I’ve got the tracker case like Colin’s and have just put it together with the supplied battery. But how do I turn it off? (Other than taking the battery out). There’s a menu option for that but when I select it it says I have no keyboard and should use the power button, but there isn’t one on the Heltec.
EDIT: I’ve managed to find the answer. Hold the P button and press R. To turn on press the R button.
Is this in the documentation somewhere because I couldn’t find it?
Three short presses on the P button turns it off.
IIRC when the “amateur radio” tag is selected the messages will not be encrypted.
When configuring a new meshtastic node I’ve noticed there’s a “Amateur License” (or words to that effect) slide bar. I’ve never really worked out what this is for; I’ve kind of assumed this is so we can use Meshtastic in the amateur rather than the ISM bands - should we want to (i.e. it disabled encyption) ?
Dave
I didn’t realise ticking it actually did anything, but if you’re right that would certainly solve that problem.
APRSDROID on android phones with boards that has BT classic
APRS.fi app for apple phones with boards that has BLE
sadly, APRSDROID does not have soon BLE support to develop
Thanks to Richard @G3CWI I am now up and running with my Tracker, and my iGate has been packet pushing albeit a small amount. so very happy to get this project off the workbench!
If anyone doesn’t fancy making one a LoRa tracker and programming it, I have another LoRa tracker available. They work out to about £50 including UK p&p (at cost). DM me for full details if you fancy trying one out.
I have now enabled APRS messaging on my igate (G3CWI-6). I set the range filter to m/30 which I think means it will enable messaging within a 30 mile(?) radius of its location.
I have set up a Tracker G3CWI-8 to allow messaging by enabling it for IoS BLE.
I have subscribed to messaging with the APRS.fi Iphone app (~£13). The app has connected to the Tracker BLE. Fiddled around with some other settings and it may now be working.
Can anyone send a message to G3CWI-8 to test?
To my amazement it works. Seems there’s a SOTA APRS Chat Server at ANSRVR
APRS SOTA Spotting at:
Where is this documented? I’d like to see what other information I’ve missed.
It’s in the changelog for the repo. Incidentally, I suspect your suggestion starts the bootloader (with blank screen). I’m uncertain if that it is actually putting the unit into a sleep mode.
I don’t feel so bad for missing it now!
I realised soon after I wrote that, that my suggestion puts it into the bootloader and probably doesn’t put it into sleep mode.
Last week I took my tracker out for a little walk around town here. At the time I didn’t have the case and just had the bare board powered by a USB powerbank in my jacket pocket. I was very disappointed by how little it tracked.
I’ve just come back from roughly the same walk. This time the tracker was in the case with the FLEXI-SMA-433 antenna. I’ve also put another of these antennas on the iGate in the loft (and it’s powered continuously rather than by battery). I’m pleased to say that I was fully tracked for the whole route (although the GPS accuracy seemed poor at times - perhaps that’s normal). So I definitely recommend a better antenna than supplied with the boards - they are only about a fiver.
The next job is to see how well I’m tracked on my local SOTA summits.
Have you got the messaging going yet?
I tested my tracker atop G/ LD-025 Seatallan ladt night, whilst camping on the summit. I was very pleased to be picked up by GI4SXF, a distance of 140.6km
Not tried messaging yet. Have you managed to get a SOTA spot via APRS2SOTA?
Yes. All working here. The messaging works fine. Tested APRS-SMS APRS-WHATSAPP APRS-EMAIL APRS2SOTA, local weather (WXYO), callsign lookup WHO- IS and other things. All good.
Also had a short APRS chat with a chap in Indonesia writing a new LoRa fork - that was very cool (LoRa APRS - LoRa APRS). All using the LoRa TNC.
Feel free to message me at G3CWI-8.
I have a feeling that currently wider messaging won’t work though as the default settings on LoRa igates have it inhibited. Also the messaging range is only 10 miles by default. I’m also unclear on how digipeaters fit in terms of the range settings.
I have replaced the GPS unit on my Lillygo T Beam tracker as suggested by Rick M5RJC. Picked up a couple from eBay pretty cheaply. It uses an IPEX connector so really easy to do. For me this has definitely improved accuracy and it appears quicker to lock in. I’m still using the supplied stub antenna though, but have the antennas Richard suggested on order from CPC.
