I’m beautiful and tough like a diamond…or beef jerky in a ball gown.

  • 192 Posts
  • 840 Comments
Joined 6 months ago
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Cake day: July 15th, 2025

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  • Yeah, I saw that in the docs but didn’t have a node with a “buzzer” until now so just kind of forgot about that feature. I think it uses the Nokia format if I recall correctly. I was just surprised the default notification tone was one I recognized. I may play around with different ones (would love to hear the classic Nokia tune again in all of its piezo glory).

    Might also find a few I like and keep them in a text file on my phone to switch them up once in a while.



  • After I posted, I made it even more practical by attaching it to the back of my phone stand. The magnets keep it securely in there even at a ~45 degree angle.

    Eventually I’m going to get some USB-C socket boards and replace the USB-A male connector on the charge cable with a USB-C female socket and make a cutout for that. Basically to allow connecting a USB-C cable to the dock to help with cable management.

    Another mod I’ve been thinking about is either using a different design or hollowing out this model and putting one of my 3,000 mAh batteries inside with charge and boost circuits to make it work like the Airpod chargers (e.g. charge the cradle, cradle charges the T1000e).







  • If you’re provisioning several or just like to have a good baseline for setting up future nodes, I like to use the Python client and make a provisioning script. I feel like it’s way uglier than it should be, but I’ve found that even though the docs say you can specify multiple config options in one call, they don’t all apply. So I have to do them in stages and wait for it to reboot between executing each config.

    This is my baseline provisioning script for reference. I like to have a private default channel but then also set the radio frequency manually to the “default” LongFast of 906.875 MHz and create the LongFast channel as a secondary so I can communicate with people using the default config (which is very common). This also lets me relay for them (and vice versa) while not sharing my location and such with the public mesh.

    #!/bin/bash
    # Optionally set the device name and short name.  If not provided, the user info step is skipped
    DEVICE_NAME=$1
    DEVICE_SHORT_NAME=$2
    
    # Admin key is optional but I set it on all of my managed nodes. If not using that, comment out the line further down where this is referenced
    ADMIN_KEY="{PUBLIC_KEY_OF_ADMIN_NODE}"
    
    # Use a private default channel.  
    PRIMARY_CHANNEL_KEY="{BASE64_PRIVATE_KEY_FOR_PRIMARY_CHANNEL}"
    PRIMARY_CHANNEL_NAME="{PRIMARY_CHANNEL_NAME}"
    
    
    function wait_for_reboot {
      echo "Press <ENTER> once device has rebooted"
      read a
    }
    
    echo "Setting LoRa Region..."
    meshtastic --set lora.region US
    wait_for_reboot
    
    # If device name and short name are supplied, set those
    if [ -n "$DEVICE_NAME" ] && [ -n $DEVICE_SHORT_NAME ]
    then
      echo "Setting Device Name..."
      meshtastic \
        --set-owner "$DEVICE_NAME" \
        --set-owner-short "$DEVICE_SHORT_NAME"
      wait_for_reboot
    fi
    
    # Set most options
    meshtastic --set display.screen_on_secs 120 \
      --set display.units IMPERIAL \
      --set device.led_heartbeat_disabled false \
      --set telemetry.device_telemetry_enabled true \
      --set lora.use_preset true \
      --set lora.modem_preset LONG_FAST \
      --set security.admin_key base64:$ADMIN_KEY \
      --set lora.override_frequency 906.875 
    
    wait_for_reboot
    
    meshtastic --set-canned-message "Affirmative|Negative|Unknown|Acknowledged|Require Assistance|Check-In Good|Check-In Bad|Status?"
    wait_for_reboot
    
    
    meshtastic \
      --ch-index 0 --ch-set psk base64:$PRIMARY_CHANNEL_KEY --ch-set name "$PRIMARY_CHANNEL_NAME" \
      --ch-index 1 --ch-set psk base64:AQ== --ch-set name "LongFast"
    wait_for_reboot
    
    meshtastic --set-time
    



  • Kindof a modern take on a CB radio from ye olden days. Mostly just keep a node with me when I’m out and about just to see who I can pick up and from what distances.

    Edit: I was tired and on mobile when I replied that, but here’s a mostly comprehensive list of what I use mine for:

    • I just think they’re neat!
    • I’ll pass a node out to everyone in the group when we go camping, hiking, etc. They’re all populated with a generic set of canned messages you can send from the device itself (so no phone is required). Messages are like “You good?”, “Ack”, “Need help”, “Checking in”, etc.
    • The campsite we use most is about 2 miles from civilization, into the forest, down and around a mountain, and by the river. We have a friend who lives at the mouth of the road / edge of civilization. On my way down to the campsite, I stop every so often to “drop a buoy” by which I mean I strap a node to a tree to act as a relay. There’s no cell reception at all there, so this lets us relay up to the friend’s house if we need anything or have an emergency. LOL, one time we asked her to go get us more ice and beer and she delivered!
    • Better to have it and not need it in case of disaster. I keep my primary channel private but set the radio parameters for the “default” channel so I can relay for users using the default config and vice-versa. The “default” Meshtastic channel is a secondary in my config, so I can talk with people using the default config.