I have a mate that recently said, “We aren’t very good at planning for success, are we?” It stuck in my head as we were talking about how mesh networks don’t scale very well.

Thanks, I just try keeping it real.

Though you should note you don't have to delve into the Bluetooth settings like this person did to pair - you just press the very very visible + button on the bottom right of the screen

Glad you like it!

Tell us more about your trip!

It was just a drive from Brampton(not really toronto) to Buffalo for the day. Didn't pickup much really. Nothing at all in NY state but1-2 blips from the QEW. Otherwise it was pretty quiet on Meshtastic nodes.@@peterfairlie2296

Well one of those blips on the QE must have been me.

Great idea! Right now only one of the HelTec's has GPS. I could wire up both to the same GPS!

My girlfriends mom goes shopping a ton so she always gives me dozens of silica packets and I'll use them to store around my guns and ammo and other camping equipment to keep dry, you think it would be cool to throw a couple fat silica bags with the unit sealed and change them out every few months?

@@hitman3531 I think it would be easier, quicker, and a lot simpler just to insure the vent hole was open.

Or, just put one of those small silica gel bags inside that box.

@@bobs1345 this post was written by a bug

@@hitman3531 The packets that you get in stuff are NOT fresh and not to be relied upon. You don't know their condition as you cannot see the color of the desiccant. They are cheap enough to buy new. BUT they are not a good solution because the retain the moisture, though it is in the packet, it is still in the box and affecting the humidity. A hole always works. I don't want to climb the tower every two weeks to change packets.

Glad you enjoy it!

Thank you! Cheers!

More to come!

Well I could have used just one Heltec and split the signal across the 2 antennas but that would cut the signal in half to each antenna so I figured this was the better way to do it. This is not yet a congested area too.

@@peterfairlie2296i was thinking about building something similar but with one yagi and an omni antenna, couldnt you split the signal and then fit both antenna splits with a booster? or fit the booster before the split and double the gain? Of course to legal limits

With 2.3.X we can set higher hops now, because the new hop counter allows responses to use the same hopcount that the packet arrived with, so if you receive a packet from a node with a hopcount of 5 and your limit is set to 3 it will respond with a limit of 5. If you receive from a node with a hop limit of 5 and the hopcount is 1 and your limit is 4, it will respond with a limit of 3. So it helps prevent unnecessary rebroadcasts

Can't forget Burt the Racoon too. The 2 of them are best buddies and they drink lots of Molson Canadian together.

No. Do not set the node interval to be more frequent on mobile devices. Use Smart Position that is why it exists. There is never a reason to increase node beacon interval. (Newer firmware, and or up to date apps will reject anything below 3600 and set it to 3600 anyway)

Yeah it was very cool seeing Whiskey Sierra coming in from that distance. Things should get even better when I install the antennas at the top of the 50 foot tower.

@@peterfairlie2296 Oh, BTW, I really appreciate the amount of detail you cover in your video, most channels just assume everybody is already an expert. The beginners can watch and learn and the experts can skip to the next chapter. You've got everybody covered 👍

@@edwardfletcher7790 Thanks Edward! 👍

The transmitter is not on until you configure the region so it was safe.

If I needed more current I would have used a DC-DC switching power supply. In this case the current is low at 400 mA and I just happened to have the LM317 linear power supplies. My backup power is a 3000 watt battery bank inverter so I have a lot of extra power.

@@peterfairlie2296 It's good to carry these buck converters in stock. You could probably buy a pack of 5 for 2-3 dollars. You can adjust the voltage they output and they are so small that you can just glue them to the side of the box with a glue gun. This will give you 1-3A DC at about 90% conversion efficiency.

​@@peterfairlie2296did you measure 400 mA draw? That seems high, even if both were actively transmitting?

Needs to be a bi-directional amp. Lots of helium boosters out there that should do the trick. How can RG316 out preform LMR400 ?

