Question before ordering

1

What I would like to do, is set up 3 TTGO Meshtastic T-Beam. One on top of a hill and the other two on an old android phone. Is this the best and easy own to use for a beginner?


Will also be putting ATAK on the phone a long with the Meshtastic App, it will all be off grid.
Thank you
2

That device would be good. Make sure you choose the frequency that is appropriate for your country. US=915MHz and I believe 433MHz. Europe is 868 I believe. Let’s hope someone from other regions will chime in to confirm regional frequencies, but that is the correct device.

The OLED screen will not be soldered on when you get it, but it is not difficult to do.

Scott

3

Is there one with the screen already Soldered on and has the Meshtastic on it already? I’m in the USA

4

I have six T-Beams and I have never received one with the screen already soldered in place. You can use them without a screen, but I always put one on even if I don’t really need it. If you really don’t want to do any soldering, you might be able to:

  • find a makerspace in your area where someone could solder it for you (could be hard because of C19)
  • might be someone here in the group that is also in your area that could do it
  • practice soldering a bit and do it yourself, adding a valuable skill to your repetoire.
  • find a ham radio operator or club in your area, many members would be happy to do this for you.

Let’s see if anyone else jumps in here.

5

I can solder pretty good I was just seeing if one came with it already. Is there anything else I should order with it that I would have wished I ordered it, instead of waiting another month for it to come in.

6

If you don’t already have some, I would purchase one flat-top18650 lithium cell for each TBeam. There seems to be quite a bit of variation and/or hype in the quality of these cells. Maybe someone can recommend a good, reasonably priced source for dependable cells.

7

I had a couple of Ridgid 4AH drill batteries that each had 1 dead cell. This left me with a dozen good individual 18650s, but 2 useless tool batteries. These ended up being a Samsung INR18650-15M. So far seem to perform decent, and I couldnt argue with the price.

Another place to look would be in a laptop battery that only lasts 10 minutes. Most likely the same case, 1 dead cell out of the 6.