I would factory reset it or flash new firmware. Its probably fine, but that isnt how a fresh device should act. They've had some issues with encryption security that should mostly be fixed in the most recent beta firmware.
this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2025
44 points (100.0% liked)
Meshtastic
1403 readers
1 users here now
A community to discuss Meshtastic (https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Toggling the fixed position helped. Now it’s working.
My kneejerk thought is perhaps fixed position is set for some reason?
Would be Radio config > position > use fixed position if so.
Thanks I checked. It’s switched off. Edit: I toggled it to fixed for a few minutes and then back off. That actually got it going. Now it’s a (fuzzy) position at my location. Thanks for that!
That fuzziness is probably the default behavior.
In Radio Config > Channels > Channel 0 (LongFast, probably) there's options for position enabled which will report a general area within a radius(?) of the slider a bit further below. There's also a toggle for precise location which does what it says on the tin. But everyone with the same radio settings and channel 0 settings (likely almost every other meshtastic node in the area) will also receive your precise location, as I understand it.
I had set the fuzziness to 2km and it does show the radius and the pin in the general area (with in the radius). Why would send it the precise location then? I like the fuzziness. I don’t need anybody to track my exact location.
I was just explaining the cause of the fuzzy position, but sounds like you've already got your head wrapped around that.
Agreed, I imagine most people (myself included) don't want their exact location sent over a public channel.
Assuming you've looked at the other suggestions, keep in mind this is real GPS, no WiFi or cell assistance like your phone does. It only works if there's proper GPS signal, which needs sky.
Also start pestering people in LongFast. :D If you're in GTA by any chance, there's many of us.
I am rural AB so lots of sky available. I’ll give it some time I guess. No chatter on the longfast and my message hasn’t gone anywhere yet. I’ll give it some time too. As far as I understand people have to be available to receive not like email or text where it’s just delivered to read later. Edit: got the location fixed. I toggled fixed position and that was enough to kick it into gear.
People's Meshtastic device has to be on, yes. They don't have to have their phone connected to it. Once a phone is connected, the messages received since the last phone connection are transferred to the phone. There's probably a limit to how many messages a device stores but it's probably large.
Thanks. Off to Meshtastic.org to learn more haha
Congratulations on getting started!
Thanks!