Imagine a meshtastic network of devices across a city or country, broadcasting a set of rotating teletext pages with no ability to censor it. That would be something.
There are actually multiple implementation of networking over ham radio (though not using teletext).
Some of the limitations are that ham radio requires getting a license (it's easy, but it's a little bit of work and turns some people off), the user base is tiny (it's a niche inside a niche), it requires technical knowledge and specialized hardware, and legally it can't be encrypted or used for commercial purposes. That's okay if your plan is to broadcast messages without censorship, but not so great if you want to check email or browse https sites.
Author of the OP article here: Yes, you could 100% send teletext frames over meshtastic: if you're using the unlicensed bands you could even send full carousels with many pages, which is something that isn't really kosher under my reading of the FCC regs for amateur radio, which is why I stuck to a single page SSTV replacement in the article!
> with no ability to censor it
Except, of course, policemen knocking on your door. Wouldn't be necessary anyways, most people would not even try broadcasting on the mere threat of arrest.
Some of the limitations are that ham radio requires getting a license (it's easy, but it's a little bit of work and turns some people off), the user base is tiny (it's a niche inside a niche), it requires technical knowledge and specialized hardware, and legally it can't be encrypted or used for commercial purposes. That's okay if your plan is to broadcast messages without censorship, but not so great if you want to check email or browse https sites.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/build-a-longdistance-data-network-...
https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/5bj5w0/intern...