Making a Meshtastic Pager with the Heltec LoRa 32 V3

Рет қаралды 16,118

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 95

@firewolf34 4 ай бұрын

This random video has changed the trajectory of my life over the past month. Now I have 3 of these things and am building a base station in our house and am out many hundreds of dollars - send help! Thanks much Alley Cat!! This is wonderful :) It has gotten my entire family into a fun radio hobby we didn't know we wanted! And I can vouch for it - this is a fantastic and clean design that is addictive to put together, even when you don't have a reason to build one, the parts fit together so nicely... I had to make another! I wear mine daily and it's held up great (except for that one I left in the hot car one day lol).

@randomalleycat 4 ай бұрын

I'm so glad you like it, and I'm sorry for the money and time you have lost! Same thing happened to me, I just wanted a couple T-Beams for emergencies and needed a simple case for them and now look where it's got me... Thank you for the feedback and thank you for watching!

@Burn0u7 2 ай бұрын

Hey, thank for the model. One improvement I would suggest is adding slot for an on/off switch.

@randomalleycat 2 ай бұрын

Definitely a good idea! Just need to see if I can find space for it!

@Burn0u7 2 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat I’ve researched more and seems like pressing the user button for 5 seconds turns off the Heltec, so switch might not be needed. So far I’ve added physical switch between battery and terminal for every v3 I’ve own. Again, very nice design, thank you for it.

@randomalleycat 2 ай бұрын

@@Burn0u7 I agree, I don't think it's "required", but it's always good to have options!

@aarone.7551 6 ай бұрын

Wonderfully designed. Pry slot and the tethered buttons. Very well thought out!

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

Thank you! I hope people like it because I spent way too much time on it! 😅

@frankgerbaut2333 6 ай бұрын

So neat and smart ! Very pleasant to watch too. One thing that is conforting me a little in these troubled times is that there are so many talents every where and that some and i hope more and more are involved in open knowledge and sharing it like you do. It makes me want to contribute too but in some other field. Thank you very much and cheers from France :)

@MontegaB 6 ай бұрын

Dude you are SO talented and creative it's insane. Thanks for sharing this case, it's so good.

@masondawson4061 6 ай бұрын

Wow! You've outdone yourself again! I use your other designs because I think they are the best, but THIS design... Finally a clip! The Baofeng clip is just brilliant, and I didn't even know how much I wanted the case. There are some pretty cool designs for the V3 out there, but this one ticks all the boxes, and then some. Just awesome!

@Doubleelforbes 6 ай бұрын

Your designs are incredible, really. Everything's thought out. And I say this with first hand experience of your famous T-Deck case. I started out slim but as I increased battery size 2-3x, I ended up with the thicc + GPS case. (Still cannot source an M100 or similar but patiently awaiting). With the big Paradar SMA antenna, ultimately it looks like a Blackberry had a baby with an original 80's Nokia! So Retro, So Future, So Nasty! Then I decided meshtastic and ripple and others are far too simplistic for that gadget so have started building a CLI which hopefully leads to a GUI where I hope to make the LoRa way more general purpose, maybe even have multi protocol and/or LoRa packet sniffer.

@bytesabre 6 ай бұрын

I really like this design. Like the pagers of old, it’s really practical. Also that transparent pager. I want transparent stuff to come back into fashion

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

I heard it's still the style in prison! 😅

@bytesabre 6 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat Well you’re not wrong, though I doubt it comes in Bondi Blue

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

Yeah, I think they only get clear.

@bytesabre 6 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat Ive heard it does result in some weird clear prison tech showing up in auctions as well, but largely in the US where I am not. Sometimes you also get transparent prototypes of things to make sure things fit inside OK before doing a production run in the intended colour (they gave away a Pebble watch once that was one of these, as well as the macbook used in the Hackers movie), or for sellers to demonstrate the workings (why clear fountain pens are called “demonstrators”), so yeah you do get things on rare occasions, as well as the occasional company doing official ones. Also 3rd parties making replacement clear cases are the heroes we need, got my Amiga 1200 in one

@GeneralGorrilla 6 ай бұрын

Phenomenal! There's real magic in this! I'll have to carefully study your case latch, it seems very robust.

@subdivo 6 ай бұрын

Absolutely love these designs! Looking forward to printing one for myself!

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

Awesome! Thank you!

@o0julek0o 6 ай бұрын

Holy crap that pager you showed brought back some memories. I had almost the same model but the buttons were black. That translucent green is amazing. It was the only thing I’ve ever won. It was from a Donald Duck weekly comic book I’d read as a kid. 3 weeks in a row you had to solve the puzzle and send your answer in via snail mail. And I remember my friend from down the road running to me after he got back from the weekend shopping with his parents, shouting that I won something because my name is in the magazine. I didn’t use the thing w lot but I still have it as a memento.

