Mike

Nanticoke, PA
Failed engineering student turned IT pro. Geek and amateur everything else. Tinkerer, ham radio op, heart attack survivor. Building mesh networks in Northeastern Pennsylvania since 2024, providing geek guidance since 2015 on thinkleet.net
15
May
NanoVNA handheld vector network analyzer, the essential RF test tool for Meshtastic antenna builders

RF Test Equipment for the Meshtastic Builder: What's Worth It and What to Do With It

NanoVNA, SA6 spectrum analyzer, TinySA Ultra, RTL-SDR, and a dummy load. What each instrument is for, what to watch out for, and how to use them on a Meshtastic build. Contributed by Storm017.
5 min read
12
May
Meshtastic node based on the FakeTec board with OLED display, one of many hardware options for joining the mesh

Meshtastic Hardware Buyer's Guide: What to Buy, What to Skip, and Why It Depends

The question gets asked in the Discord at least twice a week: "What board should I get?" The
11 min read
05
May
NEPAMesh logo

Build a Better Antenna for Less than $10 and an Afternoon

The rubber duck antenna that shipped with your Meshtastic node is not your friend. I know. It looks official. It
13 min read
30
Apr
NEPAMesh propagation shadow map showing signal coverage across NEPA

April on the Mesh: 337 Nodes, a Shadow Map, and a Bot That Actually Talks Back

April was productive. Unreasonably productive, honestly, for a community of people who spend their free time pointing antennas at mountains
5 min read
27
Apr
NEPAMesh logo

Propagation, Shadows, and a Discord Bot That Actually Knows the Mesh

Big news, friends -- we've been quietly building a thing, and today it gets to come out and
8 min read
11
Apr
NEPAMesh logo

Coming Soon: Propagation Monitoring for NEPAMesh

Been working on something new for the NEPAMesh network. It's not quite ready for prime time yet, but
4 min read
10
Apr
NEPAMesh logo

Getting Your Node on the Map: MQTT Setup for NEPAMesh

Got a node and want to see it on the map? Same. Here's how I set mine up
4 min read
09
Apr
NEPAMesh logo

Recommended Node Settings: Stop Your Node From Being That Node

So you've got a node on the mesh. Nice. Now let's talk about how to keep
4 min read
01
Apr
NEPAMesh logo

State of the Mesh: NEPAMesh by the Numbers

I pulled the data from map.nepamesh.com and tapped into the MQTT server to see what's actually
6 min read
01
Apr
Meshtastic logo

Getting Started with Meshtastic: Off-Grid Comms for the Rest of Us

So you've heard about Meshtastic and you're wondering what the hype is about. Short version: cheap
6 min read