I'm in rural Montana USA and hoping to mesh my valley and get emergency comms to larger town to the north. I ordered 2 Wisblocks to get me started. Very exciting stuff
@@SEP2000s not very far, but surprisingly good for what it is. Maybe a mile with perfect line of sight... I wouldn't waste my time with the stock antenna unless you're in an area that is already meshed...
Please do a mqtt video, I tried setting one up but having issues! A guide from someone experienced would help no end, many thanks and keep up the great videos 👍
Agreed, I'm waiting for mine to arrive from AliExpress, but I plan to periodically broadcast weather data messages from the Scottish Borders. I have looked at the Meshtastic website which has an example of how to intergrate with Home Assistant. I'm super excited about this. The next plan will be to build an outdoor wisblock based solar unit.
Thanks for putting in so much time promoting this. I have two interests. I do home automation on 10acres where I can use this privately to monitor fields/greenhouse etc. The other use is staying in contact with family when cell is down. So, MQTT and meshed comm for group when cell is down. Here in Michigan, USA. Thanks Doug, N8VY
I just got clearance to add a node to my office building's roof... so I've made a wisblock outdoor node with enough battery to last more than a month, and a 5W solar panel to recharge when there's light. Putting a massive 8db antenna on a mast, it'll be 50ft off the ground!
If so high..why so much gain? More db gain does not equal better signal. Its not an amplifier. Higher gain will make your RF field more narrow..it can reach farther, but if youre on street level the signal can literally fly over your head. 3db and your transmission is kinda round..the more you go the more oval the sphere of influence becomes. Just something i recently learned and didnt knew before.. more gain != Better signal
@@Sizzlik Good questions, thank you for your comments. I am not trying to cover everyone, I am trying to connect area to area, or point-to-point within the area I wanted to connect to another area nearby. I have -- since this original comment 6 months ago -- verified that the 8dbi antenna on the roof of that location has done an excellent job of connecting points that I wanted to be connected. I have not tried a lower dbi antenna. Please do note that I am in the US, and our geography and use-case for meshtastic is quite different from the current UK use-case and deployments.
That solar node you did, just a tip, in future instead of using a Heltec and a solar panel and charger with a 18650 battery holder, just buy a TTGO T-Beam board and a 5V solar panel. TTGO T-Beam has 18650 battery holder, GPS, LoRa, ESP32 and the battery charge circuitry for a 5V supply all on board. Very elegant solution.
I have the heltec basic antenna up in a first floor window, managed ,1.1 km, definitely not line of sight. At street level it goes at least four streets away, again not LOS through several houses. I'm impressed. Im in North London, not picked up anyone else at all. I'll try for Moorgate from a hill! I got onto your cluster a couple of weeks ago while hiking over Brickendon golf course with my T-echo, that was 5 something km, pretty good! T-echo much better on the 2.2.19 firmware, flickering screen has stopped. Keep up the vids, useful to have (swr tested) antenna recommendations
Ahah it was you! I remember! You are still in my list so send us another message if you are ever in range again. The London node is bridged to the Hertford-WGC mesh so you should see all the stations if you can get the London node. I reckon hampstead heath or another location like that if you like hiking 👍🏻
im in stoke and I think I'm the only person in my area ,ive ordered a bigger antenna and im trying to get my mates into it lol plan on getting a few more esp32's
Thanks for dropping the link to the Airport Live Feed Andy! Also to mention there is a Meshtastic node here too! Trying really hard to build the Blackpool Meshtastic network! Another great video!
I’ve got two heltecs, each with longer antenna like shown in this vid. I only managed about a km on LONG FAST mode but one antenna was in bedroom so good be placed better. I had to do a bit more using latest Python to flash the firmware via command line (powershell) as the online firmware flasher wasnt working. Happy to help if anyone needs help with this. next steps to are to take one node out every time I go somewhere to look for other nodes as well as more range tests from house. Currently based in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth - almost most easterly point of UK, just north of lowestoft.
Cool! I know Gorleston, visited a few times many moons ago. Yeah get the antenna up as high as you can and it'll make a world of difference. Don't use much coax though. Defo good to take a node out and about with you, it can be really surprising what you pick up! Also you may get some signals over the sea from the Netherlands when conditions are right!
I’m in the southeastern US (relatively flat, a few cities, lots of trees) and in the one test I’ve done with my lily go devices I see about 1 mile in less than optimal conditions. I’m going to try to get one up in a tree or up on a balloon to 40-60 feet and see what type of increase I get.
@@andykirby Realy! from the Netherlans....? I live ther near the coast (Schoorl) I'm also working on a setup, 10 elem yagi and a booster 🤗 15 min hiking from my home is a realy high point in the dunes, maybe we can do a test someday when the wether is ok...
