If you look at some of the Meshtastic videos they are a couple of years old now, but in the past few months this space seems to have seen incredible growth in the interest of this technology and the deployment of nodes by the general population. I'm sure in 12/18 months there will be almost complete coverage in most areas. Please remember in order to help the Meshtastic Network grow and establish solid infrastructure, try and keep the node on 247, and leave it in the default 'Long Fast' mode, this is the mode that will be compatible with 99% of other nodes on the network

@ScandalUK

4 ай бұрын

Online Protection Bill has shifted popularity and interest to this area.

@mediocreman2

4 ай бұрын

That's the same mode my wife prefers.

@Liberty4Ever

4 ай бұрын

One of the central principles of information theory is that the utility of a network is proportional to the number of nodes.

Decentralized messaging is the future. I'm sure we're on the bleeding edge of a new revolution. In years to come we'll all be saying, "do you remember when we used Meshtastic... how far we've come along since then!"

@Seikatsu121

4 ай бұрын

That would be so awesome but unfortunately, the average person does not care that their data is being collected and sold left and right. Unfortunately, companies these days put most of their efforts into making convenience and privacy mutually exclusive. I do think that meshtastic has its absolutely legitimate use cases but i dont think its ever going to be more than a niche hobby or an important tool. For the average user, stuff like WhatsApp or telegram or whatever are just way too convenient

Another SMS off grid message method is the Rattlegram APP. It compresses 85 character SMS you type on your phone APP into a compressed audio file. You can press PTT on your Ham radio then hit transmit on your phone app which transmits the SMS as a compressed audio file (think military type burst transmission) across the radio frequency to other persons radio on same frequency (or a scanner listener) and message is decoded by their phone APP. Lots of features for a free app. Was developed for ARES ham disaster use. Works with any FM VHF or UHF radio transceivers. Compression method also is playable and decodable from youtube videos

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Nice! I'll have to have a look at that.👍🏻

@spr00sem00se

5 ай бұрын

@@andykirby the same dev has two apps called assempix and shredpix to send images viia the same technique. They are both great in theory, ive only tested them at 1km on baofengs, but it works well

@PeterJavea

5 ай бұрын

Yes. Rattlegram works. Civil defence and emergency services un the US are training to use it. In came out in Maui Hawaï that most all GSM U/V repeaters, even FM radio went down, and were useless. CB was full. Plus HAM helped as best could. AM radio (KAOI 1110KHZ) actually covered the island on AM.

@PeterJavea

5 ай бұрын

Meshtastic/LoRa is looking like it will be the next generation "CB" Andy and others are pioneering and doing a lot of work to make it doable. Good on you Andy

@radiomancommunications9192

5 ай бұрын

​​@@andykirbyThe nice part is you can use older non active sim card smartphone to side load app on it from wifi connection and then leave phone on listening mode on table next to a scanner or radio on set frequency and it can act as an answering machine if a message is sent on same freq by a transmitter when the listing station is not near their radio or scanner. The phone receives and screen prints and stores the message with time stamp and senders ID that is pre added to their transmitting phone. There is also a parrot "repeater" mode which can be set up as a remote repeater to hop over mountains , obstacles or just extend the range . Lots of features including ping, spectrum analyzer waterfall and much more for off grid or austere areas. Like mesh but with the max power and big antennas allowable by your HAM GMRS commercial etc.

Andy, did testing this this last weekend... easily made some 20+ mile hops with that little 7 dollar 915MHz LoRa Antenna Omni 5dbi off amazon from hilltops. Now getting ready to deploy some "oops I lost it" higher elevation overlooks.

Very practical and useable in the real world, LOVE THIS

Experiment with grounding the mesh unit by a small grounding wire off of the outer brass of sma antenna brass. It seems to help extend range . Kinda like the old tiger tail off of a HT.

Maybe try increasing the max hop setting in the software if u can’t reach him from home… long shot but worth a look mate. Jason.

