Anyone in central indiana have experience with LoRa/Meshtastic?

[NewHoosier51]

Be curious to talk to folks using it around- urban or rural settings. Seems like a great option for off-grid comms.

 

[Cameramonkey]

It does look really interesting. Been watching Josh on YouTube talk about them.

Maybe we need to get an INGO Indy mesh going? Hmmmmm

EDIT: I can light up the approximate area of Mills and Mooresville road, as well as roughly 30th and Shadeland.

 

[bashMOH]

I've been interested in it. No where near your area, but with communication networks seeming to get more unstable, having easy alternatives can't be a bad idea

 

[indyblue]

This sounds very similar to the GMRS relay system. However, if the infrastructure went down and the loss of those relays, this sounds like it would be a good alternative.

 

[dprimm]

If the phone company would not object we could put one on the cell tower next to my place by Danville.

 

[XDdreams]

I'm waiting on Rokland to get stuff back in stock.. interested in getting a community going.

 

[millsusaf]

I've put together several of them. They are not bad to configure at all. In my limited testing they work pretty well. Depending on what your intent is, the communication is secure but they can still be easily DF'ed. The Bluetooth connection to them is also less than ideal but in my option is a lesser concern.

 

[ditcherman]

I've put together several of them. They are not bad to configure at all. In my limited testing they work pretty well. Depending on what your intent is, the communication is secure but they can still be easily DF'ed. The Bluetooth connection to them is also less than ideal but in my option is a lesser concern.

Do you mind explaining what DF'ed is?
Are you setting them up for businesses, or preppers, or what?

Do I understand correctly that Meshtastic is basically connecting your phone via bluetooth to a radio, that either hits a repeater or another radio (ok technically both/all?) and then the recipient gets the message on their phone through their mesh connection?

What keeps this secure and non public, keeps anyone from seeing the message?
Is it voice/text/data?
What does running a repeater look like? Is that even the right term for this?
And theoretically how far would the right antenna 50' in the air reach?

 

[Cameramonkey]

Do you mind explaining what DF'ed is?
Are you setting them up for businesses, or preppers, or what?

Do I understand correctly that Meshtastic is basically connecting your phone via bluetooth to a radio, that either hits a repeater or another radio (ok technically both/all?) and then the recipient gets the message on their phone through their mesh connection?

What keeps this secure and non public, keeps anyone from seeing the message?
Is it voice/text/data?
What does running a repeater look like? Is that even the right term for this?
And theoretically how far would the right antenna 50' in the air reach?

Give this a watch. It explains a lot. No repeaters per se.

 

[millsusaf]

Do you mind explaining what DF'ed is?
Are you setting them up for businesses, or preppers, or what?

Do I understand correctly that Meshtastic is basically connecting your phone via bluetooth to a radio, that either hits a repeater or another radio (ok technically both/all?) and then the recipient gets the message on their phone through their mesh connection?

What keeps this secure and non public, keeps anyone from seeing the message?
Is it voice/text/data?
What does running a repeater look like? Is that even the right term for this?
And theoretically how far would the right antenna 50' in the air reach?

DF - Direction Finding. The act of triangulating the source of an RF signal.

They are part of a larger comm plan. I like being prepared.

Yes, that is basically correct. Phone via BT to Meshtastic using the 900MHz spectrum (encrypted if you would like) to Meshtastic to phone via BT. They are direct one to one, if configured so the Meshtastic radios can be part of a larger overall MESH network of radios. I believe you can also set them in repeater mode, but can't remember for certain right this moment.

You can configure the radio to use AES encryption making the communication secure. Except for some 3 letter agencies, most are not cracking the encryption. They can however find you via DF. That is why its important to know the technology, the capability of those that may not have your best interest at heart and apply the proper techniques when transmitting any RF signal.

Text based comms only.

Mileage will vary but an antenna 50' in the air will certainly fair better than one on the ground.

 

[Sailor]

Fort Wayne guys, I have 8 nodes now. Rak Wisblocks. One node up and running SW Scott and Illinois Rd. One on E State near Maplecrest. One solar install to be at 120 feet downtown building facing North, waiting on battery for this one. More to come.

 

[Opie Smith]

I am building a meshtastic network in the southern IN/Evansville area. Currently have an antenna at 60'. Looking for anyone else in the area thats interested.

 

[jsx1043]

DF - Direction Finding. The act of triangulating the source of an RF signal.

They are part of a larger comm plan. I like being prepared.

Yes, that is basically correct. Phone via BT to Meshtastic using the 900MHz spectrum (encrypted if you would like) to Meshtastic to phone via BT. They are direct one to one, if configured so the Meshtastic radios can be part of a larger overall MESH network of radios. I believe you can also set them in repeater mode, but can't remember for certain right this moment.

You can configure the radio to use AES encryption making the communication secure. Except for some 3 letter agencies, most are not cracking the encryption. They can however find you via DF. That is why its important to know the technology, the capability of those that may not have your best interest at heart and apply the proper techniques when transmitting any RF signal.

Text based comms only.

Mileage will vary but an antenna 50' in the air will certainly fair better than one on the ground.

Thanks for a great explanation. I know that 900mhz on the ground is fairly low distance, being line-of-sight or in a small facility, but what kind of successful transmission distances are you getting with elevated nodes?

 

[Sailor]

Good luck! Enable MQTT with a fixed location near your area so it shows up on the mapping for awhile and then remove it if you do not want to keep it. If you do keep it change the root topic to msh/US/IN to reduce the huge amount of msgs, to IN only msgs.

There is a meshtastic IN FB group with activity down there, also the discord channel has an Indiana sub channel.

Slowly growing here in Fort Wayne if anyone needs 3d printing or assistance holler.