Staying in touch without the internet? It's possible
In a new step-by-step video tutorial, tech worker Kit explains how to send messages over a mesh network using a LoRa board and Meshcore.
And yes, that's without a mobile network or the internet.
Taking control of your communications infra is especially important for workers in the Netherlands. Because you don't want to be dependent on centralized, commercial platforms, do you?
Live at 9pm CET: https://youtu.be/VF52NYfdaJk
@techwerkers tried having a #meshCore client in a city in Twente, no contacts yet :(. Though this was from an apartment building. Will try carrying a mobile client whenever I get to printing a case.
Edit: apparently I was on an old preset and now I have tonnes of contacts!
#Meshcore is more popular in Europe, #Meshtastic in the U.S. Both are almost infinitely configurable. There are probably plenty of LoRa nodes in the Netherlands, but you need to know what frequency and protocols are being used, else they are invisible to you.
I have a node hanging on my clothesline. I can see, after several hops, all the nodes in New York City, sixty km away.
Hurrah!
In my area, about a third of nodes are powered up with default settings. As a result, they can transmit and receive on the primary #LoRa channel, but that's all. No one can tell where they are, nor can they send or receive a direct message.
It's not hard to publish a #Meshtastic public key, but they haven't done it yet.
Hello Ian --
You buy a device, then you flash the Meshtastic firmware. You did all that just fine. Your device sends and receives messages on the default channel. Everyone can see them. The device is named Meshtastic a1b2 (the last four of the MAC address).
The next step is to make it yours. You use your phone or client.meshtastic.org on PC. You put in a short name and a long name and let the machine make up private and public keys for you.
1/2
Once you've done that--and I'm sure you'll want to change other settings--people will be able to send you direct messages which only your device will be able to decrypt. Your device will show up on others' maps, instead of being marked UNK.
Enjoy!
2/2
@Stinson_108 @jelle @techwerkers
Thanks. Yes, it must have created the key automatically, I presume.
Most important for me is that it relays messages ok.
It currently connects to 17 nodes directly with no hops. With a mesh size of over 2000. So that all seems OK.
Techwerkers
Jelle
Robert H
Iαη 🍺