Sounds like an issue we had to deal with when we spoke g-wisp. The problem is that a node is randomly sending, but doesn't form a path. You have to string information of the node path and power within their ranges. The map, then has a look up which is usually controlled by a server, that returns the path. The bus route types tend to be the unreliable, and can be congested, the more users the worse it becomes. 'playing tag with your twin in the house of a million mirrors'. I ended up building a system and back bone to deal with this, Cisco now use it for their network coms. Can't see these devices being able to handle the data tagging to be able to do it. As the hop list, could be long, so would the route. Imagine driving lands end to John's groat . You would have to hop most towns and villages, each maybe 4 times. Each would have to be tagged to route the message. I think the un should tag specific data,like in- internet, mq- MQTT, ro- unmanned repeater and so on. I think this video demonstrates that this doesn't work. See if it did work, the node behind him would have been able to get to him regardless of your distance, I think you should have tried with another user...

Thank you for this video. There are many Meshtastic and LoRa videos but this video shows how it works with a real example and that is what I was wanting to see. I already understand RF propagation, antennas, and the general technical aspects but wanted to see the app and the hardware in actual use. My sister is 3 miles east and my brother is 3 miles west and I'm thinking of creating a Meshtastic emergency comm system. They aren't hams, so it needs to be simple. If I provide the central repeater, this could work.

came back to your channel after a while, I remember when you had around 9-10K subs, now you've gotten so big! Proud to see it man , keep the good videos coming 🙌

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Thanks mate appreciate it!

I was having same issues with 2 of my units (Heltec Lora 32 V3). I was able to send and other stations away from home would copy, but the other one at home didn't. Both units were paired with separate devices, one unit (mine) was serving as base and configured on MQTT and the other unit was paired to a phone through bluetooth.

Some thoughts. 1) Presumably changing the owner name frequently will significantly impact the life of the flash? But would be useful in an emergency / disaster situation. 2) I'm wondering if the problem with distance is because people are setting nodes to router mode when they aren't in that great a location? Meshtastic's algorithm update video says that the updated algorithm is designed to repeat the message by nodes that are furthest away from the original source - so that it has a greater chance of travelling some distance, BUT routers will always be preferred first. So if routers are picking up the message and rebroadcasting it reducing the hop count, but they aren't in locations to significantly extend the mesh - then they will reduce the distance the message can travel?

Andy, I spotted your Happy Monday node around lunchtime today while driving from north of London, and M7CGM too.

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

That's cool! Possibly you picked it up via the London node.😁

@mr_spoons

5 ай бұрын

@@andykirby I've just realised where you are/were. It was likely as I was on the A1m going past Welwyn at 11:45 and then south of Hertford at 12 while on the M25. I had an Echo and a Heltec in the car. I did think it was busy around there!

Love this stuff

Really like you’re videos Andy 👍🏼

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Thanks 👍🏻 appreciate that.😁

4:24 My favorite part the response 🎉 Also really like the mini car and the minimal "for me" Iam new to radio ecosystem and everything you do or talk about I wanna know everything 🤩 but so much to learn and test... Questions 01: Can, Meshtastic DEV or COMMUNITY can upgrade the App to allow messaging updates and notifications like "WhatsApp messaging type" so user can view live updates and may be error plus the type of error , how identi identify the error... ??? Question 02: Can we build a ESP23 with lor module add-on + screen ... a diy solution with solar capability? Question 03: On the market in 2024 witch device you recommend budget starter? Thank you for sharing so much information and knowledge with us and Happy new year 🎉🎆🎉

I appreciate your videos so much! I am always happy to see, that there is another enthusiast with an Echo, FT-5, AND a TWIZY 😂👍🏻 I often use THIS setup, too! Cheers mate 🍻 Thanks for your videos!!!

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

🤣🤣👍🏻

Love the Twizy ! LoL

I completely agree with you with the status. I think it should be something that they should work into it. The thing I think they should do the most is a status when devices are powered off. So before a device is powered off, it sends out a shutdown/offline message letting you know all devices on the network that device is now off and then when it's back on It sends out a online. Because sometimes I can't figure out if a device in my network is having a problem or did it just power off due to loss of battery or user turning it off?.

Great job. Ya'll need more friends to place more nodes.

Andy. Love these videos. I’ve just bought a T-echo and set it up in Gtr Manchester. There aren’t enough users at yet but it did crackle into life for a few hours on Saturday! Android app looks way better than my iOS one but hopefully more people around Manc will start to buy in!

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Thanks pal! Yeah it is on the up around Manchester area, things are moving forward, I think on Saturday there were a few operating from hills around your area. Keep listening! And yes the android app is a lot cleaner.

