Meshtastic Home Base Node Using RAKWireless & McGill Microwave 9dBi Lora Antenna

Here we have my home base node for meshtastic. It's built using a combination of a RakWireless module, Raspberry Pi4 and a McGill Microwave high gain 9 dBi omni-directional antenna, all mounted in a waterproof box above the roof.
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[@jessen00001]

2:20 I think it looks fantastic. Nice and tightly 😊

[@guitaristtom]

This might be how I set it up at my house. Having POE and a Pi for it is a great idea.

[@mw0lge]

great vid Matt. I installed the same antenna from McGill Microwave a few days ago. It certainly is impressive quality, and even the U bolts are large enough to get around a standard scaffold pole. Cheers.

[@SpyStaMia]

Now we are talking !!! This is good !!!

[@yusukeiwakawa6797]

Wow. You do some awesome stuff. I'm planning to build a basic solar powered node for my area. Since we have a aging population out here and only one cellphone provider. Be a great way to keep in touch with the neighbors in power and network outage. Not that expensive to build the receivers and nodes too!

[@jessen00001]

Great video thanks 🎉

[@MyTube4Utoo]

My theory is, the people that say, _"You should have done it this way,"_ are the ones that never do anything. 😆 Thanks for the video.

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Exactly!

[@jessen00001]

My theory is this: what is normal ? The majorty decided what normal is. What if the majorty is idiots? I am not normal I'm rather be abnormal every day

[@ethzero]

As I'm the node "ETH0" north of Matt, I've been waiting to see his new setup pan out in detail, good job 👍 Interestingly, I don't think I've ever seen that DDC4 node before over on my Buckingham node? Ironically, despite it being half the distance the LoS is virtually impossible from my house, but then that's the power of the mesh 😊

[@PE3FS]

clever solutiojn with the pi. Just started with Mashtestic, great inspirational video Thanks

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tubeDude48]

I think you did well! 👍 Only issue I can see would be strong winds swaying that box; unless you have guy-wires that I couldn't see.

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Cheers! The pole is only 8 feet long, with 3 feet below the gutter and in the bracket, so there isnt that much "sway". Its been windy and raining here recently, and I have kept a close eye on it for sure ;-) thanks for watching. :-)

[@tubeDude48]

@@TechMindsOfficial - you bet!

[@HillTreks]

Stonking good idea to power the Pi over ethernet. I have a similar setup using a Nelawya Outdoor LoRa Gateway 5.8dBi 868MHz antenna and I will add a Pi 4 to run the updates.

[@g4lmn-ron401]

I have a Heltec up a pole with an 8dBi Omni, no Pi so I have to lower the mast to update, not a good solution but now I know how to do better. I can see your nodes, I am just south of St Albans. Good video, ,thanks.

[@nofider1]

Thank you Matt. some more insight gleaned. :-)

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Woops! Matt, I just realised I wasn't subscribed!!

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Naughty boy! 😎

[@zerobow9413]

Nicely done no jail for you [maybe put a desiccant bag in there]

[@KH07734]

I have the us version. Still working on the solar stand alone for my home. It has rained for so long and then other things came up so hopefully it goes up soon.

[@zerofox3d]

Dude! I have to send you some of my stuff, collab must be done!!!!

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Sure, ping me an email, would be awesome!

[@zerofox3d]

@@TechMindsOfficial Sent! Thanks Matt.

[@robertburdoff1789]

s'pose no chance you could install a discrete node on the monument on Coombe Hill?

[@chrisreid9231]

Thanks for making this. I am working up something similar - A question if I may ? did you consider using a long - maybe active USB cable instead of POE/Pi/injector etc ?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

I did consider using a USB cable, but I wanted access to the Serial output from the Wisblok, for experiments. So having the pi with the POE made sense. :-) Cheers and good luck with your build.

