US - Connecticut.

[toxic shard]

RAK has pretty good docs, I'd start with this Quick Start guide and then the datasheet https://docs.rakwireless.com/Product-Categories/WisBlock/RAK16000/Quickstart

[radiant sequoia]

Yes, it works for a bit, but another day or so it's deathly slow... borderline unusable....

[radiant sequoia]

Good box I have a few of these running.... so far so good...

[toxic shard]

I wish RAK made a water sensor, that'd be handy. Put it at the low point and find out if water is getting in before it's too late (maybe)

I'm sure one could MacGyver something using the existing modules or GPIO

[hidden timber]

yeah they do. i looked there before asking ;)

[tardy steeple]

I use this in all my solar builds

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1421193059/

[hidden timber]

Unwin was telling me about that. I may order some. Monitoring the panel’s performance and the built in protection for the time being. Heard mixed things about it.

[tardy steeple]

Vent and silica packet

https://www.morimotohid.com/bolt-on-breather-vent-Breather-B?quantity=1&srsltid=AfmBOoqSTAphsXWtj9Wu57RgufOqQ645pKcPl9hKLM9ShZe_5TAsdizk

https://store.rokland.com/products/tape-helium-antenna-and-coaxial-cable-self-fusing-silicone-heat-water-resistant?ref=yskzwcgr

[visual mist]

...mmmmm...forbidden pop rocks...

[fierce moss]

maybe neighbor info?

[tardy steeple]

Anyone up in the Bristol area ?

Just came up here to see a friend and we went to planet fitness and they closed .

We ended up going to the hibachi buffet and we both really enjoyed it .

[fierce moss]

The chipanee repeater is lol

[radiant sequoia]

Planet fitness on the plainville NB line may be next closest....

[copper vault]

Hi, I don't know if this fits your application, but they have a Water Level Sensor. This has more of a proportional output to the liquid level, unlike the classic one with low, medium, and high signals. Hope it helps.

[toxic shard]

I guess we need more activity?

[tardy steeple]

I don’t think my radio went off once today actually come to think of it

[void cape]

I'm still awaiting better connectivity between GAF1 and GAF2 I think

I haven't really had much to talk about anyway since I'm so busy with springtime hobbies outside

[toxic shard]

👍 to springtime activities

[void cape]

I spent a bunch of time repairing my locomotive and getting ready for 1/8th scale railroading stuff.

Messing around with the test track I put down in the driveway temporarily.

[fervent sky]

No ATAK activity or Meshtastic in general?

[void cape]

I don't know of anyone doing ATAK. Tbh, I'm not sure if Meshtastic is super great at it compared to other (ham?) bands one might use

[tardy steeple]

I think atak kills Meshtastic just my 2 cents

[tardy steeple]

Even deader on MeshCore im the only one in CT lol

[steady solar]

My base station keeps going from 3-6 nodes seen in the past hour to hearing the guys PV Mesh guys in MA talking. Really not sure why I'm suddenly going from next to nothing to crazy range

[hidden timber]

this has been happening to me periodically as well, haven't figured it out

[fierce moss]

yea

https://meshsense.wg4ry.com/

i could see a random hop or two into the mass side, but the traces dont make sense

[tardy steeple]

None of this makes sense !

[fierce moss]

unless some of the mass nodes have incorrect gps

[tardy steeple]

With iOS not allowing precise location wouldn’t every node technically have “ incorrect gps “ ?

[fierce moss]

you can make it very close at least

not 10 miles or more off

but yea the whole imprecise location thing is garbage. Libs worried about california PII laws and ios terms that dont apply to VOLUNTARY broadcasting. but whatever.

not worth arguing about

the problem is some of these hops are impossible. so something is funky

[jolly ruin]

could it be due to recent change to repeater node in some of the mass routers?

[void cape]

The whole privacy thing is offset by the fact that you can now trivially identify every node with a user who has the money to buy an iPhone…

It’s not like the radio isn’t some kind of tracking beacon either - it’s literally transmitting RF any time anything meshes with it.

[radiant sequoia]

I meant on meshcore....

right before that he said I'm going to meshcore or something along those lines...

[toxic shard]

Ahhhhh

Meshtastic is like HF ham radio, you only hear half the conversation two-thirds of the time

[radiant sequoia]

ya no real meshtastic activity...

https://tenor.com/view/reactions-gif-12900002073893207744

they need to develop the longfast or primary group into a more solid delivery method.... it's so inconsistant that it makes it difficult sometimes to take it seriously....

[tardy steeple]

https://github.com/AkitaEngineering/Akita-Meshtastic-Meshcore-Bridge

[void cape]

A lot of the issue is the hop count tbh

[fervent sky]

It seems like the Southern half of CT has very little Meshtastic activity if any compare to the Northern half. Last week I was on a site in North Haven and never saw/heard any other nodes. This week on a site in Groton and didn't see/hear any other nodes.

[final loom]

wonder if you went by me near old saybrook

although im probably too far from the highway right now.

[fervent sky]

Possibly traveling too quick for the nodes to mesh also. Mobile node problems

[visual mist]

Can you relink the URL for that map? I've been scrolling back through the chat trying to find it but I keep missing it

[fervent sky]

https://meshsense.affirmatech.com/

[tardy steeple]

We got a small thing going in Stratford, Connecticut other than that I don’t know anybody else down here

[tropic cobalt]

I'm pretty sure that my node is having security key issues after a reflash. I've turned off MQTT and reset node db and things appear to be ok, but I'm a bit confused why this happened.....

[tardy steeple]

https://youtu.be/lOPbck4ysos?si=arLzD9m0csskHmkc

[errant minnow]

Stratford started with KC1LAG (Birdseye), and is growing!

[toxic shard]

Anyone seen any good case designs for a Pi, a MeshAdv hat, and an SMA or N type antenna mount?

That latter part is the tricky bit

[visual mist]

Watched that earlier today...debating picking one up to mess around with as a home node

[tardy steeple]

Yeah, I can. I have like three or four designs, but they don’t have anything for intense so that would probably be a remix or like a custom build whatever it’s called.

[toxic shard]

I'll probably just use one of our normal boxes. Or I'll get a guy at work who does designs to try to come up with something. He's already got pi hole patterns, "double d" N bulkhead passthrough holes, just hasn't made a full case as such, it's all be more plates to mount in other things

[tardy steeple]

@toxic shard

This is what I used

https://www.printables.com/model/158651-raspberry-pi-4-case-with-100m-x-100m-vesa-mount

[tropic cobalt]

Are there any central CT BBSs at this point? Thanks!

[toxic shard]

I've got an experimental BBS in Plainville ("Unwin BBS"), but it's not really used by anyone.

This is the one from The Comms Channel.

[tardy steeple]

I couldn’t get mine up and running

[toxic shard]

Looks like mine had crashed, I restarted it. It should respond now to DMs.

[tardy steeple]

I just couldn’t get mine to work at all

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHk3NsYTScB/?igsh=eDgyZmJyYzdpcXZk

ttgo_by_lilygo

Coming soon, T-Deck Pro

Instagram

[toxic shard]

Interesting

[tardy steeple]

Did you see the video he just posted (tc2) with the Femtofox Pro

[tropic cobalt]

I remember the dial up BBS's from the 80s and 90s and thought that it would be cool on the mesh. I'll check Unwin's out when I can!

[toxic shard]

It's a cool idea. I think it's more useful in Packet on amateur radio. Meshtastic is so low bandwidth and so unreliable, that unless you see my BBS at 1 hop, you may have a very frustrating experience. This software isn't great either, hopefully it gets better but that takes community involvement and support.

But being able to "leave messages" on a well connected node and then pick them up later when you're in range is useful

The "Store & Forward" module inside Meshtastic itself may fill that need for some. I haven't used it yet.

[radiant sequoia]

I think with store and forward server point and client both need it enabled.... if I remember from reading the docs...

[tardy steeple]

Doesn’t store and forward only work on the T beam or T beam supreme?

[toxic shard]

The storing part only works on nodes with enough pram, like the T-Beam Supreme or the G2, maybe a few others. I think. Like I said, haven't played with it.

[tropic cobalt]

Tried it with MQTT but no luck. I didn't expect it to work that way....

[fervent sky]

PVRA 💪

[toxic shard]

Doesn't exactly work, but my immediate thought was of the arm wrestling meme

Of course I say that while struggling to get any messages out from Windsor without G2 umph

Heltec V3 indoors ain't cutting it, shocking I know.

[hidden timber]

East Hartford node fully built, just need some nice weather and it'll be going up :)

[tardy steeple]

What enclosure is that ?

[hidden timber]

https://store.rakwireless.com/products/wismesh-unify-enclosure?variant=44317874159814

[tardy steeple]

Looked like this but with a solar panel

[hidden timber]

yeah i just got the plain box and drilled out holes for the antenna bulkhead, USB-C passthru, and breather vent

been running a second one 4-5 days now, been holding up well. even with today's conditions, it just about sustained it's charge.

the 2nd one is a slightly modified this: https://store.rakwireless.com/products/wishmesh-meshtastic-solar-repeater-mini?index=6&variant=44413997121734

[tardy steeple]

70 for just the enclosure from US Rokland

99 for the enclosure with rak mini 19003and battery and antenna from rak direct in china

Rokland in Florida said they will have the mini repeaters on site soon

[hidden timber]

i paid $42 for one from china, haha

for the plain box w/solar panel

[tardy steeple]

AliExpress ?

[hidden timber]

rakwireless.com, as linked

[tardy steeple]

Ooo nice

[hidden timber]

lead time wasn't too bad. week or so?

total build cost was around $170 for that. though i got a lot of 2x for many parts, so the next one will be cheaper

[tardy steeple]

It’s showing 52 for me .

[hidden timber]

i chose this option (not pre-drilled holes option which comes to $52)

[fierce moss]

I modified tht one quite a bit for mine

[tardy steeple]

I had someone in the boston mass mesh print mine out .

[fierce moss]

fits with the box 5mm grid perfect

[tardy steeple]

Mines waiting to be approved

[tardy steeple]

Cross country node ?

[void cape]

Probably a node that travelled by plane

[toxic shard]

P3 is usually in Farmington, must not have gotten a local GPS update before it sent its position

[hidden timber]

it teleported

[final loom]

"Meshtastic - Now with wormholes!"

[tardy steeple]

The only way to actually shut down the node is to pull the battery. The buttons don’t work or the screen.

