[Phillip Beall]

All,

I wanted to get something for us into the Digital Knowledge area of our Club forums and combined that with some recent reading I have been doing.  The subject is Meshtastic off-grid texting mesh networks.

With increasing digital comms and our club’s strong APRS presence, has anyone experimented with Meshtastic for emergency comms?  I think Ronnie Rumsey (KA5LEK) has mentioned it a couple of times at Club meetings.  Meshtastic is an open-source project that turns affordable LoRa (Long Range) radio devices into a decentralized mesh network for off-grid text messaging, GPS sharing, and basic data exchange.  No internet or cell service is needed — devices relay messages through each other automatically.  It’s perfect for EmComm, events, or supplementing ham radio (like APRS on VHF/UHF).  Tech licensees can use it on ISM bands (license-free) or amateur bands with privileges.  Said a different way: On the standard ISM frequencies (902–928 MHz), anyone can use Meshtastic with no ham license at all — it operates under the FCC’s low-power unlicensed rules.  However, if you hold a Technician license, you also get full amateur radio privileges on the overlapping 33 cm ham band.  This lets you run somewhat higher power, use better antennas, and operate under ham rules (including identifying with your callsign).  Apparently most people start license-free, but having a Tech ticket gives you extra flexibility for serious EmComm or longer-range use.

Popular beginner-friendly devices (prices ~$20–$80) include Heltec V3/V4 (link), LilyGO T-Beam (link), or RAK Wireless (link) kits.  Here’s what a nice portable complete node looks like:

Multi-colored H1 Meshtastic nodes – Official Muzi Works product photo

And here’s a great example of a Meshtastic node working alongside a phone for texting:

Meshtastic node next to phone showing real-time text messaging – community / product demonstration photo

And here’s a great solar-powered relay node example:

Solar Meshtastic repeater node on windowsill – community build photo

Quick Setup Overview

1) Hardware — Get a node, attach a good antenna (never transmit without one), and add battery/solar.
2) Flash Firmware — Use the official web flasher at flasher.meshtastic.org (easy in Chrome).
3) Install the App — Android/iOS Meshtastic app or web client at client.meshtastic.org. Connect via Bluetooth.
4) Configure — Set your Region (US/915 MHz), Long Name (name/callsign), Short Name, Modem Preset (LongFast is popular), and Role (Client for portable use or Router for relays). Enable GPS if available.

Once running, you can send text messages and positions that hop through the mesh.  Range per hop is typically 1–10+ miles depending on terrain, antennas, and elevation — meshes extend this nicely.

For us Techs in RRVARC, this pairs great with our VHF/UHF repeaters and APRS.  From my reading many hams integrate it for hybrid EmComm setups or Field Day experiments.  I’m thinking a Go Box upgrade?  Has anyone tried linking it with APRS gateways or running it alongside Winlink on VHF?  If so would you be willing to do a presentation at an upcoming Club meeting?

Please share your setups, thoughts, comments or questions!

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

[Kathy Beall]

Interesting 🤔

[Phillip Beall]

All,

Club member Cliff Leath (KI5OPP), Kathy and I continued trading notes, texting and reading up on this stuff after I made this post.  Cliff came up with some ideas and we all looked at hardware other than that in the previous post above, to include this ELECROW Outdoor Meshtastic Solar Node with GPS and nRF52840 – ThinkNode M6 Meshtastic Repeater with 6W Solar Panel and 7000mAh Battery, Communication Station for Off-Grid & Remote Areas ($120) (link here) and this LILYGO T-Deck Plus ESP32-S3 Single Board Computer 915Mhz LORA-89 GPS 2.8-inch Display Development Board External Antenna ($90) (link here).  We also watched some videos such as this one Can Meshtastic Replace APRS? The Ultimate Showdown! (link here).  The headline of the YouTube piece is farfetched, I would even go so far as to say it is hyperbolic in an attempt to drive site views rather than convey anything serious, because they compliment each other.  One is not a substitute for the other.  But, the piece does a nice job of giving you an overview and illustrates how they complement each other.  Anyway, we also looked at existing Meshtastic infrastructure in the local area (there isn’t much) and here are some graphics:

As you can see, the Meshtastic network is in its infancy, the closest nodes are Trenton in far SW Fannin County and two in Commerce.  But, to put that into perspective here is an APRS display of generally the same area:

If you want to further look at the maps for both the Meshtastic network (link here) and APRS (link here), here are links.