[@chrisreid9231]

@@TechMindsOfficial That makes sense thanks for replying

[@marcmillour-unraid2772]

Thx for video, I begin and no radio licence. Can you more discribe this install ( rpi, extra card poe, rak module, etc) , I'll try to make one in " Provence" where i'm alone !! Merci

[@Jonnyweareten]

nice work :)

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@radiotowers1159]

looks good, so just what does it actually do? Do you have a previous video ?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

essentially it's an off grid messaging system using Lora. There has been a recent up take in interest in this project, lots of youtube videos available which fully explain what it is. It's kinda fun and another way to make new friends.

[@davidm1635]

My poe powered wisblock kicks out min 10 deg F heat converting PoE+ from 56v down to wisblock requirement of 5v. Does your waveshare poe adapter kick that much heat?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Sorry I can't answer that because it's now up in the air on the end of a pole. However, the internal temperature of the box is around 7 degrees C more than outside! :-)

[@raybokor2]

are there any ready to go kits out there

[@GaryStango]

Other than the battery backup, is there any bebefit of this hardware setup over just using a LoRa Hat on the pi directly and using meshtasticd?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

I only tested with the PicoPi and a supported Lora board, but there is no Bluetooth. Also, the RakWireless modules are cheap enough, and are rated pretty well in terms of reception, add on modules, power consumption. However, I would advise anyone to experiment, it's all part of the fun with projects like this. :-)

[@GaryStango]

@@TechMindsOfficial Gotcha. I just figure it's probably the most stable option for something way up on a roof mast. As long as you dont nuke your rasbian install :)

[@GeorgeAdams]

I had a POE splitter that was noisy on 20m. Is the Waveshare hat quiet?

[@HillTreks]

Where did you get the waterproof RJ45 connector? Going to follow your idea of PoE

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Here: amzn.to/4apmhiD

[@SpyStaMia]

2:17 - would you mind sharing the dimensions of the box?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Hi ya, the box can be found here: amzn.to/3xBAxGs

[@SpyStaMia]

@@TechMindsOfficial ta!

[@Glock21911]

What kind of distance are you getting now?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Difficult to say because there are too many people using them in aircraft when they go on holiday. So it ruins any chance of actually see how far it can reach. But from my location I know it's more than 16 miles and I am not particularly high up.

[@prizeking1647]

Has anyone tried rattlegram ?

[@markphillips8019]

I feel I have to comment! You should have done .... erm ...... exactly what works for you. Yeah. Thassit. Comment over. You can all go back to making your brick bats. :)

[@Tore_Lund]

So you are going to return the Parador antenna? Production error?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

I need to take a proper look at it to try and determine where the fault is. When I took it down and installed the McGill I just put the paradar in the conservatory, and I kind of forgot about it. But will see whats wrong with it first.

[@ChrisClifton]

​@@TechMindsOfficialmy Paradar 11.5dbi worked great for a week or two then went totally deaf. SWR was around 2.0:1. People could hear me but I could hear absolutely zero stations. I took the antenna down and plugged in a Paradar 8.5dbi antenna and whilst it was laying on the floor stations started coming through. The 12.5dbi again gave zero. I will be sending it back to them but not sure if I care about the hassle of having it up and it going wrong again

[@dave-26ct475]

thanks tore for mentioning this video to me best wishes to you and your family

[@dave-26ct475]

@@ChrisClifton I do hope that that I am lucky one my paradar 11.5 been up a couple of weeks so far so good it would be interesting to find out if there is a common problem with the paradar .The McGill Microwave 9dBi definitely looks a better constructed antenna best wishes to you and your family

[@Tore_Lund]

@@dave-26ct475 Thanks, I see TechMinds did make an update 3 weeks ago. It sounds like production error, or at least something reasonable to make a warranty claim on.

[@jameshall5314]

Test it

[@petewright2283]

I gave up because the network is so busy

[@TechMindsOfficial]

How many nodes could your node see? Even though there are a handful of nodes around there, no one really talks on there.

[@ZonkedCompanion]

Same in south west uk, mesh is plagued by constant barrage of telemetry packets and people have hops set way too high. Nobody can get anything out. Plus everyone is using mqtt which is frustrating.

[@seuros]

Rookie mistake, you should have done this and should have done that.

[@TechMindsOfficial]

That’s what I thought!