[hidden timber]

https://lilygo.cc/products/t-deck-pro

[tardy steeple]

It’s not compatible with Meshtastic currently . It works on MeshCore tho

[toxic shard]

new meshsense beta

Also darkmode map and a couple UI changes. Nothing drastic.

[hidden timber]

EH solar node deployed! Look for SSRG on the mesh

[steady solar]

Seeed studio is shipping the fixed sensecap indicators, just got my ship notification. They're being shipped via 4px then last mile is handled by uniuni and not USPS so even with the de minimis changes expected April 2nd I shouldn't get hit with any tariffs 🎉

[toxic shard]

I just got mine. Haven't fully tested it yet but I'm having some issues with Bluetooth. Whenever I enable it, the firmware won't get past the main logo screen.

[tardy steeple]

I just messaged seeed about it

That’s are suppose to be using my photos coming up

I’ll let them know of problem
You are having

[toxic shard]

wondering if something like this would fit for battery power. https://www.anker.com/products/a1653-usb-c-portable-charger-5000mah?variant=42733234290838&top_filter=Under10%2C000mAh&collections_power-banks=undefined&Sort_by=Recommended

probably not quite

[devout plaza]

I think that's the way it works. I'd read that the MUI is like connecting with wifi or bluetooth in that it can only handle being connected to one thing at a time. One of MUI, bluetooth or wifi but not multiple.

[toxic shard]

Handles serial fine

[devout plaza]

Wish I could find the reference. They were calling bluetooth "configuration mode" or something. I'll try to dig it up.

[tardy steeple]

I don’t know a portable battery packs are very picky unless that one has an always on feature these devices draw two less of a power. It’s actually activate the battery banks.

@toxic shard message

.zerozhang

[devout plaza]

#general message

[toxic shard]

The new MeshSense shows channel utilization of remote nodes and the best routers around are a bit up there. Not sure what to make of that, or if there's anything to improve, just interesting:

[tardy steeple]

I have to buy a new mac just to run mesh sense

[toxic shard]

MeshSense on mac has bluetooth issues for me

They're aware, there's a github issue, it relates to dependencies that need updating.

[radiant sequoia]

runs fine on Win....

[tardy steeple]

WinBlows 🤣

Me and the misses got MacBook / laptop back in 2014

She has been threw 4 already

Dispute my MacBook Pro being old it runs as fast as it did day one .

Support and upgrade for late2013 are non existent tho

I’m ebay and back market now looking for a newer model

@toxic shard

Would this case work for you ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265782155096?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gLmvv5ppSWO&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=yze8j16wtdm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[toxic shard]

Maybe. Not sure about those square sma holes.

[fervent sky]

Apparently the T114 also suffers from the if you run the node's battery completely dead it forgets it's name. Just like the V3. 🚮

[tardy steeple]

Literally just assembling one now lol

[fervent sky]

It must have woke its self up then ran the battery dead because I put it in sleep mode

Also I tried the MeshSense 1.1.0-beta.3 on Windows and the map icons wouldn't stop strobing

[toxic shard]

I reported that bug and it's now fixed in alpha 4 https://github.com/Affirmatech/MeshSense/issues/92

(link to alpha 4 in that issue)

[toxic shard]

I've seen that on lots of nodes. They did fixes in the new 2.6 releases to make settings more stable, you should try 2.6.3 Alpha

[toxic shard]

Traveling too much to order parts for builds I'm not going to get around to, but saw this pretty nice board on Etsy and I'll be keeping my eye on it. $$, but what isn't these days. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1862707626/meshsolar-power-distribution-board-pdb

Fits the RAK 19003 and some 21700 batteries into the RAK Unify case. Not perfect to everything I'd want, but pretty slick.

[tardy steeple]

Tempting .. that would be perfect to my MeshCore node .

I think the 21700 cells I have are “ too powerful “ tho

3,000mAh capacity and 35A

Samsung 30t

[hidden timber]

I had that too when not zoomed in

It’s a feature 🤣

[toxic shard]

Not sure what you mean by "too powerful", do they not work?

[tardy steeple]

I got them for a mechanical vaping device . They put out a lot of power . I wasn’t sure if that could be used

[toxic shard]

Generally if the voltages are in range for a use case, all that matters is that the amps are at least what you need. The load won't care if the battery could provide 35A even though it only wants a fraction of an amp. Voltage is mostly what matters. Wouldn't be a bad idea to thoughtfully fuse if using a very powerful battery.

[void cape]

For the charging circuit, it’s more important to get the right charge controller for the number of cells and the cell chemistry. Cell size is less important to concern about and many of them can be configured with a resistor if you want additional charging current.

[toxic shard]

Do you mean the number of cells in series?

[void cape]

If you have multiple cells, yeah I guess.

I don’t know if it’s a good idea to wire batteries in parallel when charging.

Based on the way lithium charge controllers work, I’d bet not.

[radiant sequoia]

can you manually download beta4, check for updates isn't pulling it in...

[toxic shard]

Alpha 4 can be installed from the links on the GitHub issue (scroll down, we had to ask for some additional platforms). Hopefully they’ll ship a beta with fixes soon to the auto update channel, but for now the option to get the fix is the alpha install. And in it, it will annoyingly ask you if you want to install the older beta, just say “later” 😕

[toxic shard]

Regarding the Jackery 100, while it works great with the G2, the state of charge meter on the 100 is way way off it seems when using this light load. It goes down like 10% a day for three days and then Kaput. When I plug it into a charger it says 0%. So I’d say math the % uses as double or triple shown. I’m going to hook up a better meter to validate.

[tardy steeple]

What’s the best way to get the g2 up and going ?

[toxic shard]

Plug it in? What do you mean?

[tardy steeple]

All my lights are not on

[toxic shard]

Main difference in how you run a g2 versus most other nodes is you need to set the tx power lower since that controls what’s feeding the amp, not the total output. Refer to that section of the wiki page.

[toxic shard]

If you’ve got the rainbow lights rather than just red, you’re getting full power and should be good on the power input front.

[hidden timber]

Ensure you’re using a proper PD power supply

Though as long as it’s getting 5V at minimum you should be operational with a red light and no amp

[radiant sequoia]

you need the multi-color for sure....

[tardy steeple]

Have to get better power going to it .

[tardy steeple]

Ya I just have red

[radiant sequoia]

check usb power

"The G2 station needs to be powered by a power bank that supports at least 9VDC USB Type C PD protocol, and preferably supports 15VDC USB Type C PD protocol."

[hidden timber]

PD power supplies will only be USB-C, so that may help narrow down your search. Believe you can also power it via gpio and that gives you more flexibility there, but haven’t messed with that.

https://wiki.uniteng.com/en/meshtastic/station-g2#external-power-supply

[radiant sequoia]

I have an amazon usb bank which has a regular shore power plug, then 4 type c.... two of them provide the higher output... might be an option...

"Station G2 can be powered by a USB Type C power adapter that supports PD 15V protocol and has a maximum output power of 20W or more. However, a Type C to Type C cable must be used to trigger the PD protocol. There are 3 LEDs on the Station G2 that can be used to check if the power supply is normal."

[tardy steeple]

Yeah, I probably have to go to Micro Center or Best Buy or something

[void cape]

Literally any USB-C laptop charger will work as well

It’s going to have those modes available

[tardy steeple]

I think my sons Chromebook will work

[radiant sequoia]

2.6.4 out, looks like a fix in there for wireless disconnecting on esp32 devices, which I'm getting on my g2 at home....

[toxic shard]

Super frustrating. Those failed test messages were DMs, but the app got screwy and even though I was shown the DM screen it tried to send it in the channel. Sharing so you know if you are getting Encypted Send Failed that might be why.

[tardy steeple]

My app just crashes it’s barely usable

[radiant sequoia]

they need a vacumn option for nodes that say haven't been heard/seen in x number of days.... the app becomes unusable after maybe 50 to 60 nodes are seen. 10 to 15 seconds to switch tabs and I have an ipad pro so it's not old.

[hidden timber]

so strange. 289 nodes in mine, working fine here

iphone 16 pro, so maybe that helps

[tardy steeple]

15 pro max ios 16. 18.3.1

Unsure of node count it was mid 300’s

[radiant sequoia]

iphone seems better.... I've tested on three ipads and it's terrible.... maybe screen size, no idea...

[hidden timber]

i've got mid-200 range on my ipad too, think it's a last gen Pro

[tardy steeple]

I just added the app to my iPad . Seems to be working fine

Note I have 85 nodes on that tho

[void cape]

I have 207 nodes in my iPhone and that seems to work fine. Granted, I’m on 2.5.15 for node version so maybe the new version is buggy

[tardy steeple]

1.4.2 I’m on

2.5.20 sorry wrong mesh (edit 1.4.2 is MeshCore)

[hidden timber]

i'm on 2.6.4 for both, to add

[cloud tinsel]

Gnu67tel.

[steady solar]

Funny you say this, I just sent mine back to jackery because it would die at 60%.

I even did the soft reset they recommended to "recalibrate" but didn't do anything.

[toxic shard]

I'm not sure it it's dying at 60% or if it's not really at 60%. I suspect if you had a load that was more like a phone charging the % might be more accurate. I've got a snazzy USB power meter, I'll test it eventually

[steady solar]

Yeah it's so consistent it's probably at 0% but what's the point of the displayed percentage if it straight up doesn't work?

I can understand some measure of inaccuracy but that's wildly inaccurate to a point of being entirely broken

[craggy vigil]

Did you have to return the old units?

[steady solar]

It was a day out of best buy return period so I had to open a case with jackery themselves, it's en route to their facility

[craggy vigil]

Do we know if there is any provision for an External Antenna?

[fervent sky]

1.1.0-beta.4 was pushed out it seems

[hidden timber]

can confirm

placed a test solar node up on Soapstone Mountain this evening, look for SOAP on the mesh :)

will be getting it in a better spot up there in the coming week or so

[hidden timber]

not sure

[toxic shard]

Testing progress, Jackery 100 shows 93%, but its used 12Wh which with no losses would be 88%, so likely more like 85.

Note this G2 has a gps attached

[void cape]

I think that it does not have a good enough shunt to measure low current draw. The one I have has no idea how charged it is despite the fact that I’ve run it quite a bit since changing, it still says 100%

[toxic shard]

Definitely. I’m just trying to put some numbers on how wrong it gets.

