Appeal to DMV area users

Any more Burke/Fairfax/Annandale/Springfield peeps online yet, with nodes?

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Anyone in the Hanover, Mayland area got a relay up and running? Or thinking about it?

TIA!!!

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Hey all - just wanted to join in the conversation. I’m in the DMV area and have one stationary node in the Falls Church area and another in downtown Washington DC. I’ve tried many times to “shout” from various locations but in several months so far I’ve never gotten a reply. But looking at the map I’m happy to see the number of nodes has been steadily increasing.

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Just added a stationary node in alexandria

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I’m interested in furthering this DMV mesh.

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Took advantage of 40% mesh sale and will be setting up relay soon in Silver Spring near Forest Glen Metro, have some pretty good height being on the top floor, so we will see!

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Where was the 40% Sale?

OK – Broke the unit out of the case. CAREFULLY jumped C50 with a coax pig tail and cut fractal antenna trace. I Had to use some tin snips to cut back the tin shield over the circuitry but wasn’t too difficult. Used some hot glue to secure coax jumper and used some heat shrink tubing on the unit.
I used an armored “goose neck” 4 Ft jumper coax to route the antenna outside my apartment window. Antenna is a basic ¼ wave vertical with a “coffee can” spider ground plane. I used some duct putty to secure the rigid coax to the window ledge. I have some antenna’s on order, this one should be just temporary.

The antenna view you can see the Washington Monument. Testing tomorrow!

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@ flhtsteve
Where was the 40% Sale?

I got mine for 40% off on Amazon around black friday

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Hi, new user here. I have one personal node (marked Rosslyn, VA), and may set up one additional as a permanent relay. Might help in the slight dead zone south of the Potomac between clusters of nodes in DC and then additional cluster out in Clarendon. I’m pretty high up in an apartment building.

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Hi, newby here in Arlington (Bluemont). Yeah, best I can tell is no one keeps these things on. I’ve tried from Crystal City (tons of nearby workers), and I drove through Rosslyn to Ballston Monday afternoon (tons of workers and residents). While stopped, did about a dozen “Shouts” to no avail.
I bought this for emergency comms, so the best hope is that if something happens, people will turn them on…thoughts?
Otherwise, I have a pointless pocket battery.
We have a “tipping point” issue. GoTenna should consider giving them to local CERT members to keep them on (repeater model) in order to establish some sort of actual mesh. Then people would actually see the benefit of paying for one.

People who use the mesh tend to do so via direct messaging. In other words, they know the party. they’re messaging and thus have their GUID in their contacts list. In part, this is because direct messaging is encrypted versus Shouts, which are sent in the clear. Also, Shouts aren’t forwarded by hopping through other nodes like direct messages do, so range in dense urban areas is about a half mile and often less.

Technical details aside, the combination of potential proximity and unencrypted messaging make some users nervous. More often than not, I suspect users, unused to. handling Shouts, simply ignore them. Thus, the “tipping point” may be more of a human relations barrier than a technical specifications one.

I think you’re right, people will turn them on in an emergency,. But then they will likely find learning curvw *a useful new device under pressure frustrating.

I’d not sweat the Shouts too much for now, Peoplewho use the mesh tend ti Build a personal network that support your needs (which sounds something like whast you’re doing)-, network when and where you can, and take advantage o the opportunity to lean about your goTenna Mesh and how it works specifically.

Right, I can understand ignoring my Shouts, which were innocently a “hey, is there actually any mesh out there…?” But regardless, if I understand correctly, while Shouts aren’t relayed, any GoTenna Mesh turned on would act as a repeater/forwarder to get my message to the intended recipient. Thus the “mesh” part of it, which requires no personal network; just other anonymous fellow Gotenna-ers.
With me in Arlington (either Rosslyn or Crystal City) I have not been able to bounce to my intended recipient in DC, near Federal Triangle. During the work day. Thus the reality is either none are on, or not enough in range to make the chain/leap through the office buildings and across the river.

I think you’re saying that your are attempting to direct message someone near the Federal Triangle from Arlingtion and that’s also not working. Then yes, that depends very much on 1.) having relays set up along that route and 2.) Where they exist and can help, that it will take no more than 6 hops or 5 relays (same count, different ways of measuing the path) to pass between you and your hoped for recipient.

In a less dense urban environment with some surrounding rural areas, all with fairly gentle topography, I’ve managed a total path length approaching 5 miles. In a couple of these cases, I used all my hops and in others I had one left over. Not saying farther isn’t possible, but that it would most likely happen someplace other than DC. If your total path link is more 5 miles, then your best bet is to seek rooftop access and set-up a relay as high as possible, which could change the situation considerably.

Slight clarification: I’m not relying upon my own relays (other GoTenna’s I’ve purchased and set up in-between), but upon other GoTenna Mesh users per the description: “goTenna Mesh devices automatically act as relays to securely hop messages & extend range”.
Looking at the GoTenna “node map”, there’s definitely a lot in the area, so either they aren’t on, or the first hop, or in-between hops, aren’t…making the hop to the next node.
Which takes me back to: People aren’t turning them on unless there’s an emergency.

And right, per your aside, there’s no way to tell. That kind of feedback would be great. Like, a pop-up on your phone of “hey, you’re GoTenna Mesh device was just used as a relay…thank you for participating in the mesh…it takes a selfless community to make this work.”

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True, it would be good if everyone left their GTM devices on. Still, this isn’t quite the same thing as setting them up as dedicated relays. The map allows for this differentiation. You’ll notice that far fewer are designated as relays. Ideally, by definition all those listed fit that part of the definition, powered on 24/7.

The majority, which are listed as in personal use, tend to be very intermittent in availability. Even when on, they might be attached to the outside of a backpack stashed in a closet or under a desk, maybe stashed in the glovebox of a car. Yes, they will relay anywhere if on. However, their capacity to relay will be sverely constrained because they’ll suffer from severely reduced range vs what could be accomplished if better located, say on a roof with an unobstructed by vegetation view of the surronding area. Since the GTM is a radio, it’s affected like other radios by the location it’s at and its height above ground level, among other things. You can presume that most users will have a less than ideal location.

The nodes designated as relays tend to be better located. But power problems often affect them. If they lose power, they need to be manually restarted before they will resume relaying, as when power is restored they don’t come back on in the powered up state. Users who pick a nice high point for the initial install will often find it harder to get back up to that relay for the restart. BTDT and a number of my relays in our local system now require this…except I’ve been crazy busy with other projects, the weather has been cruel and uncooperative, and my legs have been similarly uncooperative. Even the best of intentions sometime fail us, although because the mesh is so solid system degradation occurs obnly gradually because of its inherent redundacxies.,

I like that idea. It may even be possible to implement it in the shorter term. Right now the only indication that you’re supporting the relay is to watch the LED on the GTM flash as it passes along the relayed message. But it’s rather boring to wait and watch for that

I’ve got my relay set up near the Capitol, but it’s admittedly limited in its usefulness because of its height. I’m hopeful it is useable from the street level of the Capitol South Metro stop. (I’m also interested in setting it up in a better location.)

I never thought about keeping one on in the house. I guess I can do that but would the antenna automatically pair when I’m home? Or would I always have to reconnect in the app in order to be paired and receive messages?

Ideally, you’d want a house relay node to be located at the highest reachable point on the building. You would leave it to act as a relay, so you wouldn’t pair with it. Instead, it would act as the first link out when sending from a personal GTM. Essentially, it would act as a powered remote antenna.