LoRa APRS Tracker (Part 9)

[2E0JWA]

get close enough to the device, and see if it will connect via bluetooth! if you set it up, it should read no problems!

Alan

[2E0JWA]

@G3CWI

hmmm seems to have dissapeared??

Alan

[G3CWI]

Yes. I have switched it off. It will be back on tomorrow from somewhere else.

[MM0FMF]

@G3CWI

back on tomorrow from somewhere else

With a new MAC address, nudge, nudge

@M0MZB

it has been removed.

It’s annoying Mathew. There’s the financial loss as one thing. But more annoying is the lost time. You can always earn more money but not more time.

[M0MZB]

I’ve got a stack of identical units, but the really annoying part os that this, very convenient location for testing, can no longer be used.

Hopefully this time next week I will have a unit active on G/LD-025

[M0JKS]

@M0MZB

Well I now know what happened…it has been removed. Photo of original placement below. Someone has taken the whole lot.

If only it had GPS enabled, i might find where its gone to.

That’s such a shame Matthew; and I’m glad it’s not deterred you. Perhaps recent world events will now deter the perpetrator from interfering with something that has an antenna sticking out of it If you need any parts to get a new one up and running please let me know. Luckily my new digi repeater installed at 632m in the Peak District (M0JKS-1) has had no Human interference so far. An earlier model went off air after the solar panel cable was subjected to repeated Ovine mastication, but the new design is (so far) holding out against those woolly assassins:

It’s currently attached to an aluminium pole with security torx bolts of different sizes; and the pole is attached to a sterdy fench post with three massive jubilee clips. My thinking was that someone would have to be a serious nerd to take a security torx set with them on a walk in the Peak District…

Dave

[M0VED]

does the tracker device they suggest in the pdf come with a battery? as the pdf doesnt suggest you need to buy one? I’m a complete novice on this stuff like you Alan.

73
Anthony

[G3CWI]

Hi Anthony

The trackers don’t come with a battery. This site may help. Setting up and using LoRa APRS for SOTA

[2E0JWA]

No, none of them do. they are just a board, and an antenna! the lilygo one has a battery holder that takes an 18650 lithium. For the Heltec, Dave @M0JKS is selling some nice cases with a battery and a proper on/off switch, drop him a message and see if he has any left

Alan

[G4TGJ]

You can also get the case and battery for the Heltec Wireless Tracker from eBay.

[M0JKS]

@2E0JWA

No, none of them do. they are just a board, and an antenna! the lilygo one has a battery holder that takes an 18650 lithium. For the Heltec, Dave @M0JKS is selling some nice cases with a battery and a proper on/off switch, drop him a message and see if he has any left

Alan

This is the Meshtastic version (EU868) I have for sale on eBay

Ruggerdized Meshtastic Heltec Tracker case, 2500mAH battery and On/Off switch...

I also have a APRS (EU433) design as well:

Both take the Heltec Wireless Tracker board (either EU868 or EU433 version).

Dave

[2E0JWA]

im STILL waiting for my board coming… getting impatient now! got an email on saturday that it had passed customs, so was hoping delivery today! ggggrrrrrrrr hurry up Royal Mail!!!

Alan

[M7RTB]

Dave would love to know more about that enclosure, solar panrl and hardware inside. I am wanting to build a easy to deploy igate so looking for ideas.

Did find a 400w solar panel for just 60€ but its a little large

[G4AZS]

@M7RTB

but its a little large

Less likely to be spirited away

[M0JKS]

@M7RTB

Dave would love to know more about that enclosure, solar panrl and hardware inside. I am wanting to build a easy to deploy igate so looking for ideas.

Did find a 400w solar panel for just 60€ but its a little

I have messaged you with the details John.

[KI6BTY]

Disappearing nodes happen out here in the States too. I’m in an area with a very active group, and every now and then there will be a report of a node going missing. One of my ham friends found a node while out hiking and almost took it to find out what it was. I knew from the description what it was and from the mesh map at meshtastic.liamcottle.net which nice it most likely was too.

By the way, the developers of the N3FJP logging suite came out with a pretty neat free software for seeing what traffic is happening on the mesh. “Mesh sense” is the name of it.

[2E0JWA]

Well,my board has come, and it keeps failing… ive changed NOTHING in the config except my callsigns and SSIDs.

Platformio chucks out this message when i ask it to “build” as per the instructions ont he RSGB idiot sheet…

• Executing task: C:\Users\bungl.platformio\penv\Scripts\platformio.exe run --environment heltec_wireless_tracker

Processing heltec_wireless_tracker (board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1; platform: espressif32 @ 6.7.0; framework: arduino)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Verbose mode can be enabled via -v, --verbose option
CONFIGURATION: Redirecting...
PLATFORM: Espressif 32 (6.7.0) > Espressif ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N8 (8 MB QD, No PSRAM)
HARDWARE: ESP32S3 240MHz, 320KB RAM, 8MB Flash
DEBUG: Current (esp-builtin) On-board (esp-builtin) External (cmsis-dap, esp-bridge, esp-prog, iot-bus-jtag, jlink, minimodule, olimex-arm-usb-ocd, olimex-arm-usb-ocd-h, olimex-arm-usb-tiny-h, olimex-jtag-tiny, tumpa)
PACKAGES:

