Видео

Straight from the PC to the node. It took a while to figure out what was going on.

@@masondawson4061 weird! I've ordered the same amplifier, and that info should save me some quality time too!!

You'd be surprised.🙃

Well maybe not. Remember the Swiss Army gun from the old forum?

That's awesome! I'm just below Charlotte, and will eventually get a higher gain Yagi to see more of y'all with. This one is connected to Double Clutch if you can see it.

The tall antenna is a 10dbi Rokland sells. I've got it on a 4631 with solar. That antenna is awesome! I had the G2 on it before the Yagi. I plan to switch it back like that and put an Alfa 4dbi (I think) back on the 4631. I want to use the Yagi with one of those amps I like for a handheld deal. I'm having a hard time deciding how to lay all the components out for designing a print though. I've got a friend with a drone I was talking to this morning about putting one up. He's one of those cats I mentioned.

@@masondawson4061 maybe end to end with flat 3000mah battery under Amp and node? Like an old walkie talkie?? Haha I have a drone that I've been meaning to send a node up on to try and hit the closest city 50mi away too!

@@masondawson4061 oh! And I've been eyeing that antenna for a little bit! For now though, I'm just using Rockland's low profile 8dbi antenna on my base node... Planning to move that to router node on top of tall building in town soon and may pick up that 10dbi one for my base!

I haven't tried MQTT. I have a friend living in Montenegro I am trying to get on the bandwagon to do that with. I know there is a Facebook group in Rock Hill SC which is the next town over, but I'm not on FB. I'm not on Discord either. I kind of prefer to walk around in the dark bumping into things rather participate in groups. I know there's someone in Columbia SC who has made some videos but I'll need a bigger stick to make that trip. Line of site is not good but I can usually reach homebase within a two mile radius except for behind two hills I never knew were there. I'm actually slowly building the network here. Progress is very slow because it's like herding cats trying to get my guys involved.

😱 What antenna do you have?! Also, possible it has such a narrow virtical beamwidth that it's missing closer nodes? Maybe add 2nd node on tower with wider beamwidth antenna? The Rockland low profile 8dbi antenna has a 25° virtical beamwidth that may compliment it nicely! Set one node to router and other to Repeater?

Before everything reset there was one in Cancun. What's your general 20? I bet you can track stuff really well. I tell you most of the contacts pop up when someone flys over with a node up to the airplane window. Maybe you aren't around any flight paths.

@@SmokingGouda It is some no-name antenna from Amazon but it checks out ok on the gain and SWR. It could be overshoot as you suggest. I need to do some more testing. Another solution I am going to attempt is putting a repeater with an amplifier in the vehicle, that way it will pick up the weak signal from the Nibbler that has an internal antenna and re-broadcast it at higher power with a better antenna. The only other explanation is that I am the only one for 50 miles with a node. It wouldn't surprise me, but hey someone has to go first right?

@@kenneth6731 nice! Have part number?? How wide is it's beamwidth? I've picked up one of those shark fin antenna covers to put node in on top of my car with antenna sticking out, and will just run long USB power cable out to it... Haha it's on the project list!

I haven't checked power usage but it's fine unvented running in Router Client up there. My area is dead quiet so I don't know how it would do in a high traffic area. I did plug it into the USB meter and don't think it drew more than 9V. It's pretty cool because you can see the amperage jump up when it's transmitting. Are you talking about those USB cables with amplifier's in them and are I think 50' long? If so I don't think they support Power Delivery. I did use those with a PCB wifi antenna for years though so I don't know for sure. I wouldn't think so though. Anyway if you go to the wiki page for the Station G2 it's full of useful info. You can run it on a broad voltage range. I would think the easiest way to run it on solar would be with a sealed 12V motorcycle battery connected to a solar trickle charger.

@@masondawson4061 thank you! No, currently I just use a basic old 15ft USB-A extension cable(could actually be 20ft) going to USB-A to USB-C cable that I had... Powers lilygo t3-s3 just fine and just have to use one of the slower bit rates when updating the node... Amazon has nice 50ft passive cables also... Just make sure they can both charge and pass data instead of just charging... I initially was just using an old 25ft USB-A to Micro-USB cable I had for powering wyze cams, but it couldn't handle data so I couldn't update the node over it.

@@masondawson4061 if you had remote solar node up a tree or tower you can just put a data/charging capable USB splitter at the node and run USB cable down to reachable height for updates too!

Or at least put parts list in the description? Shared link to this to my states discord channel though! Keep up the good work!

Many thanks! I'm not affiliated with any sellers, but the antenna was a recommendation on a video from The Comms Channel about Meshtastic equipment I think. It's been a while. The batteries were harvested from spent vapes. I wired several of the same type in parallel. I got the amp from Aliexpress. It's part number AB-IOT-686. It also says AirBuddy on the board.

