I'm actually living a bit down the street!
Glad you got the message 👍
aha moment last night when nostr:npub18yvpnchj7yaepjk8yz2pn66hfmmup505aqvx0lpyc3aree0g5fyq8clpz3 sold me a #meshtastic device. He went to bed in our hotel and sent me a message over meshnet while I was still at the lobby bar. Going to have fun with this thing 
Discussion
Oh! Thats cooler then
Whats the range on these things?
It depends on line of sight, and I’m not sure for the antenna with those Heltec kits, but we have nodes doing 20-30km with higher gain antennas here in South Australia.
What device and case do you recommend to get started?
This device, heltec v3, is basically as inexpensive as you can get and works perfectly well. The board itself is an ESP32 and is upgradeable with a better antenna. The ESP32 is not very energy efficient, so for low power & solar applications the RAK WisBlock devices are better.
Lots of options here:
Personally I think this outdoor solar node is really cool. Supposedly it will handles heavy rains well. I just need a high up location to mount it.
$100 on Etsy
#meshtastic
need
Link?