LoRa Mesh blog

Author: carl

  • More Meshcore progress in Summit County

    Map showing Meshcore repeater in Mesa Cortina
    click to enlarge

    (The property owners who made this repeater possible have said they are willing to be publicly thanked — see blog article.)

    A new Meshcore repeater has been deployed in Summit County, this one in the Mesa Cortina neighborhood.  As so often happens, what made this possible is the generosity of a property owner who volunteered to provide a site for the repeater.  (more…)

  • Recent mesh progress in Summit County

    five Meshcore repeaters in Summit County
    click to enlarge

    A few days ago I deployed two new Meshcore repeaters — one near the Ruby Ranch neighborhood (CO-SUM-RUB-RE) and another near the Ptarmigan neighborhood (CO-SUM-PTA-RE).  (I blogged about the installation of the latter here.)  I am delighted to see that another volunteer has deployed two new repeaters — one near Lake Hill (CO-SUM-LH-RE) and another near the Frisco Peninsula (CO-SUM-FP-RE).  These repeaters link to what was probably the earliest repeater in this part of Summit County, namely CO-SUM-WB-RE near the Willowbrook neighborhood.

    Nice people in the Mesa Cortina and Hamilton Creek neighborhoods have each volunteered to provide a location for a repeater.  These will likely get installed soon.

  • Installing a new Meshcore repeater

    (Update:  I had to swap out this repeater for a new one as you can read about here.)

    Today I installed a new Meshcore repeater in Summit County, Colorado.  It is called CO-SUM-PTA-RE and it is a Seeed Solar Node.  It reaches points in Frisco, Silverthorne, Dillon, Mesa Cortina, and Smith Ranch.  In this article I talk about some of the planning and preparations, the installation process, and some of the results.  (more…)

  • LoRa mesh in San Francisco

    Map of Meshcore repeaters in San Francisco
    click to enlarge

    It will be recalled (see blog article) that I had deployed a temporary Meshcore repeater in Sonoma County, successfully linking to a robust Meshcore network extending across much of northern California.  Today is the day that I retrieved my temporary repeater from its hilltop, and I migrated from Sonoma County to San Francisco.

    Two days from now I will be on the dais, co-presenting a training class on the Patent Cooperation Treaty with a very nice person from the World Intellectual Property Organization.  This will be at the spring meeting of the American Intellectual Property Law Association in San Francisco.  Upon my arrival at the event hotel (the Fairmont on Mason Street) I fired up a Meshtastic node and a Meshcore node.  What devices did I see?  (more…)

  • Meshcore success in Northern California

    Meshcore nodes in Northern California
    click to enlarge

    (Update:  I did retrieve the temporary hilltop repeater.  My next stop was in San Francisco and you can read about it here.  The repeater has now been installed at a location in Summit County, Colorado as you can read about here.)

    I am a ways north of Santa Rosa, California at a temporary location in a house near Healdsburg.  At the house, none of my devices was able to detect any local Meshtastic or Meshcore (web page, Wikipedia page) device.  Driving around in nearby towns, I was unable to detect any local Meshtastic or Meshcore device.  (more…)

  • Learning about the WisMesh tag

    WisMesh tag
    .

    I just now learned of the existence of yet another small handheld LoRa mesh device that is intended to be nearly ready to use out of the box.  This one is called the WisMesh tag (shopping cart), seen at right.  It is made by a Chinese company called RAK Wireless.  How does this device compare with other small handheld LoRa mesh devices that are intended to be nearly ready to use out of the box?  I have not yet held a WisMesh tag in hand.  Here are a few observations based on the public specs for the WisMesh tag.

    (more…)

  • Where is a volunteer needed for a next solar node in or near Silverthorne?

    Ideal locations for next solar node
    click to enlarge

    (Update:  a new repeater has been installed in the Ptarmigan neighborhood area.)

    The only way that a mesh network grows and gets better is if homeowners volunteer to provide locations for solar nodes.  Where are some ideal locations for a next solar node in and near Silverthorne?  (more…)

  • Tracking a pet using LoRa mesh devices

    Seeed Tracker with snap hook
    click to enlarge

    LoRa mesh (for example Meshtastic and Meshcore) is ideal for tracking a pet.  At right you can see a credit-card-sized tag that could be clipped to the collar of a pet.  It contains a GNSS (GPS) receiver and a LoRa transmitter.  Using LoRa mesh, it will constantly update the pet’s owner as to the exact location of the pet.  (more…)

  • Improving LoRa mesh coverage in Summit County, Colorado

    map of Summit County showing a recent new node
    click to enlarge

    (Update:  a new node has been installed in the Ptarmigan neighborhood area.)

    With the addition of just two or three nodes in helpful locations, it will be within reach to provide very good LoRa mesh coverage in Summit County, Colorado.  You might wonder “What is LoRa mesh and why do I care?”, and you might next wonder “How can I help?”  This article explores these questions.  (more…)

  • Pros and cons of various handheld LoRa mesh devices

    (Updated to include the WisMesh tag, blog article.)

    When a person is using a LoRa Mesh network, very often the person is using a small handheld LoRa device.  This article talks about the pros and cons of several popular LoRa devices.

    (more…)