I don't even know what you're talking about most of the time at this point, but I'm still watching, listening, and learning. You're doing God's work, bro.
Basicaly, a circut board that runs a radio, conect it to a cellphone and you can use apps configured for this to send text data between the circut boards to the phone, and person, attached to each.
As a ham radio guy with a bunch of static and mobile gear, I have to say : this idea is f......n outstanding for those in my tribe that can't afford ham radio gear, and don't have time or desire to learn, mostly our better halves. Be blessed little bro, with much wisdom and goodness.
@@beholdbehold Well that's a pretty asinine statement. There's a lot of us that have families, run businesses, and don't have spare hours to research on the internet. And yes, I'll happily pay a "tax" for that knowledge/equipment, as long as my time is more valuable than the price being charged.
@@beholdbehold I'd agree if it weren't for the fact the man will never tell you what you're looking at, what it does, or why it's important. It's childish, everything is purposely obscured so that he can make more money.
Thank you for making this video and bringing more attention to ATAK and Meshtastic. One important note on Bluetooth: Meshtastic devices can connect to a phone via a USB OTG cable, Meshtastic and the ATAK plugin both support this type of connection so you can eliminate the need for Bluetooth if necessary. I'm really happy to see all the interest from SAR people, I'm an experienced hiker but anyone can have an emergency in the backcountry and need rescue. We appreciate you and the lifesaving work that you do.
This is exactly what I was thinking about to eliminate the BT issue. I know the meshtastic devices can do micro USB (and phones obviously too) but haven't actually tried it.
Because of events in the past 2 years and leading up to the past few days, I've been binge-watching this channel to help prepare myself for a SHTF scenario. I want to thank you for all the knowledge and insight your channel provides.
Okay. SHTF spot test. 1. What is the main drawback of using third party plane tracking data to observe flight movements? 2. Name one way a person being detained could escape handcuffs even after their pockets are searched for a handcuff key? 3. Name one method that could be used to help boost a ham radio signal without the need to put a big antenna up in the air
As a side note on solar charging of your relay nodes. A single 18650 bat of +- 1500 mAh will provide +- 3 days of power (with moderate use). If your operational needs only encompass a day or two. No need to add solar. However, if you're setting up semi-permanent nodes around your city/operational area solar is a must. Just so you don't have to visit each node to replace batteries. Fortunately, a lot of the leg work has already been done on the meshtastic forum. There are a bunch of cheep/easy solutions to make your relay nodes "hands off" once installed. Just remember RF propagation is heavily dependent on 2 factors. #1 Antenna performance #2 Line of sight obstructions. So place your nodes as high up as you can. And place extra nodes in areas with line-of-sight obstructions. (Buildings ECT)
I have yet to confirm, but I think these boards allow for passthrough charging and if so.. Step 1.) Connect Solar Step 2.) Profit! Step 3.) Send messages If not...then a battery bank with passthrough charging is a must.
FYI, the BigBlue folding 63W solar charger is a great option for charging a phone in the field. Weighs 2 pounds and folds into a very convenient pack. I crafted PVC frame for it with $10 worth of PVC and attached it with velcro cable ties.
A thing I'll note about the radio direction finding point: With many communications protocols (including mesh networks), there are sometimes some unencrypted fields in the packet headers. Sometimes these unencrypted fields can include device addresses (similar to IP and/or MAC addresses in TCP/IP). This means that with a direction finding apparatus and a packet sniffer you could correlate device addresses to physical locations. By correlating timing of messages you might be able to find out even more. Haven't looked too much into the meshtastic protocol so not sure if this vulnerability exists in this particular instance. Just something to consider.
But in an urban area full of 915 MHz IoT devices and other mesh nodes I would think it would make it considerably more difficult to pin poi nt a location.
Lots of devices work in this band but not many are using LoRa and LoRa's spread spectrum signature is quite easy to spot even knowing nothing about the data being sent.
@@GOTHAM21 The unique device ID would make packets from all other locations irrelevant. A sufficiently capable signal analyzer could find the direction any particular device ID is broadcasting from. But they are adding routing across devices that are internet connected, so that will make things a bit more interesting.
I wanted to share my ATAK-Civ experience spending numerous hours over the last 12 months. This solution works! Previous attempts: Atak with Gotenna Mesh. No Atak plug-in. Fail. You can purchase pro version but very expensive. Atak with Baofeng Radios using Hammer Plugin (Slow vox) with speaker-mic interface cable. Unreliable, fail. Atak with Meshtastic (Your solution with Paul’s Atak forwarder plugin). Works Perfectly! So far this is the only & best solution I have found for civilian use to date.The data speed for transmitting data such as texts, coordinates, markers & pictures is almost instantaneous! Save yourself a lot of time and frustration with this solution. Thank you all for making this work!!!
That "low probability of intercept" becomes much higher when the power goes out. Most of the "cover" will lose power. That leaves the battery powered meshtastic nodes much more visible.
Very nice video. Thanks a bunch for this critical info. Ultimately, having a robust comm plan requires a diversity of equipment and a well thought out plan of execution. Put in the work, reap the rewards
Yes please. The pre-made all in one boards are all sold out. Would love to see the set up of a few diff boards to see how to set these up as standalone boards.
Thank you for the very good explanation & tutorial. We are using Meshtastic/ATAK in Airsoft. Needed an option to communicate on fields without LTE/TAK server. Works fine!
