tag #meshtastic

Collage of Cwmouse Photos
(Collage of Cwmouse Photos)

With Meshtastic radios emitting at most 100mW, line-of-sight frequency and the protocol being robust ONLY when mesh density and node reachability is at an IDEAL sweet spot - it wasn’t very usable beyond experimentation. In my area I couldn’t reliably exchange messages 20mi away :/ I ended up taking down my Meshtastic node and selling all equipment to another ham wishing to get a head start :)


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Meshtastic Rak Module
(Meshtastic Rak Module)

I ran into Meshtastic and started playing with it. Not quite ham radio, but it is radio technology, affordable and easier to share with friends. So far I have only a single Rak Wireless device in my kitchen. Very compromised setup for 915Mhz, but surprisingly I pick up a number of nodes through repeaters on the Santa Cruz Mountains ridge. The plan is to setup a solar node above the roof line and get more direct coverage and range. I’m interested in emcomm aspects of Meshtastic and exploration of it as APRS replacement.


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Collage of Pictures Showing Solar Panel Mount To
(Collage of Pictures Showing Solar Panel Mount To)

With bad weather, I had time to solder a SH connector to the 6W solar panel. Then I formed aluminum L-channels for mounting the panel to my #meshtastic node. Very light weight, less than $20 including the panel and STRONG. The ABS pipe will break before this solar mount will.


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Collage of Photos Clock Wise From Upper Left
(Collage of Photos Clock Wise From Upper Left)

Installed my #meshtastic node 20ft above ground with a high gain 8dBi #antenna . Reliably hitting many nodes now and even got folks responding on ‘LongFast’ channel. I spent about $30 on parts for this. Used a 10ft 2" ABS pipe, U-mounts, scrap wood and a 3d printed adapter to stabilize the antenna against the pole. Next I’ll make some sheet aluminum angle pieces and mount the 6W panel to the rig - I have a week and a half until the fully charged battery drains :)


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Collage of Four Photos Clockwise From Upper Left
(Collage of Four Photos Clockwise From Upper Left)

I started a long weekend today and went flying. Bumpy, thermals everywhere, cloud bases at 6k and the world is green again (bugs included). I took my #meshtastic Rak device and from 5k feet up I was “heard” 40 miles away in Fresno by a user who emailed me. My cabin is starting to look like a ham cave - antennas from left to right: #meshtastic , #ADSB -in, #APRS -out.


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Q. how to find #bluetooth address of already paired #meshtastic device? I paired it with my android and works great with an app, but I don’t know the full bt mac-addr. BT scanning from my PC doesn’t show it, but shows other devices in pair mode. How to force meshtastic to go into pairing mode? OR how to lookup device’s BT address? OR are multiple clients paired to same meshtastic device supported? I know I can re-flash, which which should reset settings and allow me to pair again.


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Picture of Rak Wireless Lora Meshtastic Module In
(Picture of Rak Wireless Lora Meshtastic Module In)

There is #meshtastic in the air :) Just setup my first node - a rak wireless unit. Uses only about 300mah per day including air sensor. Meshtastic is a 915mhz #lora based, very low power, messaging and beaconing system. Quite similar to #amateurradio #aprs . I upgraded the antenna to a 3dBi, but since LORA is line-of-sight and very low power, I get no range. The only nodes I picked up are those on the hills 10mi away. Next: solar panel, the board already has solar charge controller for 1s lipo.


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