Thanks for the great videos Andy, I've been loving the content (especially the Meshtastic related stuff). I hadn't heard of Meshtastic until one of your videos popped up in my suggested list a few weeks back. I ordered a Heltec from AliExpress which arrived a couple of days ago. Had the node running for a day and hadn't picked anything up. I was starting to wonder if there was nothing nearby, but suddenly for a brief moment the stars aligned and I picked up a couple of nodes. Unfortunately I could never make contact with them again. This video came along at just the right time. My heltec came with one of the antennas you mentioned as potentially not being too good so I suspect this may be the issue. I've got a better antenna arriving tomorrow. Can't wait to give it a try (I'm like a kid on Christmas eve). Thanks again. Keep up the great work.
Replying here, in the hope that you post an update. I ordered an 868MHz antenna with a magnetic base, it looks similar to the 433MHz one I got when I got the SDR (Nooelec) dongle a few years ago for picking up the Byron doorbell on RTL433.
@@AndrewJonesMcGuire bit of a mixed bag really. Initially things were looking good, I picked up regular beacons from the other two nodes. One of them is reporting positional info and they look to be around half a mile away, so pretty close by. After a couple of hours I've lost contact with them again. Based on the RSSI and SNR I think the nodes are potentially at the same location as they are almost identical. So not really sure now if the problem is on my side or their side. They may have even powered off their nodes (who knows!). I'll leave mine up and see what happens. It's kind of hard to test things further without another device to range test with. So I may have to pick up another device to troubleshoot with at some point. I even tried relocating my node to the loft temporarily but it didn't help.
LoRa tech is the 2024 rabbit hole for sure. Have you seen the M5 cardputer? It has a lora module you can connect to it. Haven't tested it, but it looks like it could be a nice competitor to the T-Deck if it works well over long distances. Would love to see a review.
A question we have had as we build out our node is what happens to messages once they hit each T-beam, to be specific are they stored there until you view them on a device like your phone etc? if so is there a time limit or number of messages that it can hold before you need to retrieve them on a phone?
Great presentation Andy. I'm in Central Scotland and just gettting into Meshtastic. The aerials supplied with the Heltec V3 LoRa32 kits are nothing great. Buy something better and get it up as high as possible is my advice. Use a USB extender cable if need be to feed power up to your node. On 868, height is might! The mesh is slowly expanding here. I chose 868 over 433 even though I'm a licensed ham because 433 hs a lot of other stuff going on. Seems my decision to go for 868 was a good one. Keep up the good work.
great vido, just what i was lookning for as needed to know why i wasnt recivening much. put mine in the loft and it seems i have the rubbish coil ant in the video. could be my problem with picking stuff up. i`ll order the skinny worm one and maybe the sma one to add a better whipp to it at a later date.
Purchased three of these for some play when i get the time. Thanks for the heads up, i have that poor performing antenna. I have an antenna analyzer, will check it out.
868 antennas lengths for perfect waveform as follows; Vertical full wave length=32.8678cm Dipole Element A=8.2373cm Element B=8.2373cm Total length=16.4747cm
Still working out what advantage this would be to me. I had Lora with Packet radio years ago Australia to uk and back via nodes. Obviously this is more efficient. What could I use it for.
Thanks for getting me onto the project, going to have a play tomorrow with the heltecs I recently purchased. Any recommendations for 3rd party cases for them as using larger antenna isn't really possible on them? Thanks!
Hi Andy. My Heltec systems from AliExpress came with the ufl to sma adaptor lead plus the small stub antenna that you briefly showed as being tuned for about 920Mhz on your analyser. Any chance you could verify what the SWR reading is at 868Mhz? - And maybe give comparison readings for the other antennas you show? - I suspect that we can get better results by simply making our own dipoles from the UFL pigtails provided ! Thanks
Hi, the range on the meter was pretty wide so you can see the SWR line increasing drastically towards the left of the screen. Basically it's not good. You are right, making a dipole would be good or you can buy RC drone antennas designed for 868mhz crossfire. They work well too.
I've got the so called "bad” antenna with my heltec and made contact with a node 25 miles away so maybe they are not all bad, it actually out performed my T beam in the same location/conditions
Very interesting! I think the performance definitely varies from antenna to antenna, the point is if it works then great, if it doesn't then suspect the antenna.😁
Remember when we all thought handheld satnav was cool (before smartphones) and Geocaching was a big family-friendly hobby? Maybe we need that again. But without the internet indexing sites. Meshcaching! Set up a cache. Make no public record of it. The only way to find it is to catch the beacon and track it down.
Great info on antennas, ordered one to use on the outside of my home, is there a way to bring the lora/meshtastic signal inside? We have a concrete building and the devices don't talk well from inside out/vice versa. is there a antenna bridge of some sort?
You are getting me all fired up on this technology Andy. Do you remember something called the 'smog' or something in the early days of WiFi? I guess the technology was not ready for long range at that point.
Great video!! Going to get a SMA to IPEX pigtail & a better antenna. Do the antennas generally have a female connector & I should get the male pigtail IPEX to SMA? Thanks!!