Greetings from Germany, Meshtastic (and other) mesh networks are popping up here more and more. I wonder why ;) Also one very interesting aspect of ESP32 based meshtastic devices is that you can easily add additional sensors like IR/radar movement detection, gas or sound sensors, which makes it even more versatile.
this is interesting, sound and vibrationsensor burried by an road can allert to tanks or the high pitched sound of an low flying jet from miles away just enough time to get the stinger ready. pitching this to my friends in Ukraine but thay are bussy AF
You should try setting up custom secondary channels with PSK on your meshtastic radios and setting the plugin to use that. If you're using the default channel, that data is technically sniffable to any other meshtastic radios with the default channel setup. Unfortunately messaging in a channel outside of the primary is not supported in the android meshtastic app, but I have a feature request in for that. It's useful to leave the default primary channel and communicate in a private secondary channel, because your private traffic can relay off other meshtastic nodes without being readable. Also, static relay nodes should not contain the configuration for your private channel, in case they get stolen. That PSK/Channel Config should only exist on nodes within direct over site of your team.
@@BobBob-il2ku Yup, that's the intended behavior as stated (deep) in their documentation. Secondary channel packets are encrypted and can relay off other nodes. Those default configured / public nodes that your packet is relaying off of have zero visibility into the data you're sending. I only have two radios currently, and unfortunately nobody else in my area appears to be using meshtastic, so I cant confirm.
@@VladTheSkewerer if that’s the case this technology is way more interesting. Someone should make this into a phone cover that clips on your regular phone
@@scubabbyy Sorry, I haven't tried using ATAK and the associated plugins, so I can't give you much guidance there. I just know what the meshtastic firmware is capable of and written to do. Worth noting that the meshtastic-android application does not yet support messaging in any other channel but primary. If that plugin uses parts of the meshtastic-android project, that may have carried over as well.
A random shortage I have noticed in my area in northern VA is cream cheese. Not that its critical but just interesting. Keep up the good work my friends!
This is cool! Seems like it could be pretty useful in coordinating SAR operations. Can't tell you how many times in my country hikers get lost and search teams comprising of just civilians are sent out.
@@rkadi6540 Yup you're right, losing connection is always possibility which is why it shouldn't be the primary tool. But the Meshtastic unit is light enough that I'm thinking it can be lifted on a drone to use as a repeater
So…now as a community someone needs to put together a truly durable/watertight enclosure that has a sexy form factor. Because looking cool is half the battle.
You can use drones with it as well now. Thats a huge upgrade. Combine that with Beartooth Mk2s or Meshtastic, now youve got instant eyes for those on your network.
Holy fuck. This is literally keeping phones useful after SHTF. As long as you keep them running, you can text and use maps. Ok, i'm definitely getting some of these ASAP.
I have a project using Meshtastic repeaters called the Raven system, where I could conceivably load my carrier nodes on scheduled things that are places at specific times, like say... a train... for long range message carrying from city to city, where the packets loaded from A get ferried to C by way of node B which rides rails or maybe 18 wheels 😏 do with that what you will. ❤ love the content bro!
Ive gotten 5 miles p2p from tbeams in a large city with one tbeam on top of my house and one on a pole on the back of my truck with the stock cheapy antennas.
Just keep in mind that the video makes it look easier than it is to start. Matching the right firmware between apps can be an issue as is downloading it in the first place and this is compounded when you must find the right meshtastic firmware to match the frequency of the devices...915Mhz is North American
Fyi for everyone, even if you’re not using atak, the meshtastic platform is still VERY useful one its own. You can obviously message node to node but you can also connect sensors to your mesh network. This opens up A LOT of very interesting options.
Hard to get a good GPS signal in a cave though, but it would still work for messaging, and you might be able to infer approximate location based on which nodes can route or hear the signal.
@@3nertia Wet walls absorb radio signals rather than bounce them.. Just means more relay nodes. You can set a fixed gps position on the node (if you know it underground :))
The Motorola T800 walkie talkies have a similar way of working (connected via bluetooth to a smartphone allow to send gps location and text messages) and also can be used for normal radio communication. Obviously the Motorola app is much more basic but it's another option to concider that comes basically ready to use.
This comment is a godsend. Checking them out now for their ready to use mess plus availability and it’s limited application use probably still meets all of my needs
Subscribed :) We are playing around with LoRa devices and Meshtastic as a SHTF communication tool with friends in my area. I am also looking into civTAK/ATAK as it looks more flexible then the meshtastic software in the kind of info you can send. Our problem here is geography, we have a bunch of mountains and we mostly live down in the valleys. Cheers from Switzerland
might wanna look into medium size drones meant for adverse weather, shown fairly handy during USA recent natural disasters when people could deliver supplies or even just get solid audio visual confirmation of things like life,house standing etc. idk laws there but in theory you can potentially transport entire bags\boxes of say food and supplies up to 50 lbs with a good drone and not too bad of weather. in shtf imo the few most important things depending on the situation and people are, local supplies, distant supplies, communication, and ability to facilitate those three things, drones assist everything potentially. can send and bring objects a\v communication and general recon and information gathering.
Great video! Getting excited by the possibilities of the system! One question though : Does all meshtastic devices need to be paired with a phone running ATAK? Or can I just monitor a fleet of devices from the same channel using only one ATAK enabled phone? Thank you so much!
I can think of so many practical real world uses for this tech. Put some LoRa devices around your large property, and use ATAK so your family can monitor where you are when you're out working. If you're way up in the woods or out working in a field, and get stuck, or have a medical emergency, it would be easy to send an SOS with GPS location to a home base station to alert your family to help you, no cell reception needed. And if you're incapacitated, your location would still be known. Also, out west, it would be a great way for neighbors to track wild fires and coordinate accordingly where there's no cell signal.
I just downloaded the new version of ATAK plus all the plugins from the App Store, they are work together. I did use two different mesh devices, they worked with Meshtastic app, and they worked well together. So far I tried with messages, and sending locations on the map located in ATAK, it worked well. I plan to take these out next weekend to the woods to see how they work there.
