Solarbird 

no #baking today, instead i hiked up to the top of the hill and surveyed antenna pole locations

i think i can work out a reasonable path up there with a weedeater, but the problem is there are a bunch of trees at the hilltop and i don't know how much radio that'll eat

(and it'll be different hf/vhf/uhf of course; right now i'm more concerned with uhf than anything else but, you know, options are good)

but there's also a lower place and easier to reach place where i could mount a pole on top of a retaining wall. it'd need more height there but it has a peek-a-boo view south which _could_ let me straight-line to seattle assuming various terrain maps are correct

#radio #gmrs #AmateurRadio #AntennaConstruction #antenna

Mar 2 at 12:04amWeb
Show threadSolarbird Mar 2

curious ebay fact:

search for "25' telescoping flag pole" and you get lots of flagpoles which show one american flag and one right-wing flag, usually the blue-stripe fascist cop flag or the gadsen flag

search for "25' telescoping antenna pole" and you get poles purely for radio but also some that can be used for both, and those have a US and _California Republic_ flags. (Or in one case US and a polar bear flag, whatever that's for.)

Show threadAndresMar 2

RE: https://social.ridetrans.it/@Andres4NY/116094212553896384

@moira Yeah, I similarly noticed a lot of blue fascist flags when I went looking for smaller garden flag holders.

Show threadSpacecat🐈‍⬛Mar 2
@moira good luck, can you throw a rope over a branch type deal and hoist the antenna up at the top of the hill?
Show threadSolarbird Mar 2
@spacecat I can't see how that'd be stable tho'
Show threadSpacecat🐈‍⬛Mar 2
@moira I think you are much more knowledgeable than me about antenna positioning but I like the idea of a tall tree signal booster. Just got into meshcore with a couple sensecap cards and have been thinking about radio more.
Show threadSolarbird Mar 2

@spacecat oh I want to do that too, I can fill in a really big gap from a much less aggressive location and once my neighbour who is more into that than I am gets ready to do their next bit, I'm gonna join up on that too.

#radio #meshcore

Show threadNeil E. HodgesMar 2
@moira Are you documenting your progress on this? It sounds so cool!
Show threadSolarbird Mar 2
@tk a little? here? arguably? xD
Show threadTroubleMar 2
@moira check your fresnel zone, line of sight isn't always good enough