I think it is always best to measure any cheap chinese antenna. Too many are just random ones for a random band or roughly for the band. When I was looking for 868MHz antennas most I got were crap or not for that band (including common ones like wifi antennas with 868 label etc).
I have a diamond SRHF10 that im going to try out on my tdeck. Need to order the sma wire for it. I use that SRHF10 on my uv k58 and I seem to get good results across all bands. Anyone else try this antenna for meshtastic?
I have some issues with these. I have a lot of trees and buildings in the way and depending on the direction can get good coverage or crappy coverage. I replaced my units with the bigger antennas you see on routers but I am looking to put a big antenna on the roof and hope the smaller ones can make it to the bigger one. curious to see if I put 2 of the larger antennas together if I can create a dipole type.
I know, it's probably a stupid question. There are so many tiny little places to attach things on these boards, I'm never completely sure. I can't even get the ipex antennas sent from rokland to seat into their little round connectors no matter how hard I press. Maddening!
Does anyone know if you get a bit more output power from the Heltec V3 868MHz by using a 5V voltage supply directly rather than 3.xx that comes out of a battery? On the one hand, one would think that increasing the supply voltage would increase general swing levels, including the o/p swing. However, the TX level seems to be calibrated and limited to 27dBm which suggests that it is much more intelligently controlled and limited. Does anyone have any first hand experience with this?
To broaden the rabbit hole even further, are you familiar with ATAK? This has a forwarder and allows even better situational awareness and geographical information as well?
I've built one of theses but can not get it to connect to my pc I've tried 2 different pc I've brought a new data lead just in case it was that but no luck any ideas plz as it's starting to wind me up 😂 Thanks jay
Sounds fun... Back in 2006 i was making g-wisp. A useful mesh built on wifi and telcoms. This sounds like the small version. . Whats the bandwidth? It sounds more like a pager system.. (old skool).. I think i may have to give it a try to see how the world is getting along without us pioneers. Be interesting to see MQTT or some form of can. But i habe maybe missed some of the videos on this. I think the guy with the swiss accent did a lot of lora videos, but not so much meshtastic. I should be moving from this rental, so may leave a parting gift..hidden in the loft..
Hi Andy. Could you clarify for me which size connection the battery connector is on the board? I ordered LiPo’s to the spec on the Amazon site and the connectors are too big, thanks.
Hi Andy I’m new to this Mesh radio system (I know how mesh systems work regarding routers etc). Is there a good foundation video or vlog that I can get up to speed on Such as what’s it used for Frequencies etc Is it licence free All the best
Bought my heltek on aliexpress, and specifically chose the bad style of antenna as it looked more robust than the "good" one :( not managed to pick up a single node so far
Bought to from the used market and they came with the second antenna you showed. I tested it on a nanovna, the central frequency Is well off (433 device but around 500mhz antenna). We got a maximum distance of around 300metres, which is so disappointing. Now I'm trying to build custom repeater nodes and get other antennas :/
Just a stupid question really. I received heltec about to set it up. I’m confused on which battery I need to get. Would appreciate some info from any one. Kind regards
I've got 2 different type of pigtails as well. Some come with a thin wire, and others seem to be insulated like you showed in the video. Which would be better, or does this not make any difference?
@@andrewfinch7740 Nope, I'm in South Bank so too far away; we started a small group last year in the city. I created a server as a repeater in centre of York for test purposes. The antenna is inside in the loft so reach is only 1-2km
Yeah they work OK but still not as good as a dedicated 868 model, the matching network is different between the two. We did some experiments with it. Good to put it to use though. 👍🏻
Hi Andy ! pleased to finally meet you , i'm one of lewis's mates anyway i'm looking at buying one of these lillygo t echo units but when i go on the aliexpress sellers page there is your standard 868 mhz model and there;s also the 868 bme280 and an rf version ? what is the difference between these units and what would you buy? thanks :) @andykirby @@andykirby
Hej Andy, i have a question... When i want to order the MeshTastic i need to choose between 868mhz or 915mhz? I would like to order a complete set with housing.... Can you help me out? I am living in Sweden Thanks in advance..... Foxtrot Golf out
Consider getting your unused kit or spare hts, mobiles, radios , mesh units and phones or node keyboards properly stored into faraday bags or cans . Nothing worse than having all your kit trashed if the ballon goes up given our current world situations.
yeah butt, if your country limits e.i.r.p. like most (all?) of europe, and you connect 5 dB gain antenna like you suggest you should then lower the output power of your node accordingly. And if you were to do that, does it still makes sense? I guess you'll get more link budget with everybody has good antennas, so both ends of the link have some rx gain, but if you're the first node to do that you might see zero imprevement.