[void cape]

Mhm

The percent error you see already is astounding, statistically speaking

[toxic shard]

I think realistically a Jackery 100 will power a G2 for about 3 days.

Which suits my mobile use case or as an ups for a home base station during an outage.

[void cape]

It works well for the most recent power outage we had; it was just fine for 14 hours

[toxic shard]

Nice

[void cape]

If it’s beyond that, I’d probably hook it into the solar

[toxic shard]

Yep

[fierce moss]

I have a couple of those

did you mean for that seed one?

[toxic shard]

Yeah, if it would fit into the back in the opening where the kickstand is.

Just thought it’d be cool. The Seeed Indicator is really meant to be just wall powered.

Desk bling

[fierce moss]

Ha

Well. Whenever we have a meetup eventually I’ll bring one

[tardy steeple]

@fierce moss Did you see this ?

[fierce moss]

Holy crap

Real?

Or April
Fools

I know there was talk. I didn’t see any official statements

[tardy steeple]

Never mind I read it all too the bottom

[fierce moss]

That’s just reading the SINGLE instagram source though

Yea

[tardy steeple]

Forgot what today was

[fierce moss]

Ha

[fervent sky]

https://tenor.com/view/trump-nodding-gif-1942450417773390426

[toxic shard]

I was seeing some weirdness with 2.6.3, looks like I wasn't alone. 2.6.4 seems better on first impression #announcements message

[tardy steeple]

Is that beta or alpha?

[toxic shard]

alpha

they're asking people to test it

because they're close to the first 2.6 beta, could be this, could be the next, they need it kicked on

[toxic shard]

Jackery 100 G2 power update

Not going to be able to do a full test this time, so this will be the last reading of this run. I’ll do another test in two weeks when I’m able to access this node again for an extended time.

[hidden timber]

MeshSense 1.1.0-beta.5

[tardy steeple]

Seeedstudio posted my photo on there instagram

Edit
Why did they say ham radiodude I’m confused ?

[final loom]

Does that thing monitor the power over time?

[toxic shard]

The usb meter does. In these photos I’m comparing the watt-hours on the right to the % on the Jackery, which is supposed to have 99Wh. Now some losses are expected due to dc conversion, I don’t have a full data set yet to evaluate that. But we have enough to know the % shown is not reflective of the state of charge when the load is this light.

[final loom]

ok definetly getting that usb meter. Thank you for the info

[tardy steeple]

Same here

[toxic shard]

FNIRSI USB Tester 4-28V 7A LCD... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJ253W31?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I also really like this one ChargerLAB Power-Z KM003C... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJ24PVNJ?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[steady solar]

oh shucks, didn't realize the sensecap indicator doesn't have firmware for any of the grove modules, dangit

got the rj45 and temp/humidity attachments

[hidden timber]

Anyone here know who RAGE is? Time is very wrong

[tardy steeple]

No , however rage against the machine .

What machine are we raging against ?

[hidden timber]

That one

🤣

[tardy steeple]

In 7 hours .

[toxic shard]

I know rage. I'll let them know. I've seen this happen several times with various nodes before, it's not clear why.

[hidden timber]

https://heltec.org/project/meshpocket/

[final loom]

ok thats freakin cool

frankly that might just replace my t-1000e

at least the one i keep on me

[tardy steeple]

I’m mad at seeed studio I might just replace mine 😆

[final loom]

did this just come out?

only thing im sad about is that it doesnt have built in gps

[hidden timber]

i believe so, seems to be pre-order

[tardy steeple]

Far right 😂

[hidden timber]

haha ive seen that dude occasionally

something going on with BOX right now. anyone able to successfully trace it?

also, anyone seen SOAP recently?

[tardy steeple]

Im prob too far out

I don’t know how or why that’s on my Lock Screen

[final loom]

oof ends up being 83.45 with shipping for the heltec meshpocket

[hidden timber]

Means you probably did this

[tardy steeple]

My kid lol

[soft cape]

I believe this is normal/expected behavior from the "ROUTER" role, they prioritize rebroadcasting, ALWAYS rebroadcast and attempt to "cut in line" by rebroadcasting before other devices have a chance to. So they will typically rebroadcast EVERY packet they receive whereas more general roles like "CLIENT" will only rebroadcast after they determine that no other nearby nodes already have. This is why using the "ROUTER" role is generally discouraged unless the node stationary and strategically located to reach the most possible range in the region (ex: on a mountain, not just a rooftop) because they have a tendency to "gobble up" rebroadcasts under the assumption their role indicates that they will be better able to rebroadcast at a better range than other nearby devices.

So essentially they are going to have a higher channel utilization because they will be rebroadcasting many more packets than other roles (aside from "REPEATER" which behaves similar to "ROUTER")

More detailed role descriptions are shown here: https://meshtastic.org/blog/choosing-the-right-device-role/#router-and-repeater

[hidden timber]

SOAP is now mounted in a more permanent location on Soapstone Mtn in Somers

Placement is slightly better

Perhaps much better

[toxic shard]

Playing with contact, a terminal-based meshtastic client:

[fervent sky]

IRC vibes

[toxic shard]

Even settings

If you're on github, thow a star, this deserves some love https://github.com/pdxlocations/contact

[tardy steeple]

Looks like my hotels system lol

Yes this is Marriott in 2025

[toxic shard]

https://tenor.com/bJOUF1nPhSX.gif

(96f8 is Unwin M1-OTG, a heltec v3 in a case by @round gull or @craggy vigil (I can't tell which is which))

It's indoors, can't hear well. JWG2 is outside but doesn't seem to be cutting it

[hidden timber]

That’s cool

[tardy steeple]

Has anyone seen a “ thin “ enclosure box ?

Is that a thing

Like this is what I need but it’s 4.3 inch tall I need like 2 inches ish

[toxic shard]

110mm is pretty this by what i'm seeing. For outdoor use might be tough. You can find "project boxes" thinner, but those are not for outdoor use.

[tardy steeple]

https://www.polycase.com/dc-57p

I have a location I wanna stick a radio in but it’s tight.

I can run a Ethernet wire thru the existing wiring for the exit sign

[hidden timber]

For those that have been “meshing” for about a year, how has foliage affected the mesh?

[toxic shard]

honeslty i think this is the first year we've had enough folks to really notice, imo.

[void cape]

It decreases signal quality if you are transmitting through a lot of it eg. across the horizon towards an object. If it's a few trees inbetween you and the destination it's not a major issue.

If you're familiar with 70cm ham radio or FRS transmission, it's very similar in propogation if not slightly more line-of-sight.

Meshtastic radios have similar power ratings to FRS radios, although they have better correction using LoRa vs analog voice.

[hidden timber]

I was curious because today was pretty bad over here for the mesh. Had full isolation most of the afternoon. Was curious if the humidity or some other environmental factor caused it, then got to thinking about foliage.

[void cape]

I’m not sure what the foliage is where you are but we only barely have flowers poking out of the ground and the trees are still bare

Humidity can affect signal but probably not enough to cause this? It’s more impactful in higher frequencies.

If you are near a body of water it could be wind interrupting the water causing it to reflect less

[hidden timber]

I’m in Vernon. Not too much foliage yet. This seems to happen occasionally. It’s difficult to pin down. My only uplink to most of you guys west of the river is BOX, and without it almost nothing shows up at my place. So it’s hard to distinguish an issue on my end vs BOX.

That said, SOAP disappeared across the state today at the same time. Unsure if related, but sus.

Thought about humidity because it was like 100% up there when I checked on it

[void cape]

It could be entirely an equipment fault

The other possibility (although unlikely if you are stationary) is multipath interference from office buildings in Hartford

Or other hillsides in general I guess. Multipath has multiple causes

[hidden timber]

MHC1 (home G2) antenna is screwed into a stud, so stationary. Equipment fault is highly possible. It was isolated to just extremely nearby nodes for the entire afternoon/evening. Slowly came back to life once I rebooted it, now 56 online

[void cape]

Hmm

[hidden timber]

It’s almost as if the amp in the G2 shut off. Lights were all lit tho

60 now, still climbing.

[void cape]

I have only 50 but I’m also at a network edge here hearing most messages repeated after 2-3 hops

[void cape]

I tried a trace route, no idea if it’ll make it there

[hidden timber]

Same. No response. Also the dreaded “encrypted send failed”

[void cape]

Seems no

Oooof

[hidden timber]

I think I need to dump my nodedb entirely

[void cape]

I’m still on 2.5.15 or something

[hidden timber]

Ohhh that might relate. I’m on 2.6.4

[void cape]

I’ve heard it’s still somewhat buggy

[hidden timber]

🙃

Do you see SOAP or SSRG?

Both are still spotty for me

Last seen for your G2 was 7 hops by the way. Edge for both of us lol

[void cape]

I see soapstone mountain

[hidden timber]

https://x.com/lonseidman/status/1907992782041493839

Lon Seidman (@lonseidman) on X

Picked me up some Meshtastic nodes! Thought I bought one, ended up with three :).

X · Apr 4, 2025, 3:05 AM

(tech youtuber in southern CT)

[toxic shard]

This can mean the node you're sending to is off your node db (hasn't been heard recently, 80 nodes for nRF, 100 for most ESP32, more for some). It can also happen when the app but tries to send your PKI encrypted message on the public channel, or at least appears to.

[fierce moss]

i heard good things about that Jackery above

active charging while in use and clean output correct? can essentually be a USB UPS ?

[hidden timber]

my experience with jackery (the 300 at least) has been yes

SOAP's view, photo from last night

reaching it from East Hartford, nice tour around the state to get there lol

[fierce moss]

ha

[tardy steeple]

This got me thinking …

Why spend money on an electric box inclosure . When you can just strap up a pelican or pelican variant case haha

[hidden timber]

Lmao

[tardy steeple]

Yeah, that box or whatever is to determine the amount of traffic on a road.

I guess these are the new things instead of running lines across the roads to count the cars

[toxic shard]

Yup, only downside right now on the Jackery 100 Plus seems to be it being a little pricy, but not really that bad, and the displayed state of charge not being accurate for low-draw loads.

[toxic shard]

Something like this https://www.jamartech.com/blackcatiiinfo

[toxic shard]

If you've got a node doing mqtt uplink, I'd enable the Neighbor Info module to get cool data like this

Sorry, was trying to show this screen but the last shot lots it

[hidden timber]

I believe it’s enabled for both of mine

[tardy steeple]

I think I have store and forward and neighbor info enabled . Edit removed directions

[hidden timber]

https://www.reddit.com/r/meshtastic/comments/1jrts80/mim_meshtastic_instant_messenger/

[tardy steeple]

I literally just saw that lol.

