Month: February 2025

Learning About Meshtastic

At Orlando HamCation, I ran across the booth for Spec5. They sell some very cool Meshtastic devices. I briefly experimented with Meshtastic a couple of years ago, but it had not really taken off in my area, so I didn’t get very far. More recently, several people in the area have installed nodes, so it is more interesting and useful now. In fact, there is a group working to install nodes to connect communities across the region. This will make Meshtastic more useful as an option for grid-down communication.

One of the devices I bought at HamCation is the Spec5 Ranger. It is a cool Meshtastic device with a keyboard, so messages can be sent directly through the device. You do need a phone, tablet or computer to configure it initially, but once it is set up it can be used alone.

I had this homebuilt Meshtastic device from my earlier experimentation, so I flashed it with the most recent firmware and configured it with my phone. This one does require a bluetooth connection to a phone or tablet to send messages. It is a LILYGO T-Beam ESP32 LoRa board with OLED display and 18650 battery.

I knew I would have limited range with the handheld devices and small 915 MHz antennas, so I wanted something that could extend the range. I ended up getting another Spec5 device, the Spec5 Relay to set up outside. It was very easy to assemble, and also easy to configure using the Meshtastic application on my phone. I have it mounted on a 15 foot mast at the edge of my property. It transmits and receives over a greater distance due to the better antenna, and placement outside. It has a solar panel to keep the 18650 batteries charged. I will be putting it on a 25 foot mast soon to extend the range even further. While the Relay can be set up in a repeater mode, I have it set up in client mode, which is the best setting for this location.

This is a screenshot from the Meshtastic Android app on my Google Pixel phone It is connected to my S5 Ranger by bluetooth. This is a view of all of the different configuration settings.

This is a view of the most recently connected nodes that my device can see. You can see my other two device on there (they are very close), but through the S5 Relay it is connected to several other nodes that are further away.

This is the map view from the Meshtastic application, showing several nodes that my S5 has seen from my house and while traveling around the area.

This view shows messages that have been received by and sent from my nodes.

I have one of my nodes connected to an old iPhone. The iPhone Meshtastic app seems to be functionally the same as the Android app, but it looks different.

So, what’s next. I will continue to learn more about the functions and utility of Meshtastic, and will try to help local users extend the mesh to reach more communities.

Raising the Tower

I have not posted any updates for a long time. Since my last post, the new tower has been raised. There is still some work to do. Mainly, running the cable and installing an entry panel. There was steady progress until hurricane Helene came through our area at the end of August. Here are some pictures of the construction and the finished tower. Most of the construction took place during the Summer of 2024.

It all starts with digging a hole. This one is 5 feet deep by 3 feet wide.

After the hole was dug, the rebar cage went in.

The forms for the concrete base were then added. I also added some trenches to lay conduit for coax. I have a wire antenna on the mast at the fence. The conduit will route that coax to the tower, then coax from all antennas will come from the tower to an entry panel at the shack.

The concrete for the foundation was poured, and after a few days of curing, the tilt base and tower were bolted onto the foundation.

Then the rotator and a tilt plate for the hexbeam were installed onto the tower.

Several friends came over for an antenna party to build the hexbeam.

After it was built, we tested the SWR and it was excellent on all bands, 20M to 6M.

A few days later, the hexbeam was attached to the rotator, and the tower and antenna were raised.

I mentioned that hurricane Helene introduced some delays in finishing the project. I had the tower fully lowered. The hurricane force winds came from the south, and the tower is on the north side of the house, so the tower and hexbeam were not damage. The biggest holdup is that the winds bent the mast and the eave mount for my VHF/UHF vertical on the roof of my house. The vertical is now hanging over too far for me to fully raise the tower. I need to get a lift to either remove or repair the vertical mount.

I also still need to install the entry panel, which will involve drilling through the wall to route the coax from the panel into the shack. I hope to get those things done in the next few weeks.