I don’t really consider blahaj as an “identity politics” instance, but I think I know which users you’re referring to (or at least their style). I’ve probably had those blocked for a while now.

Edit: A few of those have older hexbear alts which kind-of explains things.

Don’t want to start any drama by listing specifics, but basically any instance that advertises itself as “a space for {insert flavor of identity politics here}”.

Excellent catch!

“Tell me how old you are without telling me how old you are” 😢

Don’t feel bad. I was able to distinguish by ear between a T.38 fax handshake and a V.34+ modem handshake which definitely reveals my oldness 😆

So many things wrong with that though:

1. That’s a fax machine handshake not a data modem.
2. That’s a LOT of data to be hissing over dial-up in a highly compressed GSM voice channel
3. She didn’t dial anywhere near enough numbers
4. The background noise would have had that handshake repeating over and over

The most nostalgic chiptune generator you’ll ever hear.

I was surprised by that, too. When I went looking for a way to decode them with RTL-SDR, I assumed it wouldn’t be parsing the audio but a narrowband data stream. TIL also.

Edit: It does kind of make sense with it being AFSK encoded in-band, though, or maybe I’m just so used to it being that way. I always thought the screeches were there to demand attention (and also be something that headend equipment can pick up and respond to). So it’s interesting they’re doing double duty as both an unmistakable audio cue to pay attention as well as containing the actual alert data.

Plus there are NOAA stations all over the country rather than centralized like the time signal transmitters. It was probably cheaper to do it in band at that scale.

I don’t use MQTT currently, but there’s several things you can do with it:

• Pass some messages as plaintext for use in, say, HomeAssistant
• Bridge meshes over the internet
• Send/receive ProtoBuf messages from an MQTT client to the Meshtastic node and the mesh
• Plugging in some of the mesh mapping programs to visualize the mesh

I tried setting up MQTT with HomeAssistant but couldn’t get messages to come in correctly. Most likely my own fault but I just never got back to it as I didn’t have a specific need in mind when I was setting it up.

Most of what I’ve dealt with were ESP32-based devices like the Heltec V3 (now V4) that have integrated LoRa radios. It should be possible to add on a SX1262 LoRa radio via SPI and flash Meshtastic firmware, but most people just start with a pre-built kit since they’re pretty inexpensive and have battery charging circuitry and everything already onboard (which you’d otherwise have to handle yourself with a vanilla ESP32).

I started with the Heltec V3, and the V4 improves several gripes I had with it. They’re easy to get started with, lots of case designs available, and generally good entry points.

SeeedStudio has a lot of pre-built options as well. My new daily driver is the SenseCap T1000e which is about the size of a few credit cards stacked together. Posted about it here: https://startrek.website/post/34105873

There’s two main flavors of Meshtastic devices: ESP32-based and nRF-based. The former are generally a little less expensive and have WiFi but are a lot more power hungry.

The nRF-based ones are more power efficient and can run longer from smaller batteries. The tradeoff is those only have Bluetooth and lack WiFi. I don’t really use WiFi with these, but it can be useful if you want to connect a node to MQTT.

Check out Seeed to see some of their pre-made options: https://www.seeedstudio.com/LoRa-and-Meshtastic-and-4G-c-2423.html

Definitely one of the “throw it on the pile” projects for me, too, but I’m for sure throwing it on the top of the pile. Have had quite a few severe storm warnings this year already and this could be pretty useful. I was originally just looking for a way to forward NWS/EAS alerts to Meshtastic from the internet, but getting them direct over-the-air is even better.

Only complicating factor is I have to fashion or buy an antenna for ~150 Mhz since I don’t have any adapters that will fit the RTL-SDR (I’ve just used the little stock UHF TV antenna that came with it for ADS-B and other playing around).

I don’t want to repeat what others have already said as that’s all pretty accurate. As a rule of thumb, just look at the site sidebar for various instances and just avoid any that base themselves around any form of identity politics. Sadly, that’s a lot of them, but life is better without those kinds of attitudes in your face all the time.

AFAIK, yes, memory. There are a lot more packets than just text messages. Telemetry, node info, positions/waypoints, etc.

This is from memory and anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt.

On firmwares below 2.7, I think it only stored the last-received message on the node itself. 2.7+ may store the latest message from up to a few different contacts, but not more than that (if even that). Either way, it’s not really meant to operate as a “mailbox” where you can retrieve the messages later; they basically need to go somewhere as they’re received.

There’s a store-and-forward mode that can be enabled, but it stores all messages for everyone and is more of an infrastructure node role. It also requires hardware that has PSRAM which the Heltec V3’s don’t have.

I don’t have an EV yet, but I already refuse (prefuse? pre-refuse?) to use an app to charge my car which pretty much locks me out of most fast chargers.

I’ve been WFH since COVID and only drive a few times a week. When I do get an EV hopefully in the next 1-3 years, it’s probably going to basically trickle-charge from a modest PV setup. If it takes 3 days to fully charge, so be it; it’d just be sitting there anyway. Though I’ll probably wire in a 220v level 2 charger (or whatever they’re classified as) on the rare occasion I need a faster charge.

True, but I’ve had two grid-tie inverters, and both have had anti islanding protection and would not function when there is no utility power. Pretty much all grie-tie inverters have that protection.

I’m specifically referring to the interconnect agreement, though, which is where you have to jump through a bunch of hoops, fill out a bunch of forms, pay a fee, wait for the power company to come and inspect it, and get the utility provider’s blessing before you can hook in a grie-tie inverter and export even a fraction of a watt.

And you have to go through that process every time there’s a change to your system. e.g. If I start out with a 400 watt balcony solar kit, get that approved, and want to add another 400w kit, I would have to file new paperwork, pay another fee, wait for inspection, etc.

I’m all for reasonable safety measures, but the power company in my area is clearly doing all it can to pay lip service to “yes, we support balcony solar” while also making it as painful as possible for homeowners to actually implement it.

I’ve had to plan on a PV+battery+load sharing solution because my utility provider will fine the absolute crap out of you if you export any power without an interconnect agreement in place. I used to be able to stealth grid-tie with the old analog meters (I never produced more in a month than I used), but these new digital tattle-tale meters will rat you out instantly.

Yeah, I may have to settle for woodworking. I could set that up in my basement safely enough but definitely can’t be welding or have other fire hazards.

Only limitation with woodworking in insufficient ventilation if I want to paint or varnish or something.

Metalworking. It’s not so much beyond my ability so much as it’s out of my price range to get into it. I just don’t have any of the necessary tools nor an appropriate workspace, and I’d basically have to build a workshop and start from the literal ground up.

They kind of do, or at least used to.

If memory serves, they would take higher-end chips that didn’t pass QA for that product line, disable some cores or whatever, and sell it as a lower-end chip.

I’ve always observed them to be the largely the same thing but on different ends of the ideological spectrum (libertarians holding a more right-wing stance to anarchism’s left-wing stances). Otherwise, they’re both essentially petulant toddlers stamping their feet and saying “I don’t want to, and you can’t make me”.