u/Audiopod

Hey Everyone,

I’m still fairly new to Meshtastic, so I’m looking for some suggestions from people who have built more permanent installs.

I bought a pair of small Heltec nodes and have played with them a bit, but they have mostly been isolated since there are not many other nodes near me.

Through an unrelated work project, I may have an opportunity to mount a Meshtastic node or small setup at the top of a water tower.

What would you do considering:

• Budget is around $600
• Needs to be solar/battery powered.
• There are basically no restrictions on hardware, antenna, enclosure, etc.
• Physical access after installation would be rare
• It might only be reachable again when other public safety radio equipment on the tower needs service

Given those constraints, what would you build and mount up there?

The goal would be a reliable long-term elevated node, not just a temporary experiment.