my brain defaults to thinking about routing like on a traditional Ethernet network, where you have a routing table and a protocol to keep it updated. And obviously that’s not the case here. The “flood routing” is a bit more random, it seems.

[trim veldt]

I haven’t looked at any packet captures, but it should be pretty easy to know if a node is directly connected or via a hop

[spare garden]

pretty difficult to know, if there are nodes in the mesh running older firmware

BUT for newer firmware nodes it's easy.

[boreal creek]

I would like to look deeper into the actual packet types and structure used. Haven’t had time to even think about it much though.

[clear kestrel]

I thought this to be true also.

I thought the signal graph was only displayed for nodes that were 0 hops away. Yet I have nodes in my nodes list that multiple hops away that display the signal graph. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[boreal creek]

I have signal graph for nodes that don't display a hopcount, but that I know are hops away. Maybe devices with older firmware is the cause, I dunno, just speculating, but it's usability (trustability) is somewhat impacted as a result.

[spare garden]

yes, an older firmware in the route strips out hopstart

with just a hopcount and no hopstart, you can only guess...

[boreal creek]

42!

[spare garden]

[boreal creek]

https://tenor.com/view/nice-south-park-gif-17950420

[boreal creek]

Do you happen to know minimum version needed for this not to occur?

[spare garden]

2.3.x

[frosty carbon]

Neat!

Ok I guess you've convinced me I really should get a LimeSDR

[fiery heath]

@clear kestrel hear me out … we put a heltec in the round with a parachute like a flare gun for emergency coms connection . But it has to go high . And you probably lose a node . You think it could work?

[fiery heath]

Obviously there won’t be a flare in it lol

[zealous summit]

At that point I think a regular flare gun would be more useful

Not going to be in the air that long

[clear kestrel]

I can’t tell if you’re messing with me. Those things fall so fast.

Just drive to a hill and stick a node in a tree 🤪

[fiery heath]

Yeah I guess they do haha it’s been a while 🤣🤣

I just watched a video . Man I just watched a dude with a 203 and now I want one and if it has to do with mesh the gf will let me buy it🤣🤣

[fiery heath]

Very true

[zealous summit]

What you really need is a co2 blaster to launch an antenna into a tree

For Meshtastic or for ham radio

@fading kite has one

[tropic matrix]

I'm thinking of trying a kite. I have a decent one made of parachute material.

[fiery heath]

That’s what’s up!

What about those little blimps they put over new housing developments ? You gotta have a permit for that or anything. ? I see them in Roseville and up in el dorado hills

[tropic matrix]

Yeah that would be good also for a HF wire antenna.

[fiery heath]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M58_MICLIC

This concept but smaller and for gf long wire would be awesome

[clear kestrel]

I think @open rivet is reaching the Tracy hills router because he’s close to it. This shows its potential. I don’t think he can hear us though because our signal isn’t heard by THR

[open rivet]

Yep, changed to new 6db antenna on 0HLT and it hears me now. Had 2way with TM1. Now I really am dying g to get that filter up on THR1

I am 9 miles from. THR1

[clear kestrel]

Many of us up here replied. We can’t get into THR1.

But since you guys can we saw your conversation with tm1

[open rivet]

@clear kestrel yup, it is not completely deaf... I think the filter is going to be the answer. BTW that 9 Mike's is not LOS. Antenna is indoors o n second floor and even then there is a hill between me and THR1 so there is hope@

[clear kestrel]

Nice! What’s the new antenna?

[open rivet]

Same as I put in THR1... the pasternac ISM 6db

[clear kestrel]

The Israelis use those blimps for surveillance.

They’re all over the place.

[clear kestrel]

Looking it up

[open rivet]

https://www.pasternack.com/outdoor-omni-directional-antenna-dia-n-female-902-928-mhz-4-dbi-pe51028-p.aspx

[clear kestrel]

😱

That’s more expensive than all my Meshtastic gear combined.

[open rivet]

Not cheap chinese crap but not super expensive.

Radio is only as good as it's antenna my friend

[clear kestrel]

I believe it, but am I reading that right, $320?

[fiery heath]

Oh yeah you read correctly

But that’s not bad for a good one . I see some that are like 2500$ for a yagi in 900 MHz range lol

[open rivet]

Oops, wrong one... it is this for $113

https://www.pasternack.com/6-dbi-omni-antenna-900-928-mhz-n-type-female-1.6-1-typ-vswr-pe51om1018-p.aspx

[clear kestrel]

Ok. That’s an easier pill to swallow.

3x easier

I’m excited for your gear to come online. You were blasting us.

A guy in shingle springs heard you.