So, if I set a node up on my roof do I have the choice of it being private or repeating anyone else's messages within range? If repeating, presumably I can't read their messages so they are gobbling up my bandwidth. Also, if connected to the Internet, can nodes on my private channel be 1000 miles away?
hi Andy, ive been lovin the meshtastic vids and im thinking of getting a couple , problem being is i have scrapped microsoft windows yrs ago and im only running chrome os, i was wondering id u knew if the lillygo or other boards firmware can be programed without windows?
Hi, I'm not sure actually, good question! The serial drivers are really common so it's possible they are built into chromeOS, it's been a while since I used chromeOS
I'm hoping that they fixed the firmware as I'm using v19 right now and occasionally stops working ( this is with mqtt) Looking at getting Lilygo T3S3 see if they are any better IPX to sma is 13 Ipx (a lot of them are ipx 3 or 7 really small connector usually for WiFi mini pci-e cards)
@@andykirbyOK will have a look 19v does seem like they have implemented channel segment on the main server (the option is msh/"your radio setting is the name") I got 2 meshtastic v3 loaded with version 16 and they did seem Stable but lots of duplicated messages so loaded v19 seem to have stopped that mostly but node randomly hangs Believe I am already in the discord server I have a look at stickys
MORE UK STOCK HERE ----> ebay.us/Dh4aFT
What’s your thoughts on the PTPlace antennas
ordered one on amazon, for my hidden high in a tree solar powered project
Nice!
Definitely post your results Im sure a lot of us would love to see you succeed :) good luck
I want to try something similar, good luck.
Agreed!! I have a mountain to mount one on top of. I need to camouflage it so it's not stolen.
Yea please share yall results.
I'm really stoked about getting involved with this. Watched so much stuff now.
Cheers Andy.
I'm in rural Montana USA and hoping to mesh my valley and get emergency comms to larger town to the north.
I ordered 2 Wisblocks to get me started.
Very exciting stuff
Are you posting any videos of this stuff?
@suzyamerica4679 nah. Sorry. That's not my thing.
I highly recommend "The Comms Channel" though. Great info.
What's the range I got a wisblock and two heltech v3s. What's the range on the stock wisblock antenna?
Thanks!
@@SEP2000s not very far, but surprisingly good for what it is. Maybe a mile with perfect line of sight...
I wouldn't waste my time with the stock antenna unless you're in an area that is already meshed...
Please do a mqtt video, I tried setting one up but having issues! A guide from someone experienced would help no end, many thanks and keep up the great videos 👍
Agreed, I'm waiting for mine to arrive from AliExpress, but I plan to periodically broadcast weather data messages from the Scottish Borders. I have looked at the Meshtastic website which has an example of how to intergrate with Home Assistant. I'm super excited about this. The next plan will be to build an outdoor wisblock based solar unit.
Thanks for putting in so much time promoting this. I have two interests. I do home automation on 10acres where I can use this privately to monitor fields/greenhouse etc. The other use is staying in contact with family when cell is down. So, MQTT and meshed comm for group when cell is down. Here in Michigan, USA. Thanks Doug, N8VY
I just got clearance to add a node to my office building's roof... so I've made a wisblock outdoor node with enough battery to last more than a month, and a 5W solar panel to recharge when there's light. Putting a massive 8db antenna on a mast, it'll be 50ft off the ground!
Helium miner? 🤔
Nice!
@@jamess1787I suppose you could do that, but I'm doing it for meshtastic.
If so high..why so much gain? More db gain does not equal better signal. Its not an amplifier. Higher gain will make your RF field more narrow..it can reach farther, but if youre on street level the signal can literally fly over your head. 3db and your transmission is kinda round..the more you go the more oval the sphere of influence becomes. Just something i recently learned and didnt knew before.. more gain != Better signal
@@Sizzlik Good questions, thank you for your comments.
I am not trying to cover everyone, I am trying to connect area to area, or point-to-point within the area I wanted to connect to another area nearby.
I have -- since this original comment 6 months ago -- verified that the 8dbi antenna on the roof of that location has done an excellent job of connecting points that I wanted to be connected. I have not tried a lower dbi antenna.
Please do note that I am in the US, and our geography and use-case for meshtastic is quite different from the current UK use-case and deployments.
That solar node you did, just a tip, in future instead of using a Heltec and a solar panel and charger with a 18650 battery holder, just buy a TTGO T-Beam board and a 5V solar panel. TTGO T-Beam has 18650 battery holder, GPS, LoRa, ESP32 and the battery charge circuitry for a 5V supply all on board. Very elegant solution.
The problem is that t-beam draws too much power. 1 battery lasts for about a day. For fixed position solar node you're better of with RAK modules.
Thanks for posting. I purchased the highest gain antennas for the 915 in the us as well as a high gain Bluetooth antenna. And getting great results
What results have you gotten? And what dbi? Just curious. Thanks!
I have the heltec basic antenna up in a first floor window, managed ,1.1 km, definitely not line of sight. At street level it goes at least four streets away, again not LOS through several houses. I'm impressed.