@Clepr

5 ай бұрын

Just set up two in South Manchester i'm trying to reach a friend (who has 2 as well) about 1.5 miles away but waiting on an adapter to enable me to use a larger antenna, there are already a few others in the area so thats a good sign. if you look at some of the Meshtastic videos they are a couple of years old now, but the past few months seem to have seen incredible growth and interest. I'm sure in 12/18 months there will be almost complete coverage in most areas. Just remember to try and keep the node on 247 and leave it in the default 'Long Fast' mode, this is the mode that will be compatible with 99% of other nodes

What is that little vehicle!! That’d be perfect for the farm

Wanting to get a T-echo, but at £120 it's just too much at the moment for something that wouldn't get used. Due to the fact there is nothing around here (checked with my Heltec Lora V3 board).

This stuff is so cool! I'd love to know if there are any nodes in my area. Is it possible to use an SDR to confirm this?

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Yeah, scan on 869.525 l, look for LoRa chirps!

@tekdragon

4 ай бұрын

@@andykirby It seems there is a 10mhz-wide spread-spectrum service on top of that frequency. My guess is it's an occupied LTE cellular channel. Don't suppose LoRa can punch through cellular? heh.

Heya, I've just got into this from watching your videos. I have a HelTec device and am based in Coventry. Not got much around here yet but I'm hoping to see it grow at some point. Think I've got an issue like you mentioned last video as the antenna is the bad type and it was sent with it so I'm wondering if this could be an issue, do you know where I'd get a better antenna from? I'm on LongFast 868mhtz and keep my node on 24/7 as much as possible. Thanks for all your videos buddy. keep up the good work. we all need these in our homes, not relying on the goverment connected networks for communication.

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Use a pigtail like this amzn.to/3vVGAoK To connect an antenna like this amzn.to/3HFj7uq 😁

I love your keyboard, what is it and where can I get one from?

A great idea like a profile 20:34 that you have digitally be read

I have 10 nodes. All are named Kyle except 2. Those I call Andy and Lewis.

Have u tried to send up a drone with this device attached to send short texts at intervals? I think it would be a game changer.

Hi Andy, I am now the proud owner of 3x Heltec V3 boards with another 2x to be delivered later this week along with some of the smaller whip Paradar antennas. However, I have not tried any other boards, mainly due to availability. Since you are the proud owner of a number of different setups, it would be good to hear your opinion on how the different boards would compare when connected to the same antenna type. I have read that the SX1262 based TX has a slightly higher power (500mW) than the Lilygo T-Beam TX, but then I hear that the T-Beam has a greater range, but that is when the Heltec V3 uses the stock antenna that is not great and the T-Beam uses an outdoor +8.5dB antenna! So, it is quite hard to know how to compare the two boards! Any thoughts would be appreciated.... BTW, these are a great series of videos, and I really seem to have caught this bug. I hope to have 5x setups (one solar) up and running in the next week or so.

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Hey Mike yeah ill have to do a video about the different devices. None as far as I'm aware output 500mW, mostly the 1262 outputs ~140mW, the RaspberryPi Pico + Waveshare outputs 180mW The T-echo and T-deck seem to have the best receive from my testing. Heltec is a great all rounder. It's cheap and reliable. There's not a huge amount between the different devices, some just have a slight edge. A decent antenna helps a lot of course!

@Mike-H_UK

5 ай бұрын

@@andykirby Thanks for getting back, much appreciated. I get similar numbers to what you say from the SX1262 data sheet (+22dbm = 158mW) but my iPhone app allows selection of up to +27dB which is ~500mW. I guess the app is generic, so that does not mean that a chipset can support that power. I *really* like your idea of sending data in the node name field. That does seem more resilient than straight text. It would be good if Meshtastic supported data transfer with a similar level of resilience. Also limiting the number of hops to 7 seems crazy. At the moment, there are a sufficiently low number off transmitters such that it they worked a bit harder to increase range and robustness, that would be beneficial. I don't think we would see a downside with congestion, yet at least.....

I’ve been trying to find the radio to purchase one. I can’t find it anywhere. I’m in the US.

Is there a place where guys like myself (no DYI, no kits, not assembling, no soldering - bad eyes and bad hands) can by and "ready out of the box" a meshtastic/lora radio usable in the USA? Thank you!

