Just like the title says, has anyone ever played with Meshtastic devices? I am thinking about building a few units and giving them out on our next trail run to see if they work for vehicle tracking. The range seems right for what we do and the mesh network allowing locations to hop a few steps between devices seems ideal.
I thought about it and looked at them, it's a very interesting thought but at the time it felt like the limiting factor was a big enough network to relay from remote areas to an actual cell tower (assuming I understand it correctly). Also I did not want to invest in the devices to just play around with it. After Sierra Trek this year, it is clear Starlink is taking over remote communications based on all the satellites I saw, mine just Showed up yesterday (mine is more for remote work, but it will like be on the trail also).
I'd totally help you test it out though, I am still very curious 😀
I just picked up Btech UV-Pro radios for Romika and I. We can text messages back and forth to each other through those devises. What's even cooler and needs to be tested is the GPS function. When you set up a group (of users with all the same UV-Pro radios), the group will show up on a map so you can see their location. Furthermore, if someone in the group is too far from the furthest devise, it uses the closest devise in the group to project the signal to the others further away.
It will also use your phones Bluetooth and network connection (if you have network) to message a group worldwide which I thought was interesting since you could just call or text. Lol
Spendy but still had to get them. Lol
Sounds cool Roy. I gotta check those out.
I would be very interested in either or both of these options. Sounds like the Btech does just about the same thing as the meshtastic.
Roy & Romika said I just picked up Btech UV-Pro radios for Romika and I. We can text messages back and forth to each other through those devises. What's even cooler and needs to be tested is the GPS function. When you set up a group (of users with all the same UV-Pro radios), the group will show up on a map so you can see their location. Furthermore, if someone in the group is too far from the furthest devise, it uses the closest devise in the group to project the signal to the others further away. It will also use your phones Bluetooth and network connection (if you have network) to message a group worldwide which I thought was interesting since you could just call or text. Lol Spendy but still had to get them. Lol
$160 for a dual band ham is more than the $25 radios most of us use but cheaper than the kenwood or other name brand radios. It looks like it uses APRS for sending location which is awesome but i do need to verify our license allows that on our frequencies.
Pros are 5watts transmit power on APRS which should be plenty for whole trail coverage and higher than meshtastic. Cons are lack of redundancy having everything in one radio and not as easily integrated into my existing mapping options.
I will probably get one of these radios to compare to others I have.
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