I’m looking to build up the Philadelphia and surrounding area with the goTenna Mesh system! I’m looking for like-minded people in the area who are willing to setup one or more stationary relays and do some range testing in their spare time. I currently have three (3) stationary relays setup in the area. One in the city of Philadelphia (10th floor), one across the river in Camden NJ (2nd floor) and one at my house in the attic. You can see the rough location in the attached map.
To keep the testing private I’d recommend setting up a random GID on your device. This way no one’s phone number is released. You can contact me either by PM on this site or directly at gotennaradiocomms@gmail.com to exchange GID’s. This is a new free Gmail account I just setup to again keep thing private. I’m not associated with goTenna in anyway other than a user.
*** The GID I will be using for testing is 9317 0338 4309 55 ***
I work full time in the Camden NJ area so testing for me is just going to be me sitting at my desk (8am to 5pm) and seeing if anyone can reach me. Keep in mind I may not be able to respond right away. On the weekends I do end up in the city so if you feel like just seeing if the network is up just shoot me any message.
To kick things off and draw in interest I’m giving away one “goTenna relay kit” which consist of
1 x new goTenna Mesh unit (you can pick your color)
1 x 3d printed stand
1 x Apple iPhone charger
1 x 6’ USB power cable (stationary relays need to stay power up 24/7)
1 x 8” (8 inch) USB power cable (original from goTenna)
To get this unit you must be an honest person willing to
Keep the unit in good working order (firmware updates)
Protected from the weather
Set it up as a stationary relay (powered up 24/7)
Set it up as high as you can
Willing to post a photo of it, in use, in this forum.
Live within 15 miles of Philadelphia and have it setup in the area.
Ideally I’m looking to get one setup high in the city.
I am in South Jersey and have a relay located in Turnersville. I work in Mt Laurel and look into seeing if I can place a permanent relay there. I can at least test range with you while I’m working.
Good News! I was able to secure a 5th floor location in addition to my current 2nd floor Relay. These are located in the Camden NJ Area. This new relay is on the other side of my building and should help with linking my Relay in Philly (10th floor).
I’m seeing if anyone I know may want to host this but want to be clear, you would prefer that it be in Philly if possible but are ok with it being anywhere within 15 miles of Philly? I would love to do a kit like this for my downtown NYC office.
Not with lots of relays that’s for sure. Mine is only one of two that is downtown. I’ve also never once received a response to a shout down here. Even walking outside. I know that’s not an accurate gauge but…
You should absolutely try a kite from your NYC office. Keep me posted on when and where you are. I’m always up for some range testing… Please post about this in our Brooklyn/NYC thread. We can probably get a couple other Meshers involved! I’d love to see if we can score a hop or 6.
Good news! I have a new 5th floor location for another relay in the Philadelphia PA / Camden NJ area. This one has a good view of the Walt Whitman bridge.
I’m in Bucks County (Warrington), but I can host a relay. However, I think it’s premature for me to set one up. Once the connections start reaching north of Philly, I bet I could help make a hop from here to Doylestown. I’ll keep an eye on things with this group.
Never to soon to start supporting the mesh! Actually I’ve had two people reach out to me lately for supporting new relays in the area. I’d love to see Philadelphia become a mesh city!
Hey Everyone! Just purchased my first set of 4 and are excited to get them deployed. I live in the same area as wvs (already spoken with him - I’m one of the two folks mentioned above). Hopefully we can get some more nodes up and running soon and get connectivity across the river into Philly, and into the NJ burbs!
Thanks to a few of the goTenna mesh members we did some great testing in the Philadelphia and NJ area to build up the mesh network! We were working between several buildings in the area testing signal penetration and moving relays around to see what worked and what did not. Below is the location of two of my permanent relays and one in my truck that I moved around to see how the the area could be best covered.
Added a new relay in the Fishtown/Kensington area four stories up on a roof. Have clear lines of sight into Center City and the Ben Franklin bridge. I’ll start range testing hopefully in the next few weeks.
