Meshtastic LoRa Vs. Gotenna Mesh - Best Off-Grid Encrypted Communications?
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- Опубликовано: 27 фев 2022
- Which encrypted mesh device is right for you? Meshtastic LoRa Devices, or Gotenna Mesh?
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Hey mate, thanks for reviewing these, LoRa is a great technology.
Have you checked it the new T-Echo yet ? There's basically nothing about it on RUclips !
Where did you get the case in the into part of this video thats on the LoRa device?
Meshtastic loves you!
Thanks all! Nice work!
We love you both. 🥰
Kevin?
@@jimlahey5354 Kevin is not here right now. Would you like to leave a message?
@@Meshtastic no just saying hi
My employer is the communications contractor for a rural electrical grid. They decided to equip all their work crews with personal communications - which generated impressive quotations - as in Big!
We proposed a LoRa system where a Repeater unit is affixed to every 3rd electrical pylon/post.
We power these units with pick-up coils that take power from the power grid.
Employees were resistive to the se deminutive portables - tanks to opposing salesmen.
We equipped a small district with our suggested equipment and configuration. We told the workers would supply them with units at home for cost.
Given much the operational area had no cell service, there was workdf interest.
The trial was scheduled for a 6 month trial. After 71 days the trial was cancelled and a order for 100% coverage issued!
This last summer we were Camp Hosting at 9,200' ASL in the south-central Colorado mountains. We were located just inside of a box canyon and with a 25' pole and 65 dB amplifier on our Weboost RV-65 cell amp we could connect to the closest Verizon tower on Methodist mountain, but that cell tower was overloaded with local and/or tourist traffic 99.9% of the time in summer, making it useless. Also, text messages didn't work inside the campground away from my indoor cell antenna or partway down the switchbacks going up to the campground in several spots. We could do simplex communications to each other inside the campground inside the box canyon (GMRS or 2M/70CM), but simplex did not work when I was 2,200' lower in elevation down in town 8-12 miles away. There were 4 ham repeaters on Methodist mountain that were 98% unused, but could only be hit with a handheld near our campsite near the mouth of the box canyon at the campground entrance. Often, if I was at the well-house doing the chlorine test while Sheila was cleaning the potties, it was difficult to write down messages as texting did not work. I envisioned something like the LoRa for texting inside the campground, but of course, it would not work to communicate with the other 15 campgrounds in the district simultaneously. A 25' pole on the mouth of the hill "might" be able to communicate with town down below as it was line of sight 8 miles away, but enough nodes could not easily be put into place to go to each side canyon where the other campgrounds were located. Many of these campgrounds have no power or cell or landline service, some did unpredictably. This year we will be the managers, but our hosts aren't techies and it is just enough already to try to school them on LIFEPO4 batteries and solar, let alone to turn them into communication gurus and users, LOL. The Meshtastic would have been fun in our campground last summer and we will continue to study how they might be used in our remote mobile off-grid capabilities within our campground areas. 73, Dave - KU9L & Sheila - KB9YYI
I would love to see a video on the LoRa t Beams, meshtastic, and how that all works with ATAK(Android team awareness kit)! There's a plugin that allows meshtastic to talk to ATAK, and that DRASTICALLY improves its usefulness. I'm a complete noob to all of this though, so I'm still learning!
Thats what im looking to use lora for!
Same here
Thanks for the video. I ordered mine about a week ago. I look forward to testing them.
Awesome, Josh! I'm looking forward to getting a couple of Meshtastic units to experiment with.
All for this comparison! Been following GoTenna for years and always thought this was a clever upcharge of a simple device. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts :)
Thanks. I stumbled upon Meshtastic yesterday. I'm learning.
Good info thanks. I have a few pairs of the GoTenna Mesh devices but intrigued by the Meshtastic
I bought 3 T beams now to just test and play around with.
I’ll be honest I’m worry that if thing escalate here in Europe internet/cellphone/power grid might be a target and will make it impossible to find or communicate with family and friends. having a low power long range portable communication device is great. just having a few of these in an emergency scenario to just get an I'm oke message is great . The decentralized mesh nature is a good bonus in these cases .For me even if nothing happens its still a nice thing to just play around with.
I hope people smarter than me are designing waterproof 3D printed cases and coming up with the cheapest solar panel that will keep this charged. If we can get it to around $50 per node that’s would be great. Keep these videos coming
3D case would be nice but a DIY container is easy to make. Even toss it in a zip lock bag. Just put padding on the sides or sharp edges.
