meshtastic

cross-posted from: https://feddit.it/post/23529720

I'm curious about trying meshtastic, and I was planning to buy the Wio L1 Tracker once aliexpress sales start. Though, I have read that the antenna isn't quite great, so I was thinking about buying a better one. Also, I'm buying the pro one instead of the oled kit because for 15 extra euros I get both the battery and the assembled case.

The meshtastic website recommends the gizont 10dbi whip antenna for 868 mhz (I'm in europe). The problem is that the antenna comes in sma-male or in rp-sma-male, and I have no idea what connector the tracker has. I know I could just buy an extra ipex connector, but I'd rather keep the original one, rather than spending extra money, considering I'm not even sure to catch any node in my area.

Another question I have is if it's reasonable to use a 10dbi antenna or if it's too high gain, as I see people use ~6dbi antennas for base stations. I'm in an urban area most of the times, but I also plan on using it for hiking, a couple of time in the summer. I know nothing about radios, so I have no idea of how impactful are these numbers.

Meshtastic developers released firmware version 2.6.11 with critical fixes:

Key generation delay: Keys are now generated when users first set their LoRa region, preventing vendor-side duplication. Entropy improvements: Added multiple randomness sources to strengthen cryptographic initialization. Compromised key detection: Devices now warn users if known vulnerable keys are detected. An upcoming version (2.6.12) will automatically wipe compromised keys. For immediate protection, users should:

Update devices to firmware 2.6.11 or later. Perform a factory reset using Meshtastic’s CLI: meshtastic –factory-reset-device. Manually generate high-entropy keys via OpenSSL for critical deployments.

Well this is interesting. Stick-a-node to any smartphone with magnetic back. I could see myself trying this.

So just installed a rooftop relay based on a Rak wireless module. I can now reach over 120 nodes (around 20 “online”).

I guess my question now is…now what?

I come from ham radio, so I was hoping to make come connections and maybe have some conversations, but the best I got was a single reply to a CQ, but I got no response from my follow-up.

Does anybody actually have conversations over the general Meshtastic channel? Is it all encrypted channels? Or is nobody talking at all?

Is there any way to determine how much traffic my router is handling?

This is in Seattle, BTW.

Unfortunately no other nodes nearby. But 2 will be moving nodes. Did anyone find some nodes in the wild?

Does anyone know if a good server/ room to discuss LoRa/ Meshtastic projects?