Follow These 10 Tips To Be A Meshtastic Pro! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eZ2JdMdm0py0m4U.html

I must have been living under a rock as Meshtastic is all new to me !

I like idiots guides, they make people down the pub think I'm clever.

With around 30 people in my city of 1.5 million using these, we still struggled to send messages at any range over a mile. Its way different in dense urban areas with lots of things in the way than what a lot of these videos let on. LoRA largely relies on line-of-sight.

Yup I've been living under a rock, lots here in Wales!

This looks very interesting - an affordable new hobby for tech heads. But the question remains: why ??? What do participants talk about, to what purpose ?????. Back in the early 1980s my sister got obsessed with CB. She had a bedroom transmitter, spending hours every night on it. I never really knew who she was talking to, or about what. But one night when we had the serious coastal floods, the amateur CB network proved valuable in coordinating help in the local community.

I joined the local amateur radio enthusiast's group a year ago and they havent heard about meshtastic. I can't wait to get started. This is what I've been looking for after many years of searching. Thanks for this. 👍

Only in your universe everyone knows about this gadget. Living under a rock... :D

Checked the mesh map and noted I'm located in a 'hole' south of Manchester so have set up a node here.

Now I understand what Andy Kirby has been talking about. Thank you for making this production.

The advice from Ringway Manchester in this video to avoid velvet bottoms is the kind of excellent tip that all viewers would do well to heed.

Hi Lewis. My friend at work and I got our first of two Meshtastic kits today. Two of the Heltec 32 v3's with antenna and the little case like you have two of on this video. The kit of two Lilygo LoRa will be the two we put out in the wild. Now the fun begins 😊. 73 my friend

6:30 FWIW: The power bank's cells shown seem to be Samsung 3.7v 5000mAh 21700 li-ion, which would suggest the 48h claimed runtime roughly equates to an average power draw of 2x3.7Vx5A = 37Wh / 48h = 0.77W Which isn't much at all, if you needed to mount a unit in a poorly accessible place, you could definitely run that off a ~5-15W solar panel(depending on location) 🤔

This might not work well in super remote countries like Iceland (where there are areas with no population in any direction for up to hundreds of km). But in countries like Denmark and Germany, where density is good. This is a great backup communication path if the mobile network ever goes out. Since this is not centralized and runs in small power and transmission strength. Wish they allowed use for this at lower frequencies (for better range), but maybe that is going to happen in the future.

Great video! I'm glad to see you getting into Meshtastic and appreciate the shout-out!

Ok.... the challenge is on. We have to get a node path set up so you and Andy Kirby can send each other a message Meshtastic will be amazed and all the groups can celebrate a real achievement

Absolutely brilliant guide rog! Loved it, gonna watch it again!😁

I think the key is to build a network. I purchased a couple extra for friends. I am building a few antenna for 915 MHz and will be testing them out thoroughly. Eugene/Springfield Oregon.❤

It looks like packet radio, Amateur radio operators have been doing this for years only we can legally run more power, these appear to be part 15 low power devices. I may have to play with this to see how well it works. Good video by the way. Very well done.

Thank you. Please keep this content coming!

Thank you for making this guide just for me!

Several members of the Genesis Radio Group have these up and running around Bury and Prestwich. Got my first contact, recently, on the stock aerial. Distance was just over 1km with it just sitting on an upstairs room windowsill.

Hi Lewis, great video. I picked up your chat the other day, I was 0KAY (or 0K-1) on the mesh. Unfortunately, I'd gone to work, but it was fun to see all the picked up Meshtastic nodes when I got home (and the chat you had with the chap in Horwich with a colinear I think it was).

Great video. The VervainNet nodes are mine, 01 being fixed and 02 being portable. Unfortunately I was out when you messaged, will hopefully get another chance to try soon. Great to see more and more nodes coming online 💯

Great stuff , i quite fancy trying these out .👍👍

My first exposure to the system and your explanation is really clear and informative, thankyou.

There seems to be a lot of us under a large rock, this looks interesting and will give it a go, it reminds me of my packet radio tnc and nodes back in the 90's

Very timely video. Much appreciated 😀👍

Very informative. Thank you!

Very interesting Lewis. I think one of these might have to end up at my repeater site 🙂

Thanks for this, Josh over Ham Radio Crash Course was streaming about this very tech last night.