Granted that was through the mesh, but still

[open rivet]

yeah... sorry about that. That is the one I have been ordering. like I said at $113 each not the cheapest but seems like a good performer and dedicated to 902-928 ISM band. Cheap china stuff is a dice roll and they are selling alot of WiFi antennas as 900 MHz I have found. Pasternack is a relaible US brand

I am sure you have guessed by now I am a land mobile radio engineer in real life...

[clear kestrel]

That was going to be my second guess 😜

[fading kite]

what IF I made the slugs BE the beacons!

[clear kestrel]

Glad to have your experience in this project!

[zealous summit]

hmm

[open rivet]

I have an ADSB receiver here at the house to... it has a tiny coverage area.

[clear kestrel]

That’s a hobby I haven’t picked up.

Fun to watch when there is a fire near by though. Can watch the helicopters get water from lakes.

[open rivet]

It was a covid time waste project to make the best damn ADSB receiver I could and take the #1 spots from the other receivers within 70 miles.... it worked.

[clear kestrel]

Nice

So maybe you’re the reason I could see the planes and helicopters fighting the fire.

[open rivet]

I see someone was talking about getting a node on Diablo... they will probably beat me to that and depending on the site they have access to they may have better coverage than my site.

[clear kestrel]

@idle sentinel was talking about that. He also has access to Mt. Vaca

[idle sentinel]

I have one at home, it's on AREDN mesh

[idle sentinel]

Can confirm. Awaiting for batteries for vaca. Already approached MDARC for putting it on north peak diablo. Shouldn't be a big issue, I'm a part of the tech comittee, and invovled with a bunch of stuff there

[open rivet]

Nice, that would be better than my Fed site.

it has great south look but lacks in other directions

[clear kestrel]

This is gonna be awesome. I’m so glad I get to watch this thing get built.

[open rivet]

Wish I had access to Oso... 😦

[clear kestrel]

Someone in the Turlock group said they were denied.

[idle sentinel]

I used to know the fisher wireless group that had stuff up there

[clear kestrel]

I talked to a guy on the oso repeater who said he manages it by himself pretty much. I should get on that repeater again and ask him.

[open rivet]

Oso is my nemesis shadow to the south. draw a line from my site through Patterson and everything to the west of that is in full on shadow for all my stuff.

[clear kestrel]

Do you work for Uncle Sam?

Via contract or direct?

[open rivet]

Yep, I work for our rich uncle 😄 lol

contract, there are only about 10 actual DOE employees and 11000 of us money grubbing contractor employees

[clear kestrel]

That’s pretty much the whole government.

I was a contractor for about a decade

[idle sentinel]

Once concern I have is as we build this out, the main channel is going to get pretty full. With Diablo and Vaca, we're going to have coverage from chico to merced on the valley, all of concord/walnut creek, and about a quarter of the actual bay.

[open rivet]

I manage the wide area trunking P25 system, microwave backbone, paging, and a bunch of other stuff with multiple federal agency tenants

[idle sentinel]

I helped install the Alco/contracosta p25 system when it went up

[open rivet]

Sweet... I was a Motorola Federal Field Engineer until I came to Livermore to turn up the new P25 system for LLNL in 2009. Met a girl, and never left

[idle sentinel]

isn't that how it always works?

[clear kestrel]

Is there a solution?

[open rivet]

hahaha seems that way... I said I would NEVER move to CA... LOLOL

[clear kestrel]

Where was home before?

[idle sentinel]

yes and no. Basically the specific regions should use regional channels, ie SacMesh with the default encryption and share it publically. I'm also concerned about people turning on MQTT and spamming global chat into the default channel

you can always re-name the default channel as well; but you won't see new people joining

[open rivet]

I agree with this many high sites it will get interesting... but if everyone keeps their hops limit set reasonable it might not be to bad, otherwise there will need to be either a better software solution or some geo areas will need to change frequency which would suck.

[idle sentinel]

yea 3 hops still means sac could talk to LA.

if there is something high level down south

[open rivet]

There needs to be a better routing algo at some point to handle high sites vs local

[idle sentinel]

yea, AREDN had to change and add "supernodes" to help split it.

so we'll see. it's blowing up rn, and the more rf engineers/hams get invovledd the more high-level sites that will be deployed

[open rivet]

I was in Las Vegas area before here and Arizona before that

[clear kestrel]

Luckily Meshtastic blew up in England first, so I think we’re benefiting from lessons learned there, without hitting the road blocks they are.

[clear kestrel]

You could do way worse than California.

What’s up with that empty lot next to you? Did a house burn down?

[open rivet]

No, there is actually a house being built now. It was the last lot left in the subdivision that started building in 1999. Bright Homes has been saying to 9 years they were going to build and would not sell the dirt. They finally got around to it

[open nest]

router or repater?

[open nest]

We are live

[fiery heath]

https://tenor.com/view/bruce-buffer-ladies-and-gentlemen-we-are-live-live-ufc-mma-gif-25761115

Nice ! I just drove up by you yesterday ! Girlfriend wanted wine and I needed nodes 🤣

[open nest]

Interesting 🤔

What's your nodes name?

