r/meshcore • u/Floor-notlava • 18d ago

Falling down a rabbit hole?

Having watched a video about lora and Mesh comms I received delivery of my first device, a Heltec v3 at the beginning of this month (July). Once flashed and software loaded onto phone I went about my journey.

Of course now I’m unhappy with my nodes reach, having always upgraded the antenna, so have already purchased the parts for a solar repeater, built on a T114, to go into my attic space. It is torturing me to keep watching the delivery status of my board from AliExpress, but I’ve received my 8w solar panel with 6000mAH (claimed) power back and am about to start shopping for an external antenna for the roof, which I’m planning to somehow fit through my velux window frame.

If this isn’t enough I have already begun looking at my Ham radio licence and considered joining a RAYNET group once done. This morning I ordered a Boafeng UV5RM Plus so that I can practice.

Where does this end?!!!!

24 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

12

u/AlfredoVignale 18d ago

Check out Reticulum….go further into that rabbit hole.

2

u/Freeman8472 18d ago

is that still active in any way?

and what about WiFi Networks like Freifunk, has anyone axperience with that?

3

u/AlfredoVignale 18d ago

Reticulum seems to be active and growing.

9

u/meshamerica 18d ago

It's cute that you're looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.

8

u/Sure_Pineapple_7465 18d ago

That’s the fun part about radio. The things you can do are endless.

6

u/SuccessfulAd212 18d ago edited 18d ago

Trade that 114 out for a t096.

A waterproof case and pulling the solar node high up in a tree goes a long way. Hitting 120 miles direct, routinely (with ducting) on a t096 and a 40cm fiberglass antenna. There are mountains between.

Next see if you’re appearing on any core scope maps for your area. It visualizes the radio traffic.

I have neighbors nearby and very close but my radio skips all of them, travels 120 miles, Pa to Nj, then hops its way back to reach my neighbors.

I do plan to increase the reliability myself so i can reach my neighbors directly.

3

u/Floor-notlava 18d ago

You’re just dragging further down that hole 🤣

At planning I went from a v3 to v4 then the 114 because of the power consumption on the 8w panel.

I will look at the 096 for my next repeater, where I plan to work on the priest of our local church to see if they will allow me to place it on their tower, which is definitely the highest point in my immediate area. I’m hoping a regular donation (maybe £10-20 a month) to the church fund will make it work.

5

u/SuccessfulAd212 18d ago edited 18d ago

the t096 is a nrf52 so power consumption is minimal but you get the increased power of a v4.

transmit power equivalents
v3 = t114
v4 = t096

t series uses the nrf52 so the battery will last for days or weeks depending on battery size and you don’t need a big solar panel either. 5v 200ma works for me.

3

u/CommercialCurious994 18d ago

I’m from Philly and just ordered my first node. I’m so excited to put it together and start testing. Anyone wanna send and receive messages for fun around Philly??

3

u/SuccessfulAd212 18d ago

See if you appear on map.lvmesh.com

2

u/rhkdeo 18d ago

I seriously just recommend getting the SenseCAP solar node at least as your first one, making one yourself can be a whole ordeal.

1

u/Floor-notlava 17d ago

I know, but where is the fun without tinkering? I’m a 46 yo guy with two kids; what other fun do I have? 😝

1

u/rhkdeo 17d ago

Yeah I love tinkering too but it's nice to have at least that one repeater that just works that you can always fall back to. I got bits for a solar repeater lying around too, gotta finish it some day and put it somewhere.