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Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ?

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  Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-05-25 01:46 -0400
    Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-05-25 17:56 +0000
      Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-05-26 01:27 -0400
        Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? TheLastSysop <thelastsysop@dev.null> - 2026-05-26 22:11 +0000
          Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-05-26 23:04 -0400
            Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-05-27 03:21 +0000
              Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-05-27 00:18 -0400
                Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-05-27 07:09 +0000
                  Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-04 17:40 +0100
                    Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-06-04 14:43 -0400
                      Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-06-04 23:09 +0000
                        Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-06-04 23:14 -0400
                          Need for new personal ID numbers Lars Poulsen <lars@beagle-ears.com> - 2026-06-04 20:46 -0700
                            Re: Need for new personal ID numbers c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-06-05 01:29 -0400
                          Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-06-05 04:53 +0000
                            Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-06-05 02:13 -0400
                          Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2026-06-05 09:26 +0100
                            Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-06-05 05:24 -0400
                            Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-06-05 17:36 +0000
              Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-05-27 14:14 +0100
        WiFi range ... Lars Poulsen <lars@beagle-ears.com> - 2026-05-31 21:19 -0700
          Re: WiFi range ... TheLastSysop <thelastsysop@dev.null> - 2026-06-01 04:26 +0000
            Re: WiFi range ... Lars Poulsen <lars@beagle-ears.com> - 2026-06-01 22:44 -0700
        Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2026-06-01 08:10 +0100
          Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? TheLastSysop <thelastsysop@dev.null> - 2026-06-01 07:33 +0000
            Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-06-02 01:35 -0400
          Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-06-02 01:15 -0400
            Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? Lars Poulsen <lars@beagle-ears.com> - 2026-06-01 22:50 -0700
              Re: Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-06-02 03:04 -0400

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#87088 — Recent Experience With RF "Modem-ish" Data Links ?

There WERE some long-time players. Can't find them
anymore.

I'm talking about 400/900 Mhz band "radio modems".
Many can deliver (slow) data over a good mile.

I've seen a few that are USB, but most attach to
whatever you designate as the serial ports on
your PI/Ard/Whatever. They can do RS-232, RS-485
preferably, over a relatively low speed radio link.

Some of the older players, they seem to be gone,
but there ARE more modern providers that offer
small/cheap transceivers.

400 MHz seems best, most range.

Such links are ideal for 'data devices' - where
you don't need live video or anything - just
periodic numbers. Micro-controller like devices,
including most Ards, can work OK on solar power
and only come alive for a moment on timer input.
Built them, chips and solder up, know.

Always DID look at the 'radio modems', but never
had a particular, needed, USE for them.

Note : solar-powered, use the "Lipo-Rider Pro"
power/charge device from Seeed ... most of the
others do NOT reg low-draw voltage very well -
which can get rather high depending on what
yer solar cells receive. Tested many. Amazon
re-sells these. DO pick yer batteries well
however, had ONE explode when I touched it,
months after it had been recharged. Giant
crimson flame and big mass of nasty smoke.
When I retired one employee noted how I just
calmly watched it burn ... well ... nothing
to DO about it until it's done ....  :-)

Put all such batteries into a metal coffee can
marked "HAZARD" when I retired and put it on
an outside shelf. HOPE they found a place to
dump them ..... maybe a six-foot hole in the
ground might be OK .......

Anyway ... NOW I may have a use for RF "modems",
a link to a kind of far-off property site. Do
not need video, MAYbe the odd still image. The
low speed isn't relevant, just the range. WiFi
isn't gonna cut it at all.

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#87115

On Mon, 25 May 2026 01:46:15 -0400, c186282 wrote:

> Anyway ... NOW I may have a use for RF "modems",
> a link to a kind of far-off property site. Do not need video, MAYbe the
> odd still image. The low speed isn't relevant, just the range. WiFi
> isn't gonna cut it at all.