Have you thought about putting a mesh node on a drone to park a node on top of tall buildings or ridges? From my understanding it’s line of sight so the higher the better right? Even mounting it in a fixed wing UAV set to loiter would be able to cover a decent amount of territory. Sorry just brainstorming use cases.
Two questions. 1) In a declared emergency or "govt down" scenario where regulations go out the window, how far could you extend the meshtastic range by bumping up the power? 2) You mentioned meshtastic using a very unique frequency. Is it possible with enough other users they could start stepping on each other?
They will step on each other. Ranges of 150kms arn't uncommon LOS already. "Lora" runs in a band of frequencies so if you don't mind tweaking the code....
1- not too far if you want to stick to the common sense. the wavelength for that frequency is too short to carry a signal to long distances unless you pump the signal up with a significant power. there are two problems with blasting that hard. first, you get triangulated way easier by hostile parties. second, you act as a jammer for non-hostile parties in shorter distance. 2- I'd change the word "users" to "usage" and yes, it is entirely possible. More importantly, because the frequency is so low, the amount of usage to achieve that feat is lower than you think. This is why data intensive applications cannot be built on lora infrastructure. The frequency band doesn't have the enough bandwidth to carry so much data. However, applications of very low data intensity like ATAK won't even come close to testing those limits.
If you want more range, put a node higher up. Balloon, drone, water tower, something like that. If you live near a mountain, put one on the mountain to talk to people on the other side.
Was curious if you could make an updated video on the link with Meshtactica / Lora & ATAK. Not a ton of videos out there. Would be nice to know what current electronics and programs you are using.
I"m curious if you have looked into OsmAnd? I have to use it for offline GPS routing for my job and learned about from another techticool LARPer. It provides quite a bit of offline information and you can download all the extra map details as needed. I've wondered if there were plugins for it that would communicate with Meshtastic or provide some ATAK troop features.
Great video with great content. However, I think some caveats are in order. $25 covers only the electronics board for the hardware, not the case, not the battery, and certainly not the PV/solar panel required for a remote node. Even then, these boards are only $25 each when ordered in quantity (usually in lots of at least 20-30.) I honestly, think that a real-world price per complete, fully operational 915 MHz radio is more like $40-50; still this is far less than competing products on the market. Given that the whole system is open source, extensible, and hackable, I think it's a bargain.
to your point about the bluetooth vulnerability- can the lora be wired to the device? is it capable of data transfer in any way other than bluetooth? juggernaut cases sell data transfer cables, i just cant find any info on whether lora devices can send/receive this way.
Perhaps a video of APRS and 2m comms in the US might be worthwhile? I keep an eye on a remote property 2,000 miles away from my residence using APRS and the 2 meter amateur radio band. 2 radios, 2k miles apart.
That would be amazing if phone companies would add an extra antenna to their phones so you could use it directly from your phone, instead of having to connect to an extra device.
FYI to use other bands for meshtastic you don't need a whole other device just the frequency you want to use antenna. I was accidentally sent a UK Lilygo and they instructed me to get a 915 antenna and it worked fine.
This is 2 years old but you can also do usb direct to your phone. Also adds the bonus that you are powering it from the phone as well. There might be a comment saying this already but there are too many to dig through.
Ok so real question I have yet to verify...can a stingray device still gain access to your phone even if it doesn't have cell service(no SIM card)? And to take it a step farther, can it do it on a de-googled phone (also without SIM card)? There are parts of these modern smartphones that are a bit of a black box/unknown with the way the modem/system on a chip works. The way it was explained to me (as it relates to a phone on lets say Verizon and activated) is you have the equivalent of a tiny computer running in the background giving commands to your Android OS. It can interact with the OS in ways you can't monitor...sort of similar to if you could have hardware level malware / rootkits etc. All that sounds pretty out there, but its worth digging into. I feel as though the potential weak link could be the smart phone? Worth throwing that question abroad, as this is something I need to really dig further into.
If you buy a Canary radio, you can use any LORA freq because they have every region built in. Check them out. I heard that ring doorbells use a version of LORA to "talk" to each other. LORA has a very low probability of intercept. The TTP is hide in the noise.
Dude finally got around to installing all this on a LineageOS build, everything work great! Next step is to roll it out to the rest of the crew and train them...
Ahhh I was a MARS operator for a few years but I strayed in my own directions as a ham radio operator communications skills are perishable and not enough soldiers understand how comms work in general which leads to ineffective communications and atak is sweet and I proposed it's use to the MERN in the north east but it fell on deaf ears. I like this hybrid mix up of software but for me and my family meshtastic alone works just fine enough for what we need it for but if I had bin a popular person with friends I would maybe consider making a meshtastic atak network in my area but I am that guy with no one to talk to over it and family knows it's uses for black outs or comms down situations
Sell TAKterminal kits; Atak + other useful software installed onto a cheap and robust android tablet running degoogled os with a mesh device + small placeable repeater. Could get the tablets for like 30 USD, resell the kits for a couple hundred with sponsor deals to the community. I'd buy a set to give everyone in my network, save me the trouble of doing it all myself and help fund your continued efforts. Just sayin
By the way I have a suite of security macros used for network cognizance and situational awareness, with the soon-additions of having auto-wipe and network noise bursting functions available. They can run on any android and call functions from any other apps meaning full integration with any other services one might require. Add em to your kit and you could get a lot more work done out of some relatively weak machines.
thank you for these vids, this one is particularly timely - have a number of meshtastic devices being delivered this week(after a long wait). looking forward to seeing what the range and or capabilities are. where did you get the cool cases? planning on putting one on a drone(and a small vhf/uhf repeater) to see what kind of range we can get in different environments. do you have any recommended map sources, stuff that's a bit more timely than google hybrid? how frequently in areas of unrest is the 900mhz band jammed?