Im in North London, not picked up anyone else at all. I'll try for Moorgate from a hill! I got onto your cluster a couple of weeks ago while hiking over Brickendon golf course with my T-echo, that was 5 something km, pretty good! T-echo much better on the 2.2.19 firmware, flickering screen has stopped.
Keep up the vids, useful to have (swr tested) antenna recommendations
Ahah it was you! I remember! You are still in my list so send us another message if you are ever in range again. The London node is bridged to the Hertford-WGC mesh so you should see all the stations if you can get the London node. I reckon hampstead heath or another location like that if you like hiking 👍🏻
im in stoke and I think I'm the only person in my area ,ive ordered a bigger antenna and im trying to get my mates into it lol plan on getting a few more esp32's
Thanks for the informative video and the Meshtastic motivation!
Thanks for dropping the link to the Airport Live Feed Andy! Also to mention there is a Meshtastic node here too! Trying really hard to build the Blackpool Meshtastic network! Another great video!
My Heltec should arrive in March it’s like the one you had in the video , looking forward to trying it in Peterborough Cambs
I’ve got two heltecs, each with longer antenna like shown in this vid. I only managed about a km on LONG FAST mode but one antenna was in bedroom so good be placed better. I had to do a bit more using latest Python to flash the firmware via command line (powershell) as the online firmware flasher wasnt working. Happy to help if anyone needs help with this. next steps to are to take one node out every time I go somewhere to look for other nodes as well as more range tests from house. Currently based in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth - almost most easterly point of UK, just north of lowestoft.
Cool! I know Gorleston, visited a few times many moons ago. Yeah get the antenna up as high as you can and it'll make a world of difference. Don't use much coax though. Defo good to take a node out and about with you, it can be really surprising what you pick up!
Also you may get some signals over the sea from the Netherlands when conditions are right!
I’m in the southeastern US (relatively flat, a few cities, lots of trees) and in the one test I’ve done with my lily go devices I see about 1 mile in less than optimal conditions.
I’m going to try to get one up in a tree or up on a balloon to 40-60 feet and see what type of increase I get.
@@andykirby Realy! from the Netherlans....? I live ther near the coast (Schoorl) I'm also working on a setup, 10 elem yagi and a booster 🤗 15 min hiking from my home is a realy high point in the dunes, maybe we can do a test someday when the wether is ok...
@@Jake-ug2mfI'm interested his this goes. I'm in Ohio and want to try the same thing.
Thanks for the great videos Andy, I've been loving the content (especially the Meshtastic related stuff).
I hadn't heard of Meshtastic until one of your videos popped up in my suggested list a few weeks back. I ordered a Heltec from AliExpress which arrived a couple of days ago. Had the node running for a day and hadn't picked anything up. I was starting to wonder if there was nothing nearby, but suddenly for a brief moment the stars aligned and I picked up a couple of nodes. Unfortunately I could never make contact with them again.
This video came along at just the right time. My heltec came with one of the antennas you mentioned as potentially not being too good so I suspect this may be the issue. I've got a better antenna arriving tomorrow. Can't wait to give it a try (I'm like a kid on Christmas eve).
Thanks again. Keep up the great work.
Replying here, in the hope that you post an update. I ordered an 868MHz antenna with a magnetic base, it looks similar to the 433MHz one I got when I got the SDR (Nooelec) dongle a few years ago for picking up the Byron doorbell on RTL433.
@@AndrewJonesMcGuire bit of a mixed bag really. Initially things were looking good, I picked up regular beacons from the other two nodes. One of them is reporting positional info and they look to be around half a mile away, so pretty close by. After a couple of hours I've lost contact with them again. Based on the RSSI and SNR I think the nodes are potentially at the same location as they are almost identical.
So not really sure now if the problem is on my side or their side. They may have even powered off their nodes (who knows!). I'll leave mine up and see what happens.
It's kind of hard to test things further without another device to range test with. So I may have to pick up another device to troubleshoot with at some point. I even tried relocating my node to the loft temporarily but it didn't help.
Dang Andy. You just made me order a cart load of Mesh stuff. Subscribed. Thank you. Hello from Texas
LoRa tech is the 2024 rabbit hole for sure. Have you seen the M5 cardputer? It has a lora module you can connect to it. Haven't tested it, but it looks like it could be a nice competitor to the T-Deck if it works well over long distances. Would love to see a review.
A question we have had as we build out our node is what happens to messages once they hit each T-beam, to be specific are they stored there until you view them on a device like your phone etc? if so is there a time limit or number of messages that it can hold before you need to retrieve them on a phone?
Great presentation Andy. I'm in Central Scotland and just gettting into Meshtastic. The aerials supplied with the Heltec V3 LoRa32 kits are nothing great. Buy something better and get it up as high as possible is my advice. Use a USB extender cable if need be to feed power up to your node. On 868, height is might! The mesh is slowly expanding here. I chose 868 over 433 even though I'm a licensed ham because 433 hs a lot of other stuff going on. Seems my decision to go for 868 was a good one. Keep up the good work.