How far off?  The nrf24L01 modules have been around for a long time and 
can go out to 100m. They can be finicky. There are a number of LoRa 
modules with greater range.

https://community.element14.com/technologies/internet-of-things/b/blog/
posts/a-comprehensive-guide-to-lora-modules

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#87130

On 5/25/26 13:56, rbowman wrote:
> On Mon, 25 May 2026 01:46:15 -0400, c186282 wrote:
> 
>> Anyway ... NOW I may have a use for RF "modems",
>> a link to a kind of far-off property site. Do not need video, MAYbe the
>> odd still image. The low speed isn't relevant, just the range. WiFi
>> isn't gonna cut it at all.
> 
> How far off? 


   About 1000 meters.

   NO power utilities there.

   COULD, in theory, get a 5G router - but would
   have to have a much bigger solar power setup.
   The ner-do-wells might SEE it, tear it up.

   This is an eternal modern problem. Did a number
   of field environmental units awhile back, solar,
   5W panels (enough for ARDs that 'sleep' in between
   recordings). But - had to DISGUISE them ... as
   fake veggies. Some mil-OD canvas strips, a little
   brown spray paint, works pretty well. You have to
   get really close to notice them.

   Am interested in 'weather/environ' info and
   maybe still frames from a low-rez THERMAL
   camera. A 'live mic' might be interesting
   even at rather low bandwidth.


> The nrf24L01 modules have been around for a long time and
> can go out to 100m. They can be finicky. There are a number of LoRa
> modules with greater range.
> 
> https://community.element14.com/technologies/internet-of-things/b/blog/
> posts/a-comprehensive-guide-to-lora-modules

   Have no experience with "Lo-Ra" ... though it looks
   pretty good on paper. I think it's popular for
   'smart farm' applications especially.

   The 400mhz band 'modems' can indeed deliver out to
   1000 meters or beyond. As said, not too much SPEED ...
   but I don't need that much speed.

   Radio RS-485 ... 'antique' in some respects, but
   STILL HAS A PLACE. From research it still seems to
   be used in lots of 'industrial' facilities, replacing
   old hard wires. You want decent range and noise immunity.
   485 was 'multi-drop' from the get-go, so you can network
   a bunch of them across your facilities. The lower freq
   penetrates/diffuses-thru buildings much better than WiFi.

   Oh well, at least no 'ground potential' issues like
   with the old hard wires  :-)

   ANYway ... I am interested in the current commercial
   units - there is a selection. Some are serial, some
   plug into USB, think I saw an I2C version. Not sure
   what's "best" for the $$$ now. The old/good brands
   from the distant days seem gone.

   Does anyone have experiences with these newer units ?

   The new IT guy ... very smart with M$ packages but
   hardly any programming/hardware knowledge. That's what
   the new director wanted. Sure my environmental stations
   have rotted away by now. They'd better figure something
   out, eventually the lithiums WILL burst into flame !  :-)

   Note : Switching everything over to M$ (or Apple) cloud
   shit DOES have a big political advantage - if anything
   goes wrong it's NOT OUR FAULT. In short, accept expensive
   CRAP in return for deflecting any blame. This IS what
   it's come to.

   Just wait until Vlad/Xi/Kim declare total cyberwar ...
   those big concerns are gonna go DOWN - hard and
   forever. All your data, all your day-2-day - ZAP.

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#87166

> About 1000 meters.
> NO power utilities there.
> Am interested in 'weather/environ' info and
> maybe still frames from a low-rez THERMAL
> camera. A 'live mic' might be interesting
> even at rather low bandwidth.

For 1 km and a small solar/battery box, split the requirements first.
Weather/environment telemetry is easy. Still frames are possible but slow. A
live microphone is the thing most likely to push you out of the cheap low-power
radio class.

LoRa is a good fit for small packets: sensor readings, battery voltage, status,
alarms, maybe a tiny thumbnail if you are patient. Do not expect it to behave
like slow WiFi. Depending on spreading factor and legal duty cycle limits, a few
kbit/s or less is a more realistic planning number than the headline figures.