I’m kinda pissed off at Reddit . I was at work and logged into Reddit on a shared computer and got a permanent ban from the platform

Got a temp ban and then a perm the same day

[void cape]

That’s just stupid.

[toxic shard]

Well nobody can ban you from RF

(except the feds I guess, but then you've got bigger problems)

[tardy steeple]

Or Randy shows up and slaps me for pushing the TX button in an attempt to go many fars

[hidden timber]

115 online nodes in Vernon rn

[tardy steeple]

That’s traffic information camera thing but that’s kind of crazy that they strapped it up to the stop sign

[toxic shard]

lol

[tardy steeple]

I actually called the company and inquired what they are using for that . Seems to be holding up well.

[hidden timber]

That is wild

[tardy steeple]

😂

[fierce moss]

unwin, that little Anker thing ONLY outputs in a lightning cable

[toxic shard]

No there is a USB C version I think https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Foldable-Connector-Portable-Charger/dp/B0C6XK77HJ?th=1

[fierce moss]

ahh

i won a couple a whiel back

both were lightning connectors

[tardy steeple]

Just spent 2 hours putting up a device on a pole . Came inside didn’t see it on map . Was confused.

Went back outside climbed to roof still nothing . Verified all lights and everything.

My dumb ass installed my MeshCore build instead of Meshtastic .

FML

[toxic shard]

Well, at least you know what happened 🙂

[tardy steeple]

I’m thinking about just pulling the power and swapping the 4631 cores .

[toxic shard]

That is an option

[toxic shard]

Glad my retirement account is 85% meshtastic nodes

[fervent sky]

Anyone else using the Android Meshtastic app constantly spammed with "New Node Seen" notifications? Almost all of the nodes seem to be running outdated firmware and definitely not the first time my node has seen them....

[toxic shard]

My guess is it's related to there being more nodes around than most nodes can keep in their internal NodeDB

So the client would need to also keep tabs

[fervent sky]

Yeah the T114 running 2.5.20 only stores 80 nodes. V3 stores 100. I flashed the TDeck to 2.6.4 and it stores 250 now. Makes sense 🤔

[tardy steeple]

no but all the nodes im seeing are ALL on 0% battery

[tardy steeple]

https://github.com/meshtastic/firmware/commit/d1068fd1e451146d2982b17ee27838a60fb26b5b

From the Blog:

Meshtastic over LAN (UDP) – Now on ESP32​

Meshtastic 2.6 adds support for meshing over a local network (LAN) using UDP, currently available for ESP32 devices on WiFi. This feature allows nodes to communicate over a standard network connection, extending your mesh without relying solely on RF signals. This can be especially useful in locations where RF coverage is limited or when you want to bridge multiple Meshtastic networks over existing infrastructure.

Once enabled, nodes automatically discover and connect to each other over the local network with minimal setup. While this feature is still in the experimental phase, we plan to expand support to additional platforms in future releases. Technical documentation is in progress, and we welcome feedback from the community to help refine it.

[toxic shard]

Should be interesting

[hidden timber]

finally got around to dockerizing meshsense. the image that's out there is hella outdated, so friend & i wrote our own Dockerfile for it, seems stable

[tardy steeple]

Docker and Meshsense are not compatible with my MacBook too I’m jelly lol

[visual mist]

Meshtastic chasing Sideband + Reticulum?

[fierce moss]

I had this as well

[fierce moss]

oooooh. this could be cool

no need to mqtt for some use cases now! nor get stupid packets mqtt tagged for no reason while bridging

[toxic shard]

@fierce moss when 2.6 is out of alpha are you going to update chippanee?

hopefully soon they'll drop the beta, though that's conjecture on my part

[hidden timber]

made us a website! https://ctmesh.org/

it's just a page of links for now, but hope to put more helpful resources soon. if anyone has any ideas for it, lmk

[tardy steeple]

Add MeshCore links and resources

[visual mist]

Add a place where we can upload pictures of our nodes and then vote on how hot they are...

...I mean, it worked for Zuckerberg 🤣

[hidden timber]

in all seriousness, that's actually a good idea for the discord server if it ends up being used haha

[tardy steeple]

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/15GoogmrWi/?mibextid=wwXIfr

[tardy steeple]

Vote for Pedro 🤣

[fierce moss]

Yes

thats the plan. update everything

[steady solar]

Got a link? Been meaning to do this and that would save me time

[hidden timber]

The friend I worked on it with is getting things officially organized on his git repo for it. Think he’s gonna put details in the new ct mesh discord soon

[tardy steeple]

Have a good day yall

[toxic shard]

you need to get one of those H2T cases gold plated

imagine the photos

[tardy steeple]

I have a clear and a translucent case on its way .

[toxic shard]

Now get a glow in the dark one

[tardy steeple]

Shid that’s a good idea lol

[hidden timber]

https://meshtastic.org/docs/community/local-groups/#connecticut 🎉

[toxic shard]

Can we be unofficial known as the Nutmegsh?

Or the Meshuskies?

I'll keep workshopping

[tardy steeple]

Nutmeg Networkers

Constitution Mesh

Nutmeg Mesh Collective

Nutmeg Nodes

Constitutional Comms

NutMeshters

Packet Nutmeggers

[visual mist]

Meshtasticuts, or Connectastics

...eh, first sounds like a weird barber shop chain, and the second like a amateur adult gymnastics team 🤣

And NutMesh just sounds...bad...on a few different levels

[hidden timber]

Muziworks announced a sale on "refurbished" items ahead of terrifs: https://muzi.works/collections/clearance

[visual mist]

Saw that...was tempted to pick up a couple of those H1 cases until I realized that the H2 is the one with room for GPS...

And his Wisblock kits looked tempting too except they're missing GPS modules...instead it's a GPIO module and LCD display...

The H2T is tempting...not the biggest fan of the tan (only color still available) but it would be a big improvement over my T1000-Es...

Sucks that the T1000-E already went up in price on his site, though...I picked up 3 back in early Feb for $40 a pop, now they're $48...not a huge increase, and they're still cheaper than pretty much any other client node, but just ugh

[toxic shard]

Atlavox has T1000-E for $45 https://atlavox.com/products/t1000-e-meshtastic-radio (plus shipping)

[toxic shard]

H1 is Heltec V3, H2 is Heltec T114, which is vastly superior for battery use.

GPS in the node is only needed if the device is not paired to a phone/tablet that has it's own GPS. Or if the node is truly standalone like the T-Deck Plus

If you're using the node to track something remotely, then yeah GPS is great.

[tardy steeple]

I’ll have 20 t1000e next week . Seeed just sent me my shipment

[toxic shard]

One for each finger and toe

[tardy steeple]

Nut 🌰 mesh lol

[toxic shard]

Or you can go all X-Men Gambit and use them as a mutant power

[tardy steeple]

For my site

https://ghostfaceinnovations.com/collections/sale-and-clearance

[toxic shard]

I've been thinking, my gold plating idea before might impact the RF too much. So I think hydrodipping is the play

(these are not serious ideas)

[tardy steeple]

Well, I mean, carbon fiber, 3-D printing, affects it as well I believe and also is conductive?

[toxic shard]

Yeah I remember Muzi had to deal with that

Like sick ☠️ cases and ❤️‍🔥 cases for these like phones lol

[tardy steeple]

Anyone in here do 3d printing

I need some case mounts for a few devices

Rak 19003 x10
Rak 19007 x10
Heltec t114 x10
Heltec wireless wsl x10

@

Also need a mount for
Rak base with RAK11200 /11300

[toxic shard]

what do you mean by "case mount"?

[toxic shard]

@craggy vigil does cases, maybe connect and see?

[tardy steeple]

For example

[visual mist]

Classy! Definitely a step up from zip ties 😁👍

[toxic shard]

So like rak hole pattern to the 5mm (or whatever) grid?

I had a bunch for the 19007 printed

I used PCBway, wasn't cheap but I also wanted really nice prints.

If I recall, I went with ASA FDM printing so they're would be no heat issues warping it in the case.

[tardy steeple]

Yes .

I was thinking of going that route .

@toxic shard also with this one I would need a modified plate / adapter as that module in the back sticks out and is also higher .

[toxic shard]

i've done two orders. One for those, and one for little thingies that make it easier to mount those Harbor Breeze solar light nodes

That piece off the back:

[tardy steeple]

You see this ?

https://www.printables.com/model/1226442-harbor-breeze-solar-t114-meshtastic-node

[toxic shard]

I had not. Seems like a lot of work for a HB node. Also why GPS on a solar node... weird..

I mean, I guess if you tune if really low update, maybe it's useful for timekeeping. Dunno. Nice design though.

@jolly ruin For your consideration 👆

[tardy steeple]

I know I never really did a solar note or anything, but I keep seeing it a lot of groups a lot of mentions. I’m probably gonna pick up three or four just to play around with it.

I ended up buying tons of boards

[toxic shard]

I think we should try to do a sort of mesh message relay test. Seeing nodes on maps is all fun and all, but passing actual messages is useful. I'm picturing someone on one end of the mesh sending a message via DM to someone else they can hear, and on and on, to the other side.

[tardy steeple]

I don’t know what’s going on with the CT Connet I barely receive anything.

[toxic shard]

The difference between this and just blurting on Public/Primary/LongFast is knowing who you can hear and who can hear you.

I don't see much activity on ConnNet, you're not missing much.

[tardy steeple]

Also GMRS channels are dry too . Sitting over here talking to myself .

Looks on amazon for grippy socks lol

[toxic shard]

Ever hear anything across the sound?

[tardy steeple]

MESHCORE I seem
To be the only one here

[toxic shard]

You might be the only meshcore in the state lol

[tardy steeple]

All the time actually

462.650

https://mygmrs.com/repeater/3372

Easily on my portable . It gets many fars

[toxic shard]

What about over the mesh?

[tardy steeple]

When I had my buoy node yes.