Nice one Andy, would love to see you have a go at making an antenna or two, for the more frugal amongst us :-)
Great video Andy! Keep up the good work. I have a few nodes on Cape Cod Mass USA!
If your running on 868mhz, you could do worse than an Immortal Tee by TBS Crossfire....(Its a Dipole of course)...😏🇬🇧
Yes mate you are right, they are very well tuned.
great vido, just what i was lookning for as needed to know why i wasnt recivening much. put mine in the loft and it seems i have the rubbish coil ant in the video. could be my problem with picking stuff up. i`ll order the skinny worm one and maybe the sma one to add a better whipp to it at a later date.
Great info! Thanks Andy.
Purchased three of these for some play when i get the time. Thanks for the heads up, i have that poor performing antenna. I have an antenna analyzer, will check it out.
I hope you share with us your experience
Just joined Discord.. drove from Nottingham to Lincoln over the past two days.. and located 11 Nodes.
My heltec came with a little stubby rubber duck antenna which doesn't fit inside that case but seems to work quite well.
868 antennas lengths for perfect waveform as follows;
Vertical full wave length=32.8678cm
Dipole Element A=8.2373cm Element B=8.2373cm Total length=16.4747cm
Also 1/4 wave groundplane 8.2cm vertical with ar least 9.2cm radials or a metal plate.
Noob question; if I had bunny ears, should this length be used with a 120° angle, or just aligned 180° vertically? Or neither? Thanks in advance!
Still working out what advantage this would be to me. I had Lora with Packet radio years ago Australia to uk and back via nodes. Obviously this is more efficient. What could I use it for.
I just made a video about T-Deck. I'm loving it! Meshtastic is amazing.
I’ve built a j pole - seems to
Work quite well.
Got mine today, its got the crap antenna dam it. Thanks for the info
same, no wonder im not getting much. just ordered the worm one. fingers crossed
You have a certain contagious boyish excitement about Meshtastic :)
Thanks for getting me onto the project, going to have a play tomorrow with the heltecs I recently purchased. Any recommendations for 3rd party cases for them as using larger antenna isn't really possible on them?
Thanks!
Hi Andy. My Heltec systems from AliExpress came with the ufl to sma adaptor lead plus the small stub antenna that you briefly showed as being tuned for about 920Mhz on your analyser. Any chance you could verify what the SWR reading is at 868Mhz? - And maybe give comparison readings for the other antennas you show? - I suspect that we can get better results by simply making our own dipoles from the UFL pigtails provided ! Thanks
Hi, the range on the meter was pretty wide so you can see the SWR line increasing drastically towards the left of the screen. Basically it's not good. You are right, making a dipole would be good or you can buy RC drone antennas designed for 868mhz crossfire. They work well too.
I've got the so called "bad” antenna with my heltec and made contact with a node 25 miles away so maybe they are not all bad, it actually out performed my T beam in the same location/conditions
Very interesting! I think the performance definitely varies from antenna to antenna, the point is if it works then great, if it doesn't then suspect the antenna.😁
❤ loving your videos and your enthusiasm for this project ❤️
Remember when we all thought handheld satnav was cool (before smartphones) and Geocaching was a big family-friendly hobby?
Maybe we need that again. But without the internet indexing sites.
Meshcaching!
Set up a cache. Make no public record of it. The only way to find it is to catch the beacon and track it down.
Great info on antennas, ordered one to use on the outside of my home, is there a way to bring the lora/meshtastic signal inside? We have a concrete building and the devices don't talk well from inside out/vice versa. is there a antenna bridge of some sort?
Some really chep directional ones from McGill Microwave too.. anything for Helium or HNT will work. Remember 868
Just bought it all from your links see what I can get working never tried this before, but I do have a loft waiting.
Have you tried a homemade full wave antenna? Should be around 34,5cm for 868Mhz...
I am sharing my Helium antenna with decent results.
Sorry for newbie question...what's the difference between a beacon & a node?
You are getting me all fired up on this technology Andy.
Do you remember something called the 'smog' or something in the early days of WiFi? I guess the technology was not ready for long range at that point.
Ha! I don't remember that no. Sounds intriguing.
I have two of these one is connected to mqtt and one just a standalone unit. Nothing in my area 😞 just me 😭🤣
Great video 👍🏽👍🏽
If you use mobile antenna as a base you need to make or buy a ground plane
Great video!! Going to get a SMA to IPEX pigtail & a better antenna. Do the antennas generally have a female connector & I should get the male pigtail IPEX to SMA?
Thanks!!
I have those poor aerials so that was good to know. Yes please do a MQTT explination and walk through
MQTT is really great, but the heltec v3 i have is rapidly saturated.
The trick is to use the UKWide channel and then you don't get the whole world booming in 🤣
@@andykirby is there a set-up guide for MQTT on Heltec ? Do I even need a device to get to MQTT nodes?
