W6PAR-P Rx (146.070 MHz) recordings for 2026-01-13

Well, thank you, Robin, for doing the net. You're sounding Great. This is Steve KN6NGK. I can have some traffic when you're all done. Thank you.

Well, then in the rest of that I am doing good. Yeah. You know, meshtastic is a very bipolar thing for me. I'm not sure if that's the right word to use, but yeah, or manic depressive. I don't know. But anyway, ups and downs, a lot of downs the last couple days, like right now, I mean, it's been going gangbusters all of a sudden. And I think it coincides with this One Mobile Unit, BSR1 earlier today I could see near Oroville, you know, somewhere near Oroville most of the day, and then probably comes home sometime, you know, around 5ish, 5:30, all of a sudden everything kind of lit up here. And you know, that that particular node seems to be trafficking messages back and forth like crazy all of a sudden. And was able to get a message to Pat across town. He's over by Pee Wee High School, and I'm over more towards the railroad tracks. So one got to him and one has somehow made it to Dana from Paradise one way or the other. So there's some traffic going that way. And also Pat, one of Pat's nodes is seeing the W6 par. Now, I don't know if that's in one hopper. I think it's one hop or something. But anyway, so that's some encouragement. But I think, you know, when it comes to this, these little feed nodes we're having, both Pat and I are having troubles with that and with the antenna and so forth. When you look at the connectors, the connectors are all kind of wonky, I think, but they're not very good. Like, the female part doesn't even seem like how it could touch the male part in the other side of the connector when you tighten it down, because one is recessed so much, I don't know how that even works. So I think that is one of the factors that we're dealing with. What the antennas are kind of not the best anyway. So I think that's the next step for me is to order a little bit better antenna or try to build one or something. But also the Bluetooth. The Bluetooth on it is terrible. I mean, at least for the one that Pat has. I mean, we take it down from the roof, put it right by us. We have good signal on Bluetooth on our phone. And then, I mean, literally you can walk 10ft away inside the house and it drops down to where it's almost gone. So like the Bluetooth in that, at least in these, even mine at my house isn't the best, but they Just aren't that good. So how are you supposed to put them up at 50 or 100ft or something if you can't have any Bluetooth connectivity to them? I'll never know. That's where it gets frustrating. I thought the whole. The whole idea of it being like WI fi possibility. Well, they don't have WI fi in them. So anyway, mesh is kind of crazy, but that's what's going on right now. Let me reset. Okay. Well, I know I wasn't 10 minutes yet, but I know I'm really long winded. So anyway, one thing I thought I'd mention as well. Anyone out there listening? I think most. There's a nice antenna the club has for sale. I forget the price exactly. You can talk to Dan there or Jay or Robert maybe about it, but nevertheless, that's the Diamond X510 and I have one. I have friends that have them. They're very good. They get out pretty far. And I would suggest anyone who doesn't have a base antenna consider that one highly. I think it was only used by your club for a couple of years. So anyway, just wanted to mention that on the net and also considering doing some sort of a POTA maybe this weekend. As long as the weather holds out in case anyone's interested. So that's what I'm up to and I hope everyone's doing great and staying warm. I couldn't make it up the hill today. Just working on meshtastic stuff too much I think. I spent four or five hours again on it today, so that's all I got. Thank you, Rob. Thank you from being out there. Everybody, this is kilo. November 6th mike golf kilo signing clear.

Well, by the way, I've seen the Secret Squirrel up there in paradise, too. So just on the mesh map, though, which doesn't mean a lot, just seeing it's one thing. But anyway. And the Bluetooth, if anyone's still listening out there, it's hard to say. I mean, I don't think I have too bad of a problem with mine at the house here, because it's 30ft up. I can access it throughout most of the house, I would say, but it does get kind of weak. And so, I mean, I have to go through about, you know, 15 foot of house before I get up. You know, I'm probably about 40ft away, so that doesn't seem so bad. But, yeah, I mean, the other unit that Pat has just doesn't seem to want to function much more than, say, 15ft away. And he's using an Apple phone. Apple devices, which are a lot wackier for me. I mean, the Android seems to work easier for me, but whatever. That might be something to play with as well. However, he's got other stuff that they give, like Bluetooth devices that he can talk through the whole house with. So I don't understand that. So it seems like. And I was. I would assume that these devices have a Bluetooth, A separate Bluetooth antenna somewhere on them, not the antenna that uses for the radio. So that's my thoughts on that. And the other thing was these antennas that come with them, how do you get that shield off without breaking anything? I can. I can break things real easily, but you guys have talked about trimming off, say, 3. 16 of an inch. I wanted to do that.

Yeah, but you're not talking about before it goes to 90 degrees there. I mean, where you can physically see the antenna through it, right? You're talking about where that part where it has written on the megahertz, where it goes to the knurled section of plastic.