Club member Thomas Sorensen (AF5WO) had the first one in Lamar County.  Really, the first one anywhere near the area.  Then 5-10 years ago Kathy and I installed an APRS unit and we were the first in Fannin County.  APRS was SPARSE until just the last few years.  Mike Durbin (K5MJD) put one in south of Kathy and I, but now with his move to Lake Fork that one is gone.  But the point is not long ago there was next to nothing and now today, as you can see, there is good coverage.  With the Fannin County ARC (K5FRC) putting in APRS and RRVARC member Mel Toye (K5KEY) putting one up and RRVARC adding one to our Atlas site; we are no longer in an APRS donut hole.  I kind of envision Meshtastic the same way.

Anyway, after spending some time investigating Meshtastic I started brainstorming with an Artificial Intelligence tool and got it to help me conceptualize what a Meshtastic network might do for us and the community.  Right away I had two thoughts:  1) Having a robust Meshtastic network would add redundancy for our EmComm posture, and 2) I am always looking at ways to market our Club to potential sponsors and think this is yet another sales point.

I asked Ronnie Rumsey to chime in on this thread because he has some experience with Meshtastic networking already, but he and Mike Rice are preparing to go to Dayton Hamvention (link here) so it may be awhile before he can share his thoughts.  However, I have developed enough detail on this that I think I will start a discussion with the other officers and see what they think about it.  To me the obstacles are the overall cost to build out a robust network of the devices and then getting them sited…and I have some ideas on that.  So, I have continued to develop some thoughts on the whole topic and, not wanting to get out over the tips of my skis, I’ll wait to post any more about that until I gage interest of the other leadership.

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Updated link to ELECROW M6 Meshtastic unit

[Mike Spracklen]

I’ve played around with these a bit, Like you mentioned, the network needs to be robust. Ideally all participants should have a rooftop repeater at their house and potentially their place of business. Like all UHF, power is nice and elevation is king. Most of the lora hardware out there only does a wimpy 128mW. I believe the t-deck and solar kit are in that underpowered majority. IIRC, the legal limit on 915mhz ISM is 1W. RAK Wireless makes some affordable 1 watt equipment I’ve been looking at for a while. https://meshtastic.org/docs/hardware/devices/rak-wireless/wismesh/1w-booster/

One lora related plan I’ve had in my head is to take two meshtastic devices, strap one to a drone and fly it up to the legal limit, which is 400 feet above ground for amateur use, 400 feet away from a building / structure with a part 107 license. Then see how far away I could reach  a friend. I’m betting there would be quite an improvement over ground to ground simplex. For a sudden emergency event, being able to pop up a drone and reach an unlicensed loved one 15 to 30 miles away would be fantastic.

I did a line of sight test with a friend. He stood at the south end of 28th st sw in paris, I walked up the road sending him messages. I believe the messages stopped between Graham and Shiloh, which would be half a mile to three quarters of a mile, ground level simplex wise, worse than a bubble pack walkie talkie. But, as you know, simplex isn’t the point. The real point is to have a robust network of rooftop digipeaters powered independently of the grid and allow those stubborn, unlicensed but preparedness minded folks to participate legally.

[Phillip Beall]

All,

I made the initial post about Meshtastic LoRa and got some good feedback.  I got email, text, some follow up posts and after the Club meeting yesterday Cliff Leath (KI5OPP), Johnny Thomas (WB5JT), Haskell Maroney (K5HRM), Mark Johnson (W5PTXC) myself and a couple of others stayed and chatted for a bit.  This whole concept is very new to me, but clearly some of you have been looking at it.  The biggest issue is that you have to basically have saturation coverage for it to have any meaningful contribution to EmComms, so it won’t happen overnight.  But I think the concept is cool and has a lot of promise and so I am going to continue to add notes to this thread.  It also gives me a chance to educate people about website forums a bit.

The matter of low forum participation numbers is…bothersome to some.  But studies have been done on the matter and there is a lot of detail that informs us that there is very commonly a 90-9-1 participation percentage.  90% are lurkers, 9% occasionally participate and the remaining 1% do most of the contributing.  With 55-60 members we should not expect to see two or three dozen participants, but they are there.  Looking at the posts, just not commenting on them on the forums.  And non-Club members can read this material too.  It might drive some site traffic and it might drive some people to get interested in ham radio and it might drive some people to join the Club, if for no other reason than to be able to post here and participate.  In any case, you don’t have to take my word for it, if you want to read up on the topic of forum participation rates here is a link to a Grok analysis on the matter (link here).  Now back to this LoRa discussion topic.