I think it is always best to measure any cheap chinese antenna. Too many are just random ones for a random band or roughly for the band.
When I was looking for 868MHz antennas most I got were crap or not for that band (including common ones like wifi antennas with 868 label etc).
Yes it's a minefield. Testing is key.
I have a diamond SRHF10 that im going to try out on my tdeck. Need to order the sma wire for it. I use that SRHF10 on my uv k58 and I seem to get good results across all bands. Anyone else try this antenna for meshtastic?
I have some issues with these. I have a lot of trees and buildings in the way and depending on the direction can get good coverage or crappy coverage. I replaced my units with the bigger antennas you see on routers but I am looking to put a big antenna on the roof and hope the smaller ones can make it to the bigger one. curious to see if I put 2 of the larger antennas together if I can create a dipole type.
Amazon almost sold out again, just ordered one which I will chuck in the loft as a node and use the lilygo as a portable device
How do you power that Heltec device? Do you have a link for that ipex antenna? Your ipex antenna link in your description is not available.
Yeah those have just sold out🤣
@@andykirby How do you power your Heltec? Is it through the USBC?
I know, it's probably a stupid question. There are so many tiny little places to attach things on these boards, I'm never completely sure. I can't even get the ipex antennas sent from rokland to seat into their little round connectors no matter how hard I press. Maddening!
Does anyone know if you get a bit more output power from the Heltec V3 868MHz by using a 5V voltage supply directly rather than 3.xx that comes out of a battery? On the one hand, one would think that increasing the supply voltage would increase general swing levels, including the o/p swing. However, the TX level seems to be calibrated and limited to 27dBm which suggests that it is much more intelligently controlled and limited. Does anyone have any first hand experience with this?
To broaden the rabbit hole even further, are you familiar with ATAK? This has a forwarder and allows even better situational awareness and geographical information as well?
I've built one of theses but can not get it to connect to my pc I've tried 2 different pc I've brought a new data lead just in case it was that but no luck any ideas plz as it's starting to wind me up 😂
Thanks jay
It's gotta be windows driver issues.
I have got intrested in this. But there is no activity in my area, so I'm waiting for boards and antennas.
Sounds fun...
Back in 2006 i was making g-wisp. A useful mesh built on wifi and telcoms.
This sounds like the small version. .
Whats the bandwidth? It sounds more like a pager system.. (old skool)..
I think i may have to give it a try to see how the world is getting along without us pioneers.
Be interesting to see MQTT or some form of can. But i habe maybe missed some of the videos on this.
I think the guy with the swiss accent did a lot of lora videos, but not so much meshtastic.
I should be moving from this rental, so may leave a parting gift..hidden in the loft..
Hi Andy. Could you clarify for me which size connection the battery connector is on the board? I ordered LiPo’s to the spec on the Amazon site and the connectors are too big, thanks.
Hi Andy I’m new to this Mesh radio system (I know how mesh systems work regarding routers etc). Is there a good foundation video or vlog that I can get up to speed on
Such as what’s it used for
Frequencies etc
Is it licence free
All the best
Check the video on my channel.
Quick not with those bendable antennas. They seem to work best in the 90' orientation in my testing.
Hi 👋🏽 where do you get the stem and handle bars for the Engwie Ep2 pro you modded ?
Thanks
Bought my heltek on aliexpress, and specifically chose the bad style of antenna as it looked more robust than the "good" one :( not managed to pick up a single node so far
It’s definitely worth you doing a video about MQTT 👍🏻
Bought to from the used market and they came with the second antenna you showed. I tested it on a nanovna, the central frequency Is well off (433 device but around 500mhz antenna). We got a maximum distance of around 300metres, which is so disappointing. Now I'm trying to build custom repeater nodes and get other antennas :/
Andy,have you tried using a 1/4 or a dipole in place of the supplied ant. 73's G8SAR
do these come with solar charges and keyboards to conserve power in an emergency
Andy why no US Amazon affiliate link? Aren’t you missing out?
Just a stupid question really. I received heltec about to set it up. I’m confused on which battery I need to get. Would appreciate some info from any one. Kind regards
I've got 2 different type of pigtails as well. Some come with a thin wire, and others seem to be insulated like you showed in the video. Which would be better, or does this not make any difference?
The thicker the better 👍🏻
Excellent stuff. Heard of meshtastic and your channel as a long term subscriber to @RingwayManchester . Liked & Subbed.
Got one network started in York, UK
Nice work!
Have you managed to contact the node at Garrowby hill?
@@andrewfinch7740 Nope, I'm in South Bank so too far away; we started a small group last year in the city. I created a server as a repeater in centre of York for test purposes. The antenna is inside in the loft so reach is only 1-2km
Could you provide link to buy bulk order of antennas @ 02:52 ?
