Orig title: We Tested the Off-Grid Radio That Scares Cell Companies

A $100 meshtastic radio, that's all.

I usually just get some cheap helteks (last I checked 2 for less than 50?) when people first start out. Then get the other stuff later.

1. No it doesn't scare mobile phone networks.
2. Radio amateurs who are testing this are reporting all manner of issues.
3. The source code was forked and people got their noses out of joint.
4. I see no evidence that this will scale anywhere near the penetration of mobile phone networks.
5. It shares the LoRA frequency bands that are miniscule compared with the spectrum use of mobile phones.

Edit: Removed item 3, there is a split, though apparently not strictly a fork, in the "meshcore" community, not "meshtastic". While I'm aware of these projects, and have read numerous posts from fellow radio amateurs, I'm not following closely, mainly because I have plenty of other amateur radio projects to pursue.

Point 1 - was thinking the exact same that put me off even watching it. There is no way this system could even match mobile networks from decades ago.

It's not a teaspoon to give up our anything but we have to be realistic with what we can and want to achieve with this.

When did it get forked?

Also to me this is def a hobby and would have to get MUCH better at the hop/messaging system to come close to competing with anything. I liked the video for showcasing some of the capabilities. But the title is a bit silly.

Meshtastic did not get forked. You're thinking of MeshCore, which has had some issues with rogue devs resulting in a fork.

Reply updated.

Yeah, you are correct, I updated my reply.

LOL "scares cell carriers" come on now. We all enjoy a bit of clicbait but this is egregious. 😆

scared of: "new node test" "test seen" "hello from [city]" "recieved in [other city]"

Haha yeah its a bit much. Still a decent video. Does the community care if i makeva new title for the post? I usually keep it the same to respect the maker of the video.

Respecfully, anytime I see something like this or people claim meshtastic/core is the "way of the future" I just cringe.

Yes, mesh has it's uses, but for the cost you can pick up decent GMRS or MURS gear that will give you 10x the range (yes, I understand GMRS can only have up to 1 second dara burst every 30 seconds, manually operated).

I personally don't see the hype over mesh that other systems can't do other than form factor.

Yeah. Price is mostly Muzi's 3D printed case.

I actually bought a cheaper Muzi case from Etzy. Never arrived, tried to use Etzy's policy to get my money back. Seller was able to somehow veto it. Never got my money back, never got my piece of plastic.

Etzy and Muzi suck and never using those again.

Dang that sucks.

Mesh in itself is not that useful, but it's one of the few options that you can use to legally encrypt your communication. Most things that touch (Amateur) Radio/CB will only allow cleartext.

Did you try issuing chargeback?

Most things that touch (Amateur) Radio/CB will only allow cleartext.

Could you not just have an application that runs your intended text through a cipher and then send that? It's still just cleartext when sent, but gibberish for people other than who it is intended for.

That was not clear how I stated it. Basically anything that's going on over amateur radio has to be non-encrypted any use of encryption is forbidden.

Don't remember, what it was called, but yes. Etzy asked to start a "process" and that was the only thing I could do. Seller added a comment, that if I order a another one, he/she will cancel the first one. Didn't see any buttons to move forward or reject. Since the product was only about 20 euros, my answer was "fuck no". Never returned.

What the mesh does that GMRS can't do though is if the person is not by their radio, the minute you want them, then once their phone comes back within Bluetooth range of their radio, it will just download the message and notify them that they got a new message that they need to read.

With GMRS, if I'm taking a shower, and the radio is in my bedroom, and somebody calls me, then I just miss out. But with the mesh, somebody can just send me a message. And when I get back to my room, I'll see it.

I get that, but GMRS allows data messages to be sent. Since Vero has been pushing for this, I can see other companies intigrating a APRS lite for GMRS.

I think mesh (when it works) is great for text messages. I thought it was really cool someone got BBS working. The other issue too is message collision (which APRS also suffers from)

Tired of seeing rubbish like this. Nobody is scared

Even worse, here in Australia, companies are trying to market these things as a safety device to hikers on Facebook.

There is even a 4g product being marketed as unlimited coverage (it is not, as most of Australia does not have cell networks)

DO NOT RELY ON PRODUCTS LIKE THESE FOR HIKING.

Get a plb and a satellite messenger (if you want real-time tracking).

In my home country of Canada one of the two duolopolies in telecom (Rogers/Shaw) added satellite texting now thanks to spaceX version satellites. So for pretty much the entire country as long as I have a view of the sky (even with trees) I can text people.

Yeah. They did that too in Australia. But for hiking, phones aren't really emergency grade. If it's working yes. But they are only water resistant for starters

The actual device in this is 40-50$, 5-10$ for the battery, 5$ for the antenna, and if you (or someone you know) has a 3D printer the case is <5$.