• framework-arduinoespressif32 @ 3.20016.0 (2.0.16)
• tool-esptoolpy @ 1.40501.0 (4.5.1)
• toolchain-riscv32-esp @ 8.4.0+2021r2-patch5
• toolchain-xtensa-esp32s3 @ 8.4.0+2021r2-patch5
  LDF: Library Dependency Finder → Library Dependency Finder (LDF) — PlatformIO latest documentation
  LDF Modes: Finder ~ deep+, Compatibility ~ soft
  Found 50 compatible libraries
  Scanning dependencies…
  Dependency Graph
  |-- RadioLib @ 6.6.0
  |-- TinyGPSPlus @ 1.0.3
  |-- Time @ 1.6.1
  |-- OneButton @ 1.5.0
  |-- ArduinoJson @ 6.21.3
  |-- NimBLE-Arduino @ 1.4.1
  |-- esp-logger @ 1.0.0
  |-- Adafruit BusIO @ 1.16.1
  |-- Adafruit Unified Sensor @ 1.1.14
  |-- Adafruit BME280 Library @ 2.2.4
  |-- Adafruit BMP280 Library @ 2.6.8
  |-- Adafruit BME680 Library @ 2.0.4
  |-- TFT_eSPI @ 2.5.43
  |-- BluetoothSerial @ 2.0.0
  |-- WiFi @ 2.0.0
  |-- APRSPacketLib
  |-- FS @ 2.0.0
  |-- Wire @ 2.0.0
  |-- SPI @ 2.0.0
  |-- KISS_TO_TNC2
  |-- SPIFFS @ 2.0.0
  Building in release mode
  Compiling .pio\build\heltec_wireless_tracker\src\LoRa_APRS_Tracker.cpp.o
  Compiling .pio\build\heltec_wireless_tracker\src\ax25_utils.cpp.o
  Compiling .pio\build\heltec_wireless_tracker\src\battery_utils.cpp.o
  In file included from src/LoRa_APRS_Tracker.cpp:15:
  C:/Users/bungl/.platformio/packages/framework-arduinoespressif32/libraries/BluetoothSerial/src/BluetoothSerial.h:18:10: fatal error: sdkconfig.h: No such file or directory

---

• Looking for sdkconfig.h dependency? Check our library registry!
• CLI > platformio lib search “header:sdkconfig.h”
• Web > PlatformIO Registry

---

#include “sdkconfig.h”
^~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
In file included from src/ax25_utils.h:4,
from src/ax25_utils.cpp:1:
C:/Users/bungl/.platformio/packages/framework-arduinoespressif32/cores/esp32/Arduino.h:33:10: fatal error: freertos/FreeRTOS.h: No such file or directory
#include “freertos/FreeRTOS.h”
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
In file included from src/battery_utils.cpp:1:
C:/Users/bungl/.platformio/packages/framework-arduinoespressif32/cores/esp32/Arduino.h:33:10: fatal error: freertos/FreeRTOS.h: No such file or directory
#include “freertos/FreeRTOS.h”
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
Compiling .pio\build\heltec_wireless_tracker\src\ble_utils.cpp.o
*** [.pio\build\heltec_wireless_tracker\src\LoRa_APRS_Tracker.cpp.o] Error 1
*** [.pio\build\heltec_wireless_tracker\src\ax25_utils.cpp.o] Error 1
*** [.pio\build\heltec_wireless_tracker\src\battery_utils.cpp.o] Error 1
In file included from .pio/libdeps/heltec_wireless_tracker/NimBLE-Arduino/src/NimBLEDevice.h:18,
from src/ble_utils.cpp:1:
.pio/libdeps/heltec_wireless_tracker/NimBLE-Arduino/src/nimconfig.h:4:10: fatal error: sdkconfig.h: No such file or directory

---

• Looking for sdkconfig.h dependency? Check our library registry!
• CLI > platformio lib search “header:sdkconfig.h”
• Web > PlatformIO Registry

---

#include “sdkconfig.h”
^~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
*** [.pio\build\heltec_wireless_tracker\src\ble_utils.cpp.o] Error 1
============================== [FAILED] Took 30.02 seconds ==============================
Environment Status Duration

---

heltec_wireless_tracker FAILED 00:00:30.021
========================= 1 failed, 0 succeeded in 00:00:30.021 =========================

• The terminal process “C:\Users\bungl.platformio\penv\Scripts\platformio.exe ‘run’, ‘–environment’, ‘heltec_wireless_tracker’” terminated with exit code: 1.
• Terminal will be reused by tasks, press any key to close it.

Absolutely no idea??? tried different versions ETC ETC nothing seems to make it work, so im lost now…

Alan

[2E0JWA]

Happy days!! Its working finally… think thge installation of platformio ETCX on my desktop was faulty, as i managed it on my netbook!

Panic over!!

Alan

[G3CWI]

Has it been received by anyone yet?

[2E0JWA]

no, and it doesnt seem to be displaying the co-ords on screen… its BOUNCING down here, but might chuck it tin the car shortly… need a better antenna now, im just waiting for one as im using the stumpy one the board comes with…

Im assuming it plugs into the connector marked “LORA” on the board??

Cheers

Alan