General radio ⁽¹²⁾

The 868MHz node has gained a collinear and both nodes are now in the loft powered over a long USB extension that was already routed up there. I was surprised to see numerous peer messages appearing in the web app and after some fiddling these decoded into names etc. and the web app plotted them on the UK map. At present there are 50 nodes, some as far south as Sheffield, one in and two to the east of York, one in Knaresborough, and a cluster nearby and out to the west as far as Hebden Bridge. Some of these are named after callsigns but of course this is not an amateur radio thing so anything goes. The web app recorded a bunch of messages too between people. Sadly, no-one can hear my node so there is work to do yet, not least putting the antenna outside. I have another 868MHz device on order so I can check that the node in the loft is actually transmitting and if so, do some basic range tests. Another day... I ordered another T3S3 unit which arrived this morning, less than a day since I ordered it! Anyway, on powering it up it…

I just got two Lily LORA modules with Meshtastic firmware loaded, one on 433MHz and one on 868MHz. Both arrived with old firmware but that is no issue as the firmware is readily available, and anyway the documentation seems to recommend that loading the latest firmware is the first thing to do. There is a Meshtastic app for the iPhone and Mac (others available) with features replicated between them.  However, my thoughts of updating fell at the first hurdle. There are three options, use a web flasher, a CLI version or use a serial adapter. The web flasher requires Chrome or Edge and all my PC kit is in bits because of the leaky pipe. The Mac does not have Chrome nor is Chrome getting anywhere near it! There is a CLI option which requires brew and python3 / pip all of which need installing, leaving me to wonder if I (a) install all that on the Mac or (b) fettle the Windows PC together sufficiently to use it.  So, Windows PC on the floor, monitor resting against it (the monitor lives on a 4x stand so has no feet attached), Edge loaded and the 433MHz unit plugged in… finally…