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An Introduction to Meshtastic

meshtastic.org

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Re: An Introduction to Meshtastic

#31

Post by Cyan488 »

varispeed wrote: post #26
Cyan488 wrote: post #8

I had never heard of this before, then last week I watched a video about it and was hooked. Now I'm seeing it everywhere! Meshtastic and Meshcore are both cool LoRa-based mesh text messaging that operate in an no-license-required band. While this limits your transmit power, it doesn't prohibit encryption - the inverse of most ham radio rules! Some cities have thriving communities of Meshtastic and/or Meshcore. You ca…

So you have the mesh and then what? Do people communicate to distribute prohibited anti-government propaganda or is it a network of people who otherwise be too shy to talk to each other by other means? What is the use case?

Just like ham radio, it's a an interesting technical hobby for those that may get excited when their little 0.25W radio hits a repeater 80km away.

More practically, I'm going to try it out while camping this summer. In areas with low or no cell coverage, my phone is useless or dies quickly. Throw a repeater in a tree, and hand your friends nodes.

Re: An Introduction to Meshtastic

#32

Post by laurowyn »

varispeed wrote: post #26
Cyan488 wrote: post #8

I had never heard of this before, then last week I watched a video about it and was hooked. Now I'm seeing it everywhere! Meshtastic and Meshcore are both cool LoRa-based mesh text messaging that operate in an no-license-required band. While this limits your transmit power, it doesn't prohibit encryption - the inverse of most ham radio rules! Some cities have thriving communities of Meshtastic and/or Meshcore. You ca…

So you have the mesh and then what? Do people communicate to distribute prohibited anti-government propaganda or is it a network of people who otherwise be too shy to talk to each other by other means? What is the use case?

> What is the use case?

It's primarily just an experimental system. Demonstrating that fixed infrastructure isn't actually necessary to communicate.

Beyond that, it's a mixture of HAM radio for communicating with people outside of your immediate circle, and disaster prep.

The best realistic scenario I can see for using it is after a sever weather event like hurricane, tornado, tsunami, etc. that takes out significant comms equipment. Having an ad-hoc network pop up using battery powered nodes able to setup a secure comms channel to organise aid deliveries would be a powerful tool. But existing infrastructure is resilient enough that it's not actually necessary in modern times.

Beyond that, it's probably more of an IoT type thing. Setup a bunch of nodes across a significant area of land, run machinery, sensors, etc. remotely via a self-healing mesh network.

Re: An Introduction to Meshtastic

#33

Post by konart »

perarneng wrote: post #18

In russia they have limited internet now. something like mestastic is something everyone would need to make sure we could have communication even though someone tried to limit it.

Are you trying about cross-border communication in event where the internet is somehow blocked near the border?

Re: An Introduction to Meshtastic

#35

Post by tomjen3 »

varispeed wrote: post #26
Cyan488 wrote: post #8

I had never heard of this before, then last week I watched a video about it and was hooked. Now I'm seeing it everywhere! Meshtastic and Meshcore are both cool LoRa-based mesh text messaging that operate in an no-license-required band. While this limits your transmit power, it doesn't prohibit encryption - the inverse of most ham radio rules! Some cities have thriving communities of Meshtastic and/or Meshcore. You ca…

So you have the mesh and then what? Do people communicate to distribute prohibited anti-government propaganda or is it a network of people who otherwise be too shy to talk to each other by other means? What is the use case?

Being nerdy.

But also you don’t build these things when you need them (it will be too late), you need to build them before you need them.

Re: An Introduction to Meshtastic

#36

Post by joemazerino »

robotswantdata wrote: post #16

Love meshtastic. There’s something about the setup friction that has the vibe of early internet, select community, high signal, nobody trying to monetize your attention.

Agreed. And opt-in. Early internet access required some knowledge about computers.

Re: An Introduction to Meshtastic

#37

Post by AyyEye »

juancn wrote: post #23

I find it weird that the hop limit is 3 bits, wouldn't that limit the effective range a lot? Unless an intermediate node lies and doesn't decrement and retransmits anyway.

It's flood routed. 3 bits is probably far past what is practical, except in very linear low-node-count networks.

Re: An Introduction to Meshtastic

#38

Post by yardie »

I've been using Meshtastic for years. Still have a few Heltec v2 nodes running. It's been a lot of fun. It also encouraged me to get my HAM license since most of the local meshtastic/meshcore users are also in the radio clubs.

It reminds me of the early internet. In the early 90s the entire list of URLs could fill a notebook. And it was my first exposure to P2P nets. Meshtastic is a bit like that where it doesn't work well until you have a large enough community of nodes and gateways.

Re: An Introduction to Meshtastic

#39

Post by axegon_ »

I have a node running 24/7 (I also happen to be hosting one of the dozen or so things network nodes in my city) and while the idea is great, the adoption is close to 0. In a city with a 2+ million residents, I see a handful of users, as in less than 10. Same with the things network actually.
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