As for losing your Meshtastic device, that could be a problem if your adversary finds it, encryption keys and all. You'd probably want a backup set of keys to switch to in the event that a node is compromised. In fact, you'd probably want to change them regularly, anyway, just as the military does.
This is exactly what the military has been working on for the last while. Essential all troops are equipped with a device and screen. The only difference is the military version is live / no latency. Can be used on conjunction with a headset to see through buildings, structures and vehicles. Also so you k ow who is a friendly and not. Like a video game HUD. Or more similarly the f-35 helmet which allows you to look through you plane. And see what's below you. Cool stuff.
Another good video. I’ve been downloading and taking vids like this offline for the last few years before they disappear 🧐 Questions: I’m an iOS guy so what kind of android devices should I buy to run this system? Operating in the mountains, is this setup a good solution or not? What would augment this setup to do so or is another setup altogether better?
Line of sight is a important point. The option to drop a shoe carton sized box with a repeater an 1month of battery is a option to keep in mind. The kite in the wind approach is usable for burst signals in permissive environments.
Do you have sketch or diagram on the case and battery set up you are showing? The black case? Did you have added mAH by expanding and running multiple 18650s in series? Just trying to learn how you gave more juice...if that is what you did. I like the case. The cases online only take one 18650. Do you also have wrapped in anti static electronics foil to prevent electromagnetic interference or damage?
ATAK has been explained to me as a means to consolidate information in timely manner, which is why its great for military. but the average guy isnt getting info pushed from a dozen sources. I do think the hypothetical you showed can be a good fit for it, especially if there are many reports happening quickly. have you explored the same concept using osmand? idk if would would flow as easily, but it may be worth looking into.
you can wire the meshtastic chip to a raspberrypie4 and run meshtastic with python so you don't have to use bluetooth, eventually id like to get ataks running on it
You can also do a Phone -> USB OTG cable -> T-Beam connection and use the T-Beam over USB Serial, when connected the T-Beam will show up under "Set Comm Device" as a serial device.
Great video. I am really interested in setting up the system you demonstrated. I have one point of disagreement though. LoRa has an identifiable signal profile. It uses a "cherp" that other 900MHz devices wont use. That being said you wont be able to identify your LoRa device versus my Lora device.
I don't even know what you're talking about most of the time at this point, but I'm still watching, listening, and learning. You're doing God's work, bro.
Basicaly, a circut board that runs a radio, conect it to a cellphone and you can use apps configured for this to send text data between the circut boards to the phone, and person, attached to each.
But what does it use to relay, satellite?
@@danielboatright8887 The real question I am investigating is if you can join the conversation with a DMR radio
Me at school
@@waylonk2453 no these are analog..old school..dmr may come but not yet
ATAK and Meshtastic forever! Thanks for this great video!
Woooot woot❤❤❤🎉
As a ham radio guy with a bunch of static and mobile gear, I have to say : this idea is f......n
outstanding for those in my tribe that can't afford ham radio gear, and don't have time or desire to learn, mostly our better halves. Be blessed little bro, with much wisdom and goodness.
Also a ham guy…but the fact that these use bonafide aes 256 is a solid win.
Socal_offgrid would have made you buy one of his "classes" to learn this. God bless S2_underground and fuck charging for critical information.
Doesn’t he charge like 100 bucks for a Meshtastic board with a colorful 3D printed case? Dude is a Choad.
@@hajduk_lives an absolute looser
It's just a tax on people who don't know how to research and use the internet themselves lol. But bless S2 non the less.
@@beholdbehold Well that's a pretty asinine statement. There's a lot of us that have families, run businesses, and don't have spare hours to research on the internet. And yes, I'll happily pay a "tax" for that knowledge/equipment, as long as my time is more valuable than the price being charged.
@@beholdbehold I'd agree if it weren't for the fact the man will never tell you what you're looking at, what it does, or why it's important. It's childish, everything is purposely obscured so that he can make more money.
Thank you for making this video and bringing more attention to ATAK and Meshtastic.
One important note on Bluetooth: Meshtastic devices can connect to a phone via a USB OTG cable, Meshtastic and the ATAK plugin both support this type of connection so you can eliminate the need for Bluetooth if necessary.
I'm really happy to see all the interest from SAR people, I'm an experienced hiker but anyone can have an emergency in the backcountry and need rescue. We appreciate you and the lifesaving work that you do.
This is exactly what I was thinking about to eliminate the BT issue. I know the meshtastic devices can do micro USB (and phones obviously too) but haven't actually tried it.
Because of events in the past 2 years and leading up to the past few days, I've been binge-watching this channel to help prepare myself for a SHTF scenario. I want to thank you for all the knowledge and insight your channel provides.
Okay. SHTF spot test.
1. What is the main drawback of using third party plane tracking data to observe flight movements?
2. Name one way a person being detained could escape handcuffs even after their pockets are searched for a handcuff key?
3. Name one method that could be used to help boost a ham radio signal without the need to put a big antenna up in the air
@@Crayma800 the prep got to him hes probably in a ward
As You Tuber Lou Valentino says, I'm not a conspiracy theorist I'm a conspiracy realist
How you feeling going into 2025?
As a side note on solar charging of your relay nodes. A single 18650 bat of +- 1500 mAh will provide +- 3 days of power (with moderate use). If your operational needs only encompass a day or two. No need to add solar. However, if you're setting up semi-permanent nodes around your city/operational area solar is a must. Just so you don't have to visit each node to replace batteries. Fortunately, a lot of the leg work has already been done on the meshtastic forum. There are a bunch of cheep/easy solutions to make your relay nodes "hands off" once installed. Just remember RF propagation is heavily dependent on 2 factors. #1 Antenna performance #2 Line of sight obstructions. So place your nodes as high up as you can. And place extra nodes in areas with line-of-sight obstructions. (Buildings ECT)
Link to meshtastic forum?