@chuck80y 6 ай бұрын

Ok that’s really, really clever use of the Heltec board. I forgot about pagers from my childhood. Now it’s back. Heh.

@HawaiianFlyGuy 6 ай бұрын

Very Impressive design. Video editing just keeps getting better too. Just so happens I have a Heltec V3 board on hand to give this design a print. Thank you!

@WeirdOneOz 6 ай бұрын

Amazing job. Would never have thought of that format and design.

@shaun900 6 ай бұрын

Awesome design as always! Keep em coming

@UncleC0dy 6 ай бұрын

this is so cool, I'm printing it up as we speak

@ehvway 6 ай бұрын

the coolest Alley Cat you can come across! Great projects ma'am! love your videos ❤ and great design too

@wattsandhertz 6 ай бұрын

Stoked to see the new release! I remixed the tbeam case to have smaller buttons but didn't put it out. Still kind of in the testing phase but your designs are top notch!

@ProjectGeek1 6 ай бұрын

A pager case is what I've been looking for!

@robottwrecks5236 5 ай бұрын

I'm really impressed by this design! I've been so stuck on making mine waterproof I haven't made time for another design.

@randomalleycat 5 ай бұрын

I think if I needed a waterproof node, I would just use one of those tiny pelican cases. It's probably a good challenge though!

@robottwrecks5236 5 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat A pelican case would probably work better too 😆 I think I've got it working though! I'll post about it on discord when I finish it.

@randomalleycat 5 ай бұрын

@@robottwrecks5236 Can't wait to see it!

@mathewrtaylor 6 ай бұрын

Super well designed!!

@sganzerlag 6 ай бұрын

Amazing design, many thanks for sharing it here!! Best regards from Brasilia, Brazil.

@HobkinBoi 5 ай бұрын

I finally acquired a 3d printer and made one of these. I did have to grind out a small amount of plastic with my dremel to get my board to fit though, so I probably need to adjust some small stuff on the printer here and there. it's a very nice build though, even though I still need some other parts.

@drober 4 ай бұрын

that is one perfect design, indeed!

@MyTube4Utoo 6 ай бұрын

Very cool. Can't wait for the next video, too. Thanks.

@TsiolkovskySportingLocks 6 ай бұрын

flipping awesome build!

@HotMicSystems 6 ай бұрын

I love your designs so much, i would be nighty greatful if you dof one for the wiseblocks

@andreiandriiuk3830 6 ай бұрын

Amazing design. Absolutely every piece is really thought through. I wonder which CAD program you used? What does it take to be able to design things so well?

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

Thanks! I use Fusion 360, and I've been doing it for about 9 years now, so I'd say it just takes a lot of practice.

@RobBanks 6 ай бұрын

very fun retro feel! would love to see if you can wedge a gps card in there as well - thinking of this as a 'child tracker' with canned message replies but then I could see where it was

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

I've been thinking about it. I might be able to make it work, at the very least I can adda lump like on the TDeck case. Also I've been designing my own GPS module which is really thin so that might fit well. Just need to finish it!

@johnnycharles702 6 ай бұрын

I saw a node named Alley Cat the other day. I assume an homage to your cool cases."

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

Could be, or maybe it was me? 😶‍🌫

@johnnycharles702 6 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat 🤯

@zoilarauda 6 ай бұрын

So your the one whom make the alley Chat pocket/ Alley chat ht slim/ Alley chat ht slim pro!?!? I have the HT slim pro for the 3000Mah battery for more battery life. Very awesome case! Love the simple design details. With the case I got a 90* sma connector and the 10dba whip antenna

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

I'm not the one you bought it from, but I did design it. I gave a couple of sellers a bit of an "early access" because they helped me out with testing, and they have good quality. I'm glad you like it, I plan to make the video for the Slim and Pro very soon! Also some exciting updates for the Pocket coming! Thank you for watching!

@vanduraful 6 ай бұрын

Wow nice work! Very well thought out. Subsribed!

@HobkinBoi 6 ай бұрын

If I ever get a 3d printer i'm totally making one of those. Maybe somehow could put together one for the wisblock boards too, would get much better battery with those

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

Working on it!

@Sirmoshi1 6 ай бұрын

I had that pager back in the day before we all had a cell phone in our pockets lol

@Uplateondatube 3 ай бұрын

What antennas are those ?

@randomalleycat 3 ай бұрын

If you check the Printables link in the description, there are direct links to the antennas.

@Uplateondatube 3 ай бұрын

Got it . What would you recommend ?