Cliff has now purchased two of the units, the ThinkNode M1 ($59) and the Wio Tracker L1 Pro ($47).  The second one is produced by a company called seeed studio (yes, three e’s) (http://www.seeedstudio.com).  More on them in a moment.  Cliff opted for models that do not have a physical keyboard because online posts about the ones with keyboards had a lot of negative commentary about how small they were and how hard it was to use them, they were prone to breakage or getting debris in them, etc.  There is a screen keyboard available on at least one of the two that he bought, but his plan (implemented) was to pair a no-longer-used Bluetooth phone to them and use the keyboard from the phone.  He planned to repurpose an old phone that was no longer being used for phone service, but he did determine that tradeoff there is the slow speed of the now obsolete phone.  Which lead me to wonder is there such a thing as an autonomous Bluetooth keyboard?  Particularly a compact portable one?  Well yes there is!  Here is a link to some Google results for such things (link here). That might interest someone to experiment with them at some point.

So it turns out that seeed studio is a pretty prolific writer of articles on the whole topic of Meshtastic.  Continuing our quest to get educated on the matter Cliff turned me on to their article Meshtastic Node Explained: Types, Range, Kits, and How to Choose the Best Setup.  I think that article really, really, demystifies the topic.  And in addition to the complete unit that Cliff bought, seeed studio offers some DIY kits for those that like to tinker.  From their website “DIY Meshtastic node involves purchasing individual components yourself.  For example, an ESP32 dev board such as the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32 series (XIAO ESP32C6 or XIAO ESP32S3) paired with a Semtech LoRa module, plus connectors, a case, and an antenna.  Building yourself is cheaper and gives you complete customization control on choosing antenna, battery, housing, etc.  However, it requires soldering and firmware flashing.”  Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) might even get interested in digital if he can build it himself!

Also from that article is Meshtastic Projects: Real-Life Use Cases and How to Get Started (March 11, 2026) and What Is Off-Grid Communication and How Is It Changing with LoRa and Meshtastic? (October 230, 2025).  There is a growing body of information and excitement over the technology, but wait, there’s more.

There is also another evolving new standard – MeshCore.   It is something of – something of – a competitor to Meshtastic, but the great news is that most or all of the hardware for both can be used for either one by simply flashing the firmware to change from one to the other.  Cliff came up with a link to this nice YouTube post on the topic – Dual-Protocol Mesh Node Outperforms Single Firmware Setup.  Now, that video does talk about hardware with both in one box, but that costs more.  And if you want to know why there is a different standard, Phillip’s view is that it is like the ham radio digital BS.  Yaesu: System Fusion (C4FM), Icom & Kenwood: D-STAR, Kenwood, Motorola, and Others: DMR and Commercial Public Safety: P25.  Seriously, nobody learned anything from the events of September 11, 2001 (On September 11, 2001, catastrophic public safety radio interoperability problems crippled the emergency response.)?  Well, yes, they did, but nobody made any of these players play nicely together.  If I had the ear of Brendan Carr, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), I would tell him to tell staff to look into a rulemaking that said a small sliver of VHF and UHF in the Technician bands would have to be served by digital radios and they all would have to use a common standard.  Why?  If there is a tornado that wipes out infrastructure why not force digital interoperability in a narrow set of the spectrum that we already have access to?  I know the manufacturer’s would hate having to play nice with each other, but it sure makes sense to me.

Meshtastic is open-source and then suddenly MeshCore shows up and there is a commercial component.  If you care to learn more here is a link for you to check out – MeshCore Team Feud: Here’s What Happened.  I am not usually willing to devote the time to watch videos used to monetize a topic for those making it, but some people dig them over everything else.  Club member Gary Sorensen (K9AIA) loves educational videos and he is going to love the wealth of video on this entire topic.  In this case that video explains a lot of the…dispute.

Worried that if RRVARC members were to invest in Meshtastic gear and MeshCore wound up the de facto standard (think VHS versus Betamax) I decided to ask Mr./Ms. Grok about it.  I asked “If members of my ham radio club start getting equipped with Meshtastic gear and MeshCore goes hypersonic and becomes the de facto standard, are they harmed?”  Grok’s reply:

No, your ham radio club members are not meaningfully harmed—and in many ways, they could benefit.  Meshtastic and MeshCore are complementary tools for off-grid, low-power mesh networking using LoRa radios, not direct competitors to traditional amateur radio.

