meshtastic is still incredibly small
meshtastic is still incredibly small
If you dont use the default LongFast meshtastic is really empty. I switched my node to MediumSlow, since it's like 86% faster than LongFast. I knew there would not be any in my area, so I subscribed to the msh/US MQTT topic and theres still nobody else. I'm going to leave it like that for a while and see if I hear anything during any kind of band openings or catch any other MQTT nodes trying out that topic. And yes, both uplink and downlink are enabled. I do know that there are some nodes in the Bay Area on msh/US/mqtt-bayme-sh, but I am not near their.
To be frank I want to jump into it, set up a relay node in my shed with a decent antenna, I just can't find the time to do it..
And there are so many options on how to build a node, I likely have choice paralysis/overload.
I don't have any suggestion for the node itself, but you should use a 3dbi antenna so that you keep a circular radiation pattern. If you use a high-gain antenna, it will cause you to not be able to talk with nodes that have a significant elevation change from you, such as airplane flights.
Am I wrong to think that while meshtastic is still in its infancy there are other applications aside from just chatting? For example there is the whole element where you can have devices send useful information to a script that is outside of the internet. For example location data, events, weather even things like ATAK.
Don't get me wrong it's great to chat with people but this isn't meant to replace something like the internet
Yeah, that's definitely something you can do. Although I have not personally done so.
I would use the default if you want to connect to other random nodes.
Changing it makes sense for private meshes, not for joining the public though.
Well, eventually some people are going to have to change, especially those in suburban or urban areas will probably need to go into at least medium or short range modes just due to the density of nodes. I live in a small city (~50k pops) and was just checking around to see if anybody else was in one of the faster modes. But at least as of yet, I don't see anybody. So for now, long fast is fine, but there will come a day when it no longer will be.
I started reading about Meshtastic yesterday, and got an urge to set up a node even if (according to some maps) no one is near me. But then I started wondering, if I could reach another node, what could I do with that connection? What is it used for? Is it more about technically being able to send messages without an ISP. Do people use this for any real application?
It's basically a local chat program. Think of it like signal or text messaging, but that only happens locally in your area, unless you enable MQTT, which connects it to the internet. But in my opinion, at least that kind of defeats the purpose, especially if you can reach other nodes locally. You could enable MQTT to add yourself to MeshMap.net if you wish. But that's an opt-in process. And so, if you're looking at MeshMap.net, you may see nobody in your area when there actually are people using it.
When I got a node, I learned there are actually quite a few more people in my area than meshmap suggests, because there is a state based MQTT server that most people in this area use. It also means I'm still chatting somewhat locally, but hitting a much wider net than a purely local radio could.
Most don't upload their location to any of the node maps,l
Depends where you are, I guess. Where I live, we use MediumFast, though first I had to find this information, in order to switch from LongFast. Maybe there are some meshtastic groups in your area? (like in Matrix/Reddit/Facebook groups)
I used MeshMap.net to figure out what people were using in my area. Although for now it's still long fast.
I know for a fact there's quite a few nodes on long fast around here. But I don't know if nodes are on any other presets or not.
There's no one on long fast where I live
How high is your node?