Even though you can’t put up a mast and are currently isolated from the rest of the mesh, put up a node anyway, and then add yourself to one of the maps with, say, a quarter mile of inaccuracy.
If somebody was to drive to the location you have your node pinned at, with a quarter mile of inaccuracy, they would still be able to communicate with your node.
A node on a mast is great. A node on your roof is good. So, if you can’t have great, don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good and put up a node on your roof. Your house is still probably around 30 feet tall, so that’s still 30 feet of height, and somebody will eventually be able to communicate with you.
Otherwise, you get the chicken and egg problem, where a new person turns on a mesh core node and sees nobody available, so they turn off their mesh core node and put it in a drawer, and when their neighbor gets a mesh core node and turns it on, they see nobody there, so they turn off their mesh core node and put it in a drawer, not knowing that their neighbor has one, and if they had just left it on, they would have someone to communicate with.
As for the government making their own client and trying to hunt people down, you can make mesh nodes out of a lot of things because it’s so small and low-powered. I’ve seen people make security cameras into mesh nodes or solar lights into mesh nodes and when you mentioned this my thought went to a mesh teddy bear. I’ve never seen anybody create a mesh teddy bear, but I don’t see why you couldn’t.
I have. Threw an external antenna on my roof just peaking above the crest (HOA hasn’t noticed yet). I Keep nodes set as router-late in my car so when I go driving I can see other people exist.
TBF, even when I’m out, I’ve never made contact on the mesh. There are a dozen meshtastic nodes here and there, best I can tell it’s just a couple other hams, no real comms going on. Even the VHF Ham scene here is mostly dead.
My actual goal was to get a half-decent signal for my kids’ bus route and school. The school is only a mile away, but it’s not like i’m going to throw a $300 aprs radio in his bag, a $30 LoRa capsul though, sure!
Have a look at both meshtastic and meshcore. You say you’ve already seen some meshtastic nodes, but a lot of people are moving to meshcore, and so you might have better luck there.
Also, with your node antenna up at the crest of the house roof, I would think a mile should be doable to your kid’s school.
It may not work while they’re in the building itself, but if they are outside, then I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
There is 0 meshcore anywhere near me. I drove heltek v3’s around my beltway, nada.
I would think a mile should be doable to your kid’s school.
Nope, tried it, no radio line of site. it’s a little hilly here and there’s a shit ton of old-growth forrest in between.
I’ve been trying to find a tree tall enough to repeat with clear solar from the south, that’s not on someone’s property, The only good options are in the middle of a swampy run.
Ah, gotcha. Well in that case meshtastic is definitely your best bet for now and as for getting a node up into the tree I’m not sure unless you’re willing to go swamp bogging
If I weren’t so close to an airport, I’d do a tethered balloon. I do have a drone so i could lay paracord over a high branch and hoist it up if I had the gear to not get bit by something nasty. If I wasn’t so worried about the cost. I could just strand a solar node up there with a long break-away line and just write it off when it needed batteries.
Even though you can’t put up a mast and are currently isolated from the rest of the mesh, put up a node anyway, and then add yourself to one of the maps with, say, a quarter mile of inaccuracy.
If somebody was to drive to the location you have your node pinned at, with a quarter mile of inaccuracy, they would still be able to communicate with your node.
A node on a mast is great. A node on your roof is good. So, if you can’t have great, don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good and put up a node on your roof. Your house is still probably around 30 feet tall, so that’s still 30 feet of height, and somebody will eventually be able to communicate with you.
Otherwise, you get the chicken and egg problem, where a new person turns on a mesh core node and sees nobody available, so they turn off their mesh core node and put it in a drawer, and when their neighbor gets a mesh core node and turns it on, they see nobody there, so they turn off their mesh core node and put it in a drawer, not knowing that their neighbor has one, and if they had just left it on, they would have someone to communicate with.
As for the government making their own client and trying to hunt people down, you can make mesh nodes out of a lot of things because it’s so small and low-powered. I’ve seen people make security cameras into mesh nodes or solar lights into mesh nodes and when you mentioned this my thought went to a mesh teddy bear. I’ve never seen anybody create a mesh teddy bear, but I don’t see why you couldn’t.
I have. Threw an external antenna on my roof just peaking above the crest (HOA hasn’t noticed yet). I Keep nodes set as router-late in my car so when I go driving I can see other people exist.
TBF, even when I’m out, I’ve never made contact on the mesh. There are a dozen meshtastic nodes here and there, best I can tell it’s just a couple other hams, no real comms going on. Even the VHF Ham scene here is mostly dead.
My actual goal was to get a half-decent signal for my kids’ bus route and school. The school is only a mile away, but it’s not like i’m going to throw a $300 aprs radio in his bag, a $30 LoRa capsul though, sure!
Have a look at both meshtastic and meshcore. You say you’ve already seen some meshtastic nodes, but a lot of people are moving to meshcore, and so you might have better luck there.
Also, with your node antenna up at the crest of the house roof, I would think a mile should be doable to your kid’s school.
It may not work while they’re in the building itself, but if they are outside, then I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
There is 0 meshcore anywhere near me. I drove heltek v3’s around my beltway, nada.
Nope, tried it, no radio line of site. it’s a little hilly here and there’s a shit ton of old-growth forrest in between.
I’ve been trying to find a tree tall enough to repeat with clear solar from the south, that’s not on someone’s property, The only good options are in the middle of a swampy run.
Ah, gotcha. Well in that case meshtastic is definitely your best bet for now and as for getting a node up into the tree I’m not sure unless you’re willing to go swamp bogging
If I weren’t so close to an airport, I’d do a tethered balloon. I do have a drone so i could lay paracord over a high branch and hoist it up if I had the gear to not get bit by something nasty. If I wasn’t so worried about the cost. I could just strand a solar node up there with a long break-away line and just write it off when it needed batteries.