[fiery heath]

Bluffs . I think my t beam supreme yesterday was being a little b&#+%

[open nest]

Oh yeah, I picked u up yesterday

On my techo

[fiery heath]

Drove to Somerset so got to check out that area . Super suuuuper chill up by you bro ! And great ass dispensaries🤣

[open nest]

No doubt 👽

[fiery heath]

You get new wisblock up? That things the shit huh!

[open nest]

Yeah, the wisblock is the Hamgtown Mesh 1

Setup temporarily outside my place to see how it goes.

[fiery heath]

Hell yeah

[open nest]

Pushing those antenna connectors in is a b!tch

[fiery heath]

I ordered three more after I got mine . We are trying to get auburn on the map .

[fiery heath]

Ahhh those UFL?

[open nest]

Whatever it's called lol

[fiery heath]

there’s like this sweet spot angle you pop them on with but yeah… everything I diss connect or reconnect a ufl connector I think it’s gonna break like a mofo lol

[open nest]

Yeah, I thought I smashed it a few times

10mins later got all 4

I need to get my wisblock on top of in n out up here

That has one of the best shots down the valley

[fiery heath]

They got some retard strength to them for sure ! Hahahah you got it all mapped out🤣

Yeah you’re at an interesting location . You could get some good coverage with a well placed node .

[open nest]

Well, once I really get the hang of management of remote nodes I'll start venturing out.

[fiery heath]

I feel ya there . Leaving them is stressful at first lol

[open nest]

Yeah, I'm eager to see how well this solar works

Can you remote upgrade?

Guess I could Google that 😂

[fiery heath]

Hahaha nahh this is my new Google for mesh hahaha

I think I heard people talking of a way to do so . I know one of the guys down here has his rigged with a pi on it with power over Ethernet and with that setup properly I bet you could do it with esp32 based nodes ? I gotta look into it more

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

This might be the documentation on it

Haven’t read it yet

[open nest]

I've done the admin channel

Even though, I can still be at this point.

Bt*

Next time you come through my area shoot me a msg

Haven't gotten one up here yet. 😢

[fiery heath]

Did a quick read and I guess rak systems are hard because you meet the boot-loader process to update and the esp32 is a size of storage issue .

[open nest]

Bah

[fiery heath]

Oh shit we just got a wine membership so gotta head up there every month or whatever to pick up bottles so I will be for sure !

[open nest]

🤙

[fiery heath]

https://github.com/meshtastic/firmware/issues/2409

This was months and up to a year ago . You never know with these devs . They are wizards

[open nest]

Yeah, I'll dig into it

At least it's up and running now

[fiery heath]

🤙🏽🤙🏽 that is the move though . Remote updates will make America great again

[open nest]

No doubt

[clear kestrel]

I used to think I was breaking them to. I’ve figured out the sweet spot.

@open nest The rak can be updated over Bluetooth pretty easily. If you can get within Bluetooth range of the device.

[open nest]

Nice

[trim veldt]

When I tried the OTA updated I keep getting a no json file error

Oh, looks like the OTA zip is inside the main zip

RTFM

Dammit. It aborts on drag and drop too

Oh wait , wrong device. I need more caffeine

[trim veldt]

I think i bricked this thing

with the wrong firmware, looks like its stuck in DFU, but still won't take drag & drop

[open nest]

doh

[spare garden]

what firmware did you put on it?

[trim veldt]

whats odd is when I attempt to drag & drop, it fails, then exits DFU

then seems to boot

the first OTA.Zip that was in the folder

canary

[spare garden]

oooh. much bad

you might need to reflash your bootloader

luckily it's another drag and drop, if you're lucky

[trim veldt]

its kind of like the bootloader is there, because after a failed DFU it does boot

its almost like it needs a setting telling it where/when to try

its like when you point to a bad image on a Cisco device and it wont boot

bah, I have to mow my lawn, i'll come back and play with it later

i'll leave it sitting with green flashing quick, which I think means DFU, and see if it times out

[spare garden]

https://github.com/RAKWireless/WisBlock/tree/master/bootloader/RAK4630/Latest

actually, don't try that yet. turn off the device for a couple minutes

[boreal creek]

https://tenor.com/view/hello-it-have-you-tried-turning-it-off-and-on-again-telephone-on-call-gif-15495555

[clear kestrel]

That’s the correct OTA firmware.

[spare garden]

try the nrf factory erase too

[clear kestrel]

You don’t think this would work? https://meshtastic.org/docs/getting-started/flashing-firmware/nrf52/convert-rak4631r/

[spare garden]

his dfu still works, so probably not needed yet ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[clear kestrel]

That’s exactly where my ota firmware was hanging up, until you showed me how to do that procedure.