Very rarely now tho . Even with a directional antenna

Someone said the coast guard confiscated my buoy node but I’ve made several calls and I can’t find out any kind of information or anything about it

[toxic shard]

Meshmap.net shows a couple

[tardy steeple]

Yeah, all those on the mesh map are on the other side of the island though

[toxic shard]

but nothing on the liam or affermatech maps

Just don't forget a node on the ferry, that'd be a shame

[visual mist]

That's awesome 🤩

[tardy steeple]

@toxic shard

2.6 just went beta

[toxic shard]

noice

[visual mist]

I know what I'm doing when I get home 😁

[tardy steeple]

I don’t even want to go home 😆

[visual mist]

Stupid question prolly but does the meshtastic flasher work on mobile browsers??

[hidden timber]

Time to run all over the state 😂

[visual mist]

Downside to being a prolific node disseminator 🤣

[toxic shard]

It works in browsers that support WebSerial, typically Chromium-based browsers. So I wouldn't be surprised if it worked on android.

[tardy steeple]

Run forest run

[tardy steeple]

Not on my iPhone . Don’t have an android to test .

[toxic shard]

I think most of your nodes have pretty good access to the node itself and its USB port, but it's worth practicing doing firmware updates over bluetooth. Maybe don't practice on deployed nodes.

Gary can flash the GFR2 Chippanee Router without getting on the roof using BLE

I've flashes SOL Unwin Solar wirelessly, since it's in a Unify Enclosure with no USB pass-thru port.

[hidden timber]

Yeah that’d be nice. All of them require a ladder, which I have a very safe telescoping one for 🤪

[tardy steeple]

Wonder if he wears a trench coat to flash it ?

[toxic shard]

"Officer, I'm just flashing my node"

[visual mist]

"OK that's it, in the back of the cruiser, ya degenerate"

...no, wait, I got that wrong...

::uses taser::

[tardy steeple]

I prob should have read that updating 2.6 will wipe device . FML

[fervent sky]

Oof

[visual mist]

Yeah I was lucky I caught that and was able to do a config backup on each of my T1000E before I updated them

[tardy steeple]

I just royally screwed up

[final loom]

welp thats good to know haha

i apparently made that mistake for my car node and didnt bother looking after cause i got distracted.

[tardy steeple]

Yeah, I made a mistake on four of my personals and 12 that I built

[final loom]

OOF

[tardy steeple]

No, I’m now I’m over here trying to literally redo everything

[final loom]

fuck

[radiant sequoia]

I found it easiest to load the command prompt serial interface and do it with that.... one command to grab the yaml config and one to restore....

the python client...

[hidden timber]

unfortunately, that does not work with G2 or T-Beam Supreme

at least with version 2.6.1 of the python cli

there was a 2.5.x version i was on prior, which also did not work

the backup works, but not the restore. seems to restore partial or nothing

found success configuring individual settings command by command

dunno what's up with 2.5.20 -> 2.6.4 with that method, because i've used it before with other versions. something with 2.6.4 just doesn't like it

good to have a complete backup for reference in the manual reconfiguration tho

[radiant sequoia]

I had no issue with my g2

I think I did it with the rak, heltec, and g2, restore sometimes can be flakey... I agree at least you have the keys and the config that's just readable...

[toxic shard]

I've had successes and issues with exporting config and restoring on everything from a heltec v3 to a station g2. Never figured out what the issue is. Sometimes if I set the LoRa region then I can restore the rest. At least having the export helps so I know what I had it set to before, for keys, for position, etc.

The contact terminal meshtastic client has a backup and restore option, I haven't tested it yet thought.

[final loom]

my 2 t1000-e will not let me set mqtt settings after updating to 2.6.4. It always errors out. I've tried with the web client, android client, and iphone client. anyone else experience this?

specifically the mqtt settings to turn it on and set the url user and password.

i can enable the "ok to mqtt" and individual channel mqtt settings

[tardy steeple]

I just attempted to replicate this and now my phone doesn’t see the device at all

[final loom]

YES that happened to me once too! Only once though and I tried a bunch of times. I had to power it off and back on with the button.

[tardy steeple]

Had to forget Bluetooth and manually shut off device by holding button .

It has been reconnected now

Now the app has crashed 2x on my iPhone

[final loom]

oh shit

[tardy steeple]

Come to think of it I don’t think you should turn on MQTT enabled on that device as it would shut off the Bluetooth and look for a wifi connection

Just the OK to mqtt togged on would repeat / forward those packets

[final loom]

OOOH. I thought even though it didn't have WIFI built in it forwarded it through the phone internet. Also on 2.5 I was able to have it on without causing issues. That must be it then.

[delicate sonnet]

Just got my first node set up and running. I live on the Wilton/Norwalk border at the top of a hill. Hoping I can get some distance with an antenna on the roof...

Is there a CT standard channel yet?

[tardy steeple]

Pinned message it’s on

[delicate sonnet]

Thanks, @tardy steeple - don't see the pinned message at the top of this discussion - is it somewhere else?

[tardy steeple]

#1220145309028581416 message

[delicate sonnet]

Thanks, @fervent sky !

[tardy steeple]

That’s not the key that’s pinned

Is my iOS app different? I’m confused

[fervent sky]

I didn't open that whole message that's pinned. I guess it is there.

I searched "ConnNet" and apparently there's been multiple keys so which is correct?

[tardy steeple]

The key you have and the one pinned is different so I don’t know now.

Maybe that’s why i don’t get replies

[fervent sky]

It would make sense why I never see any traffic on ConnNet. I probably have the wrong key in my nodes

[hidden timber]

I have pJgk5XqJY8Ar+jSqC5W81g==/128 and have seen some traffic

[delicate sonnet]

Thanks for the help, everyone! Hoepfully I will see some traffic on ConnNet now! 🙂

[tardy steeple]

Last message I have is @toxic shard saying TGIF

[hidden timber]

I don’t have anything in my app at all haha

[hidden timber]

But have seen prior

[hidden timber]

I think I may have seen TGIF, but don’t recall the rest

[delicate sonnet]

I think I have to get a better antenna, or get it higher up…

[steady solar]

Just to follow up pJgk5XqJY8Ar+jSqC5W81g== is correct for ConnNet

[void cape]

Ahh yeah SCM is fun

There’s some open source readers for those. I’ve used it before, nice to read my meter with

[hidden timber]

🙄 wish i realized that sooner. so much frustration trying to figure out wtf was causing me interference

[void cape]

The protocol is kinda sparse; one message every 15 minutes or so

[hidden timber]

it's funny i didn't realize it, because i've actively been collecting that data for years

via SCM

[void cape]

Mhm

[hidden timber]

oddly, ours here broadcast every second

[void cape]

That often? Huh

Maybe the meter at my house is different

[hidden timber]

at least when i was putting it together, had to group messages and track only changes when ingesting

[tardy steeple]

Smart meters and temp traffic lights use the 900 bands

Anyone try

Meshtastic over LAN (UDP) – Now on ESP32

[hidden timber]

not yet, but likely soon with some projects we have planned for BOX

[tardy steeple]

I was thinking about using it on my setup as the rak board I have running is esp32

Rak 5005 works better with the RAK11200 Core Module
RAK13300 Core Module

IMO

[brave karma]

Hullo. Another newbie. Working on getting a node set up. Currently waiting on hardware. AND I think i might have found a monopole tower I can use....

Also are there people here who also do HAM radio? Another thing I'm interested in getting into. maybe. if i have time. never enough time.

I'm in New London/Norwich mostly. Tower I'm looking into is in Willington. I roam CT, RI, and MA though. I want to get a node set up that in willington, and another that'll travel with me all over the daman place.

[toxic shard]

Hi @brave karma, welcome. Quite a few people in the mesh are hams. Some use their callsigns in their node names, that makes it easy. Definitely a worthwhile hobby. It's never been easier to get licensed. I recommend using HamStudy.org to practice. Website is free and there's an inexpensive app. HamRadioPrep is another popular tool if you prefer more online guided instruction. And clubs around the state offer in-person classes from time to time. Testing can be done in person or on Zoom, very easy. Meshtastic is what lead me into ham radio too.

[void cape]

Yup. Callsign in the name

There are several ham’s here

[fervent sky]

Yes. The antenna and RF knowledge of an amateur radio operator helps slightly

[brave karma]

Awesome, thank you for the resources. Much appreciated!

[brave karma]

OK, so I've applied to recieve a free Heltec Meshtastic/LoRa kit from Cyberpony Express ( application here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfeDi69xAjjioV7fpNDTQ1NjADD5NGbUDB_bIRRbZ9tbOSvoQ/viewform?pli=1)

I saw a post about this, and this is actually how I learned about meshtastic at all. I'm also looking on Ebay for a cheap ready to go set up that I'll probably use as my mobile node. ( i don't know all the porper terminology yet)

How DIY have you all gotten with these - has anyone tried to build their own development board? This may be a naive question, not knowing the complexities of the various hardware setups, firmware options, or really much about coding.

ALSO this is the facebook ad I accidentally came across for the property with the monopole. I can't afford to buy, but I am talking to the owner about renting. (if any of you are property monied, hell - maybe buy it?) The property was formerly owned and operated by the state of CT. IMH(uneducated)O this is a gem, esp for our purposes.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2135778586869322/?referralSurface=messenger_lightspeed_banner&referralCode=messenger_banner

https://gis.vgsi.com/willingtonct/Parcel.aspx?Pid=2869

[visual mist]

Holy shit...that tower is a panic attack waiting to happen...me and heights are not friends 🤣

[hidden timber]

must be this

[tardy steeple]

#1194757507013427250

[brave karma]

Whoa that's cool. But I don't think so? It's on Jared sparks rd. Wallingford

[brave karma]

Oooooo. Man. New hyperfocus topic unlocked.

[hidden timber]

yeah i've since been informed it's on jared sparks in willington haha

[brave karma]

https://youtu.be/SZON0gqFf8M?si=tLv0le-TDj_O1YyF

[brave karma]

Ah. The power of community.

[tardy steeple]

Rakwireless said I can’t apply for a channel partner

[hidden timber]

very cool. we've got some things in store for Box Mountain in Vernon. we already have a meshtastic router put up on a similar little shack, but there's more to come 👀

[tardy steeple]

Need anything rak? lol 😂

[hidden timber]

maybe, haha

[tardy steeple]

Id recommend that over a 19007/4631 board

I’m at a stand still in building right now as Rokland doesn’t have 2 core/modules

[brave karma]

@tardy steeple dumb question: why are you trying to get a partnership? What are the benefits.

[tardy steeple]

Stand out , faster delivery , boost revenue .

