Blaise Posted Monday at 08:39 PM Report Posted Monday at 08:39 PM Hey, so My friends and I are building out a Meshtastic network with a bunch of cheap nodes built out of LoRa dev boards, solar panels, 18650 batteries, and Walmart plastic boxes. They don't have the best antennae or the best chips, but you can build them for about $20 each, and scatter them *everywhere* (with permission, of course). I had a thought about using this mesh, or one like it, to link GMRS repeaters to get around the hills and mountains we deal with here. The data rates theoretically top out at about 5kbps, but that should be fine for raggedy old HT voice communications, and data is, well, data... Anyone given any thought (or practice) to building a LoRa/GMRS modem? Quote
SteveShannon Posted Monday at 09:32 PM Report Posted Monday at 09:32 PM 51 minutes ago, Blaise said: Hey, so My friends and I are building out a Meshtastic network with a bunch of cheap nodes built out of LoRa dev boards, solar panels, 18650 batteries, and Walmart plastic boxes. They don't have the best antennae or the best chips, but you can build them for about $20 each, and scatter them *everywhere* (with permission, of course). I had a thought about using this mesh, or one like it, to link GMRS repeaters to get around the hills and mountains we deal with here. The data rates theoretically top out at about 5kbps, but that should be fine for raggedy old HT voice communications, and data is, well, data... Anyone given any thought (or practice) to building a LoRa/GMRS modem? I believe that would not be permitted by the FCC’s interpretation of the regulations. WRUU653 and AdmiralCochrane 2 Quote
FishinGary Posted yesterday at 12:18 AM Report Posted yesterday at 12:18 AM I'm still learning Meshtastic myself, but I don't believe the packets are large enough to carry voice traffic in any usable form (but don't quote me on that). If you wanted to fire off quick messages during gaps in repeater coverage you could use canned messages. Quote
WRYZ926 Posted 12 hours ago Report Posted 12 hours ago Meshtastic is basically off grid texting and is limited to the size of messages that can be sent. Quote
Blaise Posted 11 hours ago Author Report Posted 11 hours ago 16 hours ago, SteveShannon said: I believe that would not be permitted by the FCC’s interpretation of the regulations. Well, as long as we keep in mind that Meshtastic is a mesh technology, not a network technology, I'm sure it will be fine... SteveShannon 1 Quote
Blaise Posted 11 hours ago Author Report Posted 11 hours ago 1 hour ago, WRYZ926 said: Meshtastic is basically off grid texting and is limited to the size of messages that can be sent. If you use the libraries, you can get it to do a whole lot more, I'm told. I'm not afraid of a compiler! 14 hours ago, FishinGary said: I'm still learning Meshtastic myself, but I don't believe the packets are large enough to carry voice traffic in any usable form (but don't quote me on that). If you wanted to fire off quick messages during gaps in repeater coverage you could use canned messages. Every packet has a 237 byte payload, so you'd have to spend a lot of effort hacking the voice data into chunks, then reassembling them. It might work, it might not, but it sure would be fun trying! Also, GMRS data is likely only about 2 kbps, so there'd be plenty of room for at least that. FishinGary 1 Quote
WRYZ926 Posted 10 hours ago Report Posted 10 hours ago 20 minutes ago, Blaise said: Well, as long as we keep in mind that Meshtastic is a mesh technology, not a network technology, I'm sure it will be fine... You might get away with it is you do not connect the Meshtastic nodes to the internet. I would double check on the legality of this before proceeding if it was me. 11 minutes ago, Blaise said: If you use the libraries, you can get it to do a whole lot more, I'm told. I'm not afraid of a compiler! This is true. But how many "non radio dorks" are willing to compile source code. If this were to be feasible and legal, then it would have to be made easy for all users to deploy. Not everyone is willing to even learn Linux let alone compile code. Quote
SteveShannon Posted 10 hours ago Report Posted 10 hours ago 29 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said: You might get away with it is you do not connect the Meshtastic nodes to the internet. I would double check on the legality of this before proceeding if it was me. I absolutely agree about double checking the legality. Internet has little to do with this though. The fcc simply included internet because it is an example of “any other network.” Originally the prohibition was against connecting to the phone network. “GMRS stations cannot be interconnected with the public switched telephone network or any other network for the purpose of carrying GMRS communications, but these networks can be used for remote control of repeater stations.”* *The above is the FCC’s interpretation, not the actual regulations @Blaise, arguing it’s a mesh, not a network, probably wouldn’t make a great first impression on the FCC. It’s funny though. WRYZ926 1 Quote
Blaise Posted 5 hours ago Author Report Posted 5 hours ago 5 hours ago, SteveShannon said: arguing it’s a mesh, not a network, probably wouldn’t make a great first impression on the FCC. It’s funny though You know, after I posted that glib reply, I started thinking (which is always super-dangerous, according to some people: People like my wife and closest friends!)... Because of the broadcast nature of LoRa technology, where every transmission is just put out there with the hope someone will help you get it where it's going, I actually don't think it *does* technically fit the definition of a network! Quote
SteveShannon Posted 4 hours ago Report Posted 4 hours ago 1 minute ago, Blaise said: You know, after I posted that glib reply, I started thinking (which is always super-dangerous, according to some people: People like my wife and closest friends!)... Because of the broadcast nature of LoRa technology, where every transmission is just put out there with the hope someone will help you get it where it's going, I actually don't think it *does* technically fit the definition of a network! What word follows “mesh” when talking about “mesh networks“? Quote
Blaise Posted 4 hours ago Author Report Posted 4 hours ago 2 minutes ago, SteveShannon said: What word follows “mesh” when talking about “mesh networks“? Just because lots of people are mistaken at once, doesn't mean they're right! Quote
SteveShannon Posted 4 hours ago Report Posted 4 hours ago 36 minutes ago, Blaise said: Just because lots of people are mistaken at once, doesn't mean they're right! But when even the people who have the copyright on the name Meshtastic say it’s a network, the lone person claiming everyone else is wrong, and that it’s not a network, might have a problem proving he’s right. Quote
Blaise Posted 4 hours ago Author Report Posted 4 hours ago Just now, SteveShannon said: But when even the people who have the copyright on the name Meshtastic say it’s a network, the lone person claiming everyone else is wrong, and that it’s not a network, might have a problem proving he’s right. *Proving* it is an entirely different matter... SteveShannon 1 Quote
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