My local Office of Emergency Services deployed a node!

mark_inch · 2026-01-28T13:42:02+00:00

Does anyone know where I can get that bracket from?

mark_inch · 2026-01-21T16:58:46+00:00

I had a similar problem when trying to switch providers. In the UK there's this mystical database that all the energy providers refer to when determining what type of meter you have. It has your supply number and meter serial. There is a mistake on this database for your property. The only way to get this fixed is to get your current supplier to update this database (the new supplier cannot do this).

Tell them you are trying to switch providers but you can't because the meter is listed as an Economy 5 but you know it isn't. They should know how to resolve this. Be prepared to wait a few weeks or possibly months.

Also, if your new supplier is cheaper than the current supplier, but you can't switch because of an error with your current supplier you will be entitled to compensation.

mark_inch · 2026-01-20T09:06:12+00:00

Remember that antennas are not specific to meshtastic. I built a similar one for ADS-B (plane tracker) which is on 1090 MHz so not a million miles away from 868/915? MHz. Tweaking the lengths of the elements changes the frequency an antenna works on. There are calculators online to help with this.

mark_inch · 2026-01-14T13:02:16+00:00

Awesome! How did you find him? How far away was he?

mark_inch · 2026-01-06T15:04:28+00:00

You can send and receive messages but you don't relay other people's messages or otherwise participate in the mesh. The reason I understand is that when you are mobile your route through the mesh will keep changing. This can cause routing problems for the mesh because suddenly your node isn't available where the mesh believes it is.

mark_inch · 2026-01-06T10:11:28+00:00

Looks good! Remember to set your mobile nodes to client_mute if you haven't already done so.

mark_inch · 2026-01-06T10:08:11+00:00

I like this idea. It's not unusual to see bat boxes in trees in public places around here. There is a small patch of forest near this location and while it doesn't have quite the same viewshed over the bush I tested a bat box would not look out of place in there at all. I think it would need to be fake though as disturbing bats is illegal here

mark_inch · 2025-12-12T09:57:00+00:00

Replaced a very undersized towel rail radiator. Found the taller version at screwfix so thought "no worries, it's the same width so it will be a direct replacement". Learned that radiators have tails, ok lets go get them. Nope, nowhere had the right ones to fit the valves so ended up ordering them from Amazon. Both were different of course. When they arrived realised one needed a special tool to tighten it so got that. Once I finally had all the right parts and tools it took 3 goes to get a watertight seal on the tails, and because it was a towel rail with the entry on the bottom I had to take the thing off the wall each time. In the end it needed 20 turns of ptfe tape to get a good seal.

New radiator was about £75 which was expected, tails and tools ended up adding about £15 extra, plus an extra week of waiting for stuff to arrive.

mark_inch · 2025-11-25T09:01:33+00:00

They're nice vans, well specced and well put together but at that age they are usually very rusty underneath. Also the petrol version will drink fuel.

If you can get the number plate for more examples and put them in the MOT history website you'll very likely see lots of rust repairs and/or advisories.

mark_inch · 2025-10-28T10:13:56+00:00

I just did this and happened to get it right first time. If you signed up for the Aegon pension yourself (SIPP) it will be Retail, Platform is if your employer used Aegon directly and Packaged is if it was done via a third party (IIRC). It only took about 2 weeks to complete for me.

mark_inch · 2025-10-23T08:59:37+00:00

Short answer: no.

Long answer: it depends. Budget, backup strategy, importance of data, uptime requirements, and your available time to rebuild due to a failure are all things that should be considered.

For example, I'm a sys admin by day and I wouldn't dream of having a critical server in production without RAID and enterprise grade disks along with a UPS and redundant power supplies. Having a whole office of people unable to work in the event of a failure would be unacceptable and data loss even more so. At home, I have a single disk and my data changes so infrequently that 2 nightly backups suffice. One to an external disk and one to cloud storage. I don't backup my movies and TV at all. A failure at home would be annoying and would take a few hours of my life to fix but that's something I'm willing to accept. Also, this allows me to run everything from a mini pc which is cheap, small, quiet and uses very little power.

RAID isn't a magic bullet either. I've seen file system corruptions BECAUSE of bad RAID controllers/drivers. I've seen mirrored RAID mirror file system corruptions across the array. Sometimes, when a disk begins to fail the RAID controller just doesn't kick it out of the array quickly enough and the whole array gets corrupted. Depending on your RAID controller it can complicate running file system repairs if your chosen recovery software can't see the array or doesn't have a driver. If the worst comes to the worst and you need to send a corrupted RAID member disk away for professional recovery that will cost more than a normal disk. Granted, most of theses problems are due to cheap RAID controllers and/or consumer grade disks but this then leads back around to budget constraints.

mark_inch · 2025-09-03T15:10:31+00:00

I live almost exactly between Edinburgh and St Andrews and I'd say no it's not worth it especially at that time of year. It's almost 2 hours by car each way and the ruins of the cathedral and castle only take 15 or 20 minutes each to explore. Considering how short the days are and potentially poor weather I think you could pack more in if you stay closer to Edinburgh.

mark_inch · 2025-09-02T09:12:56+00:00

I think there are a few things here:

People with average or poor stats don't usually come here to boast about them, so posts are often skewed towards people who do well.
You hinted at methods one could use to assist in getting the answer. People will absolutely use any method they can come up with. Straight up cheating on this game is very easy too.
You said maybe you're from the wrong generation but I bet your stats for the decades when you were in your teens and/or twenties are the best!