I bought a Heltec V3 on 433Mhz by accident.. set it up as 868 and it works very well indeed on 868! 869.525
Yeah they work OK but still not as good as a dedicated 868 model, the matching network is different between the two. We did some experiments with it. Good to put it to use though. 👍🏻
Hi Andy ! pleased to finally meet you , i'm one of lewis's mates anyway i'm looking at buying one of these lillygo t echo units but when i go on the aliexpress sellers page there is your standard 868 mhz model and there;s also the 868 bme280 and an rf version ? what is the difference between these units and what would you buy? thanks :) @andykirby @@andykirby
can a smartphone powerbank work as a battery?
what can you do with meshtastic, if no other nodes are nearby?
Start your own mesh
Hej Andy, i have a question... When i want to order the MeshTastic i need to choose between 868mhz or 915mhz?
I would like to order a complete set with housing.... Can you help me out?
I am living in Sweden
Thanks in advance..... Foxtrot Golf out
Feel better, Andy. Thx 4 all U share. 73 de AI7UQ john
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Consider getting your unused kit or spare hts, mobiles, radios , mesh units and phones or node keyboards properly stored into faraday bags or cans . Nothing worse than having all your kit trashed if the ballon goes up given our current world situations.
Empdoctor on youtube.
and what do do with 10 users connected anything?
I might put one in my loft with a usb 5v charger and add a huge antenna. I’m in Leavesden near watford.
Loft is the name and loft is the game! Do it! There's a chance with a yagi you might get the Tewin hill node, it has a pretty clear line into Watford.
@@andykirby sorry to be a pain. Can you send me a link of the super new version please 🙏🏻 like the one you had in your video today.
yeah butt, if your country limits e.i.r.p. like most (all?) of europe, and you connect 5 dB gain antenna like you suggest you should then lower the output power of your node accordingly. And if you were to do that, does it still makes sense? I guess you'll get more link budget with everybody has good antennas, so both ends of the link have some rx gain, but if you're the first node to do that you might see zero imprevement.
Are you leaving it on the default channel? I have mine set to 2.
Yes, use the default channel if you want to broadcast out to everyone.
@@andykirby thanks! I’ll switch it.
Would you say mashtastic has a greater reach then a baofeng porto?
It can have yes.
What is Kanvis maps? or Canvis.
Ah yes forgot to put the link canvis.app/meshtastic-map
What about us Yankees? What frequency do we need?
915 mhz
So, if I set a node up on my roof do I have the choice of it being private or repeating anyone else's messages within range? If repeating, presumably I can't read their messages so they are gobbling up my bandwidth. Also, if connected to the Internet, can nodes on my private channel be 1000 miles away?
Could you make a "get started guide" for other regions e.g Denmark (868 mhz) especially with th mqtt, right now it feels a bit lonely here
Is there anyone producing a 1 watt unit?
Is the discord channel also relevant for dutch users? Would be nice to have some more activity here 😅
Yeah of course!
Hi Andy, another wonderful video, I hope you will not mind me asking, but what is the make and model of your mic and camera used for making the video?
Thanks! For this I just used my Galaxy Tab 9 and a DJI mic! I was surprised how well it did.
@@andykirby fantastic, thank you.
Have you tried the Wisblock boards yet Andy?
It's next on the list.
@@andykirbyAh great! Looking forwards to seeing it.
hi Andy, ive been lovin the meshtastic vids and im thinking of getting a couple , problem being is i have scrapped microsoft windows yrs ago and im only running chrome os, i was wondering id u knew if the lillygo or other boards firmware can be programed without windows?
You only need Chrome browser, not tried anything other than windows but should be fine
Hi, I'm not sure actually, good question! The serial drivers are really common so it's possible they are built into chromeOS, it's been a while since I used chromeOS
cheers ) ill just have to give it a go @@andykirby
Would a dipole antenna tuned to 868mhz work?
Yes it will.
Get more audi tt videos made please 🙏
28-01-24, soon be time for Helen's Flir scan🥳🥳🥳🥳
💙👊😎
❤❤
Hey man! Where is your PLAY button?
Shipping soon I think 🤣
I'm hoping that they fixed the firmware as I'm using v19 right now and occasionally stops working ( this is with mqtt)
Looking at getting Lilygo T3S3 see if they are any better
IPX to sma is 13 Ipx (a lot of them are ipx 3 or 7 really small connector usually for WiFi mini pci-e cards)
Mqtt on LongFast makes all my devices hang, too little processing power for all the traffic I guess?
Use the UKWide channel its waaaaay less busy and won't crash your nodes. Details in our discord under pinned.
@andykirby thanks Andy, I'll join.
@@andykirbyOK will have a look 19v does seem like they have implemented channel segment on the main server (the option is msh/"your radio setting is the name") I got 2 meshtastic v3 loaded with version 16 and they did seem Stable but lots of duplicated messages
so loaded v19 seem to have stopped that mostly but node randomly hangs
Believe I am already in the discord server I have a look at stickys