BsFrance Helium

So, like many folks during all the hoopla that was happening in the world 2021 popped up and I decided I need to get back to my tinkering roots and get my head out of work as we were going strong, being a CNA with D.D. Adults, there was not much of a change except more work and fires to put out.

The answer came in the form of Helium, and not the precious gas we seem to use in almost scientific applications in one way or another. The People's Network an emerging IoT and now 5G decentralized network that has grown to 1, 563, 501. IoT hotspots.

I was hooked, with a background in old-school router flashing with the DD-WRT project and messing with antennas previously to get some optimum range it felt like that cozy jacket you forgot you had hiding on the back of the rack.

I ended up getting some basic advice from a close friend on how to get started and then proceeded to talk myself into going all in with it. A few hotspots later and a small handful of random boards in hand I was determined to get everything understood and work for some bigger projects in the hopes that it would make a greater impact on the planet someday. I fell in love with the Long Hive Project initially, as I have seen firsthand the decline and impact bees have on the ecosystem as a whole it hit home, and currently have tentative plans to use the tech in this project to bring some bee health back for Northern AZ to help with the whole native plant regeneration movement that has been taking place the last several years.

Fast Forward six months and things are just amazingly further than I had expected or anticipated. Everything is working and progress is being made, wonderful. Except for this board, it worked from all the tests I put it through, however, I was not able to get it talking on the network, total lack of knowledge on my part. So I started getting involved with the open events and getting a feel of where I needed to go. By chance and the graces of the universe, Teague took me in and led me to the path and said "This is the way if want to progress" and dropped Platfromio on me. I had run across it before but didn't want to dive into the complexity of it. So we did what anyone would do. Had to see it through and started hammering away at picking back up C after a several-year python and python family stint. Hit The F.F. Button to a cool October day and it all clicks, after weeks and weeks of combing through data sheets, blogs, and code I was finally able to piece something together that worked like it actually did the thing it was supposed to do. In a beautiful song, Ani Difranco Asks "What kind of gauge can quantify elation?" and I felt that. Both in life and the quiet times in between there is really only one way to have an accurate hold on things, and that is to be present in all things but mostly for you. Be there for you and bet on you, wise words, some might call it $.02 but it can make you or break you.

Don't be afraid to sort or wade through the B.S. to find the good and good-ones in life, it's too short, and too many variables and random resets that can be out of your control.

Hope everyone gets out there and learns to break and fix something today, whenever you are reading this.