@savagebushranger7953

5 ай бұрын

I got a T-Echo yesterday, it's great.

Beside messaging, can you send IP data through a direct link between 2 nodes

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Not with meshtastic but you can do it with lora and reticulum.

Where did the get the T-Echo? It seems to be sold out everywhere!

@jamessykes3498

5 ай бұрын

Got mine from aliexpress

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Yeah mine too, I was fast to order when they came back into stock before Christmas.

I’m late to the party on this (this was the first I’ve heard about it!) but if I understand it correctly… while I get that currently there is nowhere near enough bandwidth to support it, I am wondering if a few hardware revisions down the line such a system would be able to carry voice? So we’d essentially get an entirely off grid version of Network Radio/zello? That would be pretty awesome 😎

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

There's plenty of bandwidth for text messaging , that's what it's designed for.

Could it be the hop setting? Default is 3 so if there are 4 or more nodes in between, it will not go through? Correct me if I'm wrong.

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

We did increase hops to 4 which should be enough.

@LanWolf

4 ай бұрын

@@andykirby might try the hop limit at 7, then run a traceroute , and set the hop limit to the hops used. That did help me to determine the number of hops needed to reach someone. In a bigger city area or an area like with big buildings arround 5 hops is not rare i think.

Interestingly, the node that reports as 4.9km from you is actually 8.5km based on its GPS. Yet the one in the center of london is bang on. The node from Bristol is about 12km off. I wonder if thats because it hasnt refreshed since you were closer to it?

@spr00sem00se

5 ай бұрын

I can confirm, the node that reports 4.9km hasnt updated since you left the house, the one in london has..... Im shocked by that node in london, assuming they havent spoofed the GPS, it looks to be in a tall residential building, perhaps on the roof. Thats a great distance, I need to change my antennas!

🥧 for dinner 🍽

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Mmmmm

What about an android e-ink tablet

So if i wanted to text a couple of hundred mile in a rule area would this work? Without internet?

Which frequency version of the meshtastic firmware is everyone using in the UK?

@sion-music

5 ай бұрын

868 as it doesn't need a license.

why dont you use the 433Mhz version? is there any reason before I set one up also discord link says invalid or expired

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

You can't run much power on 433 without being a HAM, plus there's not much activity. 868 is the way to go!

@AndrewJonesMcGuire

5 ай бұрын

433 is cluttered with weather stations, doorbells, motion sensors, electricity monitors, gas / oil tank sensors. And according to my RTL433 setup, a LOT of cars which like to continuously broadcast the temperature of the tyre and it's pressure - for ALL 4 wheels. 433 is BUSY.

what distance was this to your mate over the meshtastic?

@andykirby

4 ай бұрын

3-4 miles or so, with some hills in the way.

i live 30 secs from a mast, what would be the best node to put up?

@spr00sem00se

5 ай бұрын

dont touch the mast, if caught you could be severely fined and ruin your livelihood

*Can you tell me the make of your mobile phone. Looking for quality video/audio recording.*

@edwardfletcher7790

5 ай бұрын

Samsung

@brospartacus5069

5 ай бұрын

@@edwardfletcher7790Thanks. I should have included model?

@iamthetinkerman

5 ай бұрын

@@brospartacus5069 S23

Independent communications, like CB and amateur radio are handy tools to have in a cupboard. Probably why I've always had a Thunderpole T-2000 tucked away for when regular communications goes tits up and it's likely to when we least expect it and heavily rely on it without a viable alternative. Smartphone communications rely on many factors to provide a stable cellular service with total coverage. It doesn't take much to cause a cascading failure of the existing infrastructure. Anybody got their ears on the 19, come back? 😉😆

@stenzler87

5 ай бұрын

I'm in Texas. In 2021, when the entire state lost power for several days, all of our cell comms went dead. Couldn't even send a text.

@Zodliness

5 ай бұрын

@@stenzler87 In the UK such total communications blackouts are rare occurrences, but it never hurts to be prepared for the inevitable consumer-grade Chinese electronics meltdown. 👍

@stenzler87

5 ай бұрын

@@Zodliness never hurts. That's the only time I've ever witness it happen here, but it made me wish I had radios back then.

