The Ultimate Meshtastic Device - Long Range Comms

in the last installment I gave you an idiot's guide on getting started with these cheap and simpl to ous htech v32 boards with mesh tastic I hope it inspired you to get one or two yourselves and start playing with this amazing radio system the feedback on the video was certainly encouraging today we'll be looking at making Deployable nodes using these boards for short and long-term use the great thing is is that using the products I'm about to show you you can tie a basic htech board into one nice little package I came across this fantastic case from ikb 3D which can house your htech board and keep its delicate components safe from damage so I ordered one and the second it came I ordered another now this isn't a sponsored video I have no connection with the guy that's making these but I highly recommend them before we continue I'll give you a quick overview of the htech board in case you're new to Laura and didn't see the last video the simplest piece of Kit to use is this the htech Laura v32 it's sold to cover multiple bands and comes with an antenna of course this version is the EU 868 board it's designed to be used with Laura or long range which is a proprietary Communications technique in which little devices like this can talk to each other better still they mesh to create networks this means that you can set up an Ever Changing and growing community of nodes that will talk to each other off grid ideal for emergency situations or just radio nerds like us many people might be put off thinking that you have to sold the components or build these but they literally work out of the box and all that's required is an easy software Flash the antenna plugs into the UFL or ipex connector and they run off USBC power of course you can wire up external batteries and all sorts but in the first video I kept things simple it has two buttons one for scrolling through the little display and the other for resetting the power the antennas that come with these are small but you'll be surprised how good these can be with the right conditions like any radio system Outdoors as high as possible will give you the best chance in part one of this series I showed you how to configure this board easily to run mesh tastic if you want to take a look at that video then I'll link the description below so I have one of these boards set up for my home / portable node but they can easily be used as Deployable nodes too the idea being that it'll sit on the shack desk and communicate over a really wide area using my attic base node which feeds a Yari antenna when deployed at other locations it can help to bridge gaps in the mesh Network and feed traffic to other areas for me at home if I see somebody 20 km away on my attic node I can communicate through that with this little desktop one it's completely portable too too so I can just pick it up and take it anywhere now I'm sure you'll agree this case looks amazing and has a really high print quality it comes with a battery compartment in the back which is secured by a lid so portable power is an option it takes 18650 batteries and I always keep a stock of these so we won't be running out anytime soon on the front is a panel with two buttons for controlling the node and on the side is the SMA connector for attaching different antennas I use these Wi-Fi Style 868 MHz ones there's also an option for a power switch on the front as well and I went for another color option with a top mounted SMA connector the great thing with this is that you can attach an external antenna to increase your range significantly there's a hole in the side for the USB power socket meaning you can power these up for more long-term applications the plan for this node is to deploy it permanently in a third floor apartment in central Manchester with a view to creating more coverage in the densely pack City the kit comes in Parts with an instruction manual and takes 2 minutes to assemble and I'm sure you'll agree it looks really good first you slot the battery holder into place and secure it using the cover plate the wires will come through the front ready to attach to the board next you can slide the SMA connector through the hole and you even get this little 3D printed tool to tighten up the nut and secure it in place now you can slot the board carefully into place with the battery pack connected and finally clip the ipex connector onto the board all that's left to do is pop the front cover on and attach an antenna and your desktop node is ready to run I'll leave a link for these cases in the description below I'm using these great ufone Android phones with these nodes they're rugged for Extra Protection out in the field handy for if you're climbing up hills in the elements to deploy nodes Outdoors you can run multiple nodes off one phone but I find it less confusing using one device per node and I have these phones that would otherwise be seldom used so why not one other thing to note is that you can run the node off your phone for power I do have reviews on these phones on the channel which I link below so now let's take it out and see if we can communicate back to my home node from in the town I've put false locations on these nodes for obvious reasons but I'll head to a couple of spots and see if I can make a connection the idea being that hopefully when I'm in area with challenging terrain or buildings the home node will feed traffic from further a field to this handheld node the home setup is another htech board on a Yari antenna in the Attic beaming across town I'm not expecting any issues with hitting home as I've received stations almost 40 km away directly on the attic node so I'm here at my first location and it's in a bit of a dip in this Railway cutting I was hoping to demonstrate how well this portable node receives distant stations through the node at home in the Attic but this whole setup is that good and the band works so well and receiving nodes out in the town anyway however this node is still picking up through the home node and the principle of using it as a repeater still works I went to my next location higher up the hill which is on the side of my home Yari meaning my portable node wasn't relying on it you can see some distant points here like Manchester Airport Fiddler's Ferry power station or what's left of it central Manchester over in the haze and Winter Hill transmitting station so a really good takeoff as you can see we're picking up some distant nodes now just on the portable setup which is amazing I put a test message out on long fast which is the public open Channel and Brin from over in Wigan came back so as you can see some pretty impressive results there using mesh tastic and these inexpensive htech boards I didn't film this but the other day I was in Northwest Manchester still receiving stations 13 to 14 Mi across the city using just the Wi-Fi style antenna on this battery powered node the case looks great in black and red and blue and white as I'm sure you'll agree so be sure to check out the website where you can purchase one for yourself I've also set up a Facebook group for Northwest UK users in order to share ideas setups and give one another an idea of who's around with a view to drumming up more activity in the area if you have any questions feel free to comment below [Music] [Music]

Channel: Ringway Manchester

Views: 154,306

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Id: knyg6EEiGOo

Length: 9min 52sec (592 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 07 2024