MeshCore

Migrating to the new meshcore.io site

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45567835

Created my first meshcore solar powered repeater. Using the lilygo t-beam supreme and a overkill solar panel. All mounted on a din rail in a waterproof electrical cabinet.

It also included some more monitoring, using a esp32c6 running esphome with zigbee and deep sleep. Because i want to keep track of the solar performance.

It was a lot of work to get running, from soldering, 3d printing but also some little firmware changes. I even tough i burned out the lora module by running it without the antenna sometimes. I couldn't test it because i only had 2 other t-beams that where 443Mhz. Today, after buying a hot air station and some soldering i now have 2 board that work with 869Mhz (swapped the sx1278 with a sx1262). Now i am just waiting on the last 869Mhz module so i can modify my last board.

A little cursed i think but the new module didn't have the same footprint so this also works.

firmware

I like how easy the firmware is to edit, when you have some arduino experience. I added support for the 443Mhz t-beam, made it possible to connect via the app and via the home assistant integration at the same time and created a custom sensor that controls 2 relays, so i can control them remotely. But for some reason the screen just wont work, i tried using the example arduino sketch, different versions and all, none work. I do know the screen is functional because with the test firmware from lilygo it does work.

range

I haven't really tested it with the new antenna, but when i let it run for some time using the stock one, i got contacts from over 125km away, which did really surprise me. I hope with this new antenna that i can also send messages not only receive them.

Some more pictures

Mapme.sh is a community-built coverage map for MeshCore. You connect your device to your phone over Bluetooth through a browser app, and the site logs your GPS position with signal strength data as you move. It aggregates everything into color-coded hex cells on a map, from green for strong signal down to blue for barely there. You earn points for mapping new hexes, and a leaderboard tracks top contributors. Privacy controls let you choose between real-time visibility, a 3-hour delay, or full ghost mode with a 24-hour delay. The site comes from the HanseMesh community in Germany, so it's bilingual in German and English.

I've actually been using meshtastic since January of last year, and I've known of meshcore pretty much since its release. However, until now, I have refused to use it because there was no open source application for smartphones to use with it. And I do not touch software that is not open source if I can at all help it. A couple of weeks ago, I learned about a new meshcore app called Meshcore-open that is currently in alpha. Last night I decided to give it a try, and so far I do like what I see. Unfortunately, the population of my city is only like 45,000, and there are only a couple of meshtastic nodes even in the area, and so I'm all alone here. I unfortunately am unable to put up my own repeater because my yard is absolutely full of trees and a solar node just will not stay charged.

tbh I'm not a big fan of proprietary firmware, but I thought someone might find this interesting.

I recently checked out Meshcore because I live in the outskirts of Ottawa, and the city has completely switched to it from Meshtastic. I was impressed with how big the mesh is, and how well I was able to communicate with someone clear across to the other side! I was on a beach, connecting direct to a repeater 30km away, and they were recieving me another 20 km from there. Very cool.

Anyway, I learned about meshmapper.net from an active Ottawa mesh community member, and dev of the site, Mr. Alders0n.

Been having fun wardriving the area and mapping the mesh's reach into the outskirts.

Just made this app, which is a portal to easily access the war driving web app, and the mesh maps, and added a way to pin the city instead of trying to navigate the globe map to select it... yeah I know I can just add shortcuts to my browser for both, but this was more fun :)

cross-posted from: https://gregtech.eu/post/25654151

Basically title. I'm in the EU, so I need a 868Mhz one. I need it to be weather-resistant, because I'm making an outdoors node. Cost and size are not an issue. I plan to mount it relatively high.

I'll most likely install it on a Heltec T114.