Meshtastic is neat and I always contemplate building a node for fun. However, I’ve yet to see many practical uses for it beyond maybe texting while hiking.
Well I had many blogs about how to add sensors etc. Mostly I personally use it as walkie talkie but also I have seen people use it as a tracker for pets, and motion sensors at home maybe. I use it for temp sensor in each room in a handheld and I will take out for hikes etc.
Seems like this could be very useful if in a country with poor communication systems or a wartorn area. Also worth saving (print it out perhaps) if in the US and Trump becomes king.
It’s best use is alternative communications in a disaster, where the mobile network is affected. Or if a dictator decides to shut it off during a protest.
Overall it could work well as a communications means for activists in street protests since these often overload networks by sheer volume of users concentrated in one spot.
CalTopos Viewshed layer is also a handy tool, it’s purely viewshed so no RSSI calculations, but it’s great for figuring out where a good spot for an antenna would be.
In my local area, we were able to get a mile or so with line of sight. And the price (less than 50 for 2) without soldering is a pretty good deal for a beginner. It also comes with a case.
You can also get the www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTXL61LY?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_… or add in a battery later on. Its meant to be a beginners kit because you an check to see if it works easily and its upgrade-able in almost all parts. We have close to 20 members in our local group (its a whole lot of fun) and almost everyone starts with one of these.
Its more for testing it out to make sure it works. But yeah I have an outdoor one and an indoor one. So I can message and receive pretty easy plus help the local network.
Meshtastic utilizes LoRa, a long-range radio protocol, which is widely accessible in most regions without the need for additional licenses or certifications, unlike HAM radio operations.
Mmm.
Long range (254km record by kboxlabs)
Generally-speaking, range and data rate tend to move inversely with each other. What’s the data rate?
ZOON can reach up to the data speed of 256Kbps which is suitable for drone and other robotics applications. The speed is highest for modems that use LoRa chirp spread spectrum in the market. The data speed can range from 256Kbps to 0.5Kbps.
LoRa is a very flexible modulation scheme, that can provide relatively fast data transfers up to 253 kbit/s. Conversely, the parameters can be configured in a way that will result in a very low data rate, all the way down to a mere 11 bits per second. This will in turn result in a large processing gain for the receiver, and therefore much longer range of the transmission.
So, there are obviously interesting applications for a radio data network that you can build out yourself without restrictions. But for most day-to-day stuff that I use, the considerably-higher data rates provided by cell phone networks are preferable.
Skimming online, it looks like one group that is really excited about LoRA are hikers, because it gives them the ability to at least get a text message out with their location if they run into trouble in areas outside cell range, and it’s a lot cheaper than having satellite phones. That sounds like a good application.
I can also imagine a lot of interesting things you could do on a farm, do wireless control of equipment and such.
Or with some robots that need to receive occasional commands or send position updates, but don’t need much in the way of bandwidth.
But I’m not sure how many people have an application for which this is a great solution.
The rest is less than 15$ but you do have to order it off AliExpress. It’s more time as well so if you take it into account, I guess it comes out similar.
I would add that anybody with the know-how to build this probably already has an esp32 on hand so really only the cost of the other components should be calculated. But that cuts both ways since your example is a lot more beginner friendly and comes in a neat package with more features.
There’s a parts list to the project, it uses modules mostly it seems.
That being said, a PCB isn’t very costly when ordered from China. All the parts you mentioned aren’t expensive if it’s to go on a PCB, a lora chip is like 3 bucks for a good one if I remember well. A lot more skill involved though and not really what I meant in any case.
The total from the parts list is $28.24. That’s without taxes or shipping. There’s also items on the list missing pricing entirely. That also doesn’t include the cost of selling your identity to the CCP, considering last time I tried to place an order on Ali, they wouldn’t send it without government ID.
It also doesn’t include a battery, which you’re going to need an excessively-sized one, considering how relatively-inefficient ESP is.
It doesn’t include your time assembling all this stuff either.
