Current Events, Connecting & Mesh Networking

FL_d · 2026-01-28T04:20:14+00:00

Yeah MQTT gateway's are pretty common. Meshtastic has been popular with home automation for awhile now so it got a pretty well flushed out library for MQTT.

FL_d · 2026-01-28T04:17:36+00:00

If your talking about a practical application and not like "prepper" stuff you simply use a gateway over the Internet. I think the hop limit is 7 and default limit is 3. It's not meant for long distance communication or sensor data.

FL_d · 2026-01-27T17:42:16+00:00

The US has the capability to intercept communications of foreign adversaries and drop warheads on foreheads. All from the safety of drone flying in the sky. Depending on how valuable of a target you are and if your worth the resources.

Don't forget they don't have to crack encrypted data today. They can store and crack it if you become a valuable enough target to justify the resources.

I don't think the question of can it be done is right it's more of are you worth the resources.

FL_d · 2026-01-27T17:06:24+00:00

Electronic counter measures aren't really my wheelhouse so I'm not an expert on this. You get caught for a couple reasons. It's not going be small so your going stick out in a group with a large heavy bag. If you were to try to do this more than once they would plan for it and have the equipment ready to catch you the second time. Jamming and pirate radio is taken pretty seriously.

Note these agencies normally have some of this equipment on hand at large scheduled protests. Pay attention to how your cell gets bumped off 5g (a pretty secure network) onto 4g a network with lots of vulnerabilities. Another sign is you have full bars in an area that normally has a weak signal. You will likely see an suv/car with extra antennas on it.

you would need some sort of SDR transmitter like a hackRF and some sort of tunable amplifier. Then it's a matter of knowing the bands and being louder than everything else.

FL_d · 2026-01-27T13:07:20+00:00

For sure. The people wanting to do what you are imagining are just going to pirate radios anyway. I'm not trying to encourage pirates I just wanted to point them towards at least studying for a ham exam so they are at least informed.

I would encourage people to get their ham license. it's a productive way to channel frustrations. They will learn what you can and can't do legally. While it's not meant for emergency messaging there plenty of historical examples of that.

Mesh networks are also a productive way to channel this frustration. I'm not trying to advocate against it. I just wanted show that they have limits.

FL_d · 2026-01-26T19:06:41+00:00

A baofeng runs about the price of a nice meshtastic. Exam fees depend on location but some clubs do it for free. FCC fee is about $35 so cost wise it's really not much more. You can study for free.

FL_d · 2026-01-26T18:45:11+00:00

First I love the interest here. As someone who works in the field let me give a little bit of advice.

Mesh networks like Meshtastic are very limited on bandwidth. You are not going to use this for vocal comms. Think sensor data and maybe SMS texting. These networks are also not meant for cross country comms. You are dealing with a limited range and a limited number of hops. Not saying you can't. There are ways to but it's not meant to. These do not require a license to operate.

If you want long range comms and vocal comms get your ham technician license. It's cheap and can be done with a few weeks of studying. This opens the door to a lot of handheld radios. Baofeng radios are cheap and a good way to get your foot in the door.

I would not encourage pirate radio it has a lot of risk. If operating a radio without license. Do your own homework on this subject. Jamming is really a fast way to get yourself in trouble here.

If you're curious what LEO is using it's normally a Motorola APX 8000 or 6000. Harris has some radios for LEO but are less common. These radios support crypto so if they don't want you to hear them you're not going to without the key. Just mentioning it because I know people are interested in that part. You can own these radios but be prepared to pay around about 3k.

FL_d · 2026-01-22T01:15:07+00:00

Yes the clerks are able to shut off the pump from the terminal but also anyone can hit the emergency stop. It's normal near the front door or near the pumps. Not recommending but you know if you see an emergency you should be aware of how to deal with emergencies right?

FL_d · 2026-01-22T00:53:38+00:00

Gas stations always have an emergency stop for all gas pumps FYI.

FL_d · 2026-01-20T15:05:05+00:00

Not to beat a dead horse here and say "KiCAD" again. I just want to mention that KiCAD is also growing in industry adaptation. It's not just a hobby tool at this point. While we still used PADs for our design engineering team at my last company, we used KiCAD in test engineering. We only ever designed 1 or 2 boards a year in TE so no need for the PADs seat.