[fiery heath]

Little yagi on the node box pointing towards the main hub would be cool

Little 3d print ones I have seen around , you just cut the tubes , add them and solder the element on and done🫡

[trim veldt]

whats interesting is the bootloader in those instructions is packaged similar to the ota firmware

but the OTA flasher doesn't like the manifest, even tho its there

security software on my computer won't let me download that adafruit for some reason

[fiery heath]

Even something like this guy

[spare garden]

did you try the factory erase?

[trim veldt]

friggin' a

always something

[spare garden]

time to switch to archlinux

[boreal creek]

Debian

[trim veldt]

Ok. I think got it

And it took 2.3.7 via OTA

CRAS temp location for a week or so

See how it does

[clear kestrel]

Are all your nodes updated?

I can trace route your solar node? But not cra1 or cra2

[trim veldt]

I need to update the heltecs, CRA1 is unplugged. I’ll put it back later today

[clear kestrel]

Seems like they’d all be talking to each other

[trim veldt]

CRA2 should be online

Taking a quick breather between lawns. I gotta get them mowed before wifey comes home. She’s been gone for a week and the place looks like a bachelor pad 😂

Then I’ll take her to the pine grove brewery for the lobster truck that’s there today

Then I can geek out a bit before bed

[clear kestrel]

I just tried the restaurant next to it. The Reuben sandwich is really good.

You’re referring to Amador brewing, right?

[trim veldt]

Yea

Hoist House

[clear kestrel]

That was such a win for pine grove

[frosty carbon]

I have definitely run into the Chinese fakes lol

Bought some mag mounts on AliExpress or something, they turned out to be pretty good antennas for MURS, useless at 900

[spare garden]

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806671867177.html i bought me some of these. hopefully they're not made of cheese

hopefully at least the main body is not made of cheese. i can remake the adapter in steel if i needed to

oh shit i can 3d print the adapter for lulz

[fiery heath]

Hate when that happens but now you got some MURS backups

[clear kestrel]

What’s your favorite beer there? The Citrachicoe is really good.

[trim veldt]

^ that’s the one. Citrachicoe is really good. I’m not too fond of most the others as they make their beers too malty

[trim veldt]

I have a feeling the solar panel isn’t gonna keep up

I put the unit outside today at 11:30 at 70%. It peaked at 73% about an hour ago

It used about 15% overnight

Based on that it will need to be recharged weekly

I know lithium packs charge faster at the low end

Will be interesting to see if it gets to 73% tomorrow

[boreal creek]

I’m doing the same testing on my device. I have a 6w panel, but it’s fixed perpendicular to the ground rather than angled up (for simplicity of construction), so I’m wondering if it will keep up with use or not.

[trim veldt]

Yea I just found the specs on that solar panel. 90ma @ 5v isn’t gonna do much

[open nest]

Got an 85% charge

Also caught it with the techno driving 50

Crap coverage for now

Progress is key

[clear kestrel]

You used 15% of a 3000mah battery? Do you have a gps module?

[trim veldt]

Yea I have a GPS module. Not sure if the percentages are calibrated right

I think I can shut the GPS down to conserve power

[spare garden]

change gps antenna

[clear kestrel]

Why?

[spare garden]

I had gps on that same solar enclosure. it used to work fine, but then they removed 3v3 switch from firmware. my node died a slow death after upgrade.

[spare garden]

gps antenna eats like 18mA

new antenna takes 6mA

[boreal creek]

I increased the time between it getting location from the hardware, and how often it sent location, since SVM1 is stationary. For me, GPS is mostly for setting device time.

[spare garden]

if you have gps turned off, the antenna will be the biggest constant drain in the whole system

on my newest node, 2 second updates with new antenna uses exactly the same power as disabled gps with old antenna

[clear kestrel]

Where do you get this magic antenna?

[spare garden]

Amazon, though I guess I should've gone with aliexpress

mine came with a missing/unsoldered center pin

#gnss message

[clear kestrel]

I thought you could turn off the GPS in the software. Isn't that why tropho pulled the gps switches from his etsy store?

[spare garden]

yes and no 😆

I guess nobody really tested antenna power consumption before

they just assumed sleeping gps will match power draw specs in the docs

[boreal creek]

I must be missing something. RAK says the RAK12500 uses: Operating Current: < 15 µA

[spare garden]

the antenna itself has an amplifier or two in it

connected directly to 3v3_s

[clear kestrel]

Is your new gps antenna dimentionlally the same?

[boreal creek]

hmm, so they don't include that power draw for the included antenna? mmm...

that's kinda shady

[spare garden]

bigger. more of a standard size

I went with bigger because bigger usually means lower current draw

go big enough and you won't even need an LNA

[clear kestrel]

So that wouldn't fit in the antenna slot of the tropho designed cases. Bummer

I don't run gps's in my stationary nodes. Set it and fortget it.

