Comment on This Tiny Radio Lets Me Send Texts Without Wi-Fi or Cell Service
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 4 days agoOk…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.
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.
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.
pezhore@infosec.pub 4 days ago
It is cool! The barrier to entry is relatively low. The only thing to really worry about is:
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).
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themadcodger@kbin.earth 4 days 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?
pezhore@infosec.pub 4 days 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.
brunoqc@piefed.ca 4 days 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.
0x0@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Where’d you get that map from?
pezhore@infosec.pub 3 days ago
The official meshtastic app has a map view that shows all known nodes.