The plastic ammo cans would work great! Plenty of room for a larger battery and solar panel controller.
You could even drill a hole in the top and mount a higher gain antenna with coax back to the LoRa. Also if you mount the ammo can on a mast, mount the higher gain antenna on top of the mast with coax run into the bottom of the can. Just keep the coax short because loss at these freq will be high!
€1.40 waterproof lunchbox. LoRa and B2100 fit in, next stop solar.
@@kieranhiggins7031 yeah they make all kinds of waterproof containers. Lock N Lock use to be a great one for geocaching. But its tons of cheaper similar versions.
Currently you can get it online for around 30 dollars per unit battery not included (40 dollars including a separate charger and a few batteries)
Small pelican case , bigger antenna and a survival solar power bank like all the survival food co sell.
I use both but for ease of use, I prefer the Gotenna for use with the family. Maybe at the cost of lesser capabilities. We were in Sequoia/Kings Canyon where there is little to no cell service. It was able to let us communicate with her back at camp on a short hike about 1 mile or so through a forest at varying elevations.
Great info. I've never seen these products before. Cheers for sharing these devices.👍🤓
Good info thanks for sharing. Idea: lock the focus on your macro cam.
Nice overview. And, you're a fellow southpaw. I acquired a GoTenna Pro from a former Federal employee...just need to find a second unit to experiment with ATAK.
There are also the LilyGo T-Echo devices which are already assembled inside of a case and have an e-paper display which draws hardly any power and the battery lasts for a week or more.
Wish I had time and space to work with the Meshtastic equipment. I see the superior value in this stuff. I have friends who live 15 miles up a valley road with no cell signal (except a repeater the phone company installed in their kitchen). Being able to install a coms network up and down the valley and it's tributaries would be invaluable!
Please do more videos on this about the meshtastic stuff. I’m looking to get into this stuff and like learning more and more about this.
I have quite a few videos on it.
Any newer videos?
I got mine couple months ago when you brought them up in steam. Still haven't had time to solder and set up. Got to get it done before camping season. Or maybe do on a trip while kids are busy... 73
Great video Josh. Would you please do more videos on mesh networking. Thanks for all you do.
I will be building an outdoor solar powered node soon.
Years ago I tested goTenna for an article on family vacations communications on cruise ships. Didn't work well due to the massive metal bulkheads on ships. Best use case appeared to be for hiking and camping. Perfect, but pricey, for setting up a network in a remote campground. Could also work well in a disaster location. But I think a solar powered portable GMRS repeater might work better.
Those are generally my thoughts too.
@T.J. Kong Good points.
@@brucemurray2520 My intended usecase is if the power goes out and the internet/cell service goes down I want a way for my community to be able to communicate with each other. I can't expect everyone from 10 year olds to 70 year olds to be able to understand the nuances of a GMRS radio/repeater system. Now my inner circle will definitely understand the more reliable forms of long range communication but for my uses I can spread these throughout my community for extremely cheap and cover a wide area easily and all they have to know how to do is change the batteries and use a smartphone.
@@ImperiumLibertasBased and community pilled
My alarm system and door sensors work on Lora. Its amazing how far they work.
I put the repeater or router one on my drone and took it to 7334 feet and it talked to my buddy in silver spring MD
22 miles with a yagi on one end and the stock stick on the other, even received acknowledgements.
Fantastic.
love the video, are these automatically encrypted or do i have to set that up in the app?
I can see why these are a security concern, but also same tool can do so much good. I was thinking of how to set-up a agriculture IoT for soil measurement and farm security for cheap (aimed for Africa). This literally gives at least the framework. Need to check the meshtastic specs and see what else is possible with some more coding. The framework is powerful. Truly global comms without paying crazy fees. If it has enough badnwidth for either pics, of gifs or small video, then the automated farm security is a workable plan.
I really like these meshtastic devices. I like the smaller cheaper TTGO LORA32 devices. They already have the screen connected, but battery connection is not as convenient. I was thinking it would be cool to have a LORA device that connect to a wired home network and got power to the LORA device via POE. I person could run the POE lora device up in the attic or into a weather proof box outside on a mast and have good coverage of multi mile area pretty easy. And if that device would mesh with other POE LORA devices that could cover a city pretty quickly.
Good stuff!
I know this is a necropost, but I wanted to add that finding someone else to mesh with is a very difficult thing. There's no other node within range of my LoRa device. I am setting up a second device for my partner to take to work.
