So, I've been watching a few intros on meshtastic, just to get the basics down, but I believe my situation requires a proper long term plan. Basically, I live practictally in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains, and there are unlikely to be any other meshtastic nodes around, so I will probably need a setup that is partially based on repeaters,
I'm thinking something like this, where my entry into the ordeal is done in multiple stages. It is my understanding that diving into meshtastic quickly becomes an addiction and a hunt for more nodes, and I don't see this as a problem in itself, I just want to figure out what to expect in terms of neighboring nodes.
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Simple handheld device. Nothing fancy. Something simple and cheap to bring with me when I'm traveling. While I doubt I'll be able to see any nodes at home, I travel often, so it would still be usable and hopefully fun to toy around with.
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Semi-permanent car install for longer range. Partially as a repeater for my handheld radio, and partially to log and see where I can find "neighbors". As a lot of the aforementioned travel is done by car, I think this is a viable strategy in preparation for step 3.
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Installing a solar powered repeater on a nearby mountain. So, if I find out that I do have other radios not too far away, I think it's safe to say that I will need a repeater or two on one of the mountains that surround me. We're talking solar panels, and something that can run basically unattended. Long range is key here.
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If the above work and I end up linking to a larger pool of nodes, then I might go for something fancier at home.
How much does this strategy make sense?
UPDATE: A wisblock starter kit is now on its way. Should enable me to do some research and data collection, and I'll go from there. I'm willing to bet that I need to hike this 1200m summit nearby this summer, tho.
I've been doing LoRa for the better part of a year, in a fairly active Midwest city (checking now, my SeeedStudio T1000-e can see ~145 nodes (although most are via MQTT - more on that in a minute).
I also have two Muzi works h2t hand held nodes - one is connected to my home wifi with a local MQTT server configured as
client_basewhich allows my non-wifi nodes to relay through it to reach the mesh.Lastly, I just put up a SensCAP Solar P1 Pro node on my roof.
It's a lot, but basically the heltec running
client_basestays plugged in at my house, the second heltec comes with me in the car, and the t1000e stays on my person. The Meshtastic android and iOS apps are really good, the former is what I'll use to send/receive messages for whichever node I'm using.One word of caution, that mountain solar node may need software updates to keep running smoothly without messing with the mesh, and updates remotely (over Bluetooth) are sketchy at best.
Aside from that, I say go for it. The mountain node would probably be in
routermode to encourage other nodes to bounce through it - you'll want to tweak settings to make sure it performs optimally.Lastly MQTT... A lot of purists frown on MQTT because it kind of goes against the whole "wireless infrastructure only" mindset. But until there's enough coverage with LoRa nodes, MQTT can bridge that gap and connect isolated pockets to a larger mesh.
Imma have to do some research into how to build a viable mountain solar node, then. It'll only be physically accessible during summer and in nice weather. Maybe I can hack together something that updates the firmware via USB once a month or something - sounds like an interesting challenge doable with digikey supplies I already have.
From what I remember reading, most phones with USBC can mount the node when in programming mode and you can drag-n-drop the update bin. Feasibly, an update wouldn’t require any extra device being lugged up the mountain.