[spare garden]

run gps on nearby powered node for time 🎉

or depend on others lol

[boreal creek]

In the zombie apocalypse, I AM the time source (until the GPS sats skew and/or fall out of the sky).

So if I'm understanding @spare garden , the secret is to just find the largest antenna you can for low power consumption.

[spare garden]

don't go too large though, lol

[boreal creek]

my problem is I've never know if it worked because 1) I don't have good measurement equipment to do so, and 2) I don't have enough historical data to compare to.

So don't get this 300x300mm antenna? Ok.

j/k

[spare garden]

ina219 and friends

[boreal creek]

ina? Never heard of her. 😛

[fiery heath]

Missing out bro

[clear kestrel]

If your panel can't keep up, I'd try removing the GPS and trying another day. My 2500mah battery only goes down 3% overnight and that's the max. Maybe you can get another meshtastic starter kit to put the gps on, for a different use case.

[boreal creek]

I'm j/k... heard of it before, but couldn't have told you what it did.... now I'm reading the datasheet.

I guess I could pop it on a breadboard and do some testing.

[clear kestrel]

If my gps is disabled will it still get time?

[spare garden]

I... don't know

I would think no?

[boreal creek]

@clear kestrel you broke him!

I would think no also.

But you'd still be powering the hardware. Worst of both worlds?

[clear kestrel]

#BringBackTheSwitch @fast tulip

[spare garden]

https://docs.rakwireless.com/Product-Categories/WisBlock/RAK19007/Datasheet/ search for IO2

[boreal creek]

So did you just write a small Arduino sketch to pull the current draw from the 219?

[spare garden]

built into meshtastic

basically plug and pray

(and enable power telemetry)

[spare garden]

#nrf52 message

[boreal creek]

Interesting... and here I was thinking of how to pop one ojn a breadboard and read it with an Arduino.

[spare garden]

that works too

simpler way would be to use some SBC

or even a computer

[boreal creek]

I really should file this idea and finish my classes for the term first. 😄

But man, I keep finding distractions from working on it.

[spare garden]

wot. how 12 are you

I thought you be nearly retired like the rest of us grandpas

[boreal creek]

lol, I wish... I'm just getting work to pay for my Masters

42

so in the middle

If anyone really loves GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) and wants to write a paper, let me know, mkay?

lol j/k

[spare garden]

chatgpt would like to help

[boreal creek]

haha, yeah. I haven't really tried that, or Copilot, etc. TBH, it's not hard, just boring. I'm more technically oriented and this is all manager speak.

[spare garden]

I only only know of PRC and AliExpress

哈哈

[boreal creek]

OMGHAX!

[clear kestrel]

I had to google that

[boreal creek]

did google find anything?

hmm, it does,

[spare garden]

gmo snax

[clear kestrel]

Urban dictionary: omg hax refeers to the art of being sarcastically scared of someone's scripts

[spare garden]

I knew someone who lived in SF but didn't know what "OG" was

I miss being young 🫠

[boreal creek]

So I looked at the datasheet for the uBlox ZOE-M8Q used in the RAK12500 and it has a SAW and LNA's in the chip already, and datasheet says it's ok with both passive and active antennas. So maybe fully passive could get power draw down further given all I want is time out it.

[spare garden]

good luck collecting satellites with a passive

[boreal creek]

That bad? I know GNSS signals are weak, but I assume they sell them cuz there's a use case for them?

[spare garden]

I gps illiterate

this is as far as I ever got with my lil homemade motorcycle gps tracker before i gave up

[boreal creek]

It looks like it worked… fired up, picked up sats.

[clear kestrel]

Enjoy the journey.

[fiery heath]

Ohh a journey it is lol

[clear kestrel]

@fickle wedge this thing won’t die.

[boreal creek]

I’m curious to know how the firmware decides what to put on the screen.

[spare garden]

it doesn't decide. it just does.

it does, therefore it did

[boreal creek]

I really want to go through the firmware to answer some questions, but I’m not a dev so while I can follow along a bit, it’s a big project for me.

[spare garden]

no need to be a dev. just use the search and start reading

ask stupid questions if you must

[boreal creek]

TBH, I’ve spent more time in a debugger reversing something than in a proper IDE developing.

[spare garden]

I've done that too when I was little

windows 95 days, crackin' software like a noob

[boreal creek]

Haha, yeah

Changing JNE to JE

🤣

[spare garden]

a long time ago, I bought windows 95 upgrade, but didn't have any previous windows versions. only dos 6.22

somehow I got it installed

it was surprisingly fast to bruteforce some dummy files in

[boreal creek]

Ok, so for me, Win95 on a Pentium was my first “real” dive into computing.

Before that it was playing on my dad’s Vic20 or watching my cousin on his C64. I did play plenty of Atari 2600 though.