Not to talk down your sponsor, but especially if you're a ham radio operator, the book "From Crystal Sets to Sideband" by Frank Harris, K0IYE is excellent for it's explanations of circuits and how to build them.
This is more used for your group say a hunting trip camping trip. Etc. Not like ham and open talking with anyone
FYI - The Garmin Rino range is a licence free handheld radio with tracking
A solar panel with a battery at the top of some trees keeping them camouflaged, this would be especially useful in a urban setting where maybe you have a group of neighbors who you've teamed up with or formed yourself, and if you set these up around the neighborhood in trees then you will all have off grid coms. Plus yes set it up on vehicles and an app like ATAK would compliment this well.
Or with fixed wing drones wich some can stay airborne for hours would allow you to place several over an area at once covering a large area. Keeping others on standby with fresh batteries would allow you to keep constant coverage.
what weird scenario is that for
Wash curious if you could do a video explaining DBI gain antennas and cover which antennas would be best for certain meshtastic / Lora devices. I have been stuck on which DBI antennas I should get for my repeaters.
Hi Josh, excellent intro video! I'm Mitch - KA1MIT, long time ago WB2UPB. (Yes, vanity call and I also did go to MIT (undergrad)). I'm really glad you mentioned your software focus. I also do both hardware and software, and now especially love Python in all its elegance, which should have come out much earlier, compared to all the older languages. If I wish to incorporate the TTGO modules into a product, is it easy put one's programs (C, C++, or Python) into a Meshtastic module, or does one have to make one's own? (with an ESP32 or something).
Also, I've seen others talk about the advantages of using existing LoRa gateways, part of The Internet of Things. Do you have a video on them?
I just instantly subscribed. I'll check on RUclips and your skillshare link. Best 73 from this OT!
I've played around with the Meshtastic TTGO boards and it really is line of sight. If you live on a flat plain it might get 5 miles. If you are bouncing off a radio on top of a mountain that might work well. But trees or a house in the way limited me to 1/4 mile range. A good FRS radio seems better for almost any application. The one exception is that you can program them to use other IO pins for sensor data. So you could use some to log data or whatever.
I mean that is the point you put one of the units up high to relay.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse totally. And probably I'm just trying to press them into a ridiculous use case. Emergency and tactical use of having a hand full that I can hand out to my kids and what not.
I did a 14.3 kms connection, one of both with a groundplane antenna in the attic, the other with the standard antenna. Crazy... (433 MHz)
73 de ON3CED.
I really want to see something like this that takes minimal setup time and skill, for people who don't have all the licenses, so encrypted communications can happen without internet or public radio messages.
Do you have a drone? Would be interesting to see what the range is from 300 feet in the sky. ;)
Granted, temporary, but might be a cool experiment.
Two questions RE: Mestastic/LORA
1. Would a repeater you put up on a hill be a repeater for anyone who’s in range or would it only work for those using your own specific talk group
2. Can you do a video breaking down your repeater? Components / assembly / programming
Same question
It would only be for your group. Every meshtastic node is basically identical from the network perspective. There are some network protocols which use meshtastic devices to integrate into a larger network integration between other networks but that’s still early in development and not the point of meshtastic
It would be cool if you seeded a bunch around your community. Or neighborhood. I.e build 30 t-beams stick them in trees. Hummm 😮
Thank you for video. Do you mind to share the 3D case for the T-Beam?
I can see putting the T-Beam on an RC plane and flying it to 400 feet to send emergency super long range messages. The limit might be BLE limit but you could always use another T-Beam to do the relay. But I would prefer using my phone to get directly to the T-Beam in the RC plane via BLE.
Yup yup!
I am no C++ expert, but I dont see a reason why you can't have near live voice transmission on these guys. This will be my next project!
- Profesional Software Engineer
The LoRa protocol and radios operate at very low bandwidths. Voice is frankly wasted on this particular mode of ops and is the antithesis of the point it exists.
@HamRadioCrashCourse fair enough! Very cool project, what would you say the total cost and time investment on getting and setting up 2 or 3 of these guys is?
With my m1 MacBook air and dongle I couldn't get mine to update. I tried help in the discord for a couple of evening 4 or 5 months ago. I will have to give it another try in the future
Great locating bug.
Another fantastic video! In my geekdom brain i wonder what the deltas are between the different frequencies of the LORA devices. I.e., 433Mhz vs 923Mhz version and any pros and cons of each? 73
I tested LoRa APRS on 433 MHz in the Vienna area and the range is amazing. 30+ kilometers (18+ miles) no problem
I’ve put a couple TBeam together lately, a regular and a S3. I’d like to get a couple TEcho, but they’re sold out EVERYWHERE.