@randomalleycat 3 ай бұрын

I like the RAK antenna, but if you don’t have one sitting around already, usually you get the heat shrink coil antenna in the kit with a Heltec unless you got the SMA. Of course you could always use the SMA version or the case! Unfortunately I don’t have the equipment or expertise to do a legitimate comparison test, but I think it’s better to just go with what you have or is easiest to acquire in this situation.

@EmCommSolutions 6 ай бұрын

Super cool!

@Darryl.Harris 6 ай бұрын

Outstanding!! 🔥

@Parasclepius 6 ай бұрын

This is so dope

@HuntersOA 6 ай бұрын

This is absolutely lovely. But what do you use it for? I love the idea of a pager but see no real benefit for it :D I've read up on pagers now based on the video, and see some of the use cases. It's a lovely build and I'd love to give it a go - but what could I use it for? :D

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

It's a similar form factor to a pager, but really it's more of a relay for secure short range texting. I like to compare it to a digital two way radio, but for text. It uses a mesh network, so if there are multiple radios within range, you can reach a lot of people and a lot of distance. Almost like a mini personal two way pager network.

@HuntersOA 6 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat I am familiar with that part - I just don't see why it is better than just sending amessage to phone / messanger / whatsup etc. I was thinking about usecases. Maybe for home use when my wife is in the garden. But she said her smart band shows notifications even if her phomeis inside - so she did not see a point in carrying an extra device. I thought about sport usecases - but there radio is king. So I am unsure, that is why I asked :D What do you use it for?

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

@@HuntersOA I often go places there isn't a cell signal. Radios are great, but there are plenty of situations where you don't want to make noise, or a text would just be more appropriate. If you use a device with GPS, you also have the benefit of sharing location, which most radios can't do, much less a phone without a cell signal. Another popular use is for the potential eventuality of cell service being down for a period of time. Besides the noise of a radio, another thing you likely won't have with radio is the mesh network. With Meshtastic, I see nodes that are 50+ miles away after a hop or two. Much further than I can get with a radio. I do own radios as well, but it's always good to be prepared. Lastly, some people enjoy it as a hobby, similar to CB and shortwave radio. It's fun to tinker with the devices, and to chat with like minded people on a private network you build yourself or with friends or strangers. That being said, I don't think anyone is suggesting that everyone needs this, just like not everyone needed a pager in the 90s. If you've never been in a situation where you wanted to text but didn't have a signal or didn't want to use their network, then you probably won't have a use for this. Either way, thank you for watching!

@HuntersOA 6 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat Cool! makes sense. Thank you for sharing :) It makes me think about birding usecase.

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

@@HuntersOA If you do give it a try, I'd love to know how it works out for you!

@markwilliams5654 3 ай бұрын

Cool project

@x81reaper 3 ай бұрын

please update the case for the new heltec t114

@BytesNPixels 5 ай бұрын

can you use any other pins other than 46? my wires are not long enough to reach the far side of the pin headers.

@randomalleycat 5 ай бұрын

IO2 through 7 could probably be used.

@rustyholt6619 6 ай бұрын

omg this is cool ,,,im old ,i had a few pagers in there time

@milkham 6 ай бұрын

Very Cool

@GhostStrats 6 ай бұрын

That’s cool!

@InfernalWheel 6 ай бұрын

Thats so cool! Shame about the battery life though. I wish these things were more efficient.

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

Completely agree! The next stuff I plan to work on will be for the RAK boards though, which use about 1/10th the power. I already have one almost ready to go that uses a 5000mAh 21700 battery.

@InfernalWheel 6 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat Groovy! Cant wait!

@martingerhardsoos 2 ай бұрын

Hi very nice design. I installed buzzer and vibra and configured it in notification...but during reboot, there is no test. how can I test them?? (Have no 2nd client yet)

@randomalleycat 2 ай бұрын

I asked the devs to make a button in the phone app for testing, I think that would be super helpful! Hopefully they can add something like that soon.

@martingerhardsoos 2 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat thx. You did directly or in github??...was browsing issues and have not seen it (,want to like it) 👍🏼

@randomalleycat 2 ай бұрын

@@martingerhardsoos Not on Github, just directly but there is a lot of function stuff they are dealing with, so it doesn't seem like a priority. If you want to put it on Github though, go for it!

@innercityprepper 6 ай бұрын

Word on the street is that the 2.3.12 update brings with it significantly improved battery performance from ESP32 based devices.

@randomalleycat 6 ай бұрын

That would be great for the TDeck!

@innercityprepper 6 ай бұрын

@@randomalleycat I looked through all of the recent release notes for things relating to ESP32 efficiency updates and I didn't see anything in particular but I'm not really 100% sure what to look for. I suppose I could just go ask in the Discord.