Looking at the raw packets from G5OLD-10 and G5OLD-11, they both appear to be configured as an iGate (LoRa_APRS_iGate 2024.11.06) with an internet connection, rather than a Tracker, which reports its position and can be picked up on the air.
Also, your -11 beacon text states the frequency 438.9125, which is 1MHz lower than everyone else is using.
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Thanks @G6GVI Ross. That was a very useful pointer. I needed to kick the device with a fresh reinstall to get it to run from a battery correctly.
G5OLD-10 and G5OLD-7 now up and runningā¦
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Does anyone have recommendations for a DIY or cheap antenna to go with G5OLD-7 and a rucksack while out on SOTA summits ? The stock one looks pretty bad.
Iād also like to setup a iGate for the camper to relay while out on more remote hills so would like a campervan antenna suggestion. Is an igate the right choice here ?
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For the tracker i use a UHF 433Mhz handheld antenna, for the Igate I use a Jpole made out of ladder lineā¦ works very effectively! and is very compact if wanting a portable igate setup
Alan
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Iāve found that a simple quarter-wave works well on the T-Beam, so long as you have it out in the clear (I fix the unit onto my bagās shoulder-strap).
If you can set up a mobile-data hotspot in your campervan, then an iGate would do the business. Otherwise you could run it as a digipeater, if you park within range of someone elseās iGate.
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Richard put some antenna recommendations on his LoRa Wiki.
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Yes Simon, itās picking up some more distant stations now:
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Foolishly for someone with my knowledge of such things, I decided to attempt to set up an iGate using a T-Beam board. Iāve managed to flash the CA2RXU software using the web flasher the and the screen on the T-Beam looks OK (see below). There is a solid red light on the board, which I believe means the GPS is workingā¦?
Reading the Wiki, I have failed at this bit
"When the iGate reboots and could not connect to any wifi ssid , it will start his own WiFi AP called NOCALL-10 AP.
Connect to it (with Phone or PC ) and use the password ā1234567890ā to complete the connection"
I canāt fathom how Iām supposed to connect to it to enter the password. Iāve tried the Meshtastic app on my 'phone but itās not seeing the board via Bluetooth and Iāve also tried the Meshtastic web client but that doesnāt see the board either. Can someone tell me what Iām doing wrong, please? Perhaps Iām trying to connect to it in the wrong way?
Thanks. Dopey Denis
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If you do a Wifi scan on your phone is it visible?
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Been a good day for M0MZB-15, with the following stations heard (i use the ?APRSL query to find this information)
Is there an easy way to map a list of aprs stations, with distance shownā¦of xourse I could look at the table on aprs.fi but that only shows the stations that were igated. I would like to map the list of stations obtained via the ?APRS query.
MW7MWZ-10
GW3ATZ-11
M7RTB-10
M0MZB-10
MB7UWS-2
G1EGE-S
2E0GHJ-7
G3ATZ-S
2E0SEY-11
M0JKS-1
M0TAZ-2
2E0GHJ-4
MB7UCW-10
G3CWI-11
M0MZB-7
Thatās got me in - thanks so much, Richard. Didnāt think that it might come up as a WiFi device. I may have more questions on another day but I will follow the instructions tomorrow and see where I end up
Anyone here with T-Echo board to be willing to test ānew secretā firmware that will change it forever?
messages, aprsthurday, digirepeater emergency mode and a few more tricks
and soon to be ready: BLE and even Sota info?
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Thanks Ross, glad to see it working properly.
Should I configure my iGate for TX and RX? It is just RX at the moment - Iām not sure what the benefit would be of setting it to TX as well? Would that be of use to others?
73, Simon
I only Rx on mine, as I canāt transmit through my preamp.
But if you Tx a beacon every hour or so it may be interesting to see where itās picked up?
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Mineās only RX - Iām not sure TX adds much plus it means I donāt have to worry about being able to switch it off within 2 hours.
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Thanks Ross, Iāve enabled TX and the beacon every 20 minutes or so. Looks like it has already been picked up by a couple of local stations.
Weāre hoping to do a SOTA on Sunday, so Iāll take my tracker and see if my iGate actually picks up my transmissions from afar. Either GW/NW or G/SP depending on the rainā¦
73, Simon
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My first iGate, M0CBC-10 appears to be working albeit with the antenna lashed up in the shack. Thanks agin for all the assistance, both direct and in general through this thread.
Cheers,
Denis
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as for SOTA, I got an idea: send over BLE/BT some text command and the tracker would update internal variable with latitude and longitude and show you how much distance is to the SOTA point on the main menu screen
any ideas? any better idea?
On a different topic, would it be possible to add a kill switch. This would require setting a 10 digit passcode via the web interface. The kill switch would then require sending the query ?APRSQxxxxxxxxxx with xxxxxxxxxxx being the preset number
Obviously, this would be good for one use only, as after sending the passcode is in the public domain .
Could also require the kill swotch to originate from a specific callsign and ssid (of course, these can be spoofed but it adds a second variable)
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It might make more sense for there to be an APRS service that does this, similar to REPEAT for repeaters where you send a number n and it tells you the distance to your nearest n summits?
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