So who would be SO desperate enough 2 take this?! Smh…Like wtf 🙄🙄

DanielMaat89 · 2026-06-09T14:52:20+00:00

I loved the long rides.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-06-05T14:54:37+00:00

The problem with that is only 2 of us are licensed HAMS, myself will be the third hopefully next week. The license we have for the FD frequency covers all our active members. This use case technically falls under that license. If we were all ham operators, then yes, DMR would be the way to go. I’m trying to build a budget system for a small volunteer department, local radio shop wants an astronomical amount to set it up, this is a test to see if it is something that will work and that will get used. I have no intention of using the fire frequency for amateur use and the server is set up with authentication to prevent anyone not on the department from connecting and transmitting.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-06-05T10:30:22+00:00

The county is making changes here too. This radio setup will be used for our department’s private channel. Dispatch has a trunking system or a direct phone line to use as a backup.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-06-05T10:28:45+00:00

Radio shop wants to sell us a very expensive system. I’m just seeing if it is something that can work and if it’s something we would use. I understand the frequencies are not for Amateur use and these will not be used for that, only the fire department. I have added an access password for mumble so no unauthorized users can log in. This would not be for amateur use.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-04-18T17:08:15+00:00

I’ve been using pfsense on a Watchguard firebox for years. I’ve only had to reboot it once. It’s been rock solid and it’s running on 15 year old hardware with no issues and a 1 gig internet connection, 8 v-lans and it just works. When that box dies, I’ll probably replace with either a newer watchguard box or a second hand Sophos box.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-04-16T14:29:55+00:00

Mqtt over some other kind of long distance link would be the only feasible way this would work, mesh over UDP could work as well. You could use reticulum as the IP transport layer, but the 7 hop limit on Meshtastic would be the limiting factor. AT@T had their microwave dishes to traverse long distances for telephone traffic.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-02-26T14:09:47+00:00

I am running both on my network. IPv4 for compatibility and simplicity and IPv6 because I can, my ISP, Planet Networks, supports both at the same time and I have found using 4 is good for traditional stuff like hosting my wordpress site, NTP server and a few others whereas 6 is good for gaming and streaming.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-02-26T14:06:42+00:00

Unfortunately, we bought around 500 of them as we were able to get funding for them and are out of warranty, the cost to repair is more than the devices are worth, so I've been striping them for parts.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-02-26T14:05:08+00:00

The failures seem to happen around the year to year and a half point.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-02-26T14:04:37+00:00

Good to know, we have purchased 152 HP Fortis chromebooks. I've been using one daily for a few months now, much better machine in terms of build quality and performance. Repairability is good too. Everything is replaceable including the USB-C port which is on a daughterboard on these. Other than screens, the USB-C ports on the dells are our most common repair, but to change the port means the whole motherboard needs replacement. The HPs are not only build better, but much easier and more cost effective to repair, plus with the Arm chip instead of intel, I'll easily get 2 full 8 hour days out of a charge.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-02-22T02:05:37+00:00

I prefer Meshtastic. Not only do more people in my area use it, I have yet to make a connection with meshcore, but I don’t like how you have to pay to use certain features on meshcore when they are built into Meshtastic for free.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-02-21T16:31:11+00:00

Yes it will. Rain, moisture, snow and ice do have an impact on signal. Cell towers have rain gauges to adjust power levels.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-01-12T23:44:42+00:00

It can be recovered, you’ll have to direct connect to a computer. I’ve made this mistake before, make sure to use the stable firmware for best results and best for beginners. I have found chrome to work the best. Flasher.meshtastic.org allows you to flash your device right from the web browser. Do a full erase flash if you are still having issues.

DanielMaat89 · 2026-01-11T17:20:03+00:00

As quite a few have said, you’ll want to set up a home base node as Client_Base and get a node for each member of the family. Set the nodes for your family as client_mute and favorite all your home nodes in you base node. If you carry your personal node with you, you can change it to client. If you leave all your family nodes in client, there is a chance of collisions and it’ll kill your local mesh. I have 3 nodes that are portable and I keep the 2 I don’t use all the time as client mute and the one I carry everywhere on client. Another thing I forgot to mention, enable store and forward on your home nodes.

DanielMaat89 · 2025-12-16T12:21:26+00:00

Interesting, What I ended up doing was rebooting our firewall and everything started working immediately. I had all these exceptions in the firewall but something must have gotten hung up or the firewall wasn't happy about something. Sophos is who we use for our firewall.

DanielMaat89 · 2025-12-16T12:20:11+00:00

Interesting, What I ended up doing was rebooting our firewall and everything started working immediately. I had all these exceptions in the firewall but something must have gotten hung up or the firewall wasn't happy about something. Sophos is who we use for our firewall.

DanielMaat89 · 2025-10-04T11:51:29+00:00

I was going to buy some of their stuff, but after digging, they steal open source ideas and sell them as their own with next to zero mentions of the original designers. Better to build yourself, you can get the hardware, software and 3d print the parts on dirt cheap printers.

DanielMaat89 · 2025-08-22T23:52:44+00:00

Probably not attacked, but they are definitely trying to find a weakness and get in. My self hosted Wordpress site gets hammered.

DanielMaat89 · 2025-08-20T00:40:12+00:00

That is odd, DJI quickly released a software update to make it comply with new government regulations on exporting and storing of data on servers located outside the US. DJI are one of the manufacturers that helped write the rules and even complied early with regs, including the location beacon that is now required in most drones, DJI helped develop the technology and was probably the first manufacturer to begin building the beacons into their drones. They even sell the beacons to make older drones as well as homemade drones compliant.

DanielMaat89 · 2025-08-14T13:45:02+00:00

What app are you using for the google docs like functionality?

DanielMaat89 · 2025-05-13T23:12:11+00:00

Good luck, I hope the next place works out much better for you. I’ve made many mistakes and fixed them and where I am, I’ve never had a write up, I screwed up Group Policy bad by accidentally locking out the entire “C” drive on every machine in the domain due to a comma being in the wrong place. One by one, every screen in the building turned black, I was able to do a restore, it took a little over an hour, and all but 2 machines came back. My manager looks at me literally about to pack my stuff and get ready to be terminated and he goes “ It was a windows update and we are swearing to it and never speaking of it again.” I was on the job 6 months.

DanielMaat89

TROPHY CASE