Nice video once again dude.

There is one guy showing up on the MeshMap in Singapore called Cinnamon, so you are not alone Lee meshmap.net/#530708209

@@peterfairlie2296 Ooh awesome!

@@peterfairlie2296 oh wow! Cool!

reach out to me at: contact@commandergateway.com

Yes, there is Meshtastic for iOS devices too.

Just using those antennas would break the regs in my country, but maybe the US is more liberal.

If you have your Amateur Radio license, you can run up to 10w on Meshtastic

@@SIMPLYSIMPLEXCOMMSSurely the normal USA frequency isn't a ham frequency?

@@BrianG61UK Meshtastic USA 915 Mhz. - HAM Meshtastic 433 Mhz.

I don’t think lithiums can charge below freezing

The Heltec uses a female SMA connector. The Wilson 314411 uses a female N connector. I used a male SMA to female N bulkhead connector for my 'through the case' connection. Then I used a male N to male N cable to connect the antenna to the 'through the case' N connection. If you just want to connect the Wilson to the Heltec then this will do: www.amazon.ca/Uxcell-Adapter-Coaxial-Pigtail-Cable/dp/B0192RATOI/ref=sr_1_9 If you want to do as I did then use these 2 cables: www.amazon.ca/Female-Bulkhead-Pigtail-Coaxial-Cables/dp/B0CYHB417R/ref=sr_1_13? and www.amazon.ca/Digital-Coaxial-Connect-Compatible-Extension/dp/B07V5YQVZB/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?

@@peterfairlie2296 thank you peter❤️🙏🙏🙏

It's stamped right on the cable "Times Microwave LMR-400"

@@peterfairlie2296 Wild. Just Google lmr 400 and 200. Maybe some technology has changed but my lifetime of RF the small stuff was always lmr 200. cheers

The next video I make I will show what's stamped on the cable.

@@peterfairlie2296 cheers

The radio is not active until the region code is entered.

Just keep it running. I have 72 other nodes being seen by my station right now. When I first started it seemed like I was all alone ... but not anymore!

Well it's there so why not bother with it? It's all about experimenting and learning. The GPS receiver is the one recommended to use with the Flipper Zero. I discovered it works just as well with the HelTec even if it's not the one people are using with the HelTec's so I discovered something useful by playing with the HelTec GPS.

I was also thinking the gps not needed for a fixed location . But I understand it is good for experimenting .

Yes, it's a private short message service system (SMS)

Yes, Meshtastic lets you use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communicator which is not dependent on any cellular service. Every users radios become a mesh node and helps strengthen the mesh network relaying packets for other users. Everything is encrypted and and you can even set up private hidden channels.

Thank you. @@peterfairlie2296

Just what I had in my antenna inventory. VNA meter showed it was a good match for this application.

Yeah but getting it to work with the external GPS was cool to do and to document it can be done with a different GPS module then recommended. .

@@peterfairlie2296 Sure mate, no criticism, just a hint for everyone

Sure a Yagi cut to 906 would work better but at what cost? I had 4 of these Wilson antennas in my inventory. I did test it with the VNA and it preformed very well at 906 MHz the frequency used in the USA for Meshtastic. I was seeing a VSWR of 1.5:1 @ 906 assets.wilsonelectronics.com/m/6c6412171aba9bfd/original/Log-Periodic-Antenna-Spec-Sheet.pdf

ms surface

It's a large master bathroom so it needs it's own TV.

Well you never know. When I first started I didn't think I'd pick up anyone.

ZAP Meshtastic. & soon also HELTEC RELAY TOWER 1 & 2.

I have all your contacts, but don't see your node. I'm by yorkdale mall Norcon Node 1 and Norcon Node 2 are my nodes. Cool video.

915MHz center in USA (Channel 20 906MHz)

Watch my other Meshtastic videos for a better understanding ... www.youtube.com/@peterfairlie2296/videos