GM Nostr! Happy Friday!
Got my #meshtastic up and running! Special thanks to nostr:npub1meatjvk2zunckg2y5e3gcdf35p3glnrmtqr5zywkuku5nm9sudmstwnglh for all the help!
Still lots more to learn (and some 3D cases to design and print) so may need an extra cup of coffee today!
#coffeechain
🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼 morning
Do you have enough folks close to you using it to communicate or do you have to connect over the internet?
I"m probably going to do both--I need to get the internet piece going (as well as maybe MQTT). No one really near me, but having a node running would help contribute to the protocol...it's really pretty cool technology, and conceptually really interesting.
Good deal
I'm still confused how this works I thought the range is short so I'm guessing you are just bootstrapping the network over the internet. But doesn't that defeat the purpose?
It's really like HAM in a way--the range is limited to the radio power and antenna (and if you have a HAM license you can up the transmission power, and therefore connection distance, but you're technically not allowed to use encryption then).
So while it's short range (BLE) to connect a #meshtastic device to your phone, the #meshtastic to #mestastic hop is only limited by the radio (so if you have a good line of sight and good antennas you should be miles).
Then if you can pick up another device, you can hit the next hop--and then...rinse and repeat. Similar to HAM (well, essentially it's the same as HAM -- using radio) the distance is limited only by the available nodes.
I'm curious about this, too. I live in a hilly area, and have seen two neighbors turn one on. One should have direct line of sight, but forest and 900m range, the other is 1.2 km away, and appears to be up and over a ridge. Maybe my device is high enough on the second floor to have direct LOS, but I doubt it.
The other one, I've got just naked (no case) sitting on my dashboard as I drive around. I mostly just look at it's results every week or so and see what it's seen.
It's really like a HAM radio - you can cruise with your radio on, and listen to what's out there...
But the real difference here is with #meshtastic you have a QR Code for each #meshtastic radio channel - so you send that (or scan that) into a friend's #meshtastic app (and therefore into their #meshtastic device), and then the messages will get routed through the mesh network to your friend's device...HAM you have to be on the radio to get the message, but with #meshtastic just the device needs to be meshed so it can listen, and you can get your messages later (just like traditional text messaging).
It's really pretty cool...if you have folks in your area you can connect to (and get your devices "meshed" to theirs) you'll have that much more additional range...
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
GM