The current cheap modules worth looking at are usually UART/SPI LoRa boards
based on Semtech SX127x/SX126x parts. Ebyte E32/E22/E220 style UART modules are
common if you want "serial cable replacement" behavior. Digi XBee/XBee-PRO
900HP, RFD900x, Microhard, FreeWave, etc. are more expensive but more finished
products. Check the band and power limits for your country; 433/868/915 MHz
modules are not interchangeable legally.

A few practical points:

* Use a real outdoor antenna, placed high and dry, before throwing power at the
problem. Fresnel clearance matters even at only 1 km. * Use packets with
sequence numbers and CRCs, not a bare byte stream, even if the radio sells
itself as transparent serial. * If you need multi-drop, handle
addressing/retries in your protocol. "Radio RS-485" boxes often only make a
transparent half-duplex serial link; collision behavior can be ugly. * For
battery life, let the remote node sleep and wake on a schedule. A Pi can work,
but a small MCU plus radio will be much easier to power and hide. * Send
summaries often and images rarely. A tiny thermal frame may be acceptable every
few minutes; audio probably wants a different link.

If you have line of sight, a pair of small directional 2.4/5 GHz outdoor CPE
units can do 1 km easily, but they draw watts continuously and are more visible.
For disguised, low-duty-cycle environmental telemetry, LoRa or a sub-GHz serial
modem is the more natural starting point.

-- 
TheLastSysop <thelastsysop@dev.null>
"I survived the great rm -rf / rehearsal and all I got was this .signature."

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#87171

On 5/26/26 18:11, TheLastSysop wrote:
>> About 1000 meters.
>> NO power utilities there.
>> Am interested in 'weather/environ' info and
>> maybe still frames from a low-rez THERMAL
>> camera. A 'live mic' might be interesting
>> even at rather low bandwidth.
> 
> For 1 km and a small solar/battery box, split the requirements first.
> Weather/environment telemetry is easy. Still frames are possible but slow. A
> live microphone is the thing most likely to push you out of the cheap low-power
> radio class.

   Agree. Periodic "telemetry" can be made very compact, even if
   you just send in ASCII. Less if binary, and there are a few
   cheapo ways to compress further.

   A low-rez video frame ... delivered ON DEMAND while holding
   any other stuff in a buffer if needed ... is do-able.

   Sound ... even at a low bit rate ... is a LOT of info.

   But it'd be cool.

> LoRa is a good fit for small packets: sensor readings, battery voltage, status,
> alarms, maybe a tiny thumbnail if you are patient. Do not expect it to behave
> like slow WiFi. Depending on spreading factor and legal duty cycle limits, a few
> kbit/s or less is a more realistic planning number than the headline figures.
> 
> The current cheap modules worth looking at are usually UART/SPI LoRa boards
> based on Semtech SX127x/SX126x parts. Ebyte E32/E22/E220 style UART modules are
> common if you want "serial cable replacement" behavior. Digi XBee/XBee-PRO
> 900HP, RFD900x, Microhard, FreeWave, etc. are more expensive but more finished
> products. Check the band and power limits for your country; 433/868/915 MHz
> modules are not interchangeable legally.
> 
> A few practical points:
> 
> * Use a real outdoor antenna, placed high and dry, before throwing power at the
> problem. Fresnel clearance matters even at only 1 km. * Use packets with
> sequence numbers and CRCs, not a bare byte stream, even if the radio sells
> itself as transparent serial. * If you need multi-drop, handle
> addressing/retries in your protocol. "Radio RS-485" boxes often only make a
> transparent half-duplex serial link; collision behavior can be ugly. * For
> battery life, let the remote node sleep and wake on a schedule. A Pi can work,
> but a small MCU plus radio will be much easier to power and hide. * Send
> summaries often and images rarely. A tiny thermal frame may be acceptable every
> few minutes; audio probably wants a different link.
> 
> If you have line of sight, a pair of small directional 2.4/5 GHz outdoor CPE
> units can do 1 km easily, but they draw watts continuously and are more visible.
> For disguised, low-duty-cycle environmental telemetry, LoRa or a sub-GHz serial
> modem is the more natural starting point.
> 

   "LoRa" may be the better way to go these days. I'm an old
   fart and thus more familiar with the old serial protocols,
   but that doesn't mean LoRa is inherently evil.

