barsteward
Tekniquelly correctReddit post:
My wife called Meshtastic "Tinder for Linux users"
I'm never going to emotionally recover from this.
Dave Wilburn 
I want to like #meshtastic but it has proven extremely ineffective in Alexandria VA. I have to walk a half-mile from my home and up a bridge to have any chance of being heard and relayed by anything, even when I use an aftermarket antenna. I hope it would work a little bit better in a regional comms/power outage because more people would probably be firing up their devices and joining the local mesh.
Also, I have to force-stop and restart the Android app most of the time whenever I lose and want to reestablish bluetooth connectivity with my T-Echo radio, and the radio itself seems to unpredictably hang and require a manual reboot every few days.
It'll probably just live in a drawer until/unless there's some sort of outage.
Patrick@DaveMWilburn I’m sharing in case you have seen this - have you tried these NoVa specific settings? If not it may be worth a shot: https://groups.io/g/NoVa-Meshtastic/
NoVa-Meshtastic groups.io Group
This group is intended for Northern Virginia and immediately surrounding area users wanting to learn about or use LoRa based Meshtastic devices on our NoVa-Mesh. Many members in this group hold an Amateur Radio or GMRS licenses and in general are Radio Frequency enthusiasts, but that is not a requirement. We currently run on a non-standard LoRa configuration and welcome anyone in the area to try connecting up with us. Specifically try setting your LoRa Config configuration page to Modem preset=LONG_FAST, Hop limit=7, Frequency slot=9, Ignore MQTT=Disabled, and OK to MQTT=Enable. *Please do not use or enable the MQTT Module and do not connect to the Meshtastic public MQTT server.* We welcome anyone to follow the instructions posted to join our Mesh. Ask about our Signal Group for real-time Mesh testing! Please ensure that you adhere to Groups.io Terms of Service ( https://groups.io/static/tos ).
Thanks! I'll give that a shot!
Update: I was able to make contact yesterday on the NOVA mesh. I suspect one of the local ham radio operators has a rooftop setup that's getting me connected a little bit better.
@DaveMWilburn fantastic! Glad that is working better (and who knows, maybe some folks will say something on the public channel over the weekend)
@DaveMWilburn That’d be a bummer. In contrast, it’s hopping here in the Bay Area.
JPeck@DaveMWilburn @tek I was thinking of getting one for an outage but talked myself out of it. Might make more sense to get a ham radio first. Feels like the ham radio people are going to be more helpful in an emergency event
@boscoandpeck @DaveMWilburn Today, I would not recommend Meshtastic for an outage. It’s a fun hobby but I wouldn’t trust my life with it. And in any case, it’s the kind of thing you have to have up and running before you need it.
I also have a ham (extra) license and would trust it in a disaster. The hardware is more robust, the range is much better, and it’s more widely used and practiced today. Meshtastic range can’t improve too much, but the others could change with time.
I might be mistaken, but ham and meshtastic doesn't seem to be either/or. The venn diagram of ham radio operators and meshtastic operators has a huge intersection. The good news is that it's a very cheap system to experiment with. Rokland sells complete radios and radio kits for pretty cheap. So don't let my challenges dissuade you.
@DaveMWilburn @boscoandpeck For sure. You can get going with the mesh for like $30, no license needed. It’s fun! I really enjoy it for hobby experimentation. I just don’t recommend it for life and death things. If you count on it to communicate in an emergency, or help your friends find you in a national forest, or find your lost pet, you’re probably in for a bummer.
@tek @DaveMWilburn for $30 I guess you can't go wrong. That's the cost of lunch for 2 people nowadays.
Alright, I am back on board 😂
Alright, I am back on board 😂
@DaveMWilburn @tek that's true probably a lot of the same people using both solutions. Alright I won't completely write it off. I live in a populated area so there are probably some mesh devices nearby.
diana 🏳️⚧️🦋🌱I'm out in the sticks of the country on top of a mountain. I am gathering the hardware to aim high gain antennas to nearby cities and see what happens.
@dianea @DaveMWilburn Niiiice. I’d love to try that experiment.
steppl#meshtastic coverage in my area in Germany is also quite thin - I usually see my 2nd node and another dudes one. The node list usually lights up when a node flies ✈️ across 😉
i need to get lora hardware
Kura 
:kura_explode:@tek @[email protected] so you wanna tinder as well ?
KawaiiPunk@tek I did try and cruise on Meshtastic at chaos Congress but it didn't work
@kawaiipunk Interesting. It worked surprising well at Def Con.
@tek maybe it was me 
@kawaiipunk There are so many variables at play! If everyone there was on LongFast with 7 hops, I could see collisions ruining the whole thing.
Eric R@tek I had someone slide into my DMs because they saw me on Meshtastic. They asked me where I was because they wanted to know how far their node was reaching. Sure, bud, sure👌
@ericr OK buddy. 👍
@tek to be honest, I do not see that much overlap between linux users and mesh* users.
Mikalai
Oliver Seiler
@tek screw it, that's all i wanted anyway.
anyone got a recommendation for a good meshtastic radio?
@AVincentInSpace The Seeed T1000-E is dead simple to use. I have a RAK4631 strapped to my backpack for a daily driver. Both of those are great.
KM7CDC
gkrnours
Eva Mikkonen@tek And now it is completely unusable
living edge case
φ
Der mit den Ballons@tek That explains why I have no nodes nearby...
Sass, David@tek as a Windows user: that is accurate for me.