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We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

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Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#2
Hi ya'll, so we've spent a few weeks making device software and an android app to convert a $30 chinese gps/radio into a long range mesh radio for hikers. It is working fairly well now (though still an alpha) and we'd love more people to try it and/or have fun coding on it.

We got about 30 users (and some devs from this hackaday article) but we'd love more users and devs to join this happy-happy project:

https://hackaday.com/2020/02/26/lora-mesh-network-with-off-t...

I'm happy to respond to any questions or comments...

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#4
Maybe resubmit this post so the link works. I would love this for music festivals. They have some solutions but they are hundreds of dollars. If people in the group could put this on a backpack it would be a game-changer. Music festivals also have a big problem with internet access. If they could put host a few powerful repeaters in the middle with electrical and have 5% of attendees (staff) with these they could probably cover the entire place. Send out lineup changes or emergency notices.

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#5
post #2

Hi ya'll, so we've spent a few weeks making device software and an android app to convert a $30 chinese gps/radio into a long range mesh radio for hikers. It is working fairly well now (though still an alpha) and we'd love more people to try it and/or have fun coding on it. We got about 30 users (and some devs from this hackaday article) but we'd love more users and devs to join this happy-happy project: https://hack…

That's awesome, this kind of thing was the first idea I had when I saw the LoRa radios, but was far too lazy to start doing :p still have the hardware at home; ill see if I can install it later.

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#6
post #5
post #2

Hi ya'll, so we've spent a few weeks making device software and an android app to convert a $30 chinese gps/radio into a long range mesh radio for hikers. It is working fairly well now (though still an alpha) and we'd love more people to try it and/or have fun coding on it. We got about 30 users (and some devs from this hackaday article) but we'd love more users and devs to join this happy-happy project: https://hack…

That's awesome, this kind of thing was the first idea I had when I saw the LoRa radios, but was far too lazy to start doing :p still have the hardware at home; ill see if I can install it later.

awesome! we'd love to have you join us ;-)

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#8
post #2

Hi ya'll, so we've spent a few weeks making device software and an android app to convert a $30 chinese gps/radio into a long range mesh radio for hikers. It is working fairly well now (though still an alpha) and we'd love more people to try it and/or have fun coding on it. We got about 30 users (and some devs from this hackaday article) but we'd love more users and devs to join this happy-happy project: https://hack…

What frequency band are you using? ISM is the only one that permits store-and-forward / automatic operation, as the gotenna people found.

You say a few miles per node - I am having trouble seeing how that's possible without elevating all the nodes

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