My buddy 3D printed the case for me and I bought the rest of the supplies via the link below.
Added a bit of silicone to the antenna mount to ensure no moisture gets in.
Works great!
https://www.printables.com/model/1612417-heltec-v4-car-node-18650-meshtastic-meshcore
I'm 43. I have always fantasized about having my own “command center” like I'd seen in the movies. Equipment everywhere, dials, buttons, blinking lights and analog meters. The sounds of radio comms flowing through speakers as important looking data flashed across multiple screens.
I have many childhood memories of stacking up tv’s, monitors, and any electronic equipment I could find and building a wall of gear, then pretending to do important stuff while loading floppy disks into my old Atari and playing rudimentary text based games.
I always wanted my own Bat Cave like in 1989’s Batman. I used to wrap aluminum foil around torn up umbrellas and wire them up to cheap walkie talkies. I had no idea what I was doing but one day I started intercepting my neighbors cordless phone calls. I felt like a spy or a hacker!
I then started playing instruments and fell inove with recording and audio engineering. I ended up going to school for that in fact, and spent most of my young adult life in the music business.
I had an uncle in another state who was a ham. One time I got to visit his house when I was maybe 10 years old and I got to see his radio room. I sat in the dark with him and listened to a numbers station. It both terrified and fascinated me. I thought about it all the time. If I ever saw a movie that featured amateur radio equipment I'd become transfixed by it.
Still though, I never considered getting into radio as a hobby.
Then, when inqas in my late 30s we had an incident that resulted in no cell phone, data, or tv service for several days. I felt totally cut off. Afterward I started looking into other ways of communicating with the outside world. I got a CB radio and played around with 11 meter sideband. Then it was GMRS. Then I buckled down and got my technician ticket and built a uhf/vhf, but I found myself wanting more. I had a itch that I couldn't scratch.
So, I got my General.
HF changed everything.
I was talking all over the country, the world.
All of a sudden, one day I looked around and thought “Im a ham now? How'd that happen?”
The signs were always there I guess.
Anyway, now I've got my Bat Cave.
My action movie command center.
My knobs, dials, lights and buttons.
I also found my imagination again in the process.
I should have my Extra by the end of the summer.
What a crazy journey its been so far.
…and what a cool community of kindred spirits.