Gotennas are great, as long as you understand their limits compared to meshtastic. For example they will store messages and send delivery receipts when your gotenna disconnects from your phone for whatever reason. However, if you're trying to send a location request to someone with auto accept location requests on, if their gotenna is disconnected you won't get a location just a delivery confirmation, because there's no GPS built into the Gotennas. I speak from experience for both of these cases.
I was hoping it could move a little data. Still a way cool idea. I might look into these meshtastic thingys. 73
I’m getting ready to deploy a bunch with medium gain omnis and cover miles! Looking forward to his take
I have 6 GoTenna mesh’s, not flexing, I was an early adopter on kickstarter so $65ea. The current cost would be prohibitive, but like you said. I can hand one to my 73yo mom and she gets it, with the app. I live in south Louisiana, my main reason for purchase was music festivals where the grid is overloaded(that’s what I told my friends) but also disaster communication preps with local friends. I don’t understand your off grid comment though about the GoTennas. I use old cell phones (no sim) or tablets with no SIM cards to connect via Bluetooth to send messages and pin drops. It just creates a unique GID for that device. I haven’t used a meshtastic device(yet) how is that different. I get connecting to a local WiFi but if that’s off grid you are still messaging over radio waves same as GoTenna?
Did you make the 3d printed cases for the meshtastics?
Great content as always, thank you. I do have a question regarding a comms security scenario of the device itself. Hypothetically, if I had several of the Meshtastic devices strategically placed in my neighborhood for myself and my family to use, and one of the devices in my Meshtastic LoRa network were found by someone who was not intended to have access to it, could that person then read the messages which were passed through the device, by viewing the on-board display? Or is there a way to disable the display (or even remove it) if the device was merely intended to be used as a "repeater" node. Sorry for the long-winded question, and apologies if it's already been addressed elsewhere. Thank you in advance. '73
Yeah you can turn off the screen or remove it.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Perfect, thank you!
Agreed. Leave the screen off, connect solar panel for charging, place high atop the highest line of sight structure, weather proof and you've increased your range considerably.
@@robwindsor6373 Thank you for the recommendations! I truly appreciate the valuable information from you and Josh. 👍
Hi, thanks for the video! One question: If I create a channel for me and my friends, are messages only relayed within this channel or does any device forward them?
Great video, thank you!
I have a 48in antenna for my baofeng, will that help me at all if I flap that on a meshtastic T-beam?
I would encourage folks to try this stuff out and the meshtastic team is pretty darn cool, but know that this not at all ready for prime time. I am a techie with some serious professional experience in related fields, but I feel like I have falling down a rabbit hole trying to get this set up and ready for my community, I do not think it is going to happen.
Update:
The things go to sleep and wake up randomly, I am seeing so many issues and feeling overwhelmed with just how far from complete this project is. It is all being created in folks free time, so I get it, but just don't prop these things up before they are ready, cause this is not at all ready! :(
I went from GoTenna now to Meshtastic because GoTenna are no longer available. It appears GoTenna is going more for govt contracts now. Officially their site says on backorder, which has said that for about 2 years now. I have put my name on the list to be notified when they will be taking orders again, still no notice. I like the GoTenna, but I cant buy more to add to my network, so its basically dead in the water.
I have since ordered 2 of these LoRa devices and will start to create my own network with friends. They are cheaper and dont appear to be all that hard to do things with.
im thinking about setting this up. one in my house and one in my girlfriends house one block away. do you think that it will work ? I might need to put the mesh in the attic for altitude ?
Please, how do you protect a radio from outside noise?
Can confirm, Meshtastic works with Convoy 's.
Meshtastic channel "encryption" is not great (still) - the "key" is fairly easy to derive from chanel header data in plain-text. Interesting to note that Liligo has recently release a UHF/VHF T-beam, that operates in HAM bands. Look up the Lilygo T-TWR Plus Rev 2.0 - has an SA868 radio module (same as a cheap Baofeng) with the ESP32 microcontroller.
Which one is better suited to use a smartphone as a CB radio if there is no internet connection available (e.g. with which additional hardware equipment or adapter/converter)?