It doesn’t even include a case for your janky setup.
from the part list, you only need Lora and esp. that can get you up and running as for assembly it takes only 10 mins max. But again there is a market for ready products and market for DIY. I had some esp32 with Lora from other projects and used it, you might not have it. But the heltec is also a good cheap starting point. As for the ID well, actually most of the time your government asks for ID number to tax you if needed. But you are free to order from Amazon as well. You can find amazon links on the website if you wish, I won’t be sharing them here not to make anyone angry
I don’t think I understand its purpose. It’s a shared wireless communication network for text messages only? So, like, sms-only that is completely independent of the main grid?
Pretty much, yes. It does have some tiny file share capability IIRC (don’t trust me on this) but it’s pretty much just an off grid text based communication platform you connect to with your phone and Bluetooth. Can be extremely long range depending on terrain (line of sight is important)
The routing is simple. Every node repeats everything it hears. A message goes out with a counter - defaults at 3, maximum 7. Every time it’s repeated the counter is decremented. At 0 it won’t be repeated any more.
You can DM nodes you’ve seen. You can create your own encrypted channels with a pre-shared key. You can link meshes over the internet through MQTT if you have an internet connected node on each mesh.
Yeah, but not only. For example, I can build a private wifi network, and have my friends join their phones to it. Some bloke across the yard can open his own network, but the two networks will not communicate with each other. The two networks are off-grid, but are independent of each other.
This meshtastic thing sounds awesome! Crowd sourced off-grid network.
That “tipping point” is totally subjective. Different people have different level of tolerance. You might find it useful and others might find it annoying. My response is a neutral response that observed from the comment OP replying to.
Sure one doesn’t have to look at this but I would also recognize their right to voice being annoyed. I believe this community is civilize, right?
Agreed, it is totally subjective. For me, 5 posts in quick succession, all linking to the same website, is spammy, and i will downvote it. Interesting technology, but one post with a link is enough for me. But i respect anyone’s right to disagree and upvote the posts.
I think the persistent borderline spam-posting about this, coupled with exclusively linking to your own site, is triggering a negative response from some/many people.
You offer nothing about this tech or topic, only links taking people away from Lemmy and on to your site. If you want to spread the word, you should actually write something in your Lemmy posts explaining what it is, why to use it etc. to get people interested, and then they can take a deep dive on your site if they want. Currently your posts are too low effort with just links and not a single word attached.
The two points I can agree with here are redirecting traffic to their website and the lack of some context before doing so.
I don’t have an issue with OP posting about this frequently, but to be fair if you’re doing it to farm traffic to your own website with the most minimal effort involved possible then it becomes an issue.
OP should definitely at least put some effort into this going forward.
I’ve seen a handful of these posts in the last 24h or so, IMO that is pretty excessive but that’s subjective. But for me its especially the lack of effort, coupled with high frequency, that gives it a traffic farming vibe.
I totally understand your point, But again I am not here to grow Lemmy Nor to grow my website. I really put so much time into writing Meshtastic guides, I am trying to spread the word. Suppose I were to start crafting posts for each platform Reddit, Lemmy, Discord, LinkedIn, etc. I would never have time to write more content about Meshtastic or any other stuff. Please let’s be reasonable here. Focus on the content and the tech. All the comments on why I shared my website. I would to have a conversation about the actual content itself. Did you try it? what is the range? how does it work?
Your approach to spreading awareness is specifically why I am not looking in to it. You give off a scammy vibe, so I’m not wasting time on it. Let’s be reasonable here, if you’re not even willing to write 5-10 lines about what this is and what problem it solves, it doesn’t deserve awareness.
It is technology, yes. It’s new, a bit niche, but i would be fine with a (cross) post explaining what it is. But there have been several posts from OP on this.
What exactly could I use this for? I know how LoRaWAN works, but it requires entrypoints into the internet. Does Meshtastic need these? Do I have to set up two nodes to use it for anything? Does it use existing LoRaWAN infrastructure?
You wouldn’t need internet access for these to work, although there is a public community WAN server you could join to operate under MQTT (which is their internet facing WAN function). They function off of LoRa RF on the 915mhz band in the U.S. (and other bands elsewhere) to do the bulk of the communication. BLE is also utilized for management.
