I did not blow up my third mesh radio
After destroying two low-power mesh radio boards (RAK boards) thanks to bad builds and antenna problems, I finally built one that I did not destroy. So far it works!
Mesh radios are small radios which communicate text messages over long distances by passing the data from one radio to another. The protocol I am using on this board is Meshtastic. A friend and I are experimenting with these boards for fun right now, however some people genuinely use them for communicating in areas with no cell infrastructure. (Some people also invest in them for prepper reasons.)
Here is a picture of my final creation - a $15 e-ink radio board that I stuck into a tupperware using Sugru.
I ended up choosing a Heltec Wireless Paper board rather than another RAK board - partially because it was cheaper but also because the kit comes with two plastic sandwich boards and standoffs to protect the chip with. This made it a lot easier for me to secure the board inside the tupperware, and to protect the IPEX connection which attaches the board to the antenna. So far I haven't had a broken antenna connector problem with this board, so I haven't destroyed the radio, so it still works. Lesson learned!!
I made the holes in the tupperware using a drill bit and a ceramic knife we have in the house. I'm genuinely not sure how or why we have this knife, but it's very sharp and has been good at widening holes in the plastic. I started the holes with the drill and then set them to the correct size by carefully cutting the plastic with this knife.
When I'm trying to use it, I close the tupperware. Ideally I can mount the tupperware to things using something even as simple as packing tape. I'm currently trying to look for a good place to mount it, and I'll probably eventually have a friend 3D-print a better housing for it.
The radio works! It can receive transmissions from other nodes. I have had a hard time getting my radios to talk to one another while they're in the same room, but it seems to be functional. I am treating this node as a base station - using the Client Base setting - and treating my other node as a Client Mute node. This is "good manners" on the Meshtastic protocol and avoids congesting the mesh.
Anyway... this is a dumb but ultimately very cheap hobby for me right now. I got the tupperware as a gift from my aunt almost a decade ago. The antenna cost about nine dollars. The board cost 15, and came with the SMA connector for the antenna. I can message my friend dumb shit but only when he is in visible line-of-sight of the antenna, haha. It's been fun messing around with this stuff!