Meshtastic

2211 readers

43 users here now

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

Other mesh communities:

MeshCore: !Meshcore@feddit.org Reticulum: !Reticulum@mander.xyz

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Sal@mander.xyz

231

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

55 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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....

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Never done meshtastic, but I do a little amateur radio. For a high gain antenna, do you just experiment with where it's pointing, or do you point towards something in particular?

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Its an omnidirectional "high gain" which is why it's in quotes.

You can use yagi or dish directionals, but they're a lot more difficult because 915mhz is fairly long wavelength and the antennas get big. I'd have to know the location of known good repeaters to know what to aim it at.

[–] knightly@pawb.social 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Depends on the orientation of the gain. Most "high gain" antennas are still omnidirectional, they're just focusing the signal out into a horizontal ring, like so:

More dB, and you get a flatter donut with more horizontal reach at the expense of vertical reception. Low-gain antennas reception area starts to approach a sphere, so those don't need to pointed up for best signal as much as higher-gain omnidirectional antennas.

Directional antennas are the ones that need to be pointed at something specific, as they have more of a cone of effect depending on the dB: