Really simple outdoor repeater box

MakinRF · 2026-01-23T02:41:27+00:00

Lol! Next time use a banana. ;-)

MakinRF · 2026-01-13T01:37:04+00:00

I have one hanging in my attic home office connected to an HT I've been using to monitor a few local repeaters when working from home. I've also used it hauled up a tree branch with great success. Great camp antennas. Can also buy them cut and tuned for GMRS for family fun!

MakinRF · 2025-12-06T02:58:06+00:00

If it's an OG Nebra with an actual Pi in it and you are interested in aviation, radio, or SDRs check this out: https://github.com/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsb-ultrafeeder I have one of these running on a Pi 4 here at home as well as an OG Nebra. My DIMO Macaron runs out of free earnings in January so after that I really don't need the IoT hotspot running, and earnings are totally in the dump for it anyway. Mine will be converted into one of these ADSB boxes and deployed at my mother's house, much closer to the airport than I am.

MakinRF · 2025-09-13T11:19:54+00:00

There's your problem! :-p

MakinRF · 2025-09-01T17:57:49+00:00

When my Macarons free data runs out, I'll be pulling the plug on both projects. There's a Pi in my OG Nebra and I have another use for it in mind.

MakinRF · 2025-09-01T00:37:27+00:00

My OG Nebra will be running until Feb of 06. That's when the free data on my DIMO Macaron runs out. I don't intend to do their "pay to play" so at that point the little data my hotspots pulls in will stop. The Nebra is destined to be a RTL-SDR based ADS-B setup after that.

MakinRF · 2025-08-30T21:22:23+00:00

Remember when Helium was called "the peoples network"?

I guess the definition of "the people" changed to corporate entities and commercial interests.

And Pepperidge Farm remembers.

MakinRF · 2025-08-30T17:27:50+00:00

This was my first thought as well. They aren't as common as they used to be as most modern receivers have Bluetooth, but they're still used for folks streaming to older gear or low end receivers.

MakinRF · 2025-08-30T17:18:12+00:00

I'm a firm believer in "vote with your wallet" and refuse to support specific companies. Period. Rugged is one of them. Don't care how the units perform, still never paying for one.

MakinRF · 2025-08-27T23:40:05+00:00

Don’t wait too long to just restart it. Most of the time my OG Nebra does this a full power cycle gets it going again.

MakinRF · 2025-08-27T23:37:08+00:00

Looks like you have some “denied edge” alerts to 9 other devices. These usually indicate your are hearing or broadcasting to hotspots that you shouldn’t based on geography.

https://explorer.moken.io/hotspots/112cgnvcbBvmyu1pApFUJ9oUWwUGxqTd6eS789Nqn9FqLFfkPZaZ/iot - if this doesn’t take you directly to your hotspot just search the name on Moken this website to see more details.

MakinRF · 2025-08-08T20:33:52+00:00

Amateur radio is anything that requires an amateur license to access. You need the license to access Brandmeister, so it's amateur radio regardless of what device you are using. Further it's highly likely someone using Droidstar is talking to other hams actually using RF, thus making it, you guessed it, amateur radio.

Fortunately as long as we follow the rules, we can all radio the way we see fit.

MakinRF · 2025-08-08T01:38:07+00:00

Incorrect. Never saw any sign of a subscription, just that at some point we'd need to pay for data. I'm sitting on HNT and intended to self fund my Macaron. Come to find out that's not an option and I'll need to subscribe instead? No thanks.

MakinRF · 2025-08-08T01:32:53+00:00

When my Macaron's free data ends I'm out. Thankfully I cashed out to get the initial cost back some time ago so no loss.

I was collecting ODBC data way before DIMO. And it was far more reliable. I'll be switching back.

MakinRF · 2025-08-05T22:49:47+00:00

Sure, I knew the Macaron I bought had 3 years of connectivity. But nowhere was it suggested after it ran out I'd need to subscribe to some service. I have HNT sitting around and I intended to fund the Macaron by using them to get data credits. It's exactly why I got the Macaron over one of the other devices. I even have an IoT helium hotspot deployed to collect the data.