   Now, can I do LoRa with like a higher-end Ard ? PIs are
   nice but they're power hogs, can't 'sleep'. Haven't
   looked into the BeagleBones recently ... DO have a BBB
   in The Heap somewhere though.

   Anyway, property#2 is not physically contiguous with
   property#1 ... so I can't run wires without getting
   sued, or arrested.

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#87172

On Tue, 26 May 2026 23:04:18 -0400, c186282 wrote:

>    Now, can I do LoRa with like a higher-end Ard ? PIs are nice but
>    they're power hogs, can't 'sleep'. Haven't looked into the
>    BeagleBones recently ... DO have a BBB in The Heap somewhere though.

https://store.arduino.cc/products/arduino-mkr-wan-1310

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#87176

On 5/26/26 23:21, rbowman wrote:
> On Tue, 26 May 2026 23:04:18 -0400, c186282 wrote:
> 
>>     Now, can I do LoRa with like a higher-end Ard ? PIs are nice but
>>     they're power hogs, can't 'sleep'. Haven't looked into the
>>     BeagleBones recently ... DO have a BBB in The Heap somewhere though.
> 
> https://store.arduino.cc/products/arduino-mkr-wan-1310


   Ah HA !!!

   Thanks !

   MicroCONTROLLERS generally offer detailed power
   state control - microPROCESSORS, not.

   Have considerable experience using Ards, and the
   low-power library, to collect field data with
   only a very small solar panel.

   The Mega-2560 is the way to go - lots more mem
   and general capability over the Uno. May have
   to lightly tweak a few libs to compensate for
   I/O pin placement.

   Hideous environment - someone still sells the
   'RuggedDurino' 2560 clone - all pins are
   protected against voltage surges.

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#87181

On Wed, 27 May 2026 00:18:23 -0400, c186282 wrote:

>    Have considerable experience using Ards, and the low-power library,
>    to collect field data with only a very small solar panel.

Adafruit has a couple of similar products with the SAM D21 Cortex-M

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3178

The old Unos were great for their day but they have their limits even the 
R4. The nice thing about the Cortex-M designs is most of them have enough 
storage that you can use MicroPython, CircuitPython, or the traditional 
Arduino libraries. Even the Picos with the Arduino Core and Phil 
Hightower's RP2040 library can look like an Arduino.

SparkFun has one too.

https://www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-lora-thing-plus-explorable.html

SparkFun and AdaFruit are in a pissing contest and I tend to favor 
Adafruit. They have a lot of available resources and have done quite a bit 
to promote MCUs. 

There's a MPLAD extension for VS Code that replaces the older Microchip 
IDE if you're a real glutton. Like the C SDK for the Picos I think that's 
a real break glass in case of emergency deal. I'm quite happy with the 
uniformity of the Pythons or Arduino across the various MCUs I want to 
play with. 

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#87504

On 2026-05-27, rbowman wrote:

>
> SparkFun and AdaFruit are in a pissing contest and I tend to favor 
> Adafruit. They have a lot of available resources and have done quite a bit 
> to promote MCUs. 

I'd prefer to avoid starting a discussion on this here, but I wanted to
mention it in case someone here who cares about it is not aware yet:

If there are no decisive criteria for the choice and you or someone else
happen to care about such things, be aware that Adafruit seems to be
attacking people who object to the usage of GenAI, labeling such
criticism as "mysoginy". [1][0] Possibly among other things. [2]

[0] (Yes, that sounds silly, to the extent that I want to carefully
reread the stuff around this to double-check that I'm recalling this
right... so far it seems I am.)


(These are links to Mastodon, and in this case the thread they're in
matters, so, sadly you'll to either use a compatible browser or a lean
client that lets you access all of it, and not just these two specific
posts. https://threadtree.xyz/ at least used to leave attached images
out, and one of these threads makes extensive use of screenshots.)

