Building the gateway

Mike Hibbett

The Things Network User

Posted on 11-06-2017

Here's the Marino gateway nearing completion. I'm running it in the workshop at the moment so I can test it, while I wait for free time to build the colinear antenna based on this design: https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/diy-external-antenna-for-gateway/3011/17

The HAmmond enclosure works very well, it's just the right size to include a small PCB for converting the PowerOverEthernet (POE) DC voltage back down to 5v. I'll be sending 12V up the cat5 cable, and using a small switching regulator to bring that back down to 5V.

I've been experimenting with TTNMapper: https://ttnmapper.org/ a great website and mobile phone app to help assess coverage of the gateway. Thanks to Philip for suggesting it. It shows my gateway range is very poor, but thats because it is at ground level with a tiny antenna. Things should soon change!