CalChip RAK HotSpot Miner v2

Helium Network Crypto Currency Miner

CalChip RAKMiner v2
The RAK x2 HNT Hotspot Crypto Miner

This is truly fascinating! A friend of mine very recently brought this to my attention. He says “How would you like to establish a passive income stream?” Huh? He goes on to say “he thought I might be interested since it involves radios”. At first, when I heard “Crypto Currency Miner” I was a bit skeptical, and pictured some expensive little rig like this. However, my friend Andrew knows his stuff, and explained it to me quite clearly. He pointed me in the direction of some reference and network info so I could get a better understanding of the opportunity.

In a nutshell: The Helium network (aka The People’s Network) is designed to support IoT (Internet of Things) devices like smart home appliances, logistics, and many types of tracking applications, smart doorbells, you name it.

It’s a big business emerging! There are more “Smart” devices entering the marketplace every day!

What is Helium?

Helium is a global, distributed network of Hotspots that create public, long-range wireless coverage for LoRaWAN-enabled IoT devices. Hotspots produce and are compensated in HNT, the native cryptocurrency of the Helium blockchain. The Helium blockchain is a new, open source, public blockchain created entirely to incentivize the creation of physical, decentralized wireless networks. Today, the Helium blockchain, and its tens of thousands of Hotspots, provide access to the largest LoRaWAN Network in the world.

How does it pay?

The Helium Network pays people to install network hotspots in their home and business locations. In return, the hotspot owner is paid rewards in $HNT (Helium Crypto Currency) based on the number of transactions the hotspot “hears” and participates in. They pay folks to install the hotspots so they don’t need to build all that network infrastructure. Pretty smart.

Why even bother to try it?

I’ll tell you why I decided to install a Helium Network hotspot. For me it was simple. First, I looked here and zoomed in on my location on the map so I could see where other hotspots in my area were located. Then, I checked to see what the nearest two hotspots were being paid in rewards.

Much to my surprise the closest hot spot mined 75.42 HNT in the past 30 days. Considering the current value of HNT is roughly $16.32 (as of this writing) that means 75.42 x 16.32 = $1230.85 Yep! That’s what I said too!

I thought WOW! that’s interesting, so I checked the next closest hotspot. (be sure you click on the “Rewards” tab to see the hotspots earnings!) This hotspot showed a lot more activity than the first one. This tells me he probably has a high gain outdoor antenna, and probably enjoys a significant height advantage. Whatever his advantages may be, his earnings speak for themselves.

Now for the Wow!

As you can see in the link above, the second nearby hotspot has earned 410.51 HNT over the past 30 days. Today, that’s 410.51 x 16.32 = $6699.52. The main reason these earnings are so much higher is because this second hotspot is “witnessing” transactions, issuing and responding to “Challenges” and passing IoT data onto the network, all that in addition to providing “Proof of Coverage” for surrounding hotspots. This miner also communicates with several more surrounding hotspots than the miner in the first example..

I’m entering this game to PLAY and WIN! You all know by now, I don’t usually take the ‘small’ approach to things…Hi Hi! With my planned height advantage, ultra high gain omnidirectional outdoor antenna, and my “Line of Sight” location to that high earning hotspot, I should do great, doing exactly the same things his hotspot is doing. With my advantages in place I will be conducting TONS of transactions. Not only that, my location is in the clear in a very good location for residential and commercial data traffic. Judging by my surroundings on the network map, I am getting in on the “Ground Floor” so to speak.

I’m in! I Ordered the RAK V2 Hardware!

I ordered the CalChip Connect RAK V2 hardware last week, I should get it by the end of the next quarter. I am also installing a 50 foot antenna mast to support the 915mhz ISM band (10dbi) high gain antenna. That’s right, just add some ultra low loss coax, and I’ll be ready to mine! ….errr, I mean, build the network!

THERE’S A LOT MORE TO IT

If you have any questions I’ll do my best to answer, or check with Andrew for you. There’s more than enough info available online to make an informed decision. As of today, so far, there are only 36,535 hotspots on the network. This number is expected to climb to over 200,000 hotspots in the coming months, and upward from there.

They say HNT could rise in value to 10x its current value. Can you imagine mining 415 HNT every 30 days at 10x today’s value!

5G Hotspots will be next…

I’ll be in the 5G game also. I will install a 5G hotspot as soon as the hardware becomes available. I will provide network access to mobile devices in my coverage area. There are even better rewards for putting up a 5G hotspot.

Who would have ever thought I’d end up mining crypto using radios!

I’ll post results here, good or bad, for anyone interested to see how this turns out. The investment cost of the RAK V2 miner is more or less insignificant (<$500). Worst case scenario, I will repurpose the Raspberry Pi hardware into another project. However I think it’s more likely that I’ll be purchasing additional hotspots, than repurposing.

Back To The Front

Author: K6HR

Licensed since 1994. Active on HF / VHF / UHF / Satellite.