Quick Context on the Tech

– Meshtastic:  Open-source, flood-based mesh (every node can relay).  Great for ad-hoc, mobile groups (e.g., events, hikes).  Simple setup, popular for beginners.  Runs on cheap hardware (~$20–$100 per node).  Often used unlicensed in ISM bands (like 915 MHz in the US) or under ham rules with higher power.

– MeshCore:  Newer alternative (emerged ~2024–2025) with structured routing—dedicated repeaters handle forwarding, clients (“companions”) mostly don’t.  Better for large-scale, fixed infrastructure meshes with higher hop counts (up to 64 vs. Meshtastic’s ~7).  More efficient in dense/urban areas, lower congestion.  Also open-source at core, with some commercial/client apps.

They use the same hardware ecosystem but different firmware/protocols—they’re not directly compatible on the same network.  Many people run both or experiment.  “Hypersonic” growth for MeshCore would mean denser infrastructure (fixed repeaters), which actually helps Meshtastic users in range via potential cross-experimentation, though separate networks.

Why Ham Radio Club Members Aren’t Harmed

– Different niche: These are primarily short-text/GPS/data meshes for local/off-grid scenarios (emergencies, events, rural comms).  They supplement voice, HF, APRS, Winlink, etc.—not replace them.  Hams often view them as “another tool in the toolbox” for ARES/public service, especially where voice isn’t ideal.  Many hams already experiment with them.

– License flexibility: Unlicensed operation is common (ISM bands), but hams can use higher power/ham bands (e.g., 70cm or 33cm) for better performance.  It can even attract new people to ham radio—some non-hams get into Meshtastic/MeshCore and then pursue licenses.

– No spectrum conflict for hams: In the US (your area), 902–928 MHz ISM band is shared.  Proper configuration avoids issues.  Hams have primary/secondary allocations in parts of it and can coordinate.  MeshCore’s structured approach may actually reduce airtime waste vs. pure flooding.

– Club upside: Adopting this gear builds skills in digital modes, antennas, solar-powered nodes, and emergency comms.  It encourages hands-on building/experimenting—core to ham culture.  If MeshCore takes off, club members with Meshtastic can still participate in hybrid setups or switch firmware easily on the same devices.  Denser networks (more repeaters) benefit everyone locally.

– Real-world ham perspective: Clubs and ARES groups are integrating these for backups.  It’s not “harming” traditional ops; it’s expanding reach to family/friends without licenses during outages.

Potential minor downsides (not really “harm”):

– Time split: Some members might focus more on mesh tinkering than HF contests or traffic nets.
– If the club is very traditionalist, there could be internal grumbling about “not real radio.”  But that’s cultural, not technical.
– Learning curve or fragmentation if both ecosystems coexist (common now).

In Paris (urban/suburban with rural areas nearby), this fits well—MeshCore could shine for regional coverage with fixed nodes at repeater sites, while Meshtastic handles events.

Recommendation: Encourage experimentation. Many clubs host Meshtastic/MeshCore builds or mesh nets alongside traditional activities.  It modernizes the club, attracts younger members, and strengthens emergency capabilities without displacing core ham skills.  No one’s “harmed”—radio experimentation evolves, and hams have adapted for decades.  If MeshCore goes big, your club with gear is positioned to lead locally rather than sit it out.

There you go.  I plan to continue to encourage the dialog on this topic.  If you have something to share and don’t know how to do it here, want some help writing it up, etc., please get in touch and I will help.  And if anyone finds a broken link, a link that pulls something other than what you expected, there are any problems with this write up at all, please drop me a note so that I can fix it.

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Added pictures

[K0BMC]

Thanks, Phillip, Mike, Cliff, and everyone else for sharing all this information and your contributions to this subject.  I’m interested in learning more and purchasing some equipment to build, test, and experiment with. Should we start looking into purchasing equipment, or maybe give it some time so Cliff and others can test what he ordered? I’d be interested in participating in any club activity around this, like a net or group build as suggested.

73

Ben K0BMC

[Cliff Leath]

Ben,

Glad you found it interesting.  I think it has potential.   For me I like a dive into something new .  Looking forward to more learning and implementation of this technology

[Phillip Beall]

Ben,

First of all, thanks for being at the Club meeting yesterday.  Second, thanks for the follow up to this thread.  Personally, I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer to that question.

You can buy one or two pieces of the gear and start fooling around with it, getting in on the leading edge and comparing notes with others in our group/community if you want to.  Or you can wait and watch and read and learn, then buy later.  The fact is the technology is interoperable regardless of the manufacturer.  And the hardware is cross-platform compatible, you just have to reflash it.  So, your choice.  Please keep us updated on what you decide to do and feel free to call, text or email any of us.