Cool video. Thanks Lewis.

this is just the video i was looking for! i am very much also an idiot and ive been curious about meshtastic for awhile now but i didnt know a ton about it. am gonna get a mesh going ASAP now.

I've just come across meshtastic in the last week, and already built up a nice shopping list of parts to play with

Good to see you get onboard mate!

Can we have Meshtastic on a Flipper Zero . Both use ESP 32 ?(ask Andy ) Love the show 👍🏻👌🏻👍🏻👍🏻

This is awesome! The emergency abilities of this could be life-saving in a communications black out. now, if we could broadcast our own video and digital data over a public wireless network, we would be set! 😊

Excellent tutorial 👍

Ok now this looks so fun, and also when SHTF you could still communicate even if cell towers are down, LORAD is super cool

Love the enthusiastic name of those 18650 lithium batteries. Is it a promise or a threat??? 😂

Hi! Thanks a lot for this. Helped me a lot.

this is awesome. Definitely gonna look more into this. Alternative communications could be crucial.

Many thanks for the guide! Apparently I've been living under a rock ))))) This thing is so cool! IIRC each antenna connection reduced dB gain by about 2dB, which is a lot.

Very interesting. I’ll have to try these out In Australia. We are using them at work for wireless comms for water meters and electricity meters. I like to use LL195 cables for short runs as it’s easier to move around than LMR400.

3:49 - they used the old "Winamp" logo as symbol for flashing haha!😊

This could revitalise Ham radio and it’s got that mode of operation that is reminiscent of CB radio.

Great work. Missed your videos

Brilliant vlog 👍

never heard of it and I absolutely love it. Already have 2 solar panels on my terrace with a small battery and an inverter. If I add this Im really ready for the apocalypse 😄😄

Very informative. Thanks very much. Using a paraboloid will extend the range even longer; surplus satellite-tv dish, but only to certain direction naturally.

I started the hobby in the Netherlands, hopefully one day a nice reception possible with the UK

This makes you realize how much is going on under the hood with data transfer and texting etc, i feel like you could build in some intelligence to lora/bluetooth meshing to create a backup communication system that would work without cell towers or satellites, maybe you have lots of little hidden solar powered nodes to bridge gaps between users

Rock dweller here. I grew up with parent's who were missionaries to Haiti. This was before cell phones. To communicate, they got into Ham radio. Giant tower installed on the side of my house, and licenses. Crazy to see how obsolete ham has become. And I hope it stays that way but who knows.

6800mah 18650 lmao Good one...

Pictochat in 2024

Excellent. Andy made me aware of this, and I've so got to get into this year. My plan is one for portable, and a node in my flat. 73 M7TUD

I'm amazed that everyone is saying how good these are. Surely I can't be the only one having problems. I've been trying to get mine working for months. I've never succeeded in flashing the firmware. The PC knows the Meshtastic is connected, LoRa 32 V3. Display shows the normal menu, so it has power. All the KZfaq videos go straight through this part with success. PC is on Windows 11.

I played with Meshtastic about half a year ago here in the south western corner of Germany. Didn't see any other stations then, neither on 70cm HAM nor 868MHz ISM. Testing with my own nodes the ranges and mesh routing looked impressive though. Might try again when I find the time.

Cheers mate👍🏻✌🏻

Thank you, that was really good!!

Thank you SO much for this! I've been seeing Meshtastic videos around a lot lately, but everyone is over this idiot's head - this is perfect, thanks again!

i'll finally know what s2 is on about now!

Long Range, Low Power TX/RX. You can choose only one. Either it is to have long range but that requires high transmit power or low power at the expense of short range. The idea of this device is quite interesting, but it can't be called Long Range Comms but rather Local Range Comms. A better solution would be to implement such a system on the CB band. Then there is no problem with range because a 5W transmitter can have a range of hundreds of kilometers, and fewer devices are needed to create a network covering a large area that will meet the definition of Long Range Comms. In the case of this device, it is impossible to build a network that runs through large agricultural or forest areas, because there will be no space to install repeaters.

I've never come across this before, but definitely want to learn more! I'll be investing in some boards to experiment

Bah humbug! I bought a Digirig when that was the rage and made no contacts. I got into Meshtastic with the same result. These techie things just seem to be trendy and not a lot of people use them where I live, and then there is some new tech to replace it. Much of this relies on LoS, which doesn't work in many areas.

