Author: carl

The number of Meshcore repeaters in Summit County has now reached about thirteen.   Here you can see a “likely” coverage map, using an online coverage estimating tool.  I say “likely” because the only way you can really know if you have coverage in a particular location is to go to that location and try to connect to the network.

There is much room for improvement in coverage.  Summit County areas lacking full coverage include:

• Most of northern Summit County (toward Heeney and Kremmling)
• Summit Cove
• Keystone
• Arapahoe Basin
• Montezuma
• Blue River
• Most of southern Summit County (toward Hoosier Pass)
• Eastern I-70 toward the Eisenhower Tunnel
• Western I-70 toward Copper Mountain and Vail Pass
• Highway 91 toward Fremont Pass

The Summit County Meshcore network is not yet linked to any of the other Meshcore networks in Colorado.  It would be desirable, for example, to link the Summit County network to the extensive network seen below, which extends from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs.

We now have two new Summit County Meshcore repeaters.  At right is a photo showing some of the likely new coverage area.  These repeaters might provide Meshcore coverage in parts of Breckenridge, and should also provide high quality line-of-sight coverage to the radio hut area of Baldy Mountain.  (more…)

In an earlier blog article I mentioned that it is possible to add a Bosch BME280 sensor to the RAK one-watt LoRa mesh radio.  This article details how to do it and how to get the telemetry.  (more…)

For my four recently constructed one-watt solar LoRa mesh repeaters, I tested the solar charging.  This told me that there was something wrong with one of the four repeaters.  (more…)

I am delighted to report that I now have constructed three one-watt Meshcore repeaters.  I will test them for a few days, to observe some daily charge-discharge cycles.  If they perform well in the daily cycle of charge and discharge, then I will be confident about placing them into service.  (more…)

Readers of this blog already know of the door prizes that have been announced for the upcoming meeting in Summit County, Colorado for ham radio operators and friends of ham radio operators and people interested in ham radio.  The previously announced door prizes are:

• a LoRa mesh starter kit
• A study book for the Technician ham radio exam

In addition to those first and second door prizes, I am delighted to report that third and fourth door prizes have now been added for this upcoming meeting.

• A Wio Tracker L1 Pro.  This device, seen above, has orange buttons.  You can read about this device on the manufacturer’s web page.  It provides complete LoRa mesh circuitry and can be flashed for Meshtastic or Meshcore.  It can be a companion device or it can be a repeater.  It has a 2000 mAh battery and has an integrated GNSS (GPS) receiver.  It is our third door prize, and it is yet another reason to attend the upcoming meeting at the library in Silverthorne.

• 

  A SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000-E.  This device, seen at right, has one button.  It is about the size of a credit card, and could be clipped to a harness on a pet.  You could use it to try to find the pet (see blog article) if the pet were to get lost.  And this device is our fourth door prize for the upcoming meeting.

What, you might wonder, can you do with this LoRa mesh starter kit that is one of the door prizes for the upcoming inaugural ham radio meeting?  I’m glad you asked. (more…)

(Update:  third and fourth door prizes have been added for this upcoming meeting.)

Readers, I am delighted to be able to report that the July 1, 2026 ham radio get-together is going forward as planned.

This inaugural meeting (see Save the date!) will start at 6PM on Wednesday, July 1 at the North Branch of the Summit County Library.  This is at 651 Center Circle, Silverthorne, CO 80498.  (more…)

Every Meshcore device is uniquely identified to all other Meshcore devices by its “public key”.  The public key is a string of 64 hexadecimal characters (meaning 256 bits).  In your Meshcore “contacts” list the first few and last few characters of the public key are shown, for example with the repeater above.

If any two Meshcore devices happen to have the same first two characters in their public keys, this counts as a “collision”.  This article talks about how you can avoid such a “collision”.  (more…)

The usual path for the Harbor Breeze repeater hack is to use the charge manager that comes with the HB light.  In this article I construct an HB repeater that uses the more sophisticated charge manager that is provided in the RAK 19003 and 19007 baseboards.  This offers an opportunity to charge the battery at around 200 mA instead of the 50-80 mA that the HB charge controller would provide.  (more…)