[bb88]

Meshtastic has been popular, but relies upon a terrible implementation of a mesh -- and it's vastly oversold on its capabilities.

I understand some hams run a meshtastic repeater primarily to convince meshtastic users to become hams.

[aeblyve]

It's worth commenting to me that MeshCore performs much better than Meshtastic at scale and as an emplaced deployment. We have a very active network of about 60 nodes in the Boston area which feels similar to iMessage in deliverability and speed.

But yes, it can't realistically be compared to something like a "real" MANET system with $10k radios that can do something like 100mbps data rates. It is dramatically more accessible and deployable though.

[swaits]

MeshCore is a huge step in the right direction. Especially over Meshtastic which is very poorly designed.

However MeshCore makes one fundamental choice which is severely limiting. It uses a single LoRa discriminator and channel for all nodes. That said, LoRa limitations pretty much force this choice.

This, limits a typical network (3 repeaters) to about 500 messages/hour. The throughput scales inversely by how many repeaters you can hear.

The code does try to adjust down the TX power of a repeater in repeater-dense networks, which probably helps keep throughput consistent for a while.

For these things to work at scale they either need something other than LoRa (which is quite novel, but limited) or they need to figure out how to use LoRa in a way which allows for more channelization.

Until then, the “one transmission at a time on the air” in these very low baud networks is severely limiting.

[mystraline]

> Until then, the “one transmission at a time on the air” in these very low baud networks is severely limiting.

Semtech announced recently that their new chips will be able to decode all spread factors on a specific bandwidth and center.

That being said, that would allow new LoRa nodes being capable of listening on effectively 8 different channels (that dont conflict) and transmitting on 1.

[swaits]

Oh that sounds quite nice, thanks for sharing!

[kragen]

Real MANET systems are not defined by their bit rates, but by their ability to take advantages of whatever opportunities for radio communication exist in a given situation.

[ianburrell]

LoRa has tiny bandwidth. Enough for text messaging if not too many people use it.

HaLow has lots more bandwidth, 433Mbps max, which allows for proper networking. It can bridge to other networks. But the practical range is only 1km. Also, the radios are expensive while LoRa is cheap.

[nativeit]

I feel like a HAM license is something of an inevitability of my future, although I don’t have any practical need for one. Catching satellite signals in my backyard is a lot of fun.

[bityard]

I think most hams (myself included) are the type of people whose favorite hobby is collecting more hobbies. Plus, ham radio pairs nicely with tons of other hobbies like electronics, kit building, hiking, solar power, space weather, and (as you say) satellites. I highly recommend it.

[bigfishrunning]

I felt the same way a few years ago, and got my license in 2023. I still don't know why, but I don't regret it either. There is a ton to play with in that space, if you're a tinkerer I absolutely encourage you to start studying the license materials. You never know where it'll take you.

[bb88]

The technician license is honestly "good enough" for a lot of people. Particularly now that the digital voice modes allow people to chat across countries through the internet. DMR/SystemFusion/MMDVM are things you might want to research.

[delabel]

Having used Mestastic recently but ignorant of the details, what are some of issues with its mesh implementation?