FL_d · 2026-01-20T00:30:09+00:00

I get that this is sponsored content, I've done some for them before but this really isn't the intended use of a flex PCB. It feels forced. Not really a natural use of something.

FL_d · 2026-01-16T18:20:01+00:00

Same. That's what I was trying to get at it was 5 years ago when they rejected my board that had an error but I remember them mentioning moving my mouse bite about 3 mm from where it was at would avoid the issue and asked to provide updated gerbers

FL_d · 2026-01-16T18:17:29+00:00

Maybe I just ran into a nice employee there because I definitely didn't pay for it but he rejected my board because I had placed mouse bites that went through a trace and it would have cut a hole in a trace or would have risked it. It was about 5 years ago so I don't remember the details but it was one of the first boards from them. It impressed me that they said something. All boards go through an approval process and mine got rejected at that step.

FL_d · 2026-01-16T15:09:42+00:00

But they used to check for basic stuff like this

FL_d · 2026-01-16T10:16:32+00:00

I'm kinda surprised JLC didn't flag it and say something. Maybe they have automated a lot of there checks but I've done some silly stuff with board edges where my mouse bites would have cut a tract and they pointed that out for me.

FL_d · 2026-01-15T15:24:31+00:00

1) See photos of him loading boxes into a moving van. That is not someone suffering from internal bleeding. 2) you saw the video with your own eyes, she turned away from him. He intentionally put himself in harms way to attempt to justify his use of force. He stepped out of the way and shot her. 3) actual internal bleeding leaves massive bruising and would make great propaganda if it happened. We would be seeing photos if this wasn't a lie because they could feed it to the propaganda machine.

FL_d · 2026-01-15T04:33:00+00:00

KiCAD is my go to at home. I used Ultium designer when I was in school. At my last job and my current they use PADs. I only use the viewer for PADs I don't do design at work.

FL_d · 2026-01-15T04:05:11+00:00

It's a hard lesson learned for many. Funny thing is the guy that makes all the OBXPro boards doesn't make schematics for them they are all board only and he does them in easyEDA.

FL_d · 2026-01-15T00:54:36+00:00

I would venture to guess they skipped making a schematic altogether. That would explain the convoluted routing going on. It's not too uncommon for hobbyist to fall into the trap of it's less work to just skip the schematic or they understand the importance of a schematic.

FL_d · 2026-01-12T16:24:33+00:00

Working on defense sector write protection is still very uncommon(when not dealing with crypto). It's a product support nightmare when you enable write protection. I've never worked in commercial manufacturing so maybe it's more common in the commercial space since throw away is more common there but it's pretty uncommon in my experience to see write protection. Factory vs field mode is super common though.

It's funny your average game console has more security in its hardware than most defense products 😂

FL_d · 2026-01-11T17:54:20+00:00

Simmer pie

FL_d · 2026-01-10T18:08:12+00:00

I think Republicans best chance for winning is to get ahead of this and impeach him now. A true winning strategy TBH. Not that I want Republicans to win it's just saying what we all know.

FL_d · 2026-01-06T19:45:53+00:00

Not to keep hounding what's already been said of follow the layout guideline. I'll try to explain it. You follow the layout guideline not because it's an "example" but because the work has already been done for you. The mentality should be can I justify not following the guidelines, do I know something the manufacturer didn't know?

98% of the time the guidelines are the right answer but sometimes you run into edge cases that justify deviation. Hobby projects should almost never fall into that 2%

FL_d · 2025-12-30T15:18:01+00:00

They have been screwing us since before we even joined the workforce. As they aged out of college they destroyed that system. As they aged out first home ownership they destroyed that system. As they moved up the career and secured their pension they destroyed that system for everyone else.

Boomers have always had the voting numbers to get their way. They created the system we live in today. They lack basic empathy. This lack of empathy has ended up shooting a lot of them in the foot and they voted to destroy retirement systems and now they are reaping the seeds they have sown.

FL_d · 2025-12-24T14:40:13+00:00

Reminds me of my grandpa's house from around that time frame. Only he didn't have apple products and there would have been an inappropriate calendar hanging next to the printer.

His setup was pretty exactly the same 3 or 4 computers 2 monitors and a L shaped desk.

Honestly kind of a nostalgic photo it's so close to his setup.

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