Trash Drone #227
Honest question. Would anyone here or mutuals of those here actually talk to me or consider talking to me on a network such as Meshtastic?

Nos/Experiences/Explanations are also welcome! Just doing some data building.

I've been made aware of such networks in the past, but more recently have looked into them. They seem kinda awesome! And... Not too dissimilar from my lore world's internet, which is nothing short of exceptionally validating and inspiring!
Jan 5 at 1:13amWeb
Show threadericjames* šŸŗā€¼ļø (they/it)Jan 9
@deltafurtrash iā€™ve heard of a few folks who use it at music festivals to communicate with each other because cell service in a massive outdoor space can be spotty

does it work long-distance tho? i imagine itā€™s like a walkie-talkie where you have to be near the one you wanna talk to
Show threadTrash Drone #227Jan 9
@ericjames Honestly no idea, but that's why I am looking up more about it! Even if it can't hop more than a state or two, it's still pretty sweet that radio's gotten that cool ^^
Show threaddykexisJan 9

I've gotten a few refurbished nodes from Muziworks last year to give it a go.

Since LoRa signals are pretty weak, where you have your node will be very important -- if you're able to get it as high up as possible with nothing in its line of sight, you'd be able to interact with many more nodes than say, being on the first floor of an apartment that's located in a highly urban area with plenty of walls for the signals to run into and dissipate.
(The latter situation was mine -- I was wondering why my friend was able to get a hold of so many other nodes, and then I came over to her place recently and found that her home was atop a very steep hill.)

So yeah, if you want to try it out, I recommend getting at least two nodes -- one for you and a friend who's local to you. You can get also get a third node and stick it up as high up as you can for better rangeā€¦but when I had been playing around with it, there wasn't a way to remotely flash firmware updates, so it may be a pain in the ass to have to continually take down a node to update it.

Also, check out if your local area has a local mesh, since this type of system is highly dependent on other people having active nodes! And if they do, they might have recommendations on what settings to use with your node so that you'd have an easier time sending and receiving meshages. (I seem to recall that some more urban areas with an active mesh might be using the one of the "MEDIUM" Modem Presetsā€¦but this was like, in May 2025.)


#Meshtastic #LoRa
Meshtastic Devices

Show threadericjames* šŸŗā€¼ļø (they/it)Jan 9
@[email protected] @deltafurtrash i was gonna bring that up too: because it's a mesh system, it works best when other nodes are active so the mesh covers more ground