( distribution and manufacturing)

[brave karma]

Would you get discounts?

I mean if you aren't too far from me, I could let you know what I need from them to get you towards that goal. Might not be MUCH help though since I'm fucking poor. (Bank account constantly treading deadly close to the riptide of over draft fees. If my credit score were a red shirt, McCoy would definitively utter "he's dead Jim." )

[toxic shard]

The meshtastic node builder community is pretty active on Etsy if you're looking for pre-built nodes. My recommendation is to get the WisMesh Pocket from Rokland and get to using the radio rather than fussing with building it. The Muzi H2T is also great. I'm also a big fan of the Atlavox M1.

The cheapest entry is something like the Heltec V3, but it's not good for portable battery use. Not that you can't, but you won't get long runtime compared to the above options.

[tardy steeple]

I would get wholesale costs . Not really discounts tho .

I have a few premade devices at highly discounted prices .

https://ghostfaceinnovations.com/collections/sale-and-clearance

plus code CTMESH gets you an additional 10% off

[final loom]

thats a nice price on a raspi

[visual mist]

@tardy steeple that pre-made Supreme has been tempting me SO badly

[tardy steeple]

Comes as pictured gooseneck and stand

So two antennas .

[visual mist]

...dammit...resistance...fading...

[tardy steeple]

Anyone build with 21700s? These were just posted .

Samsung 58E (CC5493F101) 5330mAh 10.7A Battery

https://www.18650batterystore.com/products/samsung-inr21700-58e-cc5493f101-5330mah-10-7a?_kx=Ubj6Gg-pF_1pB4CYEdJUlSE9_UIgQ5QTQBXentHh-ZQ.Y9n3Nv

[visual mist]

I have some 50S models for flashlights but they're only good for 500 charge cycles...same with the 58E from what I can see there...in my experience by that point they're gonna lose a good amount of capacity...

Vapcell F60 is a legit 6000mAh cell, with 1000 charge cycle capacity. Discharge temp range of -20C to 70C, charging temp range 0 to 45C.

Molicel P50B would be my choice for an outdoor node. It's only 5000mAh, but it's got a 1400 charge cycle, discharge temp range is -40C to 60C, charge temp range 0C to 60C.

[random hamlet]

Check the PoE Module now 👀

[tardy steeple]

We just ordered 25 units from Rak 😦 we do still need RAK13300 tho

[toxic shard]

Anyone seen this sort of power graph before? New RAK-based solar node:

(referring to all the sharp dips)

[steady solar]

Nope, never. What are you using to visualize this out of curiosity?

[tardy steeple]

Are you using a direct plug into the board or a a solar/power management chip/board

[toxic shard]

This is just the macOS app, similar to the iOS app

[toxic shard]

This is the node: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1777099913/mini-meshtastic-solar-node-for-fence

Has it's own MPPT and protection circuit

[toxic shard]

This is the "Device Metrics Log" screen for the node I'm connected to via BLE

[tardy steeple]

The sharp dips likely happened because the battery drained faster than the solar panel could recharge probably overnight during heavy traffic loa
Edit can’t spell

[tardy steeple]

kinda off topic . I didn’t even know he was back .

[toxic shard]

Yeah seemed to change his shop name.

[void cape]

That appears to be entirely overnight. Probably high current draw.. need more capacitance at the input side maybe?

[tardy steeple]

Yeah, I looked over it again and it looks like it’s all sorts of hours between the sun up the sundown. I’m not sure if he has any additional modules for weather temperature connected to the board, but something is definitely drawing a lot more than the board is receiving.

[toxic shard]

No sensors.

It's also a bit weird with the apps and metrics for the node you're connected to.

[void cape]

Don’t forget that battery voltage deviation from charged to discharged is only from like 4.2 volts charged down to about 3 volts, so those dips are probably only 300-600mV dips

[toxic shard]

Not sure who that is or what point they’re making

[tardy steeple]

I haven’t had a single message all day on either MeshCore or Meshtastic

Come to think of it ever since I updated my node to 2.6 haven’t received a single thing

[brave karma]

ugh i want my hardware NOW!!! dang waiting for things to come in the mail and stuff.

[void cape]

When I ordered tbeams off Amazon they came in a day or so.

[toxic shard]

Interesting weirdness, go here, click Full Details, then scroll down to the recorded traceroutes. They appear to be from various MeshSense around, which is fine and expected, but for some reason it's got Sunset Ridge in all of them. https://meshtastic.liamcottle.net/?node_id=1545336082

Isn't that weird?

I'm pretty sure it's not reporting who started the TR properly, as I didn't ask abc8 to do any, it hasn't been connected to MeshSense, it's just been sitting there.

[fierce moss]

huh...

[hidden timber]

That’s weird. It’s similar on the CT instance. https://map.ctmesh.org/?node_id=1545336082

[tardy steeple]

Prob gonna drop back to 2.5

[final loom]

so are 2.5 and 2.6 nodes not able to message eachother? Or are they supposed to be able to and something is going wrong (either a bug or a misconfig)?

[brave karma]

Can you search the map by firmware? Like search to see if any other 2.6 are up and running?

Er, is there just a list form of every node up that can be sorted by firmware? I dunno. I'd be interesting to see if like, no 2.6s are showing anywhere. Maybe. I dunno. I dunno nothing.

[toxic shard]

No, nodes do not report their firmware version on the mesh. You can only see it on the node you're connected to, or you can sometimes infer the boundaries of the version by its features. For example if a node has an open padlock icon in the app, it is running a pre-2.5 firmware.

[toxic shard]

There should be no problem between 2.5 nodes and 2.6 nodes. Should

[final loom]

lol ya should. thank you. figured as much.

[tardy steeple]

Looks that way .

[tardy steeple]

I have zero communication ever since 2.6 update

[fierce moss]

Check Lora settings and make sure a region is set

It wipes a bunch of stuff

[brave karma]

Awesome. Thank you! I love learning this stuff! I can't get enough.

Also, question - so like I can see what firmware is running on this node (2.6). Is that user entered then, and not populated by the node?

[toxic shard]

I suspect that is the node connected to the mqtt broker. @hidden timber ?

If MQTT is in the mix you may see firmware from nodes that are themselves uplinking to mqtt.

On the map the dot is green meaning it's uplinking MQTT

I'm not an MQTT guy, my interest is in the RF side of things.

[hidden timber]

Yes sir

That node is on the ctmesh.org mqtt broker, which uplinks to Liam’s map & meshmap.net

(@brave karma)

[tardy steeple]

App is stuck

[brave karma]

Yesssssss! Now I just gotta make it through this shift.

GAaaaaaaaaah

[tardy steeple]

I’ll come back tomorrow and get it haha

[brave karma]

Put one on a floaty down the 'baug lol

It'll get to new london eventually.

[brave karma]

New player has joined the game!

Woooooo!

[hidden timber]

!!!!

[tardy steeple]

Best deal ever ! 🤣

[brave karma]

Fun fruity buddies are the best kind of buddies!

@tardy steeple also your soap smells amazing!

[toxic shard]

Anyone ever see traffic like this?

[tardy steeple]

Bots why is it reporting his tv 😂

[toxic shard]

What's your node called?

[brave karma]

Hellbow Smackaroni (💩 )

[toxic shard]

Nice, looks like you're over in Norwich?

[brave karma]

yep

there for now anyway.

[tardy steeple]

How did you locate ?

[toxic shard]

Liam's map

[tardy steeple]

I barely see anything on that map I know other people by me are connected

[toxic shard]

The problems with the meshtastic cli's config loading with the recent firmwares is so frustrating ☹️

This happening when the 2.5->2.6 upgrade wipes the node config is hella bad timing

[brave karma]

So, I just got a message from a rando who happened to be nearby (which was super cool!). The mesh app was showing that the node's signal was bad, and then it showed it's map location exactly at my location. Weird?

Also, in the signal log, that node looks like it almost always has a bad signal - what are the reasons for a bad signal?

Node 09ef

[toxic shard]

Are you using iOS?

[tardy steeple]

My direct messages won’t send lol

[toxic shard]

ESF seems to happen when the target node is not in the NodeDB, because it hasn’t been heard recently. It can also happen if the app is buggered and is trying to send a pki encrypted DM in a channel by mistake.

There are likely other scenarios

[tardy steeple]

I can send messages from my roof node via serial connection on chrome I just can’t send back

Sending issues with seeed 1000e

[toxic shard]

The app doesn’t make it easy to see if a node is in the DB or not. The app shows lots of nodes, but the nrf52 nodes can only hold 80

Because of all the mass nodes, it’s easy to get local nodes blown out. Might be worth slightly increasing node info frequency for nodes you really want to be able to reach. Or possibly favoriting them might keep them in the db. Dunno.

[tardy steeple]

Yeah, I just deleted the DB node and reset the app unfortunately, I did lose all my data but messaging does work

Should of disabled this lol

[toxic shard]

New vid by CT local Lon.TV https://youtu.be/GS2OgeiK_2s?si=YCrZJoPSk1Na7DKD

He's down in Essex, not enough nodes heading down that way yet. If we got one on Goose Hill that might start to close the gap: https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=UP2VL99X

[radiant sequoia]

love the old mac classic behind him.... takes me back! hahaqhahahaha

[toxic shard]

Yeah, last time I used a 1200baud modem was on one of those, until I started playing with APRS and WinLink 30+ years later.

Couple of errors in his vid but a good intro.

[brave karma]

So how would one get permission to do that? Would Conn Light and Power co be amenable? https://www.propertyrecordcards.com/PropertyResults.aspx?towncode=061&uniqueid=P0506400

[toxic shard]

No, no utility will allow it.

[brave karma]

I imagine it'd be hard to just...you know, find the ROW and accidentally leave a node at the top of a long ladder someone accidentally went up. cameras, im sure

and once up, obvious

gotcha

dang

[toxic shard]

Usually we find ham radio people nearby, or we find local businesses, or sometimes we find interested local fire or other emergency services.

And sometimes nodes just show up in the woods with nobody claiming responsibility 😉

[brave karma]

Ahh yess, the forest node gnomes

[toxic shard]

And sometimes it just can’t be done at the current time. There will be gaps and mesh fragmentation. So far the best I’ve done is just giving out lots of nodes and cold emailing hams. Not a high percentage of success, but it’s helped.

[tardy steeple]

Would never happen.

The 900mhz radio area gets a lot of interference as well.