Speaker A: So just prying between the two sections, the sections where the antenna housing goes to that knurled spot.
Speaker B: That's not good enough. Yes, that's neuralink.
Speaker A: Yes. So, yeah, that spot. Yeah. Where you. Where you would tighten it there, there's a division between that and the next part of the antenna housing.
Speaker B: So
Speaker A: I thought you would just be able to separate it
Speaker B: right there. Yes,
Speaker A: it's the one that come with the seed. I'm talking about the one that comes with the seed devices. So, yeah, it has a 90 degree elbow. And, yeah, I wouldn't suspect you'd pull it apart at the elbow. It looks like that might even be pinned in. So, yeah, I wouldn't suspect you would do anything with that.

Okay, Copy that. And I got it. Now, that is unfortunate. My eyes aren't good enough to see that difference, but I can feel it with my fingernail, so. So. And you're saying that you cut about 316 of an inch off of yours?

Speaker A: Okay, well, there went 316 of an inch, so that is what it is. Yeah, and I
Speaker B: said there went 316 of an inch, so. So that's what it is. And I'll do the same with the other. I guess we'll see if that makes a difference on that. But so on this antenna again, I. I mentioned in the net there that, you know, the female. It has. It has. It has female threads and it's the female sma. Right. Well, that. That part's a slight bit recessed into the dielectric. I could see that with my one good eye. And then on the other side, where it connects into the connector, that the little male part with the male threads, it's recessed as well. And I think that it would seem to me like it bott out or hits that dielectric without the male part going into the female part of the SMA connector. I don't know if you're seeing that at all on yours, but that seems like that's problematic.

Speaker A: Okay, then. Well, the last question on the note, just for sure, is where you install that cable? What hole to put it in the bracket? Because many of those holes, let's see, you know, well, not the big holes, but the two small holes are all squared off, and you can jig one in there kind of sorta. But the back holes are rounded and the SMA fits
Speaker B: right into that. Where did you install yours? Okay. On the bracket of the seed
Speaker A: node, there are holes for the antenna. Well, there's four holes, two of which have, like, little squared off sections. And you can kind of wiggle the SMA into that to make it work. Did you guys put it in one of those, like, towards the front closest to the seed head, or did you put it at the back of the bracket? The very back.

Yeah, that's what I was telling Pat earlier. He had it exactly wrong like that. And I mounted it like where it was an inch away, you know, from the pole in a sense, but still, you know, the pole at the very top. We tried to put the bracket at the very top minus about maybe half of an inch. That's where it is right now. But still, the antenna was pretty close to where that is. Yeah, mine at home here, I have a piece of PVC pipe. It's like a 3 inch PVC pipe. I have a metal pole going up to that and then about maybe a three foot section of pvc. And that's where I've mounted my bracket onto that. So anyway, maybe I'll have to do the same thing to his, too. I think that makes it big. That makes a little bit of a difference, too.

Yep, exactly. All right. Yeah. Well, that was a good little conversation on that. I think that might solve some things. I'm not sure, except that I might give this antenna. When I get it down here. I might try to just go real hard with it or something. Give it. I mean, I can break things. That's the problem. But I just don't feel like it's seating down all the way or something, so what do I know? All right. This is KN6MGK. Thank you.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I actually think that that toter is. Is your buddy Jake. I kind of have that feeling because kind of looked up his address and it's kind of close to where Pat lives, so. And that note is, is it would be like in the backyard of that kind of. So it makes total sense if that's him, if you know, his personal one or something like that. Right. That's just the thought and means nothing really, but anyway. And yeah, I mean, definitely can see that other one, that BSR one floating around in Oroville most of the day today. And then when it came back towards this way, and that's kind of close to me somewhere, you know, and then all of a sudden activity. So wherever he. However he has that one configured and however it's, you know, it's going, it works pretty well. It has lines going to it. It seems like it has lines going from my note to it. So somehow, anyway, it's making it in through that one. Anyway, that's just my thoughts. Thank you. M6MGK.

Yeah, his location is along Manzanita Avenue near Bidwell Park. So in that general area, in fact, you can see the, like, verbena fields, like so green area in Chico there. Anyway, that's called, like verbena fields right along Lindo Channel, and that's right across from that. I mean, really within Rockville is distant to that.

Yeah, I think so. And when we ever get into that one, like if I'm close by or at Panera or something like that, I think that that might pick it up and send it out to people and so forth and get put on the map and all that. So I think that's one advantage to meshtastic in a certain sense, in good times, at least, where maybe it's easier to get the mesh developed based on what you're seeing if you have someone have an Internet connection in there. Okay, well, I'll say 73. KN6MGK. Thank you and good night, everybody. Take care. We'll see you next time. KN6MGK. Claire.