It’s theoretically possible under ideal conditions but probably not practical.

There is a maximum hop count of 7 which means there can be, at absolute maximum, seven nodes between the sender and recipient. The default, though, is 3 hops.

While the radios may, in theory, be able to work at the range of “a few states over” as the crow flies, terrain, structures, and line of sight would likely prohibit them from working in practice at such distances. You’d also need a reliable series of hops to reach from you to them. Again, at those distances, you’d very likely exceed the maximum hop count pretty quickly.

From what I’ve seen, large meshes are generally regional.

There’s a way to join meshes over the internet via MQTT but I haven’t messed with setting that up and in some cases it can potentially overwhelm a local mesh.

I mean, first layer adhesion is a problem common to more than just a specific printer and there are all kinds of tips and tricks to deal with it. The only one I tried (covering the bed in painter’s tape) didn’t pan out, and a friend was talking up the glass bed he just installed.

So instead of trying more tips and tricks like taking a glue stick to the bed surface, I went with the glass bed. I was expecting it to be like a $60 part but it was only like $15 so that worked out really well.

My Ender 3 V3 SE (I think I got all the initials in there?) has been pretty painless. The only thing I changed on it was replacing the stock magnetic bed with the glass one. I was having constant adhesion problems with the base layer and the glass bed fixed that immediately.

The other thing that (seemed to) help was switching from whatever slicer I originally used (forget which) to OrcaSlicer and just using its generic defaults for the filament and printer options. When I first started, I took the specs from the filament rolls and made profiles for each brand, but that just made my prints worse. Orca’s defaults “just work” for me and less effort on my part. Win-win lol.

My knowledge is incomplete as to what powers and restrictions you get with an amateur license, but I think the only real reason you’d want to use HAM mode in the US is if you wanted to operate on US 433 or maybe the 868 MHz block. Not sure if HAMs have access to the latter one or not, though. The 915 block is pretty permissive here for unlicensed use, so that’s usually sufficient.

Also, if a node is operating in HAM mode, it may not be able to mesh with other nodes not in HAM mode due to encryption being disabled. I could be wrong about that as I haven’t read into that specifically, but to my knowledge it tracks.

AFAIK, you only need to use it in HAM mode if you want to use licensed frequencies, a higher power transmit (assuming the radio supports it; US 915 can transmit up to 1W/30db unlicensed and many radios can only transmit at 22db max), or to go beyond the airtime limitations (there no limitations on airtime for US 915). HAM mode also disables encryption if I recall. Also AFAIK, you’re not required to use HAM mode just because you are a licensed HAM operator.

Sources: Have read the docs but am not a licensed HAM.

Any new contacts? I’d always guessed that boats would likely be running nodes.

the remainder of the post contains references to reddit which may cause apoplexy in some viewers. :-)

Heh, I always forget about client_base. My device in that role is still on firmware 2.5.0 from last year and doesn’t have client_base as an option. Gotta get it updated stat lol.

Check out the SenseCap solar node. It’s way under $200 and professionally built.

https://www.seeedstudio.com/SenseCAP-Solar-Node-P1-Pro-for-Meshtastic-LoRa-p-6412.html

Probably the best configuration for it is as a regular client client_base role since that will relay like a repeater but without forcing other clients in the mesh to use it (which would be problematic unless you’re in a super ideal position).

Edited b/c I forgot about client_base. See the reply to this one about that role.

I was about to suggest a 3D printed solution, but I’m not seeing anything for the Elecrow/Thinknode m5 on Printables or Thingiverse. Only thing I found was a case for the M1.

What firmware version are you on?

I had to switch to the alpha version 2.7.16 because that kept happening on my Heltecs. I never got that message, though. It would just randomly disconnect and not reconnect again until I hit the reset button on the node and force-quit and restarted the app.

Prior to that, the only thing that changed or was updated was the app. My node was still running the 2.5.0 firmware from last March.

Nope, sorry. Sally Jessy Raphael is the only person allowed to wear those glasses.

You sound like a good candidate for a router role, but just to be safe, I would generally avoid “router” unless coordinating with or organizing a coordinated community mesh. That would allow for the best placement without potentially adversely affecting the wider mesh. Client role will repeat just the same but without “overriding” other, potentially better positioned nodes.

The top of the mountain location, which would provide coverage for both sides, would be the ideal placement for a node in “router” role without consuming a hop to “jump” to the other side.

Yeah, I’ve got all those turned off. Actually, they came disabled by default (one of the OS customizations Minimal does in their base image). I usually turn those to at least .5x on my other phones to make things feel faster, lol, but in this case, they were already off.

But there’s still subtle transitions and some animations that aren’t affected by that. One of the latter is the animations on the lock screen when you’re entering your pin. Those have to be disabled separately in the security settings (and weren’t disabled by default by Minimal).

Quite possibly. I don’t think I have anything running below A11 that still functions so that’s been my baseline. Most recent was my OP3 that had LineageOS’s A9 but the battery finally gave up the ghost a few months ago.

Yep, to all of that.

disable that annoying “you haven’t used those apps in a while so permissions were removed” thigny

AFAIK, you can only do that on an app-by-app basis.

Settings -> Apps -> {App} -> Permissions -> Pause app activity if unused

That’s on Android 14, so YMMV if they took that away or made it worse since then.

AFAIK, it’s just the base Android UI because it’s the same in LineageOS and vanilla builds.

• The quick actions have gone to hell. There’s nothing quick about them anymore and customizing them is even worse than it already was.
• Every UI element is oversized and seems made for the hot doggiest of hotdog fingers
• The organization of the settings, especially the network/mobile settings, somehow makes even less sense than before
• You can’t configure a wifi profile without a gateway. God forbid I want to do anything on a local network.
• You can’t disable the connectivity checker and Android treats not being able to reach Google with not having internet. And if there’s no internet, you have about 5 seconds to catch the prompt to stay connected otherwise it’ll disconnect.
• Even if you do catch the prompt to stay connected to the no-internet wifi, the DNS resolver will not use its DNS server unless you’re in airplane mode. I’ve got a RasPi-based “internet in a box” mobile server that’s useless when accessing it via my phone (unless in airplane mode) because I had the sheer audacity to configure it to use proper DNS hostnames and SSL certs.
• The wallpaper / background config is just awful nowadays. I don’t know if that’s “Material You” or what, but just let me pick an image or no image or a solid color. Don’t present 3 different apps to handle changing the background, two of which do nothing.
• On the Google side, they’re shoving more Gemini shit in
• Now Google is gatekeeping even the apps you want to sideload
• Even with animations disabled, there’s still too many animations/transitions. I’m using an e-ink phone and this alone just destroys the experience.
• Gesture navigation is just terrible but at least you can dig through the settings to re-enable 3 button nav
• A litany of other small gripes

Ok, thanks. I may leave all the bells and whistles enabled for this first rundown test, and do another one after with the GPS disabled, etc. I like the idea of having the GPS always on (with smart position enabled) but don’t really think it’s necessary while sitting at my desk in the office.

I’ll try that.

In your uses, is the battery life measured while being connected over Bluetooth or just how long the device runs on its own? This is the first day I’m running it through its paces and after 3 hours, it’s down to 83% / 3.98V. That’s with GPS, RX boosted gain enabled, and connected to my phone via BT.

Yeah, I saw that in the docs but didn’t have a node with a “buzzer” until now so just kind of forgot about that feature. I think it uses the Nokia format if I recall correctly. I was just surprised the default notification tone was one I recognized. I may play around with different ones (would love to hear the classic Nokia tune again in all of its piezo glory).

Might also find a few I like and keep them in a text file on my phone to switch them up once in a while.