Devices that use 900 MHz include:
• Meshtastic / LoRa radios (long-range text/data)
• Older cordless phones
• IoT sensors & smart meters
• Ham radios (33cm band)
• Wireless microphones
• Drone telemetry & RC systems

Great for unlicensed, low-power, medium-range use.

[brave karma]

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/4c801e35f200493ebffddf7b7b10a2e0

330 Pokorny Rd, Higganum, CT, 06441, USA

just cuz lidar map. mmm.

[final loom]

holy shit there is someone else down by me haha

Ill have to see if i can contact him through the mesh lol

Hopefully he leaves his node online

[brave karma]

oooo. This is in Gay City state park. I wonder if it is a nice place for node gnomes.

[tardy steeple]

Anything cool to do that way ? Only thing I really know is the seaport haha

[brave karma]

nearby towers @

41.70871 N 72.472863 W 899 ft

[final loom]

its a nice area. essex steam train can be fun. thats the main attraction around here

funnily enough im gonna try and get a node up at their antenna eventually haha

[hidden timber]

Olde Mystick Village is nice

though i think that's the next county over

[final loom]

ya thats about 30 minutes east

[tardy steeple]

I’m arguing with someone about an antenna actually . I’m trying to explain to them that unless it’s stupid high up it’s not going to be beneficial

[hidden timber]

on reddit? i think i saw that lol

[tardy steeple]

No , in person . I’m banned on Reddit

[hidden timber]

oh that's right

someone used that same graphic lol

[tardy steeple]

I made a new account and was banned too . I believe they hardware id ban devices

[final loom]

btw if you put the default longfast channel to a secondary channel will you still receive messages from people that have it as the primary channel?

[hidden timber]

did you delete the app and reinstall it before signing back in? your hardware id changes when you do that, at least on mobile.

[tardy steeple]

I deleted app . Signed outta that Apple ID , rebooted , signed into another Apple ID downloaded .

5 min later banned

[hidden timber]

ip?

[hidden timber]

that's a good question. messages probably, but your telemetry and nodeinfo, etc will only transmit to your primary channel. i could be wrong, just a guess from experience

[final loom]

ya basically I want my primary to be a private channel so I can use it for gps tracking and other telemetry but still want to have the default longfast channel

[tardy steeple]

https://store.rakwireless.com/products/5dbi-fiber-glass-antenna-supports-863-870mhz

Rak provides it on website

[hidden timber]

i think i did that at first, then went back to keeping longfast primary. i felt partially removed from the public mesh and didn't like that lol, no further experience

[final loom]

ya i really would rather not transmit my location to everyone lol

but still want to be able to see exact location of some of my devices

[tardy steeple]

I also used a VPN along with the iPhone settings

[final loom]

oh the vpn is probably the reason you got banned haha

the second time at least

[tardy steeple]

Speaking of location I need to set my location with meshsense on my roof node

[tardy steeple]

https://youtu.be/dqSoaDYRpQ0?si=ScbWzgebNH6v5tM8

[final loom]

are they ever gonna change it so you can have it broadcast telemetry over secondary channels? Cause that is a really annoying limitation

Welp just tested having LongFast as primary on one and secondary on another and was able to send messages to and from both

so looks like that works

[toxic shard]

Yes, though some telemetry or node info for you may not go to that channel. Messages will work.

[toxic shard]

Position is shared in a per channel basis so that doesn’t matter primary or not. Other telemetry may be primary only. Try it and see. Easy to change back.

[toxic shard]

I haven’t heard of plans to do that, but also I haven’t heard of anyone saying it’s out of the question. It’s an open source project, someone who can write the code to make it happen in the firmware and the clients would need to collaborate to make it happen.

You can turn position reporting off on your primary channel and only have it on your secondary channel. Or have them with different levels of precision. Though I haven’t tested the details of that.

[final loom]

appreciate the info. I'll do some more testing

[final loom]

and now messaging between them aint working anymore... the fuck?>

between the primary longfast on one device and a secondary longfast on another device t hat is

[tardy steeple]

All the time

I set up 4x seeed t1000e

2x mesh core
2x meshtastic

Mesh core perfect every time
Meshtastic I can’t message at all currently

Both devices are 3 feet apart on a table and the other recipients of those two devices are 200 feet away on another table. Complete line of site no obstructions.

Both using latest apps for Meshtastic and MeshCore

Both iPhone se3 running latest iOS

[final loom]

this is making me want to go to meshcore more and more

does meshcore allow gps tracking?

[tardy steeple]

I don’t believe so currently. it’s basically like app only their relatively new they’re working on everything. There’s a few devices that you can get a screen to work. There’s a few devices that the buttons externally work, but there’s not a lot out there developed and more or less they are trying their damn hardest to get better.

[final loom]

ok. so just gotta wait and hopefully they'll support it

[tardy steeple]

I would say so.

[final loom]

thank you very much. also i got that raspi and the lora hat i ordered from ya and been messing with it. took me a bit but seems to be working ok. that will likely be the node for my house

I was actually think about when going to a convention this year with a bunch of friends just to grab a bunch of t1000e's with meshtastic and let my friends use em because cell towers are always so congested there so texts and calls almost never work. now probably gonna do that but with meshcore cause all we'll need is text chat for figuring out where to meet up and such

[tardy steeple]

Seeed told me if I want to be a distributor I need to buy 500 units

[steady solar]

good luck with incoming tariffs lol

[toxic shard]

I’ve never had any issue with nodes that were nearby. Make sure the non-default primary node has its frequency slot set to 20

[toxic shard]

The default frequency slot is zero, which means the firmware will automatically choose a slot based on the primary channel name. With the default primary channel that works out to slot 20. Almost every node you could ever want to talk to in the public mesh will be on slot 20. If you change the primary channel name but want to be part of the mesh, having your packets rebroadcast by other nodes, you need to set it manually to slot 20. Otherwise the radios won't even hear eachother.

[fierce moss]

i need to start looking for some LMR400 or equiv for the barn

going to redo the base station and get my other antennas at least on the roof

[final loom]

So for whatever reason when I tried to set the frequency offset using the iphone I was using for that node it wouldnt set. So I paired it to another android device i have and it works again

[toxic shard]

Let us know what you pick. I've gotten some stuff from Amazon that I don't really have high confidence in. I've got some Messi & Pauloni for portable ham stuff, but not LMR400-class. And I've got some stuff I've ordered for work from ABR Industries, but again, not LMR400.

[fierce moss]

i was looking at the M&P

they have LMR400 equiv. of very close

[toxic shard]

ABR does too. Their coax assembly builder is a little nicer than M&P

[fierce moss]

I’ll look at them!

[tardy steeple]

I have tons of rg6. Ordered rg59 and they shipped rg6 told me to keep it .

[tardy steeple]

Any idea on size ? The person I get my stuff from has 500 foot spools

[fierce moss]

I do have estimates yea. Let me see

[tardy steeple]

It’s usually 1.25 a foot on average .

[fierce moss]

my ghetto estimates lol.

though i need to see if i changed that a bit when i mounted the other pole

[fierce moss]

lora coax will be shorter. im going to run it to a room about where the second floor orange 30' marker is

i just want it servicable after what happened this winter

ill still keep it poe etc though. easier to keep it on ups

which onlny needs to run for 2min before the generator kicks in

[final loom]

well they can communicate but now it isnt getting any gps info

i ended up factory resetting both and em and now NEITHER is giving gps info even with the default channel setup

[tardy steeple]

Walk outside clear view of sky

[final loom]

Welp I'm an idiot lol

[toxic shard]

Some nodes need a really good outside “view” to get a gps lock. Some seem to lock quickly inside. I don’t even remember which of mine do which.

[tardy steeple]

My rak and t beam inside

The t deck I walk outside

[toxic shard]

No idea when/if I'll get the airframes filters I ordered. I've got a batch 12 and a batch 13 ordered in late Feb

https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2025-24797/

(fixed in 2.6.2, that's cut off from the preview)

[brave karma]

FYI, free utility pole in Bradford, ri https://providence.craigslist.org/zip/d/bradford-free-short-utility-pole/7843377007.html

[tardy steeple]

@toxic shard

https://www.brokencircuitranch.com/shop/p/bandguard-meshtastic-notch-filter

[tardy steeple]

https://www.seeedstudio.com/SenseCAP-Solar-Node-P1-Pro-for-Meshtastic-LoRa-p-6412.html

[visual mist]

You gonna order some for your store? 😉

[tardy steeple]

Not sure I’ll have to sit down with the other two in the company and talk it over .

[keen cove]

I keep seeing your t1000 on long island. No idea who is providing the extra hops though

Traceroute Shows an ffff node

[tardy steeple]

That might be my solar buoy

[keen cove]

Oh nice. How far out is it?

[toxic shard]

Could also be people on planes

[tardy steeple]

It’s lost currently . I did hard wire a Apple air tag inside however I can’t locate it

[brave karma]

@tardy steeple that's really cool.

[brave karma]

Dang. I blame seagulls.

[tardy steeple]

Prob lol.

[visual mist]

Does mesh-related gear fall into the tariff exclusion list? Or is that just smartphones and laptops and shit

[tardy steeple]

Just find someone on the us/can border . Ship to Canada walk over

There are plenty of areas on the US Canadian border that you can literally just walk across. There’s no guards there’s no fences there is literally nothing you can just walk or drive right across.

[keen cove]

2999339467?

[tardy steeple]

No that’s on my waist band

[keen cove]

Oh wait I saw that with my shirt pocket unit on the 21st. I'll check the base when I'm home from work

[tardy steeple]

Last known location was

41.14767° N, 73.09235° W

I can’t locate the node id in my records

[final loom]

could it have sank?

[tardy steeple]

Not sure I thoroughly tested it and under a complete submersion for 2hours to 2 days at a time.

Could’ve ended up on some rocks getting beat around in the waves and broke open or something that’s possibility too .

[final loom]

ah so pretty thoroughly tested then. Cool concept tho

[tardy steeple]

Rokland got a bunch of stuff in .

If you were waiting for a solar enclosure I’d recommend buying the repeater.

You get the 19003/4631 base and core , WisMesh Blade Antenna , 3200 mAh Li-Ion Battery , for not much more .

