Comment on This Tiny Radio Lets Me Send Texts Without Wi-Fi or Cell Service

brunoqc@piefed.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Ok…what’s meshtastic? I still haven’t clicked the article, and know nothing of which you speak.

  I’d say this title is for people like me. I think it sounds cool.

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  • pezhore@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It is cool! The barrier to entry is relatively low. The only thing to really worry about is:

    1. What band/frequency is appropriate for you country.
    2. Are there others around to which you can connect?

    If there’s not a lot of people around it’s not the end of the world. Nodes can connect over the Internet via MQTT servers. Yes, this defeats the purpose of having an offline/decentralized communication platform, but it is a good stop gap until more nodes are put up.

    Here’s a sample of what I can see in a somewhat large-ish Midwest City in the US (there’s about 63 nodes I can reach by hopping through relays).

    Image

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    • themadcodger@kbin.earth ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I got mine recently in a dxent aized city and while there are plenty of nodes popping up on the map, the local channel is pretty quiet. Is that normal?

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      • pezhore@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Yep, that can be normal. For my city, the local group has a private (but free to join) channel that’s a bit more active.

        Do a web search for meshtastic and your city and see if one pops up.

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      • brunoqc@piefed.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I don't know. It's the same for me but I got a pretty bad reception. The only time I saw some messages was when someone was sending some from a plane, so I guess it was a special occasion.

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    • 0x0@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Where’d you get that map from?

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      • pezhore@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        The official meshtastic app has a map view that shows all known nodes.

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  • brunoqc@piefed.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It allows us to make a mesh network with Lora radio devices. Lora is slow but has long range. I think it works better when you have line of sight, like if someone can put a node on a mountain, it would help everyone.

    I think people might have sent audio with it but it's mostly useful for text messages. It could be useful if the Internet is down, maybe, but it's more like a toy.

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    • 0x0@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It could be useful if the Internet is down, maybe, but it’s more like a toy.

      Since LoRa devices use very little power this can be useful when there is no electricity.

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• TimewornTraveler@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I mean it’s an article for people like me who have never heard of that

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  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Sure, but they could at least put that in the title as well so people who are familiar w/ it don’t need to click through.

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• friend_of_satan@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Definitely clickbait. The phrase “send texts” as it’s been used for the past quarter century means “sms texts” or maybe “text messages to other people on mobile phone networks”, which is not at all what this is.

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  • altphoto@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Yeah this is not SMS! Its probably text that looks like:
    ¥¢¥^=¶√•€¢√°=¶}{°÷™π^™¥π¥¥° °{}}∆∆×÷°%^¢¢°{]]×=%π¥®√™^%÷

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  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Exactly. I was hyped because I’d like to send and receive SMS w/o a mobile phone. I was hoping someone implemented the protocol so I could integrate it into my desktop, the “no wi-fi or cell service” was merely a bonus.

    But no, this is just a way to communicate over a different radio protocol than mobile phone standards.

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  • Dogyote@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Then what is it?

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