Portable Mesh Nodes - First Topic

[CARBBN]

Hello All,

Here is the first topic in our Google group it is on Portable Mesh nodes:

• Do you have a portable node yet?
  
• What would you use a portable node for?
  
• What kind of power requirements do you think you need?
  
• What kind of training on using a portable node do you think you need?
  
• How could you tie the node into regular radio or digital radio like D-Star, DMR, C4FM, or POCSAG?

If you have one already please post a picture in your reply to this post.

Looking forward to all the responses to this.  In March of 2019 we will be building a portable node at our meeting. This topic is in preparation for that meeting.

Jeremiah - N0KMO

[Gary Sutton]

Having no other QTH-based nodes to connect to here in the Castle Rock area, most of my activity on mesh, when connecting to other nodes, has had to be done with a portable setup. My primary setup is a quick and simple Ubiquiti Bullet and a 17 dBi gain Yagi. It only takes a minute to setup, so it is very quick and portable.

The Bullet's Ethernet connection simply runs to a laptop (via a 13.5 VDC  power injector) and away you go. About as simple and easy as it can get. If you know how to use a web browser, then you have the basic tool you need to bring up the AREDN interface and navigate to any nodes that you can see from your portable setup location.

MeshChat is good for basic text messaging, so if a visible node has that running, then it's a simple way to exchange information. Depending on the services available on the node(s) you can connect to, a VoIP client piece of software on the laptop could possibly be used to call anyone else on the mesh network if they also have a VoIP device on their end.

Photo here is the super simple setup mounted on a speaker stand tripod looking at the west side of Denver from Daniel's Park in Douglas County.

73,

Gary

WB5PJB

 

[CARBBN]

Gary,

Thank you for the response. What versions of the firmware have you used? 

KE0NVB

[Gary Sutton]

Over the years, I have tried to stay updated with the latest AREDN firmware, so typically my node will have the most recent AREDN version. I have never had an issue with nodes having different firmware versions. They get discovered just fine and any communications with a service running on the nodes (MeshChat, website, ftp site, etc.) works as usual.

Gary, WB5PJB