Meshtastic Radio Nodes

#1

Is anyone else going to be bringing any Meshtastic nodes to CFT? I’ll be bringing mine, and it would be cool to have some people to try communicating and experimenting with.

Meshtastic is a mesh networking protocol that is based on LoRa, and (in North America) operates in the the 900 MHz radio band. Nodes can send text messages as well as GPS coordinates to any node in range, and if there are enough nodes around, they can form a mesh to relay messages to each other.

It’s text messaging without the need for cell service or wifi.

They’re pretty easy to get going. https://meshtastic.org/ has a getting started guide. It’s something like $40 for the board and radio module if you order off of AliExpress, and then you need an 18650 battery. For those boards, you link to an app on your phone over Bluetooth. Cases can be 3D printed, and I can make you one if you ask ahead of time.

#2

Which frequency are you operating? The Lilygo T-Beam linked from meshtastic (on Alibaba) has both 915 and 923Mhz options.

Or are you operating a different platform?

#3

My understanding is that 915 MHz is the standard for the US (and a few other countries) based on this pas: https://meshtastic.letstalkthis.com/

I got mine off of AliExpress: LILYGO® TTGO Meshtastic T Beam V1.1 ESP32 LoRa 433/868/915/923Mhz Wireless Module WiFi GPS NEO 6M With OLED Display for Arduino|Circuits| - AliExpress

I will say so far I have not had much luck making contacts on mine, but I’m in a dense urban area full of switching power supplies and arcing motors.