- Joined
- Aug 28, 2015
Shitposting over a fairly important public service is a really good way to have unscheduled meetings with the FCC, and for good reason.
Ham Radio / Off-grid communication
- Thread starter 888Flux
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2020
you can still buy these to this day linkA very "famous" antenna for NVIS is the AS-2259. It's designed in such a way to eliminate the groundwave component to prevent ground based direction findiing.
I've gotten coms as far as 500km's out and you can always adjust the number of poles you put put up to change the angle.
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2021
What does the SWR sweep look like on yours?
The wires aren't resonant on 40 and 80 so you'll need a MARS modded radio for one of these. And I think it's mainly overkill because the design specifications for the AS-2259 are to work in higher latitudes and lower latitudes (up to 20 MHz).
Something like a fiberglass mast, guy wires, and a 40/80 dipole, or 40/80/160 (depending on latitude) with traps would amount to pretty much the same thing, with less weight, and not cost an arm and a leg
DX-Engineering also has a guide on for a 40/80 AS-2259 clone. I attached the PDF
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2016
If you have the room and pick a band you could make a shirly.
Failing that a Jamaica if you have a football pitch to put one up!
As hams tend to run a LOT more power than military stations, a T2FD will suffice.
Failing that a Jamaica if you have a football pitch to put one up!
As hams tend to run a LOT more power than military stations, a T2FD will suffice.
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2024
He’s going to wind up one of handful of spergs the FCC actually decides to make an example of.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2022
What's the easiest/most accessible/least technical way to get into LoRa/mesh?
I'm very interested in it, but only from a self-sufficiency standpoint, I am not at all knowledgeable or passionate about the technology behind it and I don't mind paying a premium for a prebuilt portable thing like the T-Deck or whatever. I don't plan on diving into it or even using it much, I just would like the option.
Also, can anyone explain to me how the Reticulum network and Columba work? Would something like the T-Deck enable me to access that network via an app on my phone in the event of cellular and internet outage?
Feel free to talk to me like I'm a retard because I might as well be in this regard.
I'm very interested in it, but only from a self-sufficiency standpoint, I am not at all knowledgeable or passionate about the technology behind it and I don't mind paying a premium for a prebuilt portable thing like the T-Deck or whatever. I don't plan on diving into it or even using it much, I just would like the option.
Also, can anyone explain to me how the Reticulum network and Columba work? Would something like the T-Deck enable me to access that network via an app on my phone in the event of cellular and internet outage?
Feel free to talk to me like I'm a retard because I might as well be in this regard.
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2015
Probably the heltec boards and flash it yourself. Just make sure you have an antenna and connect it before doing anything with it. I know I sound like a downer, but be prepared for a bit of disappointment with lora stuff unless you're in an area that has enough of it to make a decent mesh. And then not too much to overwhelm it.
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2022
Buy a completed kit from RakWireless or Lilygo or your preferred vendor. Then all you have to do is install the app and configure it, no assembly or flashing needed till an update.
I've only ever used Meshtastic so I will leave it to others to explain Reticulum and Columba
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2021
Reticulum is a transport agnostic cryptographic networking stack
In simpler terms its a set of rules and logic that allow for different devices like LoRa, packet radios, and overlay networks all to mesh together in one network
Reticulum does this with what are called interfaces.
An interface can be anything as long as it has a throughput of around 100 bits per second.
HF radios, fiber optic media, Bluetooth, serial, I2P, Tor, and the regular Internet can all talk to each other this way and carry Reticulum packets. And using a set of predefined logic always try to resolve the best path even if it’s over a network where each node is slower / faster or the network is damaged.
The RNode firmware is it's LoRa counterpart. You can flash it on the supported devices and get what is essentially a LoRa modem that you can use as an Interface.
Reticulum is often compared to Meshtastic but this is an apples to oranges type of comparison. Meshtastic is an application designed to run directly on LoRa hardware. Reticulum is a networking stack and the application level logic is handled by the software in the case of RNode.