I am just starting in ham. I want to talk to my dad about 60 miles away. There is a linked repeater about 12.5 miles away. He has a bunch near him linked. I am wondering what HT you guys would recommend that could reach that far. Preferably a handheld if it’s possible. What ht I’d need and antenna or whatever. Please help. Thanks in advance
So on the Meshtastic, if I have it setup with the default channel.... and say someone else in range setup one with the default channel, they will mesh together and transfer between each other?
Could the Meshtastic be modified to also speak to the Gotenna?
Or better yet hook one up to a DS for neighborhood wide picto chat!
How long are the distance reaches?
Im curious about the multiple frequencies. Im not sure youve brought it up.
I talk about it on my first video a few months back. It’s spread spectrum.
Are there any forms of LoRa software that would allow for pictures to be sent (maybe base64 encoded like websites can do??)
Can you explain to me what's the use case for those devices? I have a UHF radio with APRS and works far easy (right out of the box) than those snob devices... They send your location every time you talk to each other, and you can talk with anyone using UHF. GoTenna and LoRa doesn´t have sense in an outdoor emergency because almost nobody uses them....
So, which has the better mesh and can you use other Lora’s on a mesh?
I only see gotennas available on ebay these days. The company website sells the gotenna pro x. They also don't support the 900 mhz gotennas that you demonstrated. I have two of them and would like a few more. Any help? I'm not technically savy with LoRa, plus I don't have a 3-d printer.
What is the range of gotenna? there is another product called orange dongle claiming 5 mile site to site range. The only issue with these products is the density of users. Unless a mega company such as apple will come up with it, not many people will use such a product. Also, these should be somehow integrated with internet so that any middleman node with internet, which is in range of the originating offline device should be able to transmit the message to the destination device via internet regardless of the distance.
Hi,started my lora heltek 32 v3..using chrome,data cable ok,powers up,shows "Conection Failed",tried for hours,gives wifi conections but continually shows no conection to laptop...Got device through chinese site...heard of any iffy boards being supplied?,cos I'm totally lost on this!!As a last resort ordered another power/data cable. Cheers 73!!
I'm interested in the gotenna mesh but it seems like it's a dead product line. I have been on the notification list for 7 months. So my question to anyone out there that knows is it that gotenna is in that much demand that the wait list is that long or is it a dead platform?
Gotenna is for month not available 😢
Can I connect a T Beam with a GoTenna? I think there is the mhz important, right ?
a question came up while discussion with a friend..
could the meshtastic lora signal be simply repeated by a repeater at the specific lora band? ..for example with 1-2W sitting on top of a tree attached to a solar panel?
Why not just use another LORA device? Things in this band have power limits.
Will LoRa work with tablets ?
GoTenna uses VHF whereas Lora is on 915MHz (north america). The 915Mhz will have greater radiation efficiency for given antenna size than the gotenna using VHF on a small internal antenna, which is much less efficient and likely requires more power to overcome the efficiency loss, hence the reduced battery life.
I'd go with the LoRa option any day. They can be packaged in a way to make them "stupid simple" for tech mortals.
I’m looking to get 12.5 miles with a handheld to reach the closest repeater to me. How can I make that possible, if it is? I’m very new to ham. I’d appreciate the help. I’ve been asking all over and haven’t got a reply yet. It’s the whole reason I have started looking into ham. I want to communicate with my father. And that’s the closest repeater to me. Thanks for the help in advance
I wonder if Bitcoin transactions can be carried out via LoRa?
I was leaning towards the Motorola Talk About T800 radios. Any thoughts on those and if they beat out the meshtastic or gotenna?
I’d layer them. Have both. Talk about for voice comms and Meshtastic for a encrypted method
@I O I forgot about this comment. I ended up buying gotenna. Haven't really used them beyond testing. I mainly wanted them for emergency preparedness. I wish the added new features to the app, but the company seems to have shifted their focus to their military product line. I've tried the "shout" feature in areas that have other gotenna users according to their map, but I've never gotten a reply. As far as voice comms, I have set of FRS/GMRS and multiple baofengs. I have license for both I'm not really sharp on the HAM stuff since I hardly used them after getting the license. But I think I remember learning that digital modes are sometimes more successful in reaching contacts than voice if operating in less than ideal conditions. SIDENOTE:. I was excited when their was a project announced that would support BTC transactions being sent via gotenna but it seems to have mostly died out
You mentioned that you can send your location on the meshtastic app. Can it be set up so that nodes automatically send their location so everyone can track each other?
Yes.
Can you multiple Devices on one LoRa unit?