[spare garden]

I had an Atari too. much basic. much educational

[boreal creek]

well the 2600 was for Frogger. ;lol

[spare garden]

I somehow found some Apple II programming books and surprisingly most of the stuff was compatible

[boreal creek]

I wanna know where you found a BASIC interpreter for an Atari 2600. lol

[spare garden]

mine was a different Atari, I think

[boreal creek]

But yeah, I imagine a lot of it would work across platforms until you start getting into PEEKs and POKEs.

Yeah, the 2600 was a home video game system. I know Atari did have some home computers.

[spare garden]

mine was with built in keyboard

[fickle wedge]

Wow, the T-Deck is super cludgey and doesn't support transmit on encrypted channels

[fiery heath]

It doesn’t !?!?

Better hide your batteries . It eats them when you aren’t looking

[pearl terrace]

I mean … the tdeck is very much an unfinished device

[fickle wedge]

It's very much an almost useless device

I just got a message from @clear kestrel not sure if it is from a channel or from direct, so I replied direct

[clear kestrel]

I replied on the default channel. Looks like you only got Pete’s message. I did get you on the DM.

[clear kestrel]

Looks like a blackberry

[fickle wedge]

Can only see latest message

Never sure if it's from a channel or a device

Can receive encrypted channels (once the channels are set up in Web client) but not reply or start an encrypted message

No way to filter the 1 million nodes you find, so if you want to send to a specific node, you have to scroll through all of them till you get to it

And of course, the well-renowned battery life being super short

All in all, highly NOT recommended.

Do not even try to get one of these, you're better off buying more Rak wisblocks

[clear kestrel]

Dang. I haven’t seen buyers remorse like that in a long time. 🤪

[fickle wedge]

Oh, and the default is let the buzzer ring for 60 seconds before timing out.

That's about as pleasant as a tap to the nuts

[clear kestrel]

Can you connect to it via the iOS app?

[fickle wedge]

Oh yeah, great feature missing #20: No bluetooth connectivity!

[clear kestrel]

😂

[fickle wedge]

I suppose there's some shitty way to connect to it over ESP32, but haven't figured that out yet

[clear kestrel]

Sorry. I had to laugh

Probably only to webui or cli

[fickle wedge]

At which point, why even have it

[clear kestrel]

Maybe you can get it configured to your liking and then not really need to change anything?

[fickle wedge]

Btw got your msgs over default channel but now charging my T-Deck, so I replied over DM7

[clear kestrel]

Oh, I see that now.

Well bummer. I know you were looking forward to that tdeck.

[fickle wedge]

I was expecting so much more

[pearl terrace]

Wait what. There’s no Bluetooth??

[clear kestrel]

You can probably sell it and get some money back out of it.

[pearl terrace]

That’s honestly so sad, it’s got so much potential

I thought the hardware was good, it was just the firmware that was lacking

[fickle wedge]

My mistake

I guess there IS bluetooth

I had it connected to my PC for configuration and I guess that turns off other methods of connectivity

So I hooked my iPhone into it and it's working like a normal client

[clear kestrel]

I’ve done that before 😬

[fickle wedge]

So it functions much like a T-Beam if you use it with your phone, just that it's bigger and has its own keyboard

I guess the utility of it is not completely lost

The default buzzer ringtone is the CTU ringtone of 24

😄

uhoh now I got 4 replies to your direct message @clear kestrel

"No Problem" now 8 times

Are you trying to get an acknowledge by spamming?

[clear kestrel]

Haha!

I was hitting try again until I got an acknowledgment.

[clear kestrel]

So to me that means I’m reaching you, but you’re not reaching back to me?

I never got your thumbs up either.

Or maybe my receiver is overwhelmed by the tower up there and everything it can hear coming out of the valley.

Looking forward to seeing how the filter on the Tracy router works out.

[fiery heath]

Off the current subject but I snagged these books up and just gotten into the first one a little but scanned the others and highly recommend the ARRL stuff , very very good info and I have been doing so much wrong lol about 65$ each set but worth it .

[clear kestrel]

You’re the hammiest non ham I’ve met. 😜

What is that orange dashed line?

[boreal creek]

You can sometimes find slightly older editions for way cheap on Amazon as used. I’ve gotten lucky once or twice that way.

On a side note, I hate the term “ham”.

[boreal creek]

In some countries, not only do they have power output limits but also duty cycle limits (set at 10%, I’ve heard).

[clear kestrel]

So the firmware will put you in timeout for awhile if your airtime goes over that line?

[boreal creek]

I'm not 100% sure on that. Or maybe it can just depending on which region you pick? I'm not sure, TBH.

