Meshtastic is a Mesh Network consisting of low-power, long-range (many miles/km), small communicators. These are little battery-powered boxes that can optionally link to a phone with Bluetooth or Wifi. The communicators form an automatic mesh and can share text messages or GPS coordinates. All traffic on meshtastic is end-to-end Encrypted.
Meshtastic is based on LoRa radios.
Sites: https://meshtastic.org/, https://meshtastic.letstalkthis.com/.
Austin Mesh is an organization in Austin, TX, that runs a citywide Meshtastic mesh. They have recommendations on their site for Meshtastic hardware and a solar node. Battle Fengs also sells Meshtastic hardware, including antennas. Rokland is a US vendor of Meshtastic hardware.
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Most of us carry cell phones with us almost everywhere we go. So much so that we often forget not just the usefulness, but even the joy, of having our own radios. For instance:
When things are difficult – maybe there’s been a disaster, or an invasion (this page is being written in 2022 just after Russia invaded Ukraine), or maybe you’re just backpacking off the grid – there are tools that can help you keep in touch, or move your data around. This page aims to survey some of them, roughly in order from easiest to more complex.
LoRa radios are very long-range (multiple miles/km) using small antennas and very low power. In exchange for this, they give up speed; the longest-range LoRa modes operate at only around 300bps.
A network in which the nodes typically discover each other and the routes between each other automatically.
Old technology is any tech that’s, well… old.
This started out at a post on my blog. This edited version is intended to be kept more up-to-date.
Inspired by several others (such as Alex Schroeder’s post and Szczeżuja’s prompt), as well as a desire to get this down for my kids, I figure it’s time to write a bit about living through the PC and Internet revolution where I did: outside a tiny town in rural Kansas. And, as I’ve been back in that same area for the past 15 years, I reflect some on the challenges that continue to play out.