I wonder if anyone has ever made a mesh network using wifi routers and if there is any mesh network firmware that you can flash into old wifi routers to turn them into mesh network devices?
Yes, you can, it’s called AREDN. check it out.
AES 384 bit does not exist. Rijndael can be used with larger keys than AES BUT AES is standardised for 128, 196 and 256 bit keys only.
Could a bunch of these be programmed to work in unison for large file transfer by separating data into a bunch of smaller packets?
As these units sit now? No. They don’t really move data.
I would love to see the Lora attached to a weather ballon
That was pretty close to what they did for the record. 500 miles.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse WOW!
My suggested protocol for emergency community use is to get out the helium party balloons, and a couple hundred feet of cord...😉🙄🤔
(I'm hoping that with one good relay node high above, being down in folds and dips might not matter with other connected devices.)
Do you know if it's possible to combine the TTGO Meshtastic devices AND the Gottennas together in the same network?
No, the Gotenna devices are all closed source and proprietary.
@@isaacbotkintrex I was hoping that maybe Meshtastic had a version of their software that would interface. Oh well, I'll stick with the TTGO units and 3D printed cases.
So the Meshtastic doesn't need the battery, if you power it from USB, right?
Are those batteries you put in the Meshtastic rechargeable?
Yes and yes.
The batteries LiOn18650 are pretty cheap, and 'free' if you have surplus cordless tool batteries, where the tool or charger are lost or don't work. Many of the LiOn powered cordless tool batteries are made up of the 18650 cells inside the case.
If I put one at a repeater site, would it 'mesh' and kinda of relay the messages?
Hypothetically if you were in range, yes.
do the phones have to be hooked up to a network? (verison, att, ect)
No
Will putting this device in a drone or a tethered balloon increase the range of communication?
Oh yeah. Big time.
Huh. Commercial products are limited to 1 watt (unlicensed). Seems that spread spectrum devices are limited to 10 watts (licenced), assuming no pecuniary interests obtain. I rock LoRa as my job, but I'm looking at these things as a Tech-licenced hobbyist. Don't want to run afoul of $97.113 regulations, as 33cm is indeed ham territory (915mhz US). There is also the matter of running Yagi-Uda antennas...
Thoughts? Warnings? Threats? Speedbumps?
My understanding is that LoRa is in its own license-free subsegment of the 33cm band. It does not use ham radio frequencies, and thus is not subject to the Part 97 prohibition on encryption.
i only have 1 question is this mesh stuff legal?!
I'm seeing them (lily..) based on 986 MHz and 433mhz so is this not amater freqs? why are non amateurs adverstising this elsewhere im a bit confused??
It’s legal, and non licensed.
I tried the meshtastics and installed one high up on a tower of a amateur repeater. The range was very disappointing.
Sounds like you might not have had a good antenna or poor line of sight?
I want to get the Meshtastic but the app is still not in the App Store. So if the developers decided to stop giving updates to the flight test beta then after 60 days it will delete the app. 😢
I haven’t had any issue with test flight.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse I am on ipad maybe that’s why. Thank you for responding 😃👍🏼
Can they do 400 miles
No
Ever since gotenna signed a .gov contract the consumer version has been non existent
In your example, towards the end, you showed your T-beam in a box with an external antenna. I've got the 915mhz version and am looking for a good external antenna to increase range. (trying to setup the midpoint between a couple people 4-5 miles apart). Do you have a good antenna you recommend?
There are a few on Amazon. Keep the feed line as short as humanly possible.
I keep reading/hearing all of the prepper theories about using these devices in an 'emergency' or 'SHTF situation'.. the majority of these devices are not rugged enough to survive rough handling let alone survive such an event and the few that might have little to no real world safety of life or mission critical use.
Lora Ham radio licensed can use high power on 433mhz. do NOT turn on encryption. the Meshtastic people added to the firmware to disable encryption and keep people from turning it on if they select licensed high power mode. Also how are you getting 3 days of life? I cant get more than 1 day on a t beam
Great video but I’ll disagree with one of your opening points. Just because LoRa doesn’t depend on someone else’s infrastructure, it doesn’t magically prevent you from being tracked. Fox hunts have long been a part of ham radio history for finding beacons “out there” and many governments have impressive ELINT capabilities to find transmitters. These radios give you a good bit of privacy, but if you’re transmitting, you can be found.
Yes. But here in the us on 915 mhz your encrypted transmissions are in with all the random devices doing similar things. Pretty good contested environment.
17:43 0.621 miles per kilometer