Cheers Dave.
I think there is a meshtastic node at Leasowe Lighthouse.
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I am assuming this? 18.41€ |LILYGO® Disaster Radio LoRa V2.1_1.6.1 ESP32 433/868/915Mhz WIFI Drahtlose Bluetooth Modul 0,96 Zoll OLED SD Entwicklung Bord|Schaltungen| - AliExpress
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Dave, Funny enough I was going to ask about your setup. I am getting the parts together for a 2M AX25 Digipeater/iGate but it is taking its time. So I thought I’d put a 439 LoRA digipeater/Igate on air. The only thing is I want this to be powered by a battery charged by solar power, so it will be in a utility box in the garden. Is there any way of connecting an external wifi antenna possibly by a Rsp Pi Zero or Pico?
The video shows a 868 MHz installation but want I want to achieve is something similar with 439 APRS
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No. It doesn’t have the GPS module on it. You need this one…
Don’t forget to select the 433MHz version.
Dam Meshtastic; the prices have increased so much since this craze started. I paid $20 for mine!
There are also some nice 3D printable case designs on thingiverse and other sites - if you have access to a 3D printer.
https://www.printables.com/model/127253-t-beam-v1x-case-for-meshtastic
Dave
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I’m just the process of designing a Solar Digirepeater for installation at the top of my village - and for someone I promised this to last year. Although I live quite high up in the Peak District, there’s a rather large hill behind my QTH, so I need a standalone digirepeater (MB7UWS-2) - possibly Solar - to assist the iGate (MB7UWS-10) in getting out. I’ve therefore designed a PCB to take a Heltec LoRa 32 board (v3), a load of 18650s and a LM2596S based DC-DC converter.
It’s not very sophisticated but the PCB It’s designed to fit neatly in this IP67 box, with a 2.54mm 20 pin DIL pinheader to mount the Heltec board and a JST 1.25mm power header so the on-board TP4054 (Standalone Linear Li-lon Battery Charger) can trickle charge the 18650s.
The Heltec LoRA V3 board is supported by Richard’s GitHub repos and Meshtastic, so this outdoor setup will work for both (with the right Heltec board - 433MHz for APRS or 868MHz for Meshtastic).
Everything on the Heltec Board is is available from here:
https://resource.heltec.cn/download/WiFi_LoRa_32_V3
Including the schematics:
Dave
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What are AliExpress like to deal with? Paypal or card payment?
£49+P&P from amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BJ8XSZ1R/ref=twister_B0BJ8W9NL2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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Both, what you like. I always use Paypal.
73 de Michael, DB7MM
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Cheers
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As an alternative to the ESP32 units, I see that there is a project to use a Raspberry Pi and a little radio board to make a LoRa APRS IGate:
I’ve not tried this myself, but have built something very similar for receiving High-Altitude Balloons using a Pi Zero 2W and an Ra02 LoRa board:
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PayPal.
Usually they are pretty good to deal with. I bought two Heltec V3 boards a few weeks back and one arrived dead. I raised a return ticket, I was sent a Royal Mail returns slip, I packaged it up took it to the post office, and a few days later I received a refund.
Dave
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Is that a RP2040 Ross ?
Dave
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Why do I need a GPS for a digipeater when I can enter the co-ords manually? If I am using CA2RXU LoRa APRS iGate/Digirepeater firmware, what benefit is Meshtastic? Sorry Dave I have loads of questions 
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M0IQF down in Dunstable (he says Dunstable but he is in Luton) is using the Helltec and has used modified CA2RXU firmware LoRa APRS 439MHz - Dunstable area
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No Dave, it’s a Pi Zero 2W
The “W” indicates that it has on-board WiFi.
(I think that the RP2040 board is the Pi Pico.)
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RP2040 is Raspberry Pi Corp’s low end ARM processor, 2 ARM Cortex M0+ cores running at up to 133MHz and on chip RAM and FLASH and loads of IO stuff. Pi Pico and Pi Pico W are ARM’s single board systems using the RP2040 but there are many others. They are ridiculously cheap, ISTR that you can by a kickass performance Pi Pico for less than an Arduino board now, like £3 for a Pico and £5 for an Arduino !
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You are absolutely correct, for a digirepeater either get the board that you suggested (Lilygo) or a Heltetec.Wifi LoRA V3, and use Richards GitHub repos. I know Martin (2e0bia) has soldered a ublox module on to the GPIO pins of the Heltec (i2c) to add GPS for Meshtatsic - not yet explored if Richards repo supports this as a cheaper way to build.a tracker.
Dave
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I ended up order from Amazon in the end, the delivery dates about the same - Amazon a couple of quid more overall. ETA middle of April
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I’ve now got a new microSD card and put together one of these, using an old Pi2B coupled to a little Ra-02 LoRa board:
I’ve just set it up as G6GVI-10 and tested it with my portable tracker (G6GVI-11) on the shed roof.
Interesting to see that it reports the SNR & RSSI values of the received signal too:
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I have tried googling 18650 batteries and it comes up with everything but those batteries, do you you have a link? Thanks
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I’ve sourced 18650 Li-ion cells from RS, Amazon and CPC in Preston:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/18650-battery/s?k=18650+battery
Make sure you select Li-ion.
You get a torch, eight cells and charger with this one
I’ve had them on long term test and they seem to be OK for now.; although 14 days really isn’t long enough…
Note that they are non-protected so they do not have built in protection against overhcharging and, in particular, short circuits. The Heltec boards (not sure about the Lilygo) use a TP4054 for managing the Li-Ion battery connected to it, see here for the schematic (U3):
I’m no expert on 18650 cells, so maybe someone else can recommend something better.
Dave
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