Do tell about the solar. I have 3 of these nodes ready to go...another issue i keep having is that the network name keeps changing .
I have yet to confirm, but I think these boards allow for passthrough charging and if so..
Step 1.) Connect Solar
Step 2.) Profit!
Step 3.) Send messages
If not...then a battery bank with passthrough charging is a must.
@@megahurts2 probably would be wise to use protected 18650 cells
FYI, the BigBlue folding 63W solar charger is a great option for charging a phone in the field. Weighs 2 pounds and folds into a very convenient pack. I crafted PVC frame for it with $10 worth of PVC and attached it with velcro cable ties.
A thing I'll note about the radio direction finding point:
With many communications protocols (including mesh networks), there are sometimes some unencrypted fields in the packet headers. Sometimes these unencrypted fields can include device addresses (similar to IP and/or MAC addresses in TCP/IP).
This means that with a direction finding apparatus and a packet sniffer you could correlate device addresses to physical locations. By correlating timing of messages you might be able to find out even more.
Haven't looked too much into the meshtastic protocol so not sure if this vulnerability exists in this particular instance.
Just something to consider.
But in an urban area full of 915 MHz IoT devices and other mesh nodes I would think it would make it considerably more difficult to pin poi nt a location.
@@GOTHAM21 you'd think. but a grep only takes a couple of keystrokes for a skilled operator
@@GOTHAM21 It's pretty easy if you know what you're looking for. Even more so if you can push a ping and wait for the response.
Lots of devices work in this band but not many are using LoRa and LoRa's spread spectrum signature is quite easy to spot even knowing nothing about the data being sent.
@@GOTHAM21 The unique device ID would make packets from all other locations irrelevant. A sufficiently capable signal analyzer could find the direction any particular device ID is broadcasting from. But they are adding routing across devices that are internet connected, so that will make things a bit more interesting.
This channel instantly became one of my favorites.
I wanted to share my ATAK-Civ experience spending numerous hours over the last 12 months.
This solution works!
Previous attempts:
Atak with Gotenna Mesh. No Atak plug-in. Fail. You can purchase pro version but very expensive.
Atak with Baofeng Radios using Hammer Plugin (Slow vox) with speaker-mic interface cable. Unreliable, fail.
Atak with Meshtastic (Your solution with Paul’s Atak forwarder plugin). Works Perfectly!
So far this is the only & best solution I have found for civilian use to date.The data speed for transmitting data such as texts, coordinates, markers & pictures is almost instantaneous! Save yourself a lot of time and frustration with this solution.
Thank you all for making this work!!!
That "low probability of intercept" becomes much higher when the power goes out. Most of the "cover" will lose power. That leaves the battery powered meshtastic nodes much more visible.
This
There are still tons of battery powered greenhouse sensors, temperature sensors, weather stations and other stuff still running in such a situation.
To who exactly? Why should I be afraid?
@@stayfrostyfr0st726 i think He means in case of a ww3 kind of scenario or if you live in a shit hole country with tons of surveilance
Very nice video. Thanks a bunch for this critical info. Ultimately, having a robust comm plan requires a diversity of equipment and a well thought out plan of execution. Put in the work, reap the rewards
Great video! Would be great to see you setting up actual lora board from scratch, installing/setting up Meshtastic and putting it in a case.
Yes please. The pre-made all in one boards are all sold out. Would love to see the set up of a few diff boards to see how to set these up as standalone boards.
This is what I've been looking for! Specifically for our SAR teams! THANK YOU!!!!!!
Thank you for the very good explanation & tutorial. We are using Meshtastic/ATAK in Airsoft. Needed an option to communicate on fields without LTE/TAK server. Works fine!
Greetings from Germany, Meshtastic (and other) mesh networks are popping up here more and more. I wonder why ;)
Also one very interesting aspect of ESP32 based meshtastic devices is that you can easily add additional sensors like IR/radar movement detection, gas or sound sensors, which makes it even more versatile.
I didn't know this. What kinda of data can you get from say the radar or gas sensors? How do you receive it what does the data look like?
this is interesting, sound and vibrationsensor burried by an road can allert to tanks or the high pitched sound of an low flying jet from miles away just enough time to get the stinger ready. pitching this to my friends in Ukraine but thay are bussy AF
So the kits that come with a raspberry pi I think you have 45 different sensors
@@surplusdriller1how do you go about this? And any links for sensors like ir/movement
@@michaelsnook6712 the military had them developed for a while, stopped issuing them bc they were unreliable as hell
I'm completely nerding out on meshtastic right now and this is further fueling my need for more information
You should try setting up custom secondary channels with PSK on your meshtastic radios and setting the plugin to use that. If you're using the default channel, that data is technically sniffable to any other meshtastic radios with the default channel setup. Unfortunately messaging in a channel outside of the primary is not supported in the android meshtastic app, but I have a feature request in for that.
It's useful to leave the default primary channel and communicate in a private secondary channel, because your private traffic can relay off other meshtastic nodes without being readable.
Also, static relay nodes should not contain the configuration for your private channel, in case they get stolen. That PSK/Channel Config should only exist on nodes within direct over site of your team.
Important considerations. For these reasons, I advocate using a message-capable DMR radio
So if I didn’t own the node but let’s say a neighbor did would mine be able to use it as a “repeater”? Would all that happen without me knowing?
