Dear all,
I am running a wAP LR8 on the country-side in France running on the thethings.network
I wonder if this would be of any interest in joining the Helium network?
My network is composed of a NAS running docker 64 bit and the wAP LR8.
Do you have any experience in joining the Helium Network.
Is this of any interest except for mining?
Kind regards,
Ffries
I found this information:
https://docs.helium.com/mine-hnt/full-hotspots/become-a-maker/basic-miner-operation/
I still don’t understand howto connect to the wAP LR8 …
I guess the relevant project would be:
https://github.com/helium/gateway-rs
Unfortunately, there is no package for Mikrotik wAP LR8.
I am completely lost. I don’t understand why at some point the wAP LR8 should not be connected to the Helium Network.
Or is it incompatible? Please advise.
To make sure I understand, in the wap-LR8 documentation it is written:
https://mikrotik.com/product/wap_lr8_kit
wAP LR8 kit – an out-of-the-box solution to use LoRa® technology. This kit contains a pre-installed UDP packet forwarder to any public or private LoRa® servers
So it means that if I am able to run an Helium and data and packet routing gateway, I will be able to connect the wAP LR8 kit to my Gateway?
Do I need to contact support about this issue or can someone help me understand what is needed?
I registered the feature request to add Helium support to the wAP LR8/LR9, at least using the Helium Light Gateway
https://github.com/helium/gateway-rs
SUP-111738
I would appreciate Mikrotik to give the community information about a possible Helium support in near future.
Dear Friends,
I made some progress in understanding the Helium Network and its recent evolution.
At present, Helium Full hotspot need to synchronize the blockchain and this can take 2 or 3 days. Also this is very resource consuming and cannot work on the long term as the blockchain would be huge. So the Helium community decided to move to a new system where the blockchain would be managed on a separate server, i.e. your own NAS with Docker or vendors themselves. This is what gateway-rs is all about. I am trying t install it on my NAS with Docker and will keep you informed.
https://github.com/helium/gateway-rs
Gateways running gateway-rs provided by vendors are called “Light hotspots”. They are able to get rewards for proof of coverage. They are the future of Helium gateways. Full hotspots will soon stop working as they are a no-go solution.
Third-party hotspots like the wAP LR8/LR9 connecting to Gateway-rs are called “data-only gateways”. They only receive rewards from data transfers. No proof of wireless coverage.
The good news are that apparently the Mikrotik wAP LR8/LR9 can be used on the Helium network without modification. If Mikrotik decides to provide gateway-rs and follow the certification process the wAP can become a light gateway. If Mikrotik does nothing to join the Helium community, we can use gateway-rs on a NAS or a Raspbery Pie or on the Cloud and make it as a data-only gateway.
Helium vendors provide Raspberry Pies and the like. The wAP LR is superior as it consumes less power and is cooler (important under the sun in an outdoor environment). So the market is FULLY OPEN to Mikrotik if interested in selling 500.000 units.
I hope I don’t get it wrong, please correct me if needed.
Hello,
After some investigation I realized that the Helium network could be a Ponzi Scheme.
50% of nodes are now down. Buyers invested in expansive stations, sometime around 500 USD.
The money was concerted to HNK crypto and this was used to reward communications between stations.
Some nodes even do not exist and are spoofed with a false GPS location just to earn money.
There is no or very little real traffic on the Helium network.
So I prefer to shut this discussion here, maybe an admin can lock this discussion.
Sorry for opening the topic.
Well, likely not alone, 25K views of a Bobcat+Helium posting: http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/bobcat-miner-300-relayed/154400/1
Always wondered who the end-user customers would be for a Helium network. A gateway like the wAP LR’s isn’t very expense if you’re already invested in some LoRa sensors…