[clear kestrel]

I think you’re right. Thanks

[fiery heath]

I loveeeee me some radio science

[fiery heath]

I like cheap lol

[boreal creek]

lol, me too. And it's not like the information changes too quickly. You'd still use a Schottky diode today for the same things that you would have 20 years ago. Some of the regulatory might be the big thing to watch for changes in.

[fiery heath]

Yeah that’s super true! Amazon got me with the fucking pictures again 🤣🤣

[boreal creek]

? You mean convincing you to get that set?

[fiery heath]

Both sets

lol

[boreal creek]

It's a small detail, but my older used edition was hardback which is nice.

[fiery heath]

Yeah I thought it came in a hard box to hold them all.. nope . Plastic wrap and a cover sheet that looked like a hard box .

https://tenor.com/view/pointing-laughing-you-lol-youre-funny-gif-7517608

[boreal creek]

oh lame

[fiery heath]

Got me . lol

[boreal creek]

I thought they came in a box too from the ARRL pics.

[fiery heath]

Right! Super looks like a collector set or soemthing

Well atleast I can use these for the next 20-30 years

Unless they make one with a box ….. 🤣

[boreal creek]

So based on JB's comment above, it sounds like you never got licensed?

[fiery heath]

Nope never licensed I just listen to everything . Trying to figure it all out before I transmit . I am used to the army radio world too and it seems that doesn’t exist in the ham world lol

I just want to learn how to drop drones out of the sky or hack them and take them .. I wanted too much Ukraine videos lol But the radios are super interesting to learn but $$$$$ damn they get expensive and you need a few or just one 15k one lol

[boreal creek]

Anti-drone shotgun rounds.

[fiery heath]

https://tenor.com/view/steve-austin-squirt-water-bottle-mike-myers-hubba-gif-11346921

Those are amaaaaaaazing!

[boreal creek]

I think I get more into the technology and the capabilities of communication than in the communication itself.

[fiery heath]

Very true . I never took the time to really see how it works , all the tech from when I was young is cheap now so it’s gooooo time.

I got one of those quansheng radios , they got some cool firmwares for them and they have a meshtastic type protocol on them you can message with like mesh

[boreal creek]

In my case, I struggle with mic-fright on the radio so I would mostly listen. But there are some really cool HF-based digital comms out there.

I have a Quansheng but I never saw the mesh protocol. What's it called? Or what firmware is it in?

[fiery heath]

lol you get used to it . And yeah the internet has made all of this very simple .

[fiery heath]

The nunu firmware

https://github.com/kamilsss655

[boreal creek]

I found a Youtube video on the messaging.

[fiery heath]

Well nunu protocol sorry

Yeah jaoquim firmware has messaging over freqs but this one I guess hops like meshtastic protocol , so if a bunch of people have the quansheng and this firm and on the same freq it will hop the messages . All encrypted as well

I did the shortwave mod on the other one and it’s pretty cool but useless for the other firmwares now

[boreal creek]

the hardware mod?

ok, watching this video... doing T9 on an unmarked keypad is gonna kinda suck!

ok, well THAT was interesting.

[fiery heath]

Yeah you gotta get that muscle memory .

[boreal creek]

I might''ve had it 20 years ago!

[fiery heath]

https://youtu.be/jxwBlp8HfKU?feature=shared

[boreal creek]

ok just seeing the thumbnail, that's the HW mod I was referring to. It looks neat... I like how the community is working to improve these.

[fiery heath]

If you’re comfy desoldering the tiny resistors and stuff this is a fun little mod for the quansheng, I tested it on a tiny sa ultra and the harmonics are still good and in fcc regs so I was happy about that

[boreal creek]

I want to do this,but NOT looking forward to the surface mount capacitor you need to swap for this.

[fiery heath]

Ahh yes yes , yeah people are jumping on it .

[fiery heath]

Hahah wait until you see the bridges you gotta do . lol

You remove 3-4 components

[boreal creek]

I watched a Youtube video showing the full mod. That's when I decided NOT to order the parts (yet).

pulling a small jumper from a pad to the side of a resistor (x2 IIRC).

[fiery heath]

lol yeah if you have a spare laying around do it but if not just keep what you got

If you want shortwave stuff the ats25 max-decoder is cool

Decoding ft8 messages now , it decodes Morse code and other stuff too

[boreal creek]

I am not aware of that one.

oh wait, yes, I did see this one.

[fiery heath]

It’s like 150$ on Amazon . It’s a fun little box!

[boreal creek]

I wanna throw my 20m/40m dipole back up and get my HF radio out again now that the weather is nicer.

[fiery heath]

Yeah there are people all over 40 lately ! I got a 200 foot long wire and a magnetic loop and then a on the roof that I have been messing with . Have it going from the roof around the yard . Works great!

[clear kestrel]

That seems legit. Screw trap and skeet. This would be way more fun!

[boreal creek]

Maybe your friend gets to pilot the drone while you try and shoot it, and then you trade positions.

