To be clear, #meshtastic is going to be completely useless in my area, these devices are only for testing not actual usage I hope soon I can move somewhere less shitty

Did you look at the maps? What made you choose meshtastic?

Maps don't really load for me but meshtastic seems simplest for my mom to help test (she's a bit old for this stuff) Will also be trying meshcore since meshtastic users are largely migrating to it

Ah, this one does load, but it shows my nearest node is about 50 miles away

Actually, I've found that mesh core is simpler to get set up with than meshtastic is, although it is a smaller network.

Remember, those maps are voluntary, so there could be closer nodes that just haven't volunteered to have themselves added to the map.

Will switch to meshcore if testing shows it's worth trying to set up more of a network, but otherwise there's nothing to use the devices for in this area except to replace walkie talkies

Yeah, once you see the mesh bit in action, you'll be blown away. The big problem with walkie-talkies of any type is the person has to have the radio on and they have to be listening to it at the specific time you call. If they are in the bathroom or washing dishes or whatever and are away from it and they don't hear you call, then that's the end of it. Something like mesh core or meshtastic, the device is meant to be left on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and then, if your phone goes out of Bluetooth range, it just disconnects, and when you come back within Bluetooth range, it reconnects, and you get the messages you missed. I want to say the device can store something like 30 messages in its buffer. And then it overwrites the oldest one.

True, will find out for both meshtastic and meshcore after the devices get here Also thinking about writing letters to people with hilltop properties and radio towers, telling them about meshcore and suggesting they run a node

That's not a bad idea. The more people that run high-nodes, the better.

Could also mention nostr and TV antennas (a lot of people don't know there's OTA digital TV in their areas again after years of the FCC confusingly reorganizing channels and shit)

I wouldn't even think of TV because I haven't even owned one in several years.

From what I can tell, meshtastic works better for isolated groups, if you just want to go hiking with a group of friends and be able to GPS locate each other and send texts it's better for that kind of thing. While meshcore works better in situations with more users and more nodes. Something about hops. I'm sleep deprived at the moment. I'm going with reticulum personally because I think setting up WiFi meshes for people's phones to connect to instead of everyone carrying a Bluetooth companion device would be make it cheaper overall and more useful to my town. And an exit node to internet for people out of range of the wifi meshes. Looking at the maps we got none of them anywhere near here. There's some meshcore and reticulum down in Melbourne, some more meshcore in and North of Sydney, meshtastic is a little less concentrated in the cities and more evenly distributed. Much much smaller population here and most of our population lives in a strip along the east coast.

I got 4 lora antenna that can also do the wifi. I just need batteries and solar panels for at least two, and I told myself I won't buy more until the rest are actually set up. But at least one on the mountain that gets the best view over town and out to my farm, one for the farm, and two in town at friends places. Once that's working I start thinking about where on the mainstreet or at which parks to hide discretely install them and which other mountains that gets good views of the surrounding areas, and who else that lives out of town might be interested in spreading the network further. I want to build something eventually that's useful for everyday use not just emergency situations

Yeah, that's what my research pointed at too. If I want to build a network I should switch to meshcore, but if I just want to send messages between 2 people and see how the distances do and stuff, it's easier to start with tastic

Nobody will need a phone number someday 💪

Also the maps for all of these loRa mesh protocols take ages to load and there are two seperate ones for meshcore, one is self reported and it's more accurate because the other only shows what's been scanned for and found

Also a lot of the people adopting meshcore still use meshtastic. These people who have been into it for years, they already have a bunch of old companion devices and antennas laying around. The whole DIY side to things is the main part of the hobby. From what I could tell comparing the maps, you're more likely to see both meshcore and meshtastic in the same place than just one or the other.

Yes and we often bridge them.