There are also standalone implementations of Reticulum like microReticulum and Ratdeck. Ratdeck is probably of most interest to you since it runs the full Reticulum stack + LXMF on the T-deck itself and provides the user a chat UI
Reticulum doesn't handle messaging or anything like that itself, but instead the LXMF protocol built on top of it does. LXMF is a messaging protocol designed to work with RNS and provide store and forward functionality so clients can receive messages even when they are offline.
Sideband, Columba, MeshChatX, and NomadNet are all LXMF clients and can all talk to eachother and use the same store and forward functionality. There's also LXST for voice calling
Columba also has a built in BLE (Bluetooth) interface. Which means that you can talk to other phones running Columba if it's enabled.
There is no "one network" that you can connect to. A network can be two RNodes talking to eachother or a thousand nodes. Compared to Meshtastic, Reticulum doesn't have much deployment on the LoRa front. But the incredible thing about it is it works over just about anything. Even HF packet radio and existing overlay networks. You can connect to some of the public transports from the list here, have an RNode in Transport mode, and now have your local LoRa network bridged to everyone else.
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2022
Domo oregano, very helpful. I'm still going to ask a hundred questions like a retard to ensure I understand though.https://reticulum.network/manual/gettingstartedfast.html
Reticulum is a transport agnostic cryptographic networking stack
In simpler terms its a set of rules and logic that allow for different devices like LoRa, packet radios, and overlay networks all to mesh together in one network
Reticulum does this with what are called interfaces.
An interface can be anything as long as it has a throughput of around 100 bits per second.
HF radios, fiber optic media, Bluetooth, serial, I2P, Tor, and the regular Internet can all talk to each other this way and carry Reticulum packets. And using a set of predefined logic always try to resolve the best path even if it’s over a network where each node is slower / faster or the network is damaged.
The RNode firmware is it's LoRa counterpart. You can flash it on the supported devices and get what is essentially a LoRa modem that you can use as an Interface.
Reticulum is often compared to Meshtastic but this is an apples to oranges type of comparison. Meshtastic is an application designed to run directly on LoRa hardware. Reticulum is a networking stack and the application level logic is handled by the software in the case of RNode.
There are also standalone implementations of Reticulum like microReticulum and Ratdeck. Ratdeck is probably of most interest to you since it runs the full Reticulum stack + LXMF on the T-deck itself and provides the user a chat UI
Reticulum doesn't handle messaging or anything like that itself, but instead the LXMF protocol built on top of it does. LXMF is a messaging protocol designed to work with RNS and provide store and forward functionality so clients can receive messages even when they are offline.
Sideband, Columba, MeshChatX, and NomadNet are all LXMF clients and can all talk to eachother and use the same store and forward functionality. There's also LXST for voice calling
Columba also has a built in BLE (Bluetooth) interface. Which means that you can talk to other phones running Columba if it's enabled.
There is no "one network" that you can connect to. A network can be two RNodes talking to eachother or a thousand nodes. Compared to Meshtastic, Reticulum doesn't have much deployment on the LoRa front. But the incredible thing about it is it works over just about anything. Even HF packet radio and existing overlay networks. You can connect to some of the public transports from the list here, have an RNode in Transport mode, and now have your local LoRa network bridged to everyone else.
https://reticulum.network/manual/gettingstartedfast.html#bootstrapping-connectivity
- Am I correct in my understanding that Meshtastic and Reticulum are mutually exclusive then, and flashing Ratdeck on a T-Deck would remove the ability to engage with the Meshtastic network/users?
- Would the Ratdeck also function as an RNode and enable me to use a client like Columba on my phone through Bluetooth, like in the event of an internet or cell service outage, or is it limited to the application running on the hardware?
- Do you happen to know if the Ratdeck firmware runs on the big ugly T-Deck Cypher thing, or is it specific to the T-Deck Plus?
- It sounds like both are good to be on if shit hit the fan; like Reticulum is a more robust network but less likely to be accessible via LoRa alone, while Meshtastic would be more likely to be connectable just by virtue of higher adoption, is that correct?
- If I'm just planning on throwing this thing in a bug out bag, am I better off sticking with Meshtastic for the time being for that use case? Do you foresee Reticulum getting wider adoption on the LoRa front? Are other LoRa networks worth considering for that use case, e.g. Meshcore or whatever?
