this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
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Meshtastic

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A community to discuss Meshtastic (https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction)

Other mesh communities:

MeshCore: !Meshcore@feddit.org Reticulum: !Reticulum@mander.xyz

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I'm interested in this project, but I am unsure if there's anything actually useful or fun you can do with it.

So tell me about the fun stuff you've built!

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[–] iii@mander.xyz 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

(I think the original intent of LoRa is long range monitoring of various sensor data)

Indeed. I use it professionally in agricultural r&d. Infrequent, remote data sampling.

I found meshtastic the other way around: wouldn't it be cool to use this for text messaging. Turned out: someone beat me to the idea :)

[–] EvilCartyen@feddit.dk 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'd be interested in exploring LoRa sensors - but I am not sure how many of those are available to hobbyists.

[–] iii@mander.xyz 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] EvilCartyen@feddit.dk 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I should approach this in stages I guess :)

So - if I get something like a Station G2 and place it somewhere in my home - I can then get some Dragino sensors and add them to my network, even long distance? That's the idea, right?

We have a cabin off-grid - no power for most of the year - and I'd be interested in adding some sensors down there.

[–] iii@mander.xyz 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's the idea yes.

But range depends on a lot of factors. In my context it's open fields and forests. The path from your cabin to your home, I expect to be more challenging.

[–] EvilCartyen@feddit.dk 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It will be challenging, for sure - it's in the woods, after all, and it's 150 km away. But that's exactly what LoRa is developed for, right? And if more people go online the problem of distance will disappear...

[–] iii@mander.xyz 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Lora in itself is just the radio communication, low level.

It doesn't do the meshing. That's meshtastics' thing. There's also lorawan that does it.

More info (1).

[–] EvilCartyen@feddit.dk 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How did you decide between LoRaWan and meshtastic?

[–] iii@mander.xyz 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Went with neither. We have our own gateways that connect to the internet.

LoRa itself travels kms if the terrain is favourable.

[–] EvilCartyen@feddit.dk 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Neat. But is there any architectural difference between the two? Do LoRaWan units also form a decentralised mesh network?

[–] iii@mander.xyz 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah they share little other than same radio carrier.

Lorawan is hierarchical, almost always eventually plug into the internet, data is binary, and upstream providers are usually commercial.

Meshtastic does its alternative network meshing thing.

[–] EvilCartyen@feddit.dk 2 points 11 months ago