I have resisted until now, but the KZfaq crowd has worn me down (I'm looking at you in particular, Andy!). One Heltec ordered from AliExpress as of two days ago!

Great video. This product is the way of the future. Whether it be a zombie apocalypse or war, it’ll be useful to find friends, family and allies 😂

That's terrific. Now we're all idiots 😂

So, second time through this great video! I was on the Heltec website and saw LoRa Gateways and LoRa Concentrators - can you give a brief description of what those do in your third Meshtastic video??

My Heltec board arrived today, but haven't seen any other nodes yet in Birmingham. Have a second one coming and an external antenna I'm going to mount on my roof soon hopefully.

This looks like cool tech! If I liked talking to people, I'd get it.

I might put up a repeater in my little town. I’m new to this but it would be fun to see how far I can get a signal. My area is flat flat flat. With the ability to install a solar powered repeater at 35-40 feet(10-12 meters) that should be impressive.

I have two nodes so far up and running in West Yorkshire, just waiting on delivery of an 868mhz 8dBi omni antenna from Supaerials for the pole.

Hurry make the next video! 🙌🏼

By that logic, Most people are under a rock.

I've been looking to get a set of 4 of these to use in some areas with no cell reception out of country. Little nervous about the buy in with it, but I think I'll get its value worth.

I've been living under a rock

Greetings from the rock that I've been living under. 🤪 This is certainly something for me to explore at some point, especially with it not being tied to any mobile network. 🙂

Good vid Lewis 👌

Very interesting. I’m about to buy one. Located in West-Belgium.

Looks like a good way to establish COMMS for disaster recovery or search and rescue operations.

I got the Motorola walkie talkies about 3 months ago and thought hopping would already be a thing, glad there's something out there for it

Great video, but I'm struggling with what real life applications this has. I'm going to grab a board anyway, as I'd like to see what it can do. Just curious what people are using them for.

This is so cool! I wonder if I could use this to make some sort of MMO....

I'm not an idiot, but this was brilliant! Thank you. 🙂

What is this???? This looks interesting. Just randomly popped in my recommended. Subbed!!

To be clear, pigtails are also coax, and fairly terrible coax. It's best to get the absolute shortest pigtail you can, or skip it entirely by connecting the antenna directly to the module.

Thanks Lewis

Thanks for the video. There is a MacOS version too!

I going to try a few of these. There isn't many in my area (none at all within range). Partly just to do it partly to try and contribute to a network. I work 29 miles from home and I could probably deploy one roughly half way so could use for work to home. My push right now is for times my daughter doesn't have service and we can't telegram. But planning on going to the eclipse here in the us. It may actually be useful since we may be out of cell network and it can get very crazy busy on the path of totality. Might prove useful for us or someone else.

😃fantastic technology, for remote areas, or in case of emergency, the very expensive goTenna or beartooth Project Lantern etc comes to mind

You know, I am something of an idiot myself!

I'm another one who's been living under a rock. This looks really useful and interesting, though! Also, great apologies for being that person, but given some of your implied concerns about privacy on the channel, maybe you should consider suggesting that folks use Firefox instead of those other browsers.

Thank you sir! been thinking about investing in a few of these nodes.

Please note that that there regulatory laws for allowed transmit power from the antenna, called e.r.p. (effective radiated power) so when you use a high gain antenna, like some of the monsters you showed, you're way, way, WAY above the allowed e.r.p. If you then start to interfere with existing services, it's very easy for the regulator to triangle your now super strong signal and slapping you with a fine that can be hefty depending on what you're interfering with.

Thx for the vid 👍 Can I track a node on a map?

yeah I bought this box with a rasp pi and a lora hat. it was a coiple hundred bucks and I did it a couple years ago. I am just remembering about it lol. I remember hearing about lora and wanting to create my network system for emergency uses.

Never heard of this until now

Yes. I have been truly living under an rock...

I guess I have, been living under a rock. I have never herd of your little tiny radio or the youtube channles you mentioned in the first 20 seconds of your video. I am interested in getting my ham license though. If this turns out to be a low powered ham radio, I guess I'm interested.