[1] https://scalie.zone/@aks/116084865162069068
[2] https://digipres.club/@discatte/115588660312186707

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#87512

On 6/4/26 12:40, Nuno Silva wrote:
> On 2026-05-27, rbowman wrote:
> 
>>
>> SparkFun and AdaFruit are in a pissing contest and I tend to favor
>> Adafruit. They have a lot of available resources and have done quite a bit
>> to promote MCUs.
> 
> I'd prefer to avoid starting a discussion on this here, but I wanted to
> mention it in case someone here who cares about it is not aware yet:
> 
> If there are no decisive criteria for the choice and you or someone else
> happen to care about such things, be aware that Adafruit seems to be
> attacking people who object to the usage of GenAI, labeling such
> criticism as "mysoginy". [1][0] Possibly among other things. [2]
> 
> [0] (Yes, that sounds silly, to the extent that I want to carefully
> reread the stuff around this to double-check that I'm recalling this
> right... so far it seems I am.)
> 
> 
> (These are links to Mastodon, and in this case the thread they're in
> matters, so, sadly you'll to either use a compatible browser or a lean
> client that lets you access all of it, and not just these two specific
> posts. https://threadtree.xyz/ at least used to leave attached images
> out, and one of these threads makes extensive use of screenshots.)
> 
> [1] https://scalie.zone/@aks/116084865162069068
> [2] https://digipres.club/@discatte/115588660312186707

   I've used both sources extensively over the years ...
   they both sell good stuff for (usually) decent prices.
   If there's any 'politics' to them, I'm unaware.

   Now if you want the best PV cell power supply + lithium
   charger - SEEED - "Lipo-Rider Pro". It's the only one
   that doesn't put too much voltage on the OUT line if
   there's no/very-low load attached. Used those on lots
   of field data-loggers.

   Seeed also sells lots of other good stuff. MUCH of the
   stuff all three sell is VERY much like what the others
   sell ... maybe a different brand stamp on 'em.

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#87519

On Thu, 4 Jun 2026 14:43:59 -0400, c186282 wrote:

>    I've used both sources extensively over the years ... they both sell
>    good stuff for (usually) decent prices.
>    If there's any 'politics' to them, I'm unaware.

There's a lot of 'he said, she said' but Adafruit had been reselling 
Teensy boards from SparkFun and SparkFun severed the relationship. Fried 
responded with  okay, we'll design our own compatible board and call it 
“Freensy".

The current dust up is with flux.ai. Fried found a misconfiguration on the 
flux site that exposed user data. Flux replied with the big guns:

https://byteiota.com/flux-ai-adafruit-legal-threat-responsible-disclosure/

Maybe Flux thinks any publicity is good publicity but what the publicity 
has bought them so far is people coming forth and saying the flux ai 
sucks.

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#87524

On 6/4/26 19:09, rbowman wrote:
> On Thu, 4 Jun 2026 14:43:59 -0400, c186282 wrote:
> 
>>     I've used both sources extensively over the years ... they both sell
>>     good stuff for (usually) decent prices.
>>     If there's any 'politics' to them, I'm unaware.
> 
> There's a lot of 'he said, she said' but Adafruit had been reselling
> Teensy boards from SparkFun and SparkFun severed the relationship. Fried
> responded with  okay, we'll design our own compatible board and call it
> “Freensy".
> 
> The current dust up is with flux.ai. Fried found a misconfiguration on the
> flux site that exposed user data. Flux replied with the big guns:
> 
> https://byteiota.com/flux-ai-adafruit-legal-threat-responsible-disclosure/
> 
> Maybe Flux thinks any publicity is good publicity but what the publicity
> has bought them so far is people coming forth and saying the flux ai
> sucks.

   As I said somewhere ... a lot of the stuff sold by
   those were REALLY the exact same 3rd-party devices -
   the photos and instructions make that obvious. Doubt
   either corp is actually BUILDING these chips/modules
   itself - they just order generics from China/Taiwan
   and put their own stamp on them.

   This is hardly unusual these days.

   My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD
   displays for my Zeros. I *think* the listed source was
   AdaFruit. They DIDN'T make these in their basement.