@Zodliness

5 ай бұрын

@@stenzler87 CB's are pretty cheap on eBay ATM (before the ensuing rush) that is! 😆

I envision that One day a meshtastic device will be integrated into the radio itself . On another note I see on certain Quansheng firmware it has a messege function that can be used on other frequencies

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Yes a LoRa + 2m/70cm radio would be great!

@spr00sem00se

5 ай бұрын

the messaging app on the k5 is getting there, apprently they are working on improving it. I am checking daily.

@dr3wster

5 ай бұрын

As LoRa doesn't use your typical FM/AM modulation, it might not be possible to upgrade an existing radio easily with say, a custom Quansheng app... that said, I'm not sure what's actually technically possible with these custom firmwares. Just food for thought.

@thyhaggis7139

5 ай бұрын

@@dr3wster I'm aware of the modulation differences I am not suggesting using the radio circuitry I'm am suggesting an integration between LORA meshtastic and the radio firmware ,

How do you keep your phone from attaching via bluetooth to more than one lora device at a time? Without a solution to this problem, I can't keep my phone from hogging all the available lora devices to itself from all other cell phones in the same room or area.

@mrfust

5 ай бұрын

Go into your Bluetooth settings and "forget' the devices you don't want to connect to...

@bluenetmarketing

5 ай бұрын

@@mrfust That's too easy! Thanks.

Do you need an amateur radio call sign to use meshtastic 🤔

@CharlieMcCormack

5 ай бұрын

No.

@AndrewJonesMcGuire

5 ай бұрын

NO. Anyone can use meshtastic. But it does have the ability for HAM people to unlock HAM mode and put their callsign in, but that disables encryption.

@truthmirage

5 ай бұрын

Awesome. Dumbest thing I ever did was let me ham call expire. This excites me. I think I still have the disconnect print out message from ROMIR on packet back in the day. Great stuff guys ? BTW in a grid down ? Who comes after ye if ye be using the equipment? I think anyone can operate in that scenario. Eyes to the sky !

Cottage Pie?

💙👊😎

The net could be better.

@andykirby

Ай бұрын

Agreed

Is the pixelation, when recording the tablet's screen, intentional or is this some KZread voodoo ?

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Masking GPS information for users privacy.

@spr00sem00se

5 ай бұрын

@@andykirby except when you zoomed in to send your mate the message :)

868MHZ ? HOW MUCH RF OUTPUT ? 25mW ?>

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

~140-180mW legal limit is 500mW ERP

This is very odd, looked at you like/dislike ratio and it was +25 vs -90 so basically just writing to say i like you content. we a far away and also trying to start a community (or close up the gaps)

@Clepr

5 ай бұрын

What? The count on this video is currently 208 Likes to 7 dislikes

@JoergGebhard

5 ай бұрын

@@Clepr rather strange now it jumped from 30/7 to 222/7 seems to be an error on KZread Side

Your audio is low on the handheld because its not close enough to your mouth.

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

Yeah I do believe I said that, it was because I was holding the camera too.

if it's an android tablet or an iphone tablet, one that has either wifi, bluetooth, or cellular connectivity, then it's not "totally" off-grid....

@edwardfletcher7790

5 ай бұрын

Dude, the tablet is just for a keyboard & sw. You can use them in Airplane mode with only bluetooth on... I don't think you understand.

@kcarter016

5 ай бұрын

@edwardfletcher7790 I understand quite well. I know how the internet works. I know how radios work. I know how phones, tablets and computers work. My job relies on my working over the net. Yes, yep, yessiree, I do indeed understand how these things work. I am not a newb as you might have suggested. If you believe you have privacy on an android tablet, or an apple tablet, just because it's in airplane mode, good luck with that.

@edwardfletcher7790

5 ай бұрын

@@kcarter016 Huh.? We're talking about using LoRa radio with an Android tablet. What has privacy got to do with it ? LoL

@juanbait9670

5 ай бұрын

@@edwardfletcher7790gotta love these idiots making a incorrect statement, and then change the subject of the conversation. 😅

@kcarter016

5 ай бұрын

@@edwardfletcher7790 I didn't say anything about privacy -- you did. Read the title of the video; it says "Total Off Grid Comms". It's not "totally" off-grid if it's on an android tablet or ipad tablet. Simple.

How do you get so may pages (dots on the bottom) . I only have three of them on my T-echo..

@andykirby

5 ай бұрын

There's not of activity around here 😁