[fiery heath]

That’s a good friend lol

[clear kestrel]

Eventually the prices will come down and they'll have places like top golf where there are hundreds of automated drones flying around in front of your station to shoot at. Only hot waitresses allowed. It'll be a bachelor party favorite.

[fiery heath]

Yeah the Amazon drone swarm package days are a comin!

[boreal creek]

https://tenor.com/view/futurama-yes-gif-take-my-money-shut-up-and-take-my-money-gif-8581127

[pearl terrace]

https://www.reddit.com/r/meshtastic/comments/1cgn0e8/major_ui_update_incomming_sneek_peak/#lightbox

[clear kestrel]

Following the Bay Area Connect's group migration over to to it's own server. https://discord.gg/srys8PJV

[bitter iron]

Holy hell you guys are chatty.. just had to scroll through three days' worth of messages. 🙂

If you are a node owner of an RF-advantaged node, please enable the Neighbor Info module at the normal 900 second interval. I'm trying to build something that looks like a network connectivity map.

[boreal creek]

Someone said the Neighbor Info module was causing issues. Wonder if that was fixed. I think that was @spare garden that was saying that.

[pearl terrace]

I enabled it just for fun, we’ll see what it does

[spare garden]

fixed recently

[boreal creek]

Coolness. Thanks!

[fiery heath]

I turned my t echo on with that enabled . Is that a capable device for that rf whatever ?

[pearl terrace]

It’s capable, but if it’s a mobile device it’s probably not super useful to broadcast neighbor info packets

[fiery heath]

Ahhhh gotcha . I will turn it on my mobile device 🤙🏽🤙🏽

[pearl terrace]

You might have misunderstood me. It would be best to turn it on for stationary router nodes, not so much your mobile nodes

[fiery heath]

lol ohhh yeah I totally got it backwards🤣🤣

[pearl terrace]

Haha sorry if I was confusing

[fiery heath]

Word I will put it on my home node lol no worries I’m so many dabs deep right now it’s probably me lol

[fiery heath]

Yeah that was my bad totally that’s clear as day 🤙🏽🤣

[open nest]

No new nodes 😭

But I'm getting almost 90% charges

Thinking, if I get access to a good spot, yagi diy build.

[noble holly]

And we've live

[fiery heath]

Hey it’s a mesh identifier aka Minecraft 🤣

[noble holly]

😂 I was thinking more along the lines of

RIP, dark mode.

[fiery heath]

Ahhhh the big one 🫡

[spare garden]

@clear kestrel Hawaii ඞ

[zealous summit]

For context that is a mycelium block from Minecraft

[spare garden]

what do you think we are?

I've never played Minecraft, btw.

[fiery heath]

I picked him up in sf . So we reach all the way out here

[fiery heath]

Not even to tnt kids hour and hours of hard work ?

[zealous summit]

L

[fiery heath]

My gf said I need a meshsectomy

[open nest]

What am I missing... BT connected techo reads in F, but my router reads the same device remotely in C.

Also, storm/rain coming this weekend. Excited to see how solar preforms.

[spare garden]

someone accidentally put their meshtastic node in airplane mode

[boreal creek]

You don't want a bunch of little nodes running around.

[boreal creek]

“Ends” in F for the “User ID” you mean?

If so, it’s cuz the WiFi router is showing the MAC address of the WiFi interface which is different altogether.

[clear kestrel]

If you had I’d be concerned.

[tropic matrix]

I've got bluffs 1-3 on my map showing 100 miles away in SF.

[spare garden]

I saw them last night

in SF going south

[fiery heath]

Ahh was in sf today and last night 🫡 back in sac and or I left in the hotel room🤣

[open nest]

picked up a james wilson 1hr ago

[open nest]

The temp.

[boreal creek]

https://discord.gg/PrgWY4QW

In case you all are wondering where everyone went.

[open nest]

oh sap

snap

[boreal creek]

https://discord.gg/kk26pjpDhG

Have an invite that won’t expire in a few more days!

[native prawn]

You know you can set invites links to never expire?

[boreal creek]

I think that latest one won’t expire. That’s why I threw it in even though there already was one.

[sick compass]

Hi all, new guy here. Have a few nodes up in Yuba City.

[clear kestrel]

Hi @sick compass

We’re keeping this page as a place holder, but if you go up a few messages, you can join our sac valley server.

[tender harbor]

O7

[crystal flare]

man, I ignore my radio for a year and y'all colonize the region while I'm away

hey gang 👋

[fiery heath]

We multiplied

[slate isle]

Right!?

[near hearth]

First node up in Folsom!

Adding solar to it

[pearl terrace]

Post it up in the sac discord here ^

[clear kestrel]

We’ve moved! Join us on our private Sac Valley Mesh Discord https://discord.gg/h3ZCCuYgpN