A GTM in normal use does two things: it relays mesh signals, and identifies with the ID of the controlling mobile device. In relay-only mode the GTM is not ping-able because it takes on no ID. Interestingly if you had paired with one particular unit, and then you put it into relay mode, you could still connect to the unit to monitor battery levels.
In contrast, if you were paired in normal mode but then went out of Bluetooth range for a while, you could still ping the GTM because it retains the ID of your unit. I have used this to do temporary range tests, but I haven’t felt comfortable permanently leaving the unit like this because anyone walking near it could change the ID by freshly pairing to it.
Some will leave an available, powered mobile device near a node to lend pingability. The local device keeps the pairing pretty secure. In my case I have a solar powered GTM node on a pole on my house roof. I can also connect to it with a tablet inside the house, and so I can do range tests to the house. This has worked quite well.
@MikeL has discussed this and uses a more complicated setup where he pings a node on the mesh that is out of direct range and uses knowledge of his position and the available modes in range to confirm working relay-only nodes.
So I tried pinging a few of the stationary relays listed on the node map from my roof top deck in upper Queen Anne (unobstructed view of city) and was unable to ping any of them. Is the MOAN still operational?
I don’t check often, but I did get a “Shout” saying “Test from Queen Anne”. Last 2-digits of the GID (and presumably phone number) are “94” if that’s you?
If you want to try hitting this stationary radio, you can message “92170719116170” to receive a confirmation of delivery.
I’m going to set up another relay next week. If that was you that hit my relay from upper Queen Anne to Belltown - and I’m hoping to hop between the two relays I already have to lead all the way downtown (at least Pacific Place).
Yep that was me. If Gotenna accepts any feature requests it would be nice to see some way of confirming network connectivity, until now I had no idea that I was able to connect to any part of the network. It would be ideal to be able to send out a ping and get back the number of devices within 1 hop, that way I would know that messages are getting out.
If you send a direct message to me instead of a Shout, it should tell you how many hops it took to get to me. Since a Shout does not get relayed, you were clearly within a direct connection (which is pretty impressive). But it may reveal any hops between. If you’re connected now, I can send you a message to see.
Thank you @MikeL for your discussion of new relay node adjustment issues (Urbana thread). I am slowly trying to develop some coverage in the area around my house in the Bothell area. Although the hilly Seattle region creates challenges for coverage, it has advantages too when you are able to put relay nodes up on the tops of hills. I can easily do hops out 5 miles away. Now I need to expand my group of friends in high places!
One or two friends in high places can really extend your reach. So far, I’ve not had much luck with that here on the Silicon Prairie, so have had to rely on lots of short-legged hops. That works when you have lots of friends.
OK, so I tried pinging your device as well as sending a direct message to it from the same location you received my shout before but they never go through, and in the past week I’ve tried similar experiments from various locations such as in downtown Seattle and on Tiger Mountain but with the same results. I will continue to experiment but I wonder if there’s some bug in the app or something. I’m also curious if anyone else in Seattle is able to send a message to the above GID and get different results.
I tried messaging you as well, but it didn’t go through. I’m going to try and set up a new radio near Cinerama next week. If you leave your radio on in a high-up area, I can try messaging you from time to time if you’d like to test range.
Put in another goTenna near Cinerama. It’s GID is my phone number, so don’t want to broadcast it here, but I can share via DM if anyone wants to ping it to test range.
@snlsn if / when you do ping that one GID, try spamming it. When testing range, I’ll typically send “test1”, “test2”, “test3” - so I can gauge message drop rates. They often do go through, but the confirmation doesn’t make it back. But I can validate here if you try again.
I will be in town for the Seafair Air Show August 1-4th. I will have a few of my goTenna Mesh units with me, is there anyone else planing on attending seafair and panning on using their goTenna?
Unsure if I’ll attend, but I have a few radios through downtown you’re welcomed to use as repeaters. They’re available on the node map with a UID to my primary radio if you want to test range.
I have gotten a few shouts from folks somewhat recently - but I don’t check it often enough to reply promptly. I suspect most are from cruise ships. “Radio check” from a local number ending in “47” and a couple messages from folks that appear to be from the Chicago area: “Deck 16 port aft” and “Hey”.
Sounds good, I will be staying at a Air B and B close to the event, I am planing on leaving a powered node at the house as well as having at least two with us at the event.
Got some additional radios and set up the relay near Cinerama downtown with a phone so people can also ping it for range testing. GID: 9925 0837 3137 37. Node map updated.
I believe the MOAN is down, but haven’t been able to validate. Is anyone able to test this? If it is down, it may be helpful to remove it from the map since it gives the impression of unrealistic coverage.
Yeah that would have been me. I think there may be some sort of bug in the software – I switched my main phone from a phone # to a GID and there was definitely some wonkiness in the UI as a result – that may be the cause. I think if I delete the chats and try again it might clear the requisite state.
@nickandre15 tried sending 10 test messages to your SLU node from Belltown near the waterfront. Didn’t get any replies.
Trying now at my node near Cinerama and they are also not being confirmed delivered. Belltown was 10 messages of “Test 1”, “Test 2”, etc so you can gauge rough % delivered if any made it through. Similar with “Cinerama 1” up to 10.