   As for 'customer exposure', seems NOBODY, not even the
   biggest tech/bank/comm/gov entities, can keep control of
   their customer data. Vlad and Xi's little soldiers are
   BUSY little soldiers. It's a HUGE HUGE problem that none
   want to admit and it's only getting worse, fast.

   Negative - all your money just disappears. Positive,
   all your DEBTS also disappear. Oh well, dung huts are
   pretty easy to build ......

   Frankly, USA and elsewhere, entirely new ID numbers need
   to be issued like IMMEDIATELY. Inconvenient, but ...

   Welcome to Cyber-War World.

   Heh ... remember when 'online' everything was supposed
   to be our salvation ?  :-)

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#87528 — Need for new personal ID numbers

On 2026-06-04 20:14, c186282 wrote:
>    Frankly, USA and elsewhere, entirely new ID numbers need
>    to be issued like IMMEDIATELY. Inconvenient, but ...
I have been saying for a decade that our Social Security Numbers are 
horribly obsolete. The namespace is already overloaded, where it should 
be large enough to be redundant. To enumerate all US residents, we ought 
to have 12 digits. But I would use a 12-digit subspace from the 16-digit 
number space used for bank cards. The Personal ID can be one 12-digit 
space (4-digit prefix making it 16), EIN can be a second, ABA routing 
codes a third. We can allocate a block for temporary SSN aliases, so we 
can identify ourselves with a different "SSN" for each employer and each 
bank, so only the government can cross-reference and find the whole picture.

But expanding the field from 9 to 16 digits will be a painful transition.
-- 
Lars Poulsen - an old geek in Santa Barbara, California

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#87536 — Re: Need for new personal ID numbers

On 6/4/26 23:46, Lars Poulsen wrote:
> On 2026-06-04 20:14, c186282 wrote:
>>    Frankly, USA and elsewhere, entirely new ID numbers need
>>    to be issued like IMMEDIATELY. Inconvenient, but ...
> I have been saying for a decade that our Social Security Numbers are 
> horribly obsolete. The namespace is already overloaded, where it should 
> be large enough to be redundant. To enumerate all US residents, we ought 
> to have 12 digits. But I would use a 12-digit subspace from the 16-digit 
> number space used for bank cards. The Personal ID can be one 12-digit 
> space (4-digit prefix making it 16), EIN can be a second, ABA routing 
> codes a third. We can allocate a block for temporary SSN aliases, so we 
> can identify ourselves with a different "SSN" for each employer and each 
> bank, so only the government can cross-reference and find the whole 
> picture.
> 
> But expanding the field from 9 to 16 digits will be a painful transition.

   Well, at least SOMEONE understands what I'm saying and why.

   The State, biz, whomever, does NOT want to do this transition
   but at this point it's become URGENT, beyond urgent. Official
   govt paper letters with a verification code with yer NEW
   numbers inside. Social Security and now Medicare are of the
   highest priority.

   Got a call on my cell some weeks back - a number I almost
   never give anybody for anything. Played senile. Pleasant
   woman (or AI) asked me to remember the conversation we
   had a few weeks ago (NEVER). The SCHEME was "Cash For
   Medicare". Then she asked me if I had MediCare. Anybody
   legit already KNOWS. Clue, YOU will never get a penny
   of cash ... they just wanna steal/ruin your number.

   But there are a lot of people who ARE kinda senile and
   WILL be fooled. "Free Money ! GREAT Deal !!!".

   Today, Medicare mail WARNING of exactly these sorts
   of number-pirating schemes ... two months late ....

   Wonder why US govt 'care' funds are going broke ? It's
   because half the money is being diverted to criminals
   and/or Islamist terror orgs. Officials even into
   the US House/Senate seem to be deeply involved. BAD !!!
   Some STATE-level officials, even MORE deeply. Trump
   IS now intensely looking into all this, but it's a
   HUGE problem and everyone covers their butts.