These do need more than 1 node to operate properly, but since it works off the concept of a public mesh (with options to privatize), you don’t need two of your own devices in a developed location.
However, if no one is around or within line of sight… then you’ll have to work a little harder to get contacts/connections going.
For now, yes. There are certain extensions and 3rd party plugins that are seeking to expand on that by adding BBS capability or JS8call (for expanded text & basic audio).
There’s limited bandwidth to work with on just the 915mhz band but you’d be surprised what you can push downstream.
I find it rather useless if it only supports text messaging. Why not use cb radio or whatever at that point? That seems more useful in a disaster situation.
Very low cost of entry ($30-40), mesh capability for redundancy, and its on fairly accessible public bands although it occupies a specific part of it. Also it comes with end to end encryption.
It’s just a far more cost effective solution compared to having a CB radio, where you’d need to be licensed to have certain features or to communicate on VHF/UHF etc. You also wouldn’t need to learn any sort of HAM based etiquette to operate these devices.
Although if you need the extra capability, like voice comms, and want the flexibility that comes with HAM you can also incorporate these into that system.
Ahh fair enough. I can see where you’re coming from.
I find the added redundancy to be a beneficial addition in my scenario, particularly for emergency situations where cell service is out (due to overuse/congestion).
These don’t need multiple points of redundancy to work but it does add peace of mind imo. Decentralization is a core principle of Meshtastic so that’s also another strong point that pushed me towards the protocol.
But I can respect not everyone has the same requirements or interests :)
Meshtastic has the mesh capabilities that others have mentioned but what’s more immediately important is the ability to direct message others (no need to send private messages to everyone in range) and the ability to share GPS coordinates which is absolutely helpful in an emergency.
Its a totally separate thing from LoRaWAN. Its useful for messaging across town (if you live in an area with enough nodes), and it can do things like report on temperature an humidity or when a sensor is tipped, some devices support GPS too.
Yeah, I personally have a handful of nodes scattered around my local area.
They’re mostly situated with family, so it’s become a sort of adhoc emergency comms network if a hurricane or other natural disaster causes issues for me locally.
To use Meshtastic you only need 1 device to talk to the others. If you want to talk with a friend each one need to have a device. Other than that you don’t need anything. Get a device flash it then you are good to go
I have a couple of nodes we take on our hiking trips for emergencies or when we split up and it works pretty well. It has a surprisingly good range with the right antennas.
I also tried it when I was skiing in the winter. It was cool. I have GPS on my nodes. and I can tell where my friend is, tried also the telemetry sensor to tell the ALT but since it only tells the pressure it is not intuitive. You can probably tell if the person is up or down
This is one of the coolest things in tech and maybe the most important too. Relying on centralised infrastructure really puts you at the mercy of whoever owns and runs it, as well as their enemies. Look at the internet getting shut down in various places at various times and big institutions like healthcare grinding to a halt.
When I have more time I’m definitely going to try using this stuff.
I think this is really cool.
But… What it is: low bandwidth literal physical replacement of internet infrastructure. Often seen as a very extreme manuver.
Meanwhile: there are various overlay projects like i2p which, unfortunately, create new internets which [almost totally] reliance on the old internet. But they do cooler shit.
I can’t tell you how right you are. I used it in power outages" Sometimes cell signal goes down " where you look at your phone and realize ok well I have no backup plan.
This is not a replacement for the Internet. It’s currently basically just a low bandwidth local chat app. You could maybe run more complicated protocols on top of it, but it’s not going to replace what we’re doing right here right now.
It’s a great experiment on LoRa though. It could lead to more complex networking. I’m trying to figure out what to do with it right now.
The range test article above shows the current record for a successful ping/chirp to another node (Point to Point, no additional hops). It’s at 254km currently :)
So the frequencies matter a bit. I run on 433mhz but I bet lora is good enough even at the US 915. So yeah it can even go further. Meshtastic 254KM was done on US 915. meshtastic.org/docs/overview/range-tests/
I don’t get why having your own radio mesh when you can use existing ones with encrypted connections and not spend in hardware or having to carry stuff with you like in the 90s cellphones.
adrelien.com
Oldest