@@BobBob-il2ku Yup, that's the intended behavior as stated (deep) in their documentation. Secondary channel packets are encrypted and can relay off other nodes. Those default configured / public nodes that your packet is relaying off of have zero visibility into the data you're sending. I only have two radios currently, and unfortunately nobody else in my area appears to be using meshtastic, so I cant confirm.
@@VladTheSkewerer if that’s the case this technology is way more interesting. Someone should make this into a phone cover that clips on your regular phone
@@scubabbyy Sorry, I haven't tried using ATAK and the associated plugins, so I can't give you much guidance there. I just know what the meshtastic firmware is capable of and written to do. Worth noting that the meshtastic-android application does not yet support messaging in any other channel but primary. If that plugin uses parts of the meshtastic-android project, that may have carried over as well.
A random shortage I have noticed in my area in northern VA is cream cheese. Not that its critical but just interesting. Keep up the good work my friends!
The bump in resolution is noticed and very much appreciated!
(really though just use 720p if your fingers are visible on camera)
This is cool! Seems like it could be pretty useful in coordinating SAR operations. Can't tell you how many times in my country hikers get lost and search teams comprising of just civilians are sent out.
Correct me if im wrong but hiking means walking up to a mountain/hill right? What if you lost connection?
@@rkadi6540 Yup you're right, losing connection is always possibility which is why it shouldn't be the primary tool. But the Meshtastic unit is light enough that I'm thinking it can be lifted on a drone to use as a repeater
@@rkadi6540 That is correct. Additionally, walking back down a mountain is called un-hiking.
From what aive read, atak has allready been used for fighting forest fires
@@danielboatright8887 That's pretty cool
So…now as a community someone needs to put together a truly durable/watertight enclosure that has a sexy form factor. Because looking cool is half the battle.
Maybe 3D printed?
Excellent video. Easy to understand, even for a knuckle dragger like me.
You can use drones with it as well now. Thats a huge upgrade. Combine that with Beartooth Mk2s or Meshtastic, now youve got instant eyes for those on your network.
no you dont
Until the signal shits out or the enemy employs jammers. Then what?
Thank you for sharing!!!! Love playing with this stuff to add a little force multiplication to my tool kit.
Holy fuck. This is literally keeping phones useful after SHTF.
As long as you keep them running, you can text and use maps.
Ok, i'm definitely getting some of these ASAP.
I have a project using Meshtastic repeaters called the Raven system, where I could conceivably load my carrier nodes on scheduled things that are places at specific times, like say... a train... for long range message carrying from city to city, where the packets loaded from A get ferried to C by way of node B which rides rails or maybe 18 wheels 😏 do with that what you will. ❤ love the content bro!
Interesting
Ive gotten 5 miles p2p from tbeams in a large city with one tbeam on top of my house and one on a pole on the back of my truck with the stock cheapy antennas.
Do you have an estimate for the heights above ground, for each of these antennas?
Which frequency? 915 or 923?
We got close to 35 miles in the suburbs. Both antenna where set at at least 12 feet off the ground
I wonder if a flag pole could make for a good antenna with minimal aesthetic modification.
Could you transmit voice messages like in Zello?
Mesh networks are viable and growing. This approach seems more refined and somewhat user friendly.
Just keep in mind that the video makes it look easier than it is to start. Matching the right firmware between apps can be an issue as is downloading it in the first place and this is compounded when you must find the right meshtastic firmware to match the frequency of the devices...915Mhz is North American
Absolutely perfect! Dude i have learned more from you then most thanks S2! Always track'n
Fyi for everyone, even if you’re not using atak, the meshtastic platform is still VERY useful one its own. You can obviously message node to node but you can also connect sensors to your mesh network. This opens up A LOT of very interesting options.
its also pretty good for subterranean comms, mesh networking means that you can talk to a base station through multiple relays
Hard to get a good GPS signal in a cave though, but it would still work for messaging, and you might be able to infer approximate location based on which nodes can route or hear the signal.
@@3nertia Wet walls absorb radio signals rather than bounce them.. Just means more relay nodes. You can set a fixed gps position on the node (if you know it underground :))
The Motorola T800 walkie talkies have a similar way of working (connected via bluetooth to a smartphone allow to send gps location and text messages) and also can be used for normal radio communication. Obviously the Motorola app is much more basic but it's another option to concider that comes basically ready to use.
This comment is a godsend. Checking them out now for their ready to use mess plus availability and it’s limited application use probably still meets all of my needs
Subscribed :) We are playing around with LoRa devices and Meshtastic as a SHTF communication tool with friends in my area. I am also looking into civTAK/ATAK as it looks more flexible then the meshtastic software in the kind of info you can send. Our problem here is geography, we have a bunch of mountains and we mostly live down in the valleys.
Cheers from Switzerland
might wanna look into medium size drones meant for adverse weather, shown fairly handy during USA recent natural disasters when people could deliver supplies or even just get solid audio visual confirmation of things like life,house standing etc.
idk laws there but in theory you can potentially transport entire bags\boxes of say food and supplies up to 50 lbs with a good drone and not too bad of weather.
in shtf imo the few most important things depending on the situation and people are, local supplies, distant supplies, communication, and ability to facilitate those three things, drones assist everything potentially.
can send and bring objects
a\v communication
and general recon and information gathering.
Great video! Getting excited by the possibilities of the system! One question though : Does all meshtastic devices need to be paired with a phone running ATAK? Or can I just monitor a fleet of devices from the same channel using only one ATAK enabled phone? Thank you so much!
I can think of so many practical real world uses for this tech.
Put some LoRa devices around your large property, and use ATAK so your family can monitor where you are when you're out working. If you're way up in the woods or out working in a field, and get stuck, or have a medical emergency, it would be easy to send an SOS with GPS location to a home base station to alert your family to help you, no cell reception needed. And if you're incapacitated, your location would still be known.