I personally want to kind of do the behind the scenes stuff behind the scenes, then make posts here.  That follow up post above; I spent probably 2 to 2-1/2 hours compiling notes from conversations in person, phone calls, texts, emails and reading the material people were referencing in those exchanges.  That’s my style, but I want people posting pictures, experiences, etc.  And if they need or want help I want them to reach out to me.  There isn’t any reason for us to repeat mistakes if we can learn from others.

I see a Club meeting presentation coming out of all of this.  LOL

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

[Phillip Beall]

All,

I wanted to add a couple of fresh, real-world examples from today that show how Meshtastic continues to gain traction in the ham radio and DIY/maker communities:

• Ham operator N2MAK (@Kennerknecht) posted a fun “Change My Mind” meme (link here) after his first week experimenting with Meshtastic.  It captures the classic off-grid tradeoff — great mesh texting but noticeable battery impact on a connected phone.  Classic relatable content!
• French ham F4JSU (@F4JSU) was demoing a solar-powered Meshtastic node live at #ConfQRP today (link here).  It’s a clean little portable setup that perfectly aligns with VHF/UHF off-grid EMCOMM ideas.

It looks like these kinds of posts are popping up daily across X and other platforms, showing everything from first-time tests to public demos and ongoing experimentation.  Meshtastic sits right at the intersection of ham radio and the DIY/maker world: it appeals strongly to hams with EMCOMM experience who bring radio knowledge and emergency communications expertise, while also attracting makers and tinkerers who enjoy building their own nodes, flashing firmware, experimenting with antennas, solar power setups, 3D-printed cases, and other custom hardware projects.

This reinforces what we’ve been discussing in this thread: Meshtastic is a maturing, actively developed tool that’s already proving useful for decentralized, license-free (or lightly licensed) mesh comms in areas where traditional infrastructure is down or unavailable.

If you’re building out nodes or testing for EMCOMMS, now looks to be a great time — the ecosystem is lively.  I know Cliff Leath (KI5OPP) bought a couple of devices and Mike Spracklen (KJ5ILO) has been looking into it.  Has anyone else here tried solar repeater nodes or integrated the technology with existing VHF/UHF setups yet?

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Centered second picture. Looking at how to fix font size changes

[KF5NRU]

I have an 86 foot tower North of reno. If someone would walk me through this I would be willing to set up a repeater, and relay system on my tower, though I would likely place it at 60-70 feet to keep it out of my other stuff.

[Phillip Beall]

Matthew,

I am glad to hear from you, thanks for the post and you know what?  If you want to dive in you can do it whenever you like.  We are currently working on a plan of attack for the project, but going operational is pretty simple.  There are no wires or big antennas or anything like that.  You basically just have to use u-bolts and attach it as high as you can.  I will make a note of your offer and I’m going to work on a map display that will show the nodes as we start getting them established.  Please email me here if you want to chat about it more, otherwise I will follow up with you once we get things a bit more developed.

For a fact, we are looking at the ELECROW ThinkNode M6 (UPDATE: THIS LINK NOW GOES TO THE CORRECT UNIT.  SEE FOLLOW ON POST.) solar-powered repeater nodes (fixed backbone) + LILYGO T-Deck Plus portable nodes (the only difference between those is also just $5-10 and for $10 more you get it sooner).  If you were to buy one of each you could start familiarizing yourself with how they operate and the ELECROW unit is the one you would put up on your tower.  Meshtastic is an open standard, the gear is interoperable between manufacturers so there isn’t any risk of incompatibility if you want to get a head start.  Mine are both ordered.

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Updated and corrected link to ELECROW M6 for Meshtastic
• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Edited to update the link to the ELCROW ThinkNode M6 Meshtastic to eliminate any confusion

[KF5NRU]

You have been sent an email.

[Phillip Beall]

All

Matthew Murphy (KF5NRU) and I traded emails, texts, and then a phone call following the recent discussion here on the forum.  Matt turned me onto this fun real-world Meshtastic range test video (T-Beam repeater + basic T-LoRa nodes):

Real World Meshtastic Range Test – I’m not as funny as I think I am, I know. (video below)

The guy only gets about a mile in typical conditions with stock-ish setups.  I found it mildly entertaining — it clearly shows the limitations (terrain, antennas, power), but it also proves the concept works for basic off-grid texting.  I continue to believe Meshtastic is a highly viable low-cost entry point for LoRa EMCOMM experimentation.  And regarding his range experience, I will soon post some range modeling I have been doing.