@@masondawson4061 haha I'm not experienced with doing this, but I think a lot of sites have affiliate programs that are pretty easy to join. I know Amazon does at least! Love the Comms Channel! Love the reuse of batteries too! I plan on reusing rc truck batteries... Yeah, actually power usage numbers seem hard to find for different boards.

I'm basically the only node in the area. There's one guy a mile away just running a Heltec V3 who benefits from my setup. I have a 4631 on the same mast as the G2 in Client Mute.

Nice! Thanks for the tip.

I wish I could help but I don't know. I've wondered myself. Like do you have to keep it in client mute while operating licensed at higher power to prevent retransmission of unlicensed operators? I think most likely if you want to legally transmit any higher than 1W you will have to give up a lot of what makes it Meshtastic. Perhaps other sections of the band are are allocated more precisely for what you want to do. Hopefully a knowledgeable ham will see this and give you a clear answer. Thanks for your comment though.

@@masondawson4061 Thank you for your reply, I really like what you are doing here and how you are doing it. I am putting up a 15 DBI antenna today on my 45 foot tower. Hopefully I can get some range out of it.

@@kenneth6731 Very cool! I've got several things in the works Meshtastic related. I've been on the fence about making videos with them, but I guess I will now.

@@masondawson4061 Sounds great!

I was under the impression that 1, yes you turn off encryption, and must communicate your callsign (no idea the requirement of how), BUT - Isn't that only on amateur bands, if you are using 915 there's no amateur regulations there? Most people don't use the amateur 440mhz band that these lora radios can transmit to as well.

Duly noted. I'll take it under the most scrutinous consideration. Thank you for your comment.

Awesome! Y'all are killing it across the pond.

They aren't readily available in the states. One of the Kalashnikov partners (Baikal) makes them and all members in that group have been under sanctions since 2014. So there haven't been any commercial imports to the US since then. Sometimes they pop up on Ebay, and places like Gun Broker, but are getting harder to find every day. A few videos back I advertised a couple a friend of mine had for sale. I told someone else about them yesterday or the day before, but he might still have one if not both. If you email me I'll give you his contact info. Just be warned these are pretty expensive bb guns. studio32ste.101@gmail.com

It's been a long time and I wasn't the one who removed it. I don't remember it being an issue when I reinstalled the assembly though. As I remember when it is engaged there shouldn't be tension on the cable. Wish I could be more help.

Yes. The truck isn’t running so parking brake is engaged because no ATF is compressing the spring canister.

About half the time I can communicate with it two miles away. When planes fly over about 200 miles.

That's really sad. I'll fix it whenever you are ready though.

@@masondawson4061 I REALLY Want to fix this gun so that when we are shooting machine guns we can have the kids shoot the drozd actually. I know about full auto guns but not airguns lol.. If I could send it to you and it's not fixable you can scrap it and use all the parts

@@FloridaGuns That would be a first. You gotta remember we made replicas, as well as the Freebird. You know there's an old Russian joke workers from the Kalashnikov factory say. They say if you put them in a factory that makes lamps they will still end up making AK's. At some point a long time ago I began to really relate to that one on a deep level.

I'm sorry but no. These days I just modify them when folks send theirs to me. There's usually a lot of emailing back and forth before, and during a build. If you are looking to buy one I know someone who wants to sell a couple though. If you email me I'll give you his contact info. One has the 1200 rpm chip mod while the other has the 4K Simplified Sergey's Board. Other than that there's a lot of videos featuring various builds on this channel if you just want to look. Thanks for your interest. studio32ste.101@gmail.com

Yes. I did mine with a Craftsman V20 pack in yellow. It's several videos back maybe six months ago. You just need the hopper because I don't have any of those.

Remember the DeWalt Bumble Bee from way back on the green forum?

Well I hope you finished your truck.

@@masondawson4061 I did but had to trade it for a car for (family) reasons 😔😔😔

The newer Ninja UFA's ( (Universal Fill Adapter) the part that screws on to the regulator with the knob) are rebuildable. Look to see if there are grub screws that hold the fasten the knob to the pin. If so the end of the pin is squared off for the grub screws to prevent it from spinning because the knob is threaded on. I think the threads are lefthand. So you loosen the grub screws, unscrew the knob, and then you can unscrew the pin to get to the seal. I don't remember the size, but I'm sure you can find a video on how to rebuild a Ninja UFA. As for a Ninja slide check you have to remove the female Foster QD. Now take the C clip off and this will allow the slide to come off exposing the seals. These seals are the same type and size that go around the top of your regulator. Normally you will only need to replace the seal closest to the output end of the hose. Once all that is fixed you want to replace the collar with the inside chamfered end pointing towards the output end. When replacing your UFA or slide check seals clean the parts while you have the seals off and use divers grease for lube. They probably sell that stuff in the gas station there but it's silicone grease. If you still can't find it silicone oil works well too. Whenever you are screwing things back together like your female Foster fitting you should use two wraps of gas line tape. It's like thick Teflon tape and normally yellow. I cut it in half lengthwise for a better fit. So that goes for if you have the newer Ninja hose already. Maybe you can find just the coil hose. All you need is 3000psi rated. I think it also comes in 5000psi rated though. You just want to stay away from the micro bore hoses as they will choke a SB in Ludicrous Mode. If you are in the market for a new rig I think Ninja is the only seller of rebuildable UFA's. All the slide checks I've seen rebuild as described. I just looked on Amazon and you can get a coil hose with slide check for $25, so less than half the Ninja price. Also you can use most of those stainless steel braided hoses if you have the other parts.

