Blaise

I was adapting an oldie, but a goodie!

You know, every radio is illegal, if you use it wrong enough...

"As I mentioned in my previous missive on the matter..."

*Researches* Holy shit! Of course the atmosphere has different refractive properties depending on density! With all the "Fields and Waves" bullshit they shoved into my head, I have no idea how I never realized this. The atmosphere is a gradient prism...

Ahh! So it was just luck of the draw... Well, I suppose that still really validates the strength of the technology. A milliwatt transmitter that can be detected 800 miles away under *any* circumstances seems pretty impressive...

OK, here's one for the folks that actually understand how EM propagation works in practice: A couple of years ago, the current distance record was set for LoRa at more than 800 miles. The communication was between a fishing boat and one of the buoys in its fishery across open ocean. https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/article/new-lora-world-record-1336-km-830-mi Frankly, I'm confused as to how that happened when, by my best guestimates, the unit on the buoy has a horizon at around 4 miles. The one on the boat, due to its greater height, had a horizon at more like 15 miles, but that still doesn't make it better! Now, I was under the impression that signals in the 800-1000 MHz range sere strictly line of site, with neither ground nor sky propagation. Nonetheless, this event would imply that either I'm completely wrong about how EM propagation works, or somebody's fibbing...

I believe bubble-gum is the standard...

I spent a decade in this Asia too. The one thing I never understood was why they would sometimes do both, using a spelling of their westernized Chinese (etc.) name with such bad phonics that westerners couldn't help but pronounce it wrong. So now they had the 'westernized' name they introduced themselves to you with, the name everyone who hadn't spoken closely with them or been corrected used for them based upon spelling, and their original Asian name. Somehow, we survived the 90s...

You need to look out for those krakens...

This man governments!

What about the protestors? Are they using GMRS too?

*Proving* it is an entirely different matter...

Just because lots of people are mistaken at once, doesn't mean they're right!

You know, after I posted that glib reply, I started thinking (which is always super-dangerous, according to some people: People like my wife and closest friends!)... Because of the broadcast nature of LoRa technology, where every transmission is just put out there with the hope someone will help you get it where it's going, I actually don't think it *does* technically fit the definition of a network!

The little handheld power bricks OP was talking about can often have minimal BMS, if any. Especially if you got it from Ali Express! She's a hard lady to find, that Miss Conception.

FYI, anyone following this: Walmart has a 2 ridiculously cheap power stations perfect for running a radio/charging your gear/lighting your campsite/etc... https://www.walmart.com/ip/EF-EcoFlow-Portable-Power-Station-RIVER-2-240-243wh-LiFePO4-Battery-1-Hour-Fast-Charging-600W-Output-Solar-Generator-Solar-Panel-Optional-Outdoor-Cam/5478283286?adsRedirect=true https://www.walmart.com/ip/Flashfish-Portable-Power-Station-Mini-Solar-Generator-98Wh-26400mAh-Lithium-Battery-120W-110V-AC-Outlets-LED-Light-Backup-Battery-Camping-Outdoor/371451213?classType=REGULAR Note: the $149 one is marked in watt-hours, and the $69 one is in amp-hours. LifePo cells are about 3.7 volts, so multiply the Amp-hours by 3.7 for a rough(very) comparison. Whether the numbers listed are true? Well, Walmart's better than Temu, but marketing departments are ubiquitous...

It's most true of straight lithium ion. LiPo is much better. I've seen them run down to 10% or less numerous times and still retain most of their capacity. They don't like it if you *leave* them uncharged, though. More than day or two sub-10% can easily do them in...

If you use the libraries, you can get it to do a whole lot more, I'm told. I'm not afraid of a compiler! Every packet has a 237 byte payload, so you'd have to spend a lot of effort hacking the voice data into chunks, then reassembling them. It might work, it might not, but it sure would be fun trying! Also, GMRS data is likely only about 2 kbps, so there'd be plenty of room for at least that.

Well, as long as we keep in mind that Meshtastic is a mesh technology, not a network technology, I'm sure it will be fine...

Hey, so My friends and I are building out a Meshtastic network with a bunch of cheap nodes built out of LoRa dev boards, solar panels, 18650 batteries, and Walmart plastic boxes. They don't have the best antennae or the best chips, but you can build them for about $20 each, and scatter them *everywhere* (with permission, of course). I had a thought about using this mesh, or one like it, to link GMRS repeaters to get around the hills and mountains we deal with here. The data rates theoretically top out at about 5kbps, but that should be fine for raggedy old HT voice communications, and data is, well, data... Anyone given any thought (or practice) to building a LoRa/GMRS modem?

If you are transmitting at 50 watts, a regular brick (ca 10 Amp-Hours) may not remotely give you the 60-some watts it takes to transmit. And even if it could, and you assume a perfect system (spherical radios in a frictionless vacuum, perfect connections, perfect antenna, etc.), you'll be able to transmit for less than an hour, and you can only do it once, because running completely flat might not entirely kill a lithium battery, but it will drastically decrease its capacity (You'll likely have effectively destroyed the batteries by the second time). Just get a low-end power station that's intended to support residential use. You can get little (100ish watt) ones for less than $200, and they have AC outlets, and both usb and lighter-12-volt ports. For the best efficiency, make your own 12 volt plug, because that usually has the least voltage conversions being done, so you get more time on your bank, and most "mobiles" run on 12v. Plus, if you run out of juice, you can charge it in your car during a beer-run! Of course, if you only have to walk it a little way, you *could* just buy a Marine battery, and wire directly to it. Cheap ones can manage 80-90 Amp Hours (from which you can probably use 50-60 Amp hours without killing it), and there are thousands of charging options...

Do they just... burst at 50?

When I was a boy, we wrote with our fingers. In the dirt. Then we hoped it wouldn't rain before we needed to remember what we wrote!

I recognize that my particular extreme use-case might stretch the limits, but that case also incudes often having the good/bad luck to have a number of mountains with above-treeline summits for nearly perfect line-of-sight. Thinking about it, Yagi antennae might make this totally doable...

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