Anyway, if you’re into tinkering, these cheap LoRa boards are great for playing with mesh networking, repeaters, and EMCOMM ideas (even though it’s actually 915 MHz LoRa).  Just flash the Meshtastic firmware, pair via Bluetooth to your phone, and you’re texting off-grid.

For better performance out of the box, here’s a good contrast: this solar-powered ThinkNode M6 repeater (higher power, built-in GPS, battery + solar panel).  It’s more turnkey for remote/off-grid nodes versus rolling your own.  After doing a lot of research, the M6 is what I’m advocating for a local mesh grid.  I have one on the way and I’m working on an implementation plan, so if you want to be an early adopter, that’s the direction I am going.

This stuff is interoperable, so even if I go with the M6 and advocate for them for a robust regional network, whatever you buy should work with it.  Having some of us on the same hardware will just make it easier to share notes and transferable knowledge.

I am also getting feedback from people through other channels who aren’t posting here, so I’m writing these posts with the lurkers in mind too.

Is anyone here experimenting with this stuff?  Does anyone have antenna upgrades, solar setups, or range tests to share?  I encourage anyone who wants to go the DIY route to jump in — it all contributes to local mesh resilience.

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

 

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Updated link to ELECROW M6 Meshtastic

[Phillip Beall]

All,

In my previous post I mentioned I was doing some preliminary range modeling — this post covers exactly that.

I started out thinking like a typical ham — high is good, higher is better.  But from my experience with the Club and our repeaters, I know that getting antennas significantly higher than head height is really hard.  You run into change of management issues, unrealistic insurance requirements for climbers, and difficulty even securing a climber.  It’s 100% a PITA.

So, scratching my chin and working with Matthew Murphy (KF5NRU), I asked him to run some different configurations in the modeling tool.  For sake of argument, we started with hypothetical devices at his tower location and the Lamar County Courthouse (119 N Main) at 50 feet elevation.  Here’s the visual depiction of that simulation:

Center-to-center of the blue areas is a little under 7.5 miles.  And when I zoomed in on that image, the transparency wasn’t perfect, but I could make out the loop.  Here are two closer images — one without my red line and one with it.  The red line traces just outside the loop to help it stand out:

Wow… I was not expecting that.  The model shows that a single device at the courthouse at 50′ would cover the entire area inside the loop.  That’s a lunchbox-sized unit for under $100, solar-charged and autonomous.

Now, let me temper this — I do not believe one $100 device will magically cover the whole area in real life.  This is just one model we’re looking at.  There are other tools and many variables we can adjust.

My real point is this: Rather than relying on one high-up device at the courthouse, if we sprinkle nodes around the Paris area (for example at Club members’ homes) at more reasonable heights, we can still achieve excellent coverage.  Matt and I then modeled 3 meters (about 9–10 feet) and here’s the result:

As you can see, the lower height reduces the range, but not enough to kill the idea.  Dispersing a number of nodes at lower, easier-to-achieve heights is much more practical, faster to deploy, and adds redundancy.  No single point of failure.

It’s as simple as asking: “Who’s willing to buy one and put it at their house?”  If we get a handful of people spread out across the area, they can mount them on a roof, shop roof, tower leg, or whatever they have available — all at ladder height.

As time allows, I’ll start modeling where Club members live to figure out optimal node placement — minimizing the number needed while maximizing coverage.  I’ll probably run most of these at 3 meters (10 feet) just to keep it realistic.  Of course, if anyone can go higher than 10 feet, even better!

73 Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Realigned a couple of images to center

[Phillip Beall]

All,

I was sitting down for lunch when it hit me — I should make a quick clarification.

Yes, I know we are the Red River Valley Amateur Radio Club.

As I have been visualizing the mesh coverage, I’ve been using concentric rings (multiple circles of different sizes that all share the exact same center point).  For starters, I chose the Lamar County Courthouse as that center point and then worked outward from there.

This approach lets us begin where it’s easiest — more people, more potential locations willing to host a node — before expanding into the more rural parts of the Valley.  I also want to get a feel for how many nodes we’d actually need for solid mesh coverage.

So to those who might be sensitive about me focusing on Paris first: I get it.  We’re not the “Paris ARC.”  I just have to start somewhere practical, so please hang in there with me.  😎👍

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

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