It’s essentially a peer-to-peer network, using extremely low powered radios using 915mhz in the US. Transmission rate ranges from 0.18 kbps to 21 kbps. To frame this properly, 21 kbps is about 79 times faster than that 300 baud modem you may have used back in the late 70s and early 80s. Of course it’s a fraction of the time of bandwidth we all use today. Meshtastic does a lot, I’m sure, as I’m still trying to figure it out, but one thing it does very well? Text messages. I know, I know, you’ve got a phone with texting capabilities and you’ve got the internet and a gig of fiber to the house and a smoked’ fast computer. But… what if you didn’t? What if there was some type of service interruption, civil unrest, or a breakdown in infrastructure due to a hurricane, storm, flood, or other calamity? Ideally you’ve have already run over to the Emergency Communications portion of this website and you’d know a little something about how to communicate with your loved ones.
The nice thing about Meshtastic? You don’t need a radio. The Meshtastic devices themselves *are* the radio. This is cool enough to where I’m thinking about buying a couple of these units and sending them to my kids, who are young adults starting their lives in different cities. One of my kids gets it and the other laughs when she sees me talking on the radio, always pointing to her phone. The point is phones won’t always work and it’d be nice to be able to text back and forth. Texting? How does that work? Your phone uses Bluetooth to communicate with the Meshtastic device and then the peer to peer network does the rest.
I was able to setup Sensecap T1000-E in about two minutes. I’ve got a Sensecap P1-Pro solar powered unit on the way. That’s literally going on the roof of the house and I don’t anticipate ever having to touch it again. The T1000? Meh, maybe I’ll keep it in my car or travel with it. Pretty neat stuff all the way around. The T1000 was about $50 and the P1-Pro was about $150, both from Amazon.
Anyway, that’s my intro and sales 101 on it - lots of folks in the area are starting to experiment with these - the more there are, the better for all as messages hop from device to device until they get to their destination. I’m experimenting with long range stuff, and haven’t quite figured it all out yet, but the premise of keeping in touch with loved ones when the times aren’t so great? Priceless.
Go read this to learn more about Meshtastic, and for sure post your comments here. https://meshtastic.org/
Dan
The nice thing about Meshtastic? You don’t need a radio. The Meshtastic devices themselves *are* the radio. This is cool enough to where I’m thinking about buying a couple of these units and sending them to my kids, who are young adults starting their lives in different cities. One of my kids gets it and the other laughs when she sees me talking on the radio, always pointing to her phone. The point is phones won’t always work and it’d be nice to be able to text back and forth. Texting? How does that work? Your phone uses Bluetooth to communicate with the Meshtastic device and then the peer to peer network does the rest.
I was able to setup Sensecap T1000-E in about two minutes. I’ve got a Sensecap P1-Pro solar powered unit on the way. That’s literally going on the roof of the house and I don’t anticipate ever having to touch it again. The T1000? Meh, maybe I’ll keep it in my car or travel with it. Pretty neat stuff all the way around. The T1000 was about $50 and the P1-Pro was about $150, both from Amazon.
Anyway, that’s my intro and sales 101 on it - lots of folks in the area are starting to experiment with these - the more there are, the better for all as messages hop from device to device until they get to their destination. I’m experimenting with long range stuff, and haven’t quite figured it all out yet, but the premise of keeping in touch with loved ones when the times aren’t so great? Priceless.
Go read this to learn more about Meshtastic, and for sure post your comments here. https://meshtastic.org/
Dan
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