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2021
Yes, they are mutually exclusive. Only one firmware can run on devices like that a time.
Sort of. It's based on uRNS which is designed to run the entire network stack as a standalone thing. You can however set it up in Transport mode, connect it to something like a WiFi network or hotspot (doesn't matter if it has Internet connectivity or not) and now the RNS running on your phone with Columba or Sideband or whatever has access to the LoRa network.
With the RNode firmware you can add RNodes over Bluetooth and with the Heltec v3/v4's WiFi as the "RNodeInterface". The drawback is it requires a phone or computer to use it with, and isn't standalone. If you go that route I recommend getting something like a lilygo t-beam which the firmware supports https://lilygo.cc/en-us/products/t-beam
The T-Deck plus. I will add a disclaimer that I have NOT tested it yet, still waiting on my T-Deck plus to arrive.
Yes, correct. Reticulum doesn't have nearly the LoRa saturation as Meshtastic does. But it's far more versatile in what it can do. It can work over 1980's field surplus telephone wire and HF radios. But there isn't as big of a unified public network as other projects have.
Honestly neither. If it's something that's truly ad-hoc and you're working with stuff you've thrown in a bag / don't have time to prepare, I'd recommend just an analog VHF/UHF two way radio. It's the lowest form of tech that requires no setup or planning, with fewest points of failure.
Despite the hype Meshtastic is NOT an off-grid messaging network.
While many nodes are solar powered, It is far too reliant on MQTT which routes messages over the standard Internet. Meshtastic packets are also limited to 7 hops, and too many repeaters use MQTT in ways to overcome this limitation. Meaning that some Meshtastic networks rely entirely on the Internet to route messages instead of Meshtastic nodes themselves. This completely kills it's viability as an "off-grid" project. And there is zero way to route messages with repeaters along a path that have MQTT disabled due to the nature of how Meshtastic works. At this point in certain metros its easier to hurt a Meshtastic network by adding a repeater than it is to benefit it.
There's also holes in it's security and use of cryptography. For shared channels and DMs, it uses a single key, stored on the device itself, that when compromised allows for the decryption of all future and past messages sent. Reticulum is built on secure cryptographic priniciples from the ground up that prevent something like that from happening and also implements key ratchets.
Reticulum is more involved and needs a bit of planning to get a network going, so I can't recommend it as something that is just "throw in a bag". However I will say if it's something that interests you and you have a bit of time to learn and work out, you can do some incredible things with it, but it does require some network planning ahead of time.
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2022
Well that's a bummer. But good to know. I'll probably still pick one up but I'll temper my expectations. I believe I have UHF already but I should really double check.
Thank you much for answering my questions.
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2020
So I got a shortwave receiver and for the life of me I can't pick up anything on the shortwave band so what am I doing wrong? It's an rf919
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2021
What are you trying to listen to, and what antenna are you using?
The built in ferrite bar antenna is only good for LW and MW stations
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2020
Just the two antennas that came with it, tried either one I get dick, the only thing I picked up other than regular AM/FM was the NOAA station
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2021
What bands are you trying to listen to?
You said regular AM/FM, are you looking to pick up Ham stations? What frequencies are you trying to listen to?
Skim through the amateur voice segments of 40 meters 7.1 MHz to 7.3 MHz after sunset and you should pick up something. Make sure your receiver is set to LSB. Also use the telescopic whip in the back,. And you will have a lot better performance if you're outside. Sometimes there just isn't anything on the bands at the time you want to listen to due to prop conditions.
Neat article from IEEE Spectrum about building a one time pad printer using a 8 bit random number source from electrical noise and a thermal printer. Adafruit no longer sells those specific thermal printers, but you can find cheap 58mm thermal receipt printers just about anywhere these days.
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2015
Ah the ol' reverse-bias trick. That's a nice one.
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2020
Just the usual shortwave broadcasters, I know they're usually not on 24-7 but I tuned into every frequency in north america and got dick, I'll try it again outdoors to see if that makes a difference.