   Also, only ONE store I've encountered where the sales
   terminal CAN deal with >4 digit PIN codes. Hell, even
   5 digits would be a big help. If there are others
   crowding me from behind I often FAKE entering a 5th  :-)

   STILL use an old HDD bag - heavily aluminized plastic -
   in my wallet. RFID stealing is not as common/easy as
   some say, but CAN happen. Can't just use aluminum
   foil - that starts to disintegrate fast. MAYBE if
   you sprayed it with a few coats of urethane paint ?

   Hmmm ... DID see very thin sheets of "Mu-Metal" sold
   someplace ... Amazon ??? Even 0.001 would be good
   enough.

   Anyway, the Old Number Schemes are seriously obsolete
   and compromised. Different, and slightly longer, numbers
   for everything ARE imperative - NOW.

   Finally, STILL get most all of my significant financial
   statements ON OFFICIAL PAPER - something tangible I can
   jam in people's faces, Just In Case.

   In the old days the barbarians would raid your village
   and physically steal your stuff. NOW it's easier.

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#87535

On Thu, 4 Jun 2026 23:14:27 -0400, c186282 wrote:

>    My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD displays for my
>    Zeros. I *think* the listed source was AdaFruit. They DIDN'T make
>    these in their basement.

Smart move, getting the backpack model. The older ones eat up a lot of 
pins. 

They're smaller but the SSD1306 OLEDs are I2C and a lot more flexible. 

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#87539

On 6/5/26 00:53, rbowman wrote:
> On Thu, 4 Jun 2026 23:14:27 -0400, c186282 wrote:
> 
>>     My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD displays for my
>>     Zeros. I *think* the listed source was AdaFruit. They DIDN'T make
>>     these in their basement.
> 
> Smart move, getting the backpack model. The older ones eat up a lot of
> pins.
> 
> They're smaller but the SSD1306 OLEDs are I2C and a lot more flexible.

   OLEDs eat up more power - and don't last as long.

   Happy with plain old LCD. Those can last 20 years.

   I2C is kinda 'crude', but CAN serve quite well
   for a number of little devices. Also gonna add
   a "1-wire" temperature sensor. Made a lot of
   those in the past.

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#87546

c186282 wrote:

> My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD
> displays for my Zeros.
Well nobody would set out to use HD44780 based displays except for 
legacy reasons.

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#87547

On 6/5/26 04:26, Andy Burns wrote:
> c186282 wrote:
> 
>> My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD
>> displays for my Zeros.
> Well nobody would set out to use HD44780 based displays except for 
> legacy reasons.

   Don't CARE if they're old or new, so long
   as they're cheap and work easily. All I
   want is a slow scroll of maybe half a
   dozen stats - not video games.

   Long back used Seetron serial displays.
   NOT cheap - but worked well and were
   easy to use with a wide variety of
   micro-controllers.

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#87555

On Fri, 5 Jun 2026 09:26:31 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

> c186282 wrote:
> 
>> My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD displays for my
>> Zeros.
> Well nobody would set out to use HD44780 based displays except for
> legacy reasons.

Many of the kits for Picos, Arduinos, and so forth include them in all 
their 16 pin glory. SunFounder, and i think Eleego, come with a I2C 
'backpack' installed.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/292

They also tend to include 4 digit 7 segment displays to test your ability 
to stick DuPont wires in the right holes.

https://projecthub.arduino.cc/SAnwandter1/programming-4-digit-7-segment-
led-display-5c4617

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#87196

On 27/05/2026 04:21, rbowman wrote:
> On Tue, 26 May 2026 23:04:18 -0400, c186282 wrote:
> 
>>     Now, can I do LoRa with like a higher-end Ard ? PIs are nice but
>>     they're power hogs, can't 'sleep'. Haven't looked into the
>>     BeagleBones recently ... DO have a BBB in The Heap somewhere though.
> 
> https://store.arduino.cc/products/arduino-mkr-wan-1310
> 
Pico Pis can me made to sleep with the addition of a TPL5110 nanotimer.

I am looking at over a year battery life on 3xAA  lithium primaries.


-- 
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the 
urge to rule it.”
– H. L. Mencken

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