Meshtastic

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A community to discuss Meshtastic (https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction)

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Sal@mander.xyz

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Built my own base station with blackjack, hookers, and the completely wrong hardware lmao (infosec.pub)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/meshtastic@mander.xyz

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Its a LILYGO T3S3 (a module focused on handheld use) stuck into a housing I modeled myself and 3d printed out of ASA plastic. It has some Chinese "high gain" 915MHz antenna inside the grain silo looking part, which is oversize to prevent too much signal reflection/distortion from the plastic being too close to the antenna. Its powered by 18ga alarm system wire that I draped down the roof to a 5v power supply on the deck. And since I'm renting, non permanent modifications only, thus the clamp to the vent pipe.

Its what I had, just to get started. Quickly realized I needed to be on my roof to get any good connections in my node-sparse area haha.

So far it's working well, I have 13 consistent mesh connections with 3 direct connections, when before I would previously only get spotty connections to the mesh at all from inside my house.

I'll buy some better base station hardware later, once I put one up at my girlfriend's house a few miles away....

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[–] crazycraw@crazypeople.online 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

hey not for nothing but the clamp to a vent pipe is clever and I'm gonna use it.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Yeah, it's very easy for anything lightweight or not too tall. Obvs these vent pipes are not anchored super well, but if you're using something strong like a fence pole and 2 clamps at a time, you could easily hold a 4ft aerial.

My design advice, make the clamp circle the exact size of the pipe you want to attach to. The fixed side (housing) should be an exact half circle. The moving side (clamp) should be less than a half circle such that there is about 1/8" or 3mm gap between the clamp face and the housing side face. That way you get a really nice compression by stretching the plastic when you tighten the screws and it will not slip.