Also, out west, it would be a great way for neighbors to track wild fires and coordinate accordingly where there's no cell signal.
I just downloaded the new version of ATAK plus all the plugins from the App Store, they are work together. I did use two different mesh devices, they worked with Meshtastic app, and they worked well together.
So far I tried with messages, and sending locations on the map located in ATAK, it worked well.
I plan to take these out next weekend to the woods to see how they work there.
Where did you locate the latest version to side load?
@@MerkinSniffer69 It was given to me through a Meshtastic discord
Are you gonna do a video on land navigation, MGRS, and how to take terrain into consideration?
Great video and very clear explanation, thanks!
Very useful insight on this topic. Thx for the video.
I really like your content. Especially the Atak stuff. Thank you and please continue to do more 👍👌
Have you thought about putting a mesh node on a drone to park a node on top of tall buildings or ridges? From my understanding it’s line of sight so the higher the better right? Even mounting it in a fixed wing UAV set to loiter would be able to cover a decent amount of territory. Sorry just brainstorming use cases.
Was my first thought...
Are we going to get a video on making one of those meshtastic devices?
great option for quietly communicating enemy positions and interception
It’s not quite. It’s open source and easy to detect.
You can connect the phone to the meshtastic device using a usb cable. Specifically a usb otg cable
Came here to say this.
Two questions. 1) In a declared emergency or "govt down" scenario where regulations go out the window, how far could you extend the meshtastic range by bumping up the power? 2) You mentioned meshtastic using a very unique frequency. Is it possible with enough other users they could start stepping on each other?
I imagine it's line of sight range.
They will step on each other. Ranges of 150kms arn't uncommon LOS already. "Lora" runs in a band of frequencies so if you don't mind tweaking the code....
1- not too far if you want to stick to the common sense. the wavelength for that frequency is too short to carry a signal to long distances unless you pump the signal up with a significant power. there are two problems with blasting that hard. first, you get triangulated way easier by hostile parties. second, you act as a jammer for non-hostile parties in shorter distance.
2- I'd change the word "users" to "usage" and yes, it is entirely possible. More importantly, because the frequency is so low, the amount of usage to achieve that feat is lower than you think. This is why data intensive applications cannot be built on lora infrastructure. The frequency band doesn't have the enough bandwidth to carry so much data. However, applications of very low data intensity like ATAK won't even come close to testing those limits.
If you want more range, put a node higher up. Balloon, drone, water tower, something like that. If you live near a mountain, put one on the mountain to talk to people on the other side.
Was curious if you could make an updated video on the link with Meshtactica / Lora & ATAK. Not a ton of videos out there. Would be nice to know what current electronics and programs you are using.
😮 this is awesome. Thanks for all you are doing. Excellent excellent content
I LOVE this channel and the information. Thank you!
I"m curious if you have looked into OsmAnd? I have to use it for offline GPS routing for my job and learned about from another techticool LARPer. It provides quite a bit of offline information and you can download all the extra map details as needed. I've wondered if there were plugins for it that would communicate with Meshtastic or provide some ATAK troop features.
Great video with great content. However, I think some caveats are in order. $25 covers only the electronics board for the hardware, not the case, not the battery, and certainly not the PV/solar panel required for a remote node. Even then, these boards are only $25 each when ordered in quantity (usually in lots of at least 20-30.) I honestly, think that a real-world price per complete, fully operational 915 MHz radio is more like $40-50; still this is far less than competing products on the market. Given that the whole system is open source, extensible, and hackable, I think it's a bargain.
Yep that's about what it cost me to build with a quality ip65 enclosure and other little bits
Question is how much is your comms system worth in shtf scenario?? 40-50$ is nothing for local intel or early warning..
@@ghostwalkerairsofttech1947 Can you please make a quick video on your setup? I’m just getting started with this. TIA
to your point about the bluetooth vulnerability- can the lora be wired to the device? is it capable of data transfer in any way other than bluetooth?
juggernaut cases sell data transfer cables, i just cant find any info on whether lora devices can send/receive this way.
best and worst thing i have done is find this channel :)
Perhaps a video of APRS and 2m comms in the US might be worthwhile? I keep an eye on a remote property 2,000 miles away from my residence using APRS and the 2 meter amateur radio band. 2 radios, 2k miles apart.
That would be amazing if phone companies would add an extra antenna to their phones so you could use it directly from your phone, instead of having to connect to an extra device.
That's who we avoid. Not on our side.
Good sequel to your last video. Thanks!
FYI to use other bands for meshtastic you don't need a whole other device just the frequency you want to use antenna.
I was accidentally sent a UK Lilygo and they instructed me to get a 915 antenna and it worked fine.
This is 2 years old but you can also do usb direct to your phone. Also adds the bonus that you are powering it from the phone as well. There might be a comment saying this already but there are too many to dig through.
Would be really useful to integrate small drone dropped lora sound and vibration detectors for perimeter tank detection etc
Awesome
Ok so real question I have yet to verify...can a stingray device still gain access to your phone even if it doesn't have cell service(no SIM card)?
And to take it a step farther, can it do it on a de-googled phone (also without SIM card)?
There are parts of these modern smartphones that are a bit of a black box/unknown with the way the modem/system on a chip works.
The way it was explained to me (as it relates to a phone on lets say Verizon and activated) is you have the equivalent of a tiny computer running in the background giving commands to your Android OS.
It can interact with the OS in ways you can't monitor...sort of similar to if you could have hardware level malware / rootkits etc.
All that sounds pretty out there, but its worth digging into.
I feel as though the potential weak link could be the smart phone?
Worth throwing that question abroad, as this is something I need to really dig further into.
Oh man, I should of kept watching.
Thats a valid point about Bluetooth being a potential security issue.