Go to Roklands website

[tardy steeple]

Good read

https://meshtastic.org/blog/why-your-mesh-should-switch-from-longfast/

[toxic shard]

I’ve run into this problem before. Going to snag a few https://www.adafruit.com/product/6323?utm_source=Adafruit+Products+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c2d7d70b70-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_04_21_07_41&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-c2d7d70b70-114309913

[brave karma]

Lol. My node is confused about space/ time. Showing me in the ocean for some reason. My short name makes this especially amusing to me 😂

Heck. In the drink again. Lol.

[radiant sequoia]

@toxic shard we may be there or getting close...

[tardy steeple]

Going to put this basic build on a friends garage

[toxic shard]

Agreed, let's keep that conversation going. If we coordinate the Gary's nodes, your nodes, "Gordon"'s, and Noah/Mark's nodes, I think it could work out. But since it's a LoRa change it can't be done via admin, so people would need to get out to their nodes and do it via bluetooth (or serial, I think BOX may have serial). Question is, which preset to pick.

[toxic shard]

nice

[tardy steeple]

He already had the node and wanted it outside .

Me personally I want to open it up get the connector right from the board to the antenna however he didn’t want that and wanted it as photographed

[hidden timber]

i'd say it could be done by admin, no? as long as you change your radio to whatever preset the node you're trying to control is on

eg if i was to change BOX to ShortFast over admin, it'd change, and i could then remote admin it again if i subsequently also changed my node to ShortFast

[toxic shard]

I'd definitely try it with a local node first. I think there are LoRa settings which cannot be changed over the mesh via admin

Though I can't find docs of that

[hidden timber]

i def have the option in the ios app, but have not tested it

(that's remote admin of my mobile node)

[toxic shard]

Do you have enough spare local nodes to mess around with it?

If not, do you even mesh bro?

(hides my head in my pile of nodes)

[tardy steeple]

Node party ?

[radiant sequoia]

mediumfast or short slow I'm guessing.... balances speed and range...

[tardy steeple]

Not I’m not . lol

[toxic shard]

I'm pondering how many nodes and which need to be swapped over for a test to give valid results. If we swap to test that our key infrastructure nodes, GFR2, 🦃 , BOX, MTHR, etc, can still hear eachother. If they can, we can overcome most anything else with more mesh filling in the holes.

We'd probably want a different frequency slot too then, I imagine.

looks like the default freq slot changes with the preset.

med_fast is slot 45

[tardy steeple]

Speaking of slot . On android it sets it . On iOS it does not . Long Fast

Edit : Slot

[toxic shard]

on iOS it leaves it at zero, which is the automatic slot based on primary channel name

it ends up being 20

For LF

Changing the preset might help, but I'll need to remember to change my node when traveling, and probably have at least one node still on LF that I can test.

[tardy steeple]

https://meshtastic.org/docs/overview/radio-settings/#custom-settings

[toxic shard]

Might be worth having a bridge of some kind

[tardy steeple]

https://github.com/AkitaEngineering/Akita-Meshtastic-Meshcore-Bridge

[radiant sequoia]

Tested the lora options, looks doable over the admin channel... I had no issue updating the freq from 0 to 20....

preset is an option as well, so both seem changeable....

[toxic shard]

hmm, well that's certainly interesting

Did you do it from iOS or from Android?

[radiant sequoia]

ios

I can try android though too

[toxic shard]

iOS is usually more fussy with remote admin, so if it worked there I bet it's fine on Android.

[radiant sequoia]

ok..

[toxic shard]

So then we'd need to decide on which preset, do we use the preset-default freq slot, and when do we run the test. My first thought was the long memorial day weekend, but I also know that can be busy for folks. I think the biggest thing is coordinating a day when you, @fierce moss and @hidden timber / Mark (not sure his @) can do the change on the core nodes, then the rest of us can do our own edge nodes. We could announce it daily on the LF mesh leading up to the test. Let's keep the discussion going 🙂

[radiant sequoia]

good test on android... no issues reverting the slot to 0... saved and restarted....

josh what's your closest unit to me... I have a test one on my deck... interesting to see if we are somewhat close if we can hit each other with an alternate slot/preset...

I don't care about it yet, to be mounted...

[toxic shard]

TJB is one of mine at a friend's house, it's probably the closest. That or mulligan. I don't have access to them remotely though. If you want me to see something, sending it to Unwin BBS 07c4, I'm logged into that remotely.

[hidden timber]

have a ton, nearly all are deployed 😄

[fierce moss]

im down for whatever

can work on coordinating stuff

are we talking about changing the main preset of the ct mesh?

[toxic shard]

I've given out or deployed all my solar ones and a handful of indoor USB ones or portable battery ones, mostly around Berlin. But I've still got like one of each of every platform of node and several variants of each

[toxic shard]

Yes

[fierce moss]

for better range?

[toxic shard]

For better reliability. https://meshtastic.org/blog/why-your-mesh-should-switch-from-longfast/

[fierce moss]

ahhh

[toxic shard]

Anyone else see my message on ConnNet?

[fervent sky]

Yes and saw your reply

[toxic shard]

Nice.

Figure we should try to send more messages to have a better feel for what's working and what's not. Traceroutes are very expensive, resource-wise, and the normal background chatter of telemetry, positions and nodeinfo is cool but doesn't reflect active communication.

[brave karma]

Im not seeing anything anywhere at the moment. Just updated to 2.6, and fighting right now!

[toxic shard]

You're in a really tough spot. I wouldn't expect you to see much yet

[brave karma]

Also, prior to my current circumstance, I never was able to show up on the CT mesh - I don't think I was ever in range enough to @hidden timber in vernon.

[toxic shard]

Recent primary channel messages from my "BBS" node in Plainville:

versus what my node in Windsor saw:

[brave karma]

aye. It's pretty quite round these parts. BUt iwas getting nothing in connected to MQTT and in LongFast either.

[toxic shard]

I'm not an MQTT guy, can't help on that front.

[brave karma]

Yes, I see. Windsor is hopping comparatively! I'm just wandering about in the desert lol.

So far Ive had MQTT on just because it IS so quiet around here. Just so I feel like I'm making contact, heh. It's nice to see messages come through from all over.

[toxic shard]

Which mqtt are you on?

the official broker?

[brave karma]

Currently camped in Brooklyn, CT for the night though. Unsure if I should be in range of @tardy steeple

Guess i could run a site plan sim

[toxic shard]

I usually run HeyWhatsThat.com as a quick and dirty check

[brave karma]

which i just found is a thing you can do. And that has been my favorite game as of late lol.

ah yes, and that too!

[toxic shard]

It can be addicting. "What if I had a node over here, would that reach over there?" and then you're cyber stalking ham radio operators and it gets weird

[brave karma]

lol.

I'm staking out Wilderness areas for tree climbing, for when I can afford more nodes.

I mean I get all over Eastern CT, especially since it's been nice out. If i had a node for every park/park and ride I stayed @....well, I'd still not have enough nodes.

[toxic shard]

"Be a shame if I accidentally got this node I'm carrying caught on a branch while I was climbing, might not be able to reach it"

Problem with tree nodes is getting the node to where it still gets some sunlight. That's why I'm trying to get plutonium for an RTG-based node

[final loom]

lol too bad you aint near me i'd throw ya a node to put up in a tree in a trail area nearby. im too damn fat to try climbing a tree.

[brave karma]

plutonium for an RTG based node. This would be a good band name. Or a terrible band name.

[final loom]

wait plutonium? huh?

[toxic shard]

I ain't got no Mr Fusion

[final loom]

time for nuclear power 😮

[toxic shard]

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

[brave karma]

@final loom where you be again? Like I said, I'm a land sailor. I'm everywhere lol.

[final loom]

Essex

[toxic shard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_NS2H55dxI

[final loom]

that is really cool

[brave karma]

Oh, my God. That is cool.

I think I

[toxic shard]

It's how Voyager is still working

[brave karma]

ve drooled all overmyself.

[toxic shard]

And the Curiosity and Perseverence rovers

[brave karma]

aaaaahhh. Ok. Heckin cool.

[final loom]

im assuming those generate a pretty good amount of power right?

[toxic shard]

I'm sure it'd be fine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3GYg7Y_W7s

[final loom]

rip

[toxic shard]

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/mars_2020/launch/mission/spacecraft/power/

[brave karma]

Yo, did you know that there was a Nuclear meltdown here in CT. Dang, I can't recall the name and place.

[toxic shard]

110W at the start

[toxic shard]

Never heard of a meltdown here

[final loom]

cuz if i had something with enough power output without having to replace batteries or whatever all the time im just setting up a raspi node with a cellular connection so i can manage remotely whenever i need haha

[final loom]

that island?

[brave karma]

Happened because someone didn't label a container. and someone oppened said container. which was the wrong choice.

[final loom]

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

that one?

[brave karma]

No not three mile island.

is mainland, CT. Lemme see if I can find it.

[final loom]

wait im an idiot im misremembering locations lol

the only nuclear power plant in ct is millstone

oh wait didnt they have another that closed years ago?

[brave karma]

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

[final loom]

oh ya it was millstone

[toxic shard]

Closest I've heard of is this from RI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkEN_jrBN-M

[brave karma]

Ah, yes. THIS is the incident I was thinking of. Thanks Unwin.

[final loom]

ah ok. i never had heard of a metldown at millstone. my dad used to work there too lol

[brave karma]

Right. ok. Well, I'll keep an eye out for you when I'm around there, and I'll message you if I see you!

[final loom]

hell ya

[brave karma]

Or if you'd really like, and you have a site in mind, I'd be happy to help.

just lmk. That goes for all ya'll. I'm happy to drive over wherever to do nerd shit.

[final loom]

right now i dont have much range cause im near the ground. unfortunately i dont think i can reach the highway yet

[brave karma]

trampoline.

[final loom]

LOL

i also wanna see if i can get permission to put one up in the trail area im thinking of. i know a couple people at the town so heres hoping lol

wait some buoys and lighthouse use those rtg batteries?!\

thats fuckin sick

[toxic shard]

Couple of ideas that could help. 1) You could use the "pax counter" feature to give some measure of trail usage. 2) weather station. 3) something something STEM

[toxic shard]

Crazy ruskies do wild stuff

American Mark Watney used one to survive on Mars

[strong gust]

Ya there where a bunch of them in the arctic circle. Alot of them got abandoned in place when the USSR fell. https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/radioactive-waste-and-spent-nuclear-fuel/2003-11-two-strontium-powered-lighthouses-vandalised-on-the-kola-peninsula