The Idiots Guide To Meshtastic - Long Range Comms!

Get the case here:

This Is an idiots guide to Meshtastic, a great off grid communication system that utilises radio.

Its great for keeping in touch, making long range contacts and ideal for emergency situations where there is no cell coverage .

Get Heltec board here:

Ulefone Handset:

Andy’s Channel:

The Comms Channel

[RingwayManchester]

Follow These 10 Tips To Be A Meshtastic Pro!

[sydfloyd]

I must have been living under a rock as Meshtastic is all new to me !

[tonytwostep_]

With around 30 people in my city of 1.5 million using these, we still struggled to send messages at any range over a mile. Its way different in dense urban areas with lots of things in the way than what a lot of these videos let on. LoRA largely relies on line-of-sight.

[General_Confusion]

I like idiots guides, they make people down the pub think I'm clever.

[simonmcowan]

Yup I've been living under a rock, lots here in Wales!

[garycrant]

This looks very interesting - an affordable new hobby for tech heads. But the question remains: why ??? What do participants talk about, to what purpose Back in the early 1980s my sister got obsessed with CB. She had a bedroom transmitter, spending hours every night on it. I never really knew who she was talking to, or about what. But one night when we had the serious coastal floods, the amateur CB network proved valuable in coordinating help in the local community.

[joedee]

I joined the local amateur radio enthusiast's group a year ago and they havent heard about meshtastic.
I can't wait to get started. This is what I've been looking for after many years of searching.
Thanks for this. 👍

[jonfr]

This might not work well in super remote countries like Iceland (where there are areas with no population in any direction for up to hundreds of km). But in countries like Denmark and Germany, where density is good. This is a great backup communication path if the mobile network ever goes out. Since this is not centralized and runs in small power and transmission strength. Wish they allowed use for this at lower frequencies (for better range), but maybe that is going to happen in the future.

[cdl]

The advice from Ringway Manchester in this video to avoid velvet bottoms is the kind of excellent tip that all viewers would do well to heed.

[psychonauthacker]

I think the key is to build a network. I purchased a couple extra for friends. I am building a few antenna for 915 MHz and will be testing them out thoroughly. Eugene/Springfield Oregon.❤

[lagmonster]

6:30 FWIW: The power bank's cells shown seem to be Samsung 3.7v 5000mAh 21700 li-ion, which would suggest the 48h claimed runtime roughly equates to an average power draw of 2x3.7Vx5A = 37Wh / 48h = 0.77W
Which isn't much at all, if you needed to mount a unit in a poorly accessible place, you could definitely run that off a ~5-15W solar panel(depending on location) 🤔

[keasc]

It looks like packet radio, Amateur radio operators have been doing this for years only we can legally run more power, these appear to be part 15 low power devices. I may have to play with this to see how well it works.
Good video by the way. Very well done.

[simontemplar]

Hi Lewis. My friend at work and I got our first of two Meshtastic kits today. Two of the Heltec 32 v3's with antenna and the little case like you have two of on this video. The kit of two Lilygo LoRa will be the two we put out in the wild. Now the fun begins 😊. 73 my friend

[The_Comms_Channel]

Great video! I'm glad to see you getting into Meshtastic and appreciate the shout-out!

[sgtbrown]

This is awesome! The emergency abilities of this could be life-saving in a communications black out. now, if we could broadcast our own video and digital data over a public wireless network, we would be set! 😊

[rogerhargreaves]

Now I understand what Andy Kirby has been talking about.
Thank you for making this production.

[PKDloks]

Great video. The VervainNet nodes are mine, 01 being fixed and 02 being portable. Unfortunately I was out when you messaged, will hopefully get another chance to try soon. Great to see more and more nodes coming online 💯

[PeterJavea]

Ok.... the challenge is on.
We have to get a node path set up so you and Andy Kirby can send each other a message
Meshtastic will be amazed and all the groups can celebrate a real achievement

[christopherismcaceas]

Only in your universe everyone knows about this gadget. Living under a rock... :D

[thes]

I played with Meshtastic about half a year ago here in the south western corner of Germany. Didn't see any other stations then, neither on 70cm HAM nor 868MHz ISM. Testing with my own nodes the ranges and mesh routing looked impressive though. Might try again when I find the time.