I have. Threw an external antenna on my roof just peaking above the crest (HOA hasn’t noticed yet). I Keep nodes set as router-late in my car so when I go driving I can see other people exist.
TBF, even when I’m out, I’ve never made contact on the mesh. There are a dozen meshtastic nodes here and there, best I can tell it’s just a couple other hams, no real comms going on. Even the VHF Ham scene here is mostly dead.
My actual goal was to get a half-decent signal for my kids’ bus route and school. The school is only a mile away, but it’s not like i’m going to throw a $300 aprs radio in his bag, a $30 LoRa capsul though, sure!
Have a look at both meshtastic and meshcore. You say you’ve already seen some meshtastic nodes, but a lot of people are moving to meshcore, and so you might have better luck there.
Also, with your node antenna up at the crest of the house roof, I would think a mile should be doable to your kid’s school.
It may not work while they’re in the building itself, but if they are outside, then I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
There is 0 meshcore anywhere near me. I drove heltek v3’s around my beltway, nada.
I would think a mile should be doable to your kid’s school.
Nope, tried it, no radio line of site. it’s a little hilly here and there’s a shit ton of old-growth forrest in between.
I’ve been trying to find a tree tall enough to repeat with clear solar from the south, that’s not on someone’s property, The only good options are in the middle of a swampy run.
Ah, gotcha. Well in that case meshtastic is definitely your best bet for now and as for getting a node up into the tree I’m not sure unless you’re willing to go swamp bogging
If I weren’t so close to an airport, I’d do a tethered balloon. I do have a drone so i could lay paracord over a high branch and hoist it up if I had the gear to not get bit by something nasty. If I wasn’t so worried about the cost. I could just strand a solar node up there with a long break-away line and just write it off when it needed batteries.
I have. Threw an external antenna on my roof just peaking above the crest (HOA hasn’t noticed yet). I Keep nodes set as router-late in my car so when I go driving I can see other people exist.
TBF, even when I’m out, I’ve never made contact on the mesh. There are a dozen meshtastic nodes here and there, best I can tell it’s just a couple other hams, no real comms going on. Even the VHF Ham scene here is mostly dead.
My actual goal was to get a half-decent signal for my kids’ bus route and school. The school is only a mile away, but it’s not like i’m going to throw a $300 aprs radio in his bag, a $30 LoRa capsul though, sure!
Have a look at both meshtastic and meshcore. You say you’ve already seen some meshtastic nodes, but a lot of people are moving to meshcore, and so you might have better luck there.
Also, with your node antenna up at the crest of the house roof, I would think a mile should be doable to your kid’s school.
It may not work while they’re in the building itself, but if they are outside, then I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
There is 0 meshcore anywhere near me. I drove heltek v3’s around my beltway, nada.
Nope, tried it, no radio line of site. it’s a little hilly here and there’s a shit ton of old-growth forrest in between.
I’ve been trying to find a tree tall enough to repeat with clear solar from the south, that’s not on someone’s property, The only good options are in the middle of a swampy run.
Ah, gotcha. Well in that case meshtastic is definitely your best bet for now and as for getting a node up into the tree I’m not sure unless you’re willing to go swamp bogging
If I weren’t so close to an airport, I’d do a tethered balloon. I do have a drone so i could lay paracord over a high branch and hoist it up if I had the gear to not get bit by something nasty. If I wasn’t so worried about the cost. I could just strand a solar node up there with a long break-away line and just write it off when it needed batteries.