Thanks!

If that doesn't work you can try a gear/bearing puller.

Nope. Fireworks didn’t work. Pickle fork didn’t work. I orders of Pair of Wedges and they are two large. I ordered a drill bit 37/64” to make my own wedges needed to remove the chuck. Never owned a drill press and found it on FB Marketplace for $50. I’m about to make the 3 degree tapered wedges. Suggestions are welcome!

⁠@@masondawson4061 The Gear/Bearing puller is next since everything is failed to remove the chuck. I made a visual-gauge and see the arbor is good enough not to remove it. The chuck is the issue. It wobbles a drill bit. Still working on it…

@@donmahone4847 I bet it heating the chuck up with a butane torch will also help.

I do. Normally that is low batteries. Zinc Chloride batteries might not even work. It could also be corroded battery terminals, especially if you had a battery leak inside the compartment. If so get in there with a long flathead screwdriver to scrape the crud off the terminal/s. If they get left long enough with a leaky battery inside the corrosion will creep up the copper trace and keep going wrecking the board. If it doesn't get past the power switch it is fixable. If that doesn't get you going you can email me. Usually it's simple enough to where the owner can fix it and they don't even need to send it. I've got you covered in that case though. My email address is studio32ste.101@gmailDOTcom.

@@masondawson4061 . Thx saved your email

According to the Unit Engineering Wiki for the Station G2 19 dBm is the highest setting. When mine was set to 30 dBm after updating firmware it seemed less powerful than the standard 250 mw. I'm not totally sure about that. It was just abnormally quiet on 30 dBm. I only did one range test with very poor results before switching to 10 dBm because that's supposed to be 1W.

@@masondawson4061 One thing Neil indicated in my correspondence was that if you upgrade the firmware and select full erase and install the factory setting will be erased. So that’s something to consider and look into. 👍 As it relates to my other question about how to achieve the maximum power output of 3.16 watts. Im going to connect the unit to my computer and install the python module so I can see what the TX output is. One thing that is really confusing me is why it’s so hard to get a straight answer on power output?!? More specifically why does the document reference 36.X dBm equals and output 3.14 ~ 4.XX watts. Yet later down in the document it says 19.X or whatever value translates to 3.14 / 4 watts??? All I want to do is get this device to output the maximum power! Once done I will mount a few of these solar powered devices with a good antenna to the highest points in my area.

That's very kind of you. It's always nice to know someone appreciates it.

Gotta be the Flyin Hawaiian. It goes alright. How about you? Yes. I put it back to back with a DM adapter, lined up one hole, and then traced the other hole in the DM adapter onto the back of the new one. Then I was able to use the non DM adapter to do the same thing with another adapter. After I did that I all of a sudden I thought it may not work like that because of mirroring/hole location. It works fine though. It just changes the location of the other unused original hole up, or down.

It's just me as an LLC. I've been modding Drozd Blackbirds for more than 11 years now. Sergey has been making the circuit boards for them longer than I have been around, but we are partners. The bb guns are kind of hard to come by these days because they are Russian. Baikal actually makes them, and they have been under sanctions since 2014. Ebay is where most folks acquire them. I can also ask if anyone wants to sell one. If you look up my name with coconut, or pumpkin you can see them in action better. Thanks for your interest. I'm also here to answer questions so don't think it's imposing.

are any of your builds for sale?

@@smiddy434 I'm afraid not.

@@smiddy434 I posted a video not long ago about a customer with a couple of my builds and compressor for sale. I thought he had sold them but just checked up on him. He still has them. You can go to my YT page and look back a couple videos to see if anything in the video interests you. He was wanting to sell the whole lot, but apparently that fell through.

Howzit Mason, Eh please be careful with those no name brand knock off batteries. Me being a carpenter have a few friends that purchased a couple of them and some of them exploded and some caught on fire. So please be careful. Aloha my brahdah.