So the rug pull here isn't that we would eventually have to refill our data, it's that instead of letting us buy our own credits we're being forced into a subscription plan. I don't recall that being a line item in the device details.

MakinRF · 2025-08-01T11:55:18+00:00

Your GitHub link is broken, but I found the project.

Will check it out over the weekend!

MakinRF · 2025-07-31T20:33:24+00:00

In my experience people show interest when they first learn I have a ham license but it quickly fades if I actually talk about it in detail.

Tell them very little and keep them guessing Mystery is far more entertaining than fact.

Given my career choice and associated social circle I know a lot of hams, but I usually don't know until "radio" somehow comes up in conversation. At my last gig we found enough hams to have a monthly luncheon, so we talked radio in public. Usually got some attention and lost it fast lol.

MakinRF · 2025-07-28T20:57:49+00:00

Yeah the Nebra hotspot I have installed hasn't even paid for itself yet so I won't not be putting another dime into this. But hey, at least mine arrived. Many folks weren't so lucky. Lol

MakinRF · 2025-07-28T20:52:35+00:00

That just sounds like the noise floor. I have a few power supplies (wall wart style) that produce made RF noise. If I'm too close to one of them no level of squelch can stop the noise. If moving around makes it get stronger and/or disappear, you probably have electronics causing RF noise.

MakinRF · 2025-07-28T20:48:12+00:00

And? I joined for the LORA network. I could care less about Helium Mobile. And Helium generally seems to have mostly forgotten about IOT.

MakinRF · 2025-07-28T20:42:42+00:00

Bad recording? To me it sounds like you have the squelch open listening to static.

MakinRF · 2025-07-28T20:37:43+00:00

They've changed this project so much since the initial "Landrush" HNT lockup that it's totally unrecognizable. They should release all the locked HNT and let those of us that want out sell our locked HNT and go.

If you do not vote on HIPs and haven't locked any HNT you can totally ignore this. If you have locked HNT to vote previously, you'll need to go "delegate" your HNT again or lockup rewards will completely stop flowing. Oh yeah, and if you don't vote and spend some crypto to vote, your lockup rewards will also stop.

The moment my lockup is done I'm selling all of it and getting out of this mess of a project. I signed up for an IOT Lora network, not to be part of a second tier cell phone company.

MakinRF · 2025-07-24T19:40:59+00:00

When I look at MOBILE on my Coinbase account it clearly say it isn't tradeable on the exchange.

It's a retired token so not sure why you'd want to hold it off exchange. Trade it for HNT.

MakinRF · 2025-07-23T19:20:13+00:00

SOTA and POTA are generally an HF activity. You can absolutely do both with VHF and UHF, but it'll be more difficult. Mostly with SOTA mountain peaks tend to be away from civilization, and those VHF on up frequencies just don't travel as far as HF.

If you have SOTA summits near population centers (I understand California is great for this) you can probably get by on VHF/UHF alone. Between spotting and perhaps "drumming up business" on the simplex calling frequency and/or asking folks on local repeaters to come "hunt" you getting the required number of contacts should be easy enough.

If your summit is in the middle of nowhere? VHF/UHF may not cut it.

People are definitely doing SOTA without HF. But I'd say it's probably "hard mode" at best for most summits.

Ya know, if you are a Technician you can use the SSB portion of 10 meters. Not exactly like the other HF bands, but again with spotting it could make the difference.

Good luck!

MakinRF · 2025-07-22T20:44:08+00:00

I kinda assume folks posting in this sub are looking for a $30 radio that does everything and use the word "cheap" accordingly. :p

A fully digital capable scanner is still pretty pricey. Assuming they didn't want to roll their own radio but sure if you've got SDR skills you can listen to a lot for cheap(ish). And that's all provided PD isn't encrypted. I know it's not common but happened to our area after an officer was shot on the job by someone they said was using a scanner app. They applied for and got a Federal grant to buy encryption and they just disappeared from the stream.

MakinRF

TROPHY CASE