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by yardie 40 days ago
I've been using Meshtastic for years. Still have a few Heltec v2 nodes running. It's been a lot of fun. It also encouraged me to get my HAM license since most of the local meshtastic/meshcore users are also in the radio clubs.

It reminds me of the early internet. In the early 90s the entire list of URLs could fill a notebook. And it was my first exposure to P2P nets. Meshtastic is a bit like that where it doesn't work well until you have a large enough community of nodes and gateways.
2 comments
prism56 40 days ago
I tried meshtastic but there is literally nobody around me.

It's like trying to get friends to use signal. I've moved to Meshcore recently and it gets me connected to the rest of the UK. But it took me 2 dedicated repeaters.

I love the meshcore homesassitant plugin, managed to setup some alerts to send out a message on a private channel every 5 minutes if I lose power as an example.

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bramgn 40 days ago
Nice to hear your experience, as it sounds similar to where i'm currently at. I'm in the south of Norway and there's not much activity on Meshcore yet. I had set up a repeater on a nearby hill, and then one Saturday I started receiving messages in the public channel. At first I thought someone was passing by in town, but I soon realized (and confirmed) that these were messages from Denmark! Some were 200+ KMs away (mostly over sea). I was chatting to people and even able to login to a remote Repeater. I was flabbergasted. Now I'm using the amazing antenna coverage function within the MC app to find best locations of repeaters, which is a fun pastime on itself, especially in a hilly environment. It's a fun and educational exeperience if nothing else! It reminds me very much of packet radio back in the 90s, similar vibe.
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prism56 40 days ago
Yes! I used that antenna coverage functionality to plan my repeater locations. It worked well.

I just picked up a T1000-E to take on holiday next week, interested if I see anything in the air of in Europe.

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bramgn 39 days ago
Did you equip these two dedicated repeaters with a solar panel?
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prism56 39 days ago
One is on my roof with a 12v PSU

The other is a solar panel on a traffic sign about 10km away!

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mingus88 40 days ago
Same. The internet isn’t fun anymore, and hasn’t been in a long time.

These local meshes remind me of BBS days. You have to know a few things to access it and the community is all the better for it.

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