Yea YT absolutely hates me. Do me a favor and email me. studio32ste.101@gmail.com

That seems about what I am getting with the RAK up there. I still haven't had a chance to test the G2 for range other than what's in this vid. The Dollar General Tupperware housing survived hurricane Debbie though. I did see that. That's pretty sweet. There's nobody around here who would see it regularly, but I've got a couple guys mildly interested. Eventually they will run out of excuses.

@@masondawson4061 Gotcha, I also have converted tupperware boxes to house a pair of raks. I setup 3 of them to do mesh testing by myself and I have a couple of ham guys nearby who are also into the mesh thing a bit. My radios are pretty quiet as well, but it's a fun toy

@@masondawson4061 occasionally when I was dorking around testing I would take a sling shot with me and a fishing reel. Attach a heavy sinker to the line and tie a bit of caution tape behind it so I could see where I fired it. Then send a line over a tall tree branch. Tie up the rak and lift it up to the branch to get some decent height. Doing that I could get past hills that broke my line of sight in some spots

@@holdfastjoe8841 I've scoped out a couple places for doing just that. I have a Heltec Wireless Stick Lite V2 coming today I want to try with. I'm interested to know if the wifi antenna connector is also used for Bluetooth. Fingers crossed on that, but the main reasons for using it are cost, no screen, and it looks like I can connect a small amp to it. It's probably going to draw too much power to solar power it, and be stealthy, but will be fun none the less. If the amp works out I'll see if I can stick it on one of my buddies houses. It's an AirBuddy 1.3 watt amp that I can adjust down if needed. Anyway I'll be interested to know how the G2 works for you, and if you think the extra power is worth it.

@@masondawson4061 I'll try to let you know. I probably won't get it for another month since it's coming from China. I use the bbs to help with testing. I can send it commands and get immediate response. It's a very neat tool

Last night the iPad started making racket like when a bunch of new nodes are popping up, There were, and I was able to make contact with someone about 40 miles away. Just a hi and hello, but still. Crazy!

I connected one to a USB C meter without a battery a few weeks ago to see how small of a solar panel you could get away with. That's just what I remember so I could be off. It's about double the power a Heltec V3 uses though. I have another Tracker that will be here soon we will put on the meter. That's a neat cheap piece of kit too.

You have to have a Blackbird circuit board for it to work. Bumblebees, and Classic Drozd's use a different circuit board because they don't need to send power to a hopper. They are controlled with a different chip than Blackbirds. The 1200 rpm chip replaces the factory chip. You have to remove the factory chip, and solder in the 1200 rpm chip. The 1200 rpm chip changes the fire rates from 300, 450, 600 to 300, 600, 1200. The burst stays the same for 1 and 3 but full auto replaces six round burst. This mod id best run at 12V. I sell the chips and you can also get them from Sergey. I also install them if you can't. I don't post prices here but the chips are extremely affordable compared to having me do a Superbird build with Sergey's Board. A lot less than Drozdmax used to charge. I have videos on all of this stuff tagged so it's easy to search on YT.

@@masondawson4061 👋😎❌ Yah I’ve seen them , I’m a subscriber to your channel , but here’s the deal I have a bumble Bee 🐝 original DROZD But I simply want the 6round to be Full Auto. Is there a Way to do that I have Electronics Background , and access to Electronics Supply’s ___ Just don’t know as to what chip as it’s RUSSIAN How to go about getting something that can change rates & burst 💥 Any clue ❓❓❓ could your board for maybe 🤔 The black bird work in it with modifications ❓ That’s what I’m getting at I don’t have the means to design my own board .. But my 🐝 is slightly MODIFIED with an LED IN the battery lid for light wired into circuit an Laser in mechanical sight also wired into circuit , with cut off front shark fin sight for Laser to pass over unobtrusively ‼️ It also give it a sleek look , all that’s missing is Full Auto an I’m content 💯✅ By the way you’ve got a bitch’N channel haven’t seen you post recently till now I had a leaking magazine an took years to finally get one from guy in RUSSIA to send a new one.. so after that.!! I just shelved it all together// but seeing your post got me thinking again 😎👍❌

@@eurekaakerue4649 Flattery will get you everywhere. The first full auto mod was for the original Drozd. It was a daughter board that used, as far as I can tell the same 1200 rpm chip. I had one of these boards as an example, but I must have let it go as it's not with the others. Maybe you are capable of putting something similar together on a bread board. You can also ask Sergey if he can make a schematic for you to wire it. It was very simple looking from how I remember it. You can also install a chipped Blackbird board. I have one of those, but it's like six times as expensive as a chip.

Many thanks, and absolutely. I'm not buying boards in large quantities anymore because geopolitics, but I'm still at it. I built one last week as a matter of fact. I just need the bird supplied to mod. BTW if you are looking I just posted a video today with a buddy looking to offload three of them. Check it out.