Very nice. Thanks for these kind of educational videos.
Thanks for sharing your video love it! Can you use an old android phone or have the phone "active" with cell service provider?
Damn son where d you find this
If you buy a Canary radio, you can use any LORA freq because they have every region built in. Check them out. I heard that ring doorbells use a version of LORA to "talk" to each other. LORA has a very low probability of intercept. The TTP is hide in the noise.
Good video. I know next to nothing about the more high tech stuff (a fudd at heart). But this info is something usable even by me. Thanks!
14:03 city of Kharkiv shown on the map indeed turned into a war zone just month after this video had been released 😐
Dude finally got around to installing all this on a LineageOS build, everything work great! Next step is to roll it out to the rest of the crew and train them...
Apparently WAVE Relay makes some pretty fun tech that plays well with ATAK
Ahhh I was a MARS operator for a few years but I strayed in my own directions as a ham radio operator communications skills are perishable and not enough soldiers understand how comms work in general which leads to ineffective communications and atak is sweet and I proposed it's use to the MERN in the north east but it fell on deaf ears. I like this hybrid mix up of software but for me and my family meshtastic alone works just fine enough for what we need it for but if I had bin a popular person with friends I would maybe consider making a meshtastic atak network in my area but I am that guy with no one to talk to over it and family knows it's uses for black outs or comms down situations
Sell TAKterminal kits;
Atak + other useful software installed onto a cheap and robust android tablet running degoogled os with a mesh device + small placeable repeater.
Could get the tablets for like 30 USD, resell the kits for a couple hundred with sponsor deals to the community.
I'd buy a set to give everyone in my network, save me the trouble of doing it all myself and help fund your continued efforts.
Just sayin
By the way I have a suite of security macros used for network cognizance and situational awareness, with the soon-additions of having auto-wipe and network noise bursting functions available.
They can run on any android and call functions from any other apps meaning full integration with any other services one might require.
Add em to your kit and you could get a lot more work done out of some relatively weak machines.
Love that I found this
What are expected range with this Mesh.....? Especially in urban environment
Doing the Lords work on this channel.
Would you be willing to break down your specific devices a bit more? The case, batteries, etc.
Was about to ask the same thing. I’m curious about the box builds and batteries and screen delete
thank you for these vids, this one is particularly timely - have a number of meshtastic devices being delivered this week(after a long wait). looking forward to seeing what the range and or capabilities are. where did you get the cool cases?
planning on putting one on a drone(and a small vhf/uhf repeater) to see what kind of range we can get in different environments.
do you have any recommended map sources, stuff that's a bit more timely than google hybrid?
how frequently in areas of unrest is the 900mhz band jammed?
As for losing your Meshtastic device, that could be a problem if your adversary finds it, encryption keys and all. You'd probably want a backup set of keys to switch to in the event that a node is compromised. In fact, you'd probably want to change them regularly, anyway, just as the military does.
has there been any new updates to other tech like this?
This is exactly what the military has been working on for the last while.
Essential all troops are equipped with a device and screen. The only difference is the military version is live / no latency.
Can be used on conjunction with a headset to see through buildings, structures and vehicles. Also so you k ow who is a friendly and not. Like a video game HUD. Or more similarly the f-35 helmet which allows you to look through you plane. And see what's below you.
Cool stuff.
Another good video.
I’ve been downloading and taking vids like this offline for the last few years before they disappear 🧐
Questions: I’m an iOS guy so what kind of android devices should I buy to run this system?
Operating in the mountains, is this setup a good solution or not? What would augment this setup to do so or is another setup altogether better?
Line of sight is a important point. The option to drop a shoe carton sized box with a repeater an 1month of battery is a option to keep in mind. The kite in the wind approach is usable for burst signals in permissive environments.
S2 - this is a great system, alot has changed, can an updated video be provided and going over the actual setups using both systems?
Is this still fairly accurate and something that you would still recommend as a supplement today?
Do you have sketch or diagram on the case and battery set up you are showing? The black case? Did you have added mAH by expanding and running multiple 18650s in series? Just trying to learn how you gave more juice...if that is what you did. I like the case. The cases online only take one 18650.
Do you also have wrapped in anti static electronics foil to prevent electromagnetic interference or damage?
very well explained, thank you.
Great information, thank you.
Already up and running
Great video! Where do you get a box to put the transceiver in? Just use a GPS waterproof box?
ATAK has been explained to me as a means to consolidate information in timely manner, which is why its great for military. but the average guy isnt getting info pushed from a dozen sources. I do think the hypothetical you showed can be a good fit for it, especially if there are many reports happening quickly.
have you explored the same concept using osmand? idk if would would flow as easily, but it may be worth looking into.
by the way, the best 915MHz antenna is by TBS.
you can wire the meshtastic chip to a raspberrypie4 and run meshtastic with python so you don't have to use bluetooth, eventually id like to get ataks running on it
You can also do a Phone -> USB OTG cable -> T-Beam connection and use the T-Beam over USB Serial, when connected the T-Beam will show up under "Set Comm Device" as a serial device.
Great vid! Do you have a video about how to make maps where all the buidlings are one color in the traditional mil style?
Thank you for this information. Do you have a video on the Lora device it’s self?
Keep up the great content, waiting on the latest Intel update.
If you are in range to detect bluetooth, then you are in rifle range.
Pistol
Any thoughts on running some reviews of different meshtastic boards?
Kick ass video, as always, guys.
What device are you using?
Great video. I am really interested in setting up the system you demonstrated. I have one point of disagreement though. LoRa has an identifiable signal profile. It uses a "cherp" that other 900MHz devices wont use. That being said you wont be able to identify your LoRa device versus my Lora device.
I was gonna recommend that OS... good choice.