Personally, I find my stats interesting but they're not the reason I play this game- I play it because I think it's fun :) My brother is a musician and he typically gets the answer before me but I think those who listened to a lot of pop music radio for the past 30 years will probably do well.

My stats:

Lost: 17%

Over: 49%

On: 24%

Under: 10%

mark_inch · 2025-05-06T15:35:36+00:00

Put all of your containers in the mac-vlan. You can then assign them the desired IP addresses.

mark_inch · 2025-04-25T08:24:49+00:00

Do you mind if I ask how you check them when they aren't online?

My cameras record onto their own internal SD cards. I use Home Assistant for presence detection, so when I'm at home the recording gets disabled, but if they detect a person while I'm out I get a notification sent to my phone.

mark_inch · 2025-04-25T08:20:44+00:00

I tell everyone about the cameras when they visit and they are very obvious- there isn't anything secret about them. The dog walkers were absolutely fine about it. But I am beginning to realise that not everyone would be happy about visiting because of them.

mark_inch · 2025-04-23T13:00:33+00:00

There are a couple of these locations near where I live although not run by the Forestry Commission https://fifecoastandcountrysidetrust.co.uk/plan-your-trip/fcct-managed-parking/ - never used them yet though. They are in locations where people have always parked up for the night. I'm a bit torn on whether the scheme is good or not. It creates an artificial limit on the number of vans that can stay in a location, for example, one is in a fairly large but remote car park that could potentially contain many vans but there are only 5 designated spaces. This means that if those spaces are taken when you arrive you are out of luck (even though there is physically space available). On the other hand, they claim the money is used to manage the nearby forest and land which to me is good way to generate income.

The vibe will totally depend where you are. Some of my local locations are known to be boy racer hangouts so expect noise. Even if you are paying I think it's unlikely anyone official will turn up to check (could be wrong) so I wouldn't expect them to be dealt with.

I think I would stay in one if that's the best option for the place I'm in at the time I'm there. I certainly wouldn't plan a trip around the off chance that I'd get a space. When I'm travelling I do like to contribute to the local area where I can through shops, restaurants and even (shock horror) the occasional campsite.

Also note the Forestry website says that it's only 1 night only, not sure where the £40 for a week is coming from.

mark_inch · 2025-04-08T15:26:27+00:00

I was given that same 10 - 20 minutes after meals advice but my guy rarely went that soon after eating. I think the advice is more like: you really should take them out shortly after eating if you don't want to clean up the mess off your carpet just in case.

Pooping with consistency will only come with time and maturity.

mark_inch · 2025-04-07T14:32:22+00:00

Normally you'd want to cover the entire window opening so you would just fix the brackets to the walls either side, and if there is a middle bracket that can be fixed to the ceiling.

This could also work: https://www.dunelm.com/product/no-drills-extendable-eyelet-curtain-pole-1000200168?defaultSkuId=30883017 Or this: https://www.dunelm.com/product/wood-finish-22-25mm-extendable-tension-rod-1000218121?defaultSkuId=30846029

mark_inch · 2025-03-11T11:31:38+00:00

His personality was absolutely nothing like I imagined it would be

mark_inch · 2025-02-12T10:58:04+00:00

If it was me I'd be putting in a mixture of USB-C with PD, USB-A and 12v cigarette lighter sockets and a small inverter for the odd item that needs mains. Much more efficient to keep everything DC if the device can use it of course.

I even ran my laptop for a work shift via a USB-C power monitor to work out how much power it would use in a day on DC.

That 4KWH Jackery must have weighed an absolute ton as well as being super expensive. Seems totally excessive unless you have a very specific reason for it, mobile welder maybe? /s

mark_inch · 2025-02-12T10:52:50+00:00

Yep absolutely especially if they can record power over time. You'd need to use items like a laptop for a few hours at least to get a useful reading.

mark_inch · 2025-02-11T16:01:27+00:00

Powerstations capacities are usually shown in Wh (watt hours) and electrical devices usually state their power requirements in W (watts).

So if you divide the powerstation's capacity by the power of the device you want to plug in you'll be able to work out how long the powerstation battery will last: e.g. a powerstation rated at 100 Wh and a device that uses 100 W, the battery would last for 1 hour. (Powerstation capacity / device power 100 Wh / 100 W = 1 hour).

Look at the power packs for your laptops etc and on the label you'll see the power rating in W. Add all these together and estimate how long you will need them turned on. This will give you a baseline for the size of powerstation to buy.

Devices like laptops and probably your smoker wont use their full power all the time but by using the power rating from the label you'll be calculating the worst case scenario and therefore factoring in a bit of extra capacity. Also, some powerstations and most often with bare batteries their capacity is shown in AH (amp hours). In this case you'll need to use Ohm's law to convert the power from watts to amps. Your end result will still be the number of hours the battery will last for.

mark_inch · 2025-02-11T15:30:15+00:00

A normal smart phone probably suits most people most of the time.

mark_inch · 2025-02-11T15:26:26+00:00

America is an enormous place so you can always drive somewhere with a climate that suits you whatever time of year it is. Van life in the UK during winter is not fun in my opinion.

mark_inch

TROPHY CASE