The Idiots Guide To Meshtastic - Long Range Comms!

Get the case here:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2354895937...
► Buy me a coffee: www.paypal.me/ringwaymanchester
► Email: [e-mail]
► Instagram: / m3hhyofficial
► Facebook: / m3hhy
► Twitter: / officialm3hhy
This Is an idiots guide to Meshtastic, a great off grid communication system that utilises radio.
Its great for keeping in touch, making long range contacts and ideal for emergency situations where there is no cell coverage .
Get Heltec board here:
ebay.us/Dh4aFT
Ulefone Handset:
m.ulefone.com/armor-21.html
Andy’s Channel:
/ @andykirby
The Comms Channel
/ @the_comms_channel l

[@RingwayManchester]

Follow These 10 Tips To Be A Meshtastic Pro! kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWi8cpdropuDobM

[@AMPProf]

WHAT MY ROCK IS TELING ME WHAT.. Oo meshhy

[@RWBHere]

I've been living under a rock...

[@RWBHere]

Hmm. An iMessage reaches anyone with an Apple device, or an enabled Windows device, anywhere in the world within a second or so, if they have any kind of internet connection. You don't need an aerial or any coax either. And you can send text, video, audio, images, documents handwriting and drawings. Android devices will likely have a similar equivalent. So what are the real advantages of Meshtastic?

[@samcorp73]

@@RWBHere "if they have any kind of internet connection" - grid down, power down, cell phone down.. this can still work to communicate

[@sydfloyd891]

I must have been living under a rock as Meshtastic is all new to me !

[@Isochest]

Same here

[@torspedia]

You and me both. 🙂

[@MyTube4Utoo]

Me too! 😆

[@pradeepkliyanage]

why do you live under a rock mate? get an apartment

[@omgninjabot]

Yeah, I think this is pretty niche to fall into the "under a rock" category. 😉But I'm very happy to be out from under the rock I didn't know existed!

[@General_Confusion]

I like idiots guides, they make people down the pub think I'm clever.

[@RingwayManchester]

You and me both

[@SimEon-jt3sr]

Drop in a MOSFET here an 18650 and BMS you're now an engineer. Lingo is key.

[@Omena0MC]

​@@SimEon-jt3srif you know what MOSFET stands for, you are officially a nerd.

[@oznews1]

You should sign up for neural link mate👍🏻✌🏻😉

[@azhammill]

What are they sending just messages, or like radio (musicc), or like CB radio

[@simonmcowan6874]

Yup I've been living under a rock, lots here in Wales!

[@SirJimmySavileOBEKCSG]

I prefer the sheep

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

I’m in Wales and really didn’t understand what Andy Kirby was disgusting on his channel.

[@tonytwostep_]

With around 30 people in my city of 1.5 million using these, we still struggled to send messages at any range over a mile. Its way different in dense urban areas with lots of things in the way than what a lot of these videos let on. LoRA largely relies on line-of-sight.

[@SleeveZipper]

I’m in a Dutch town of about 160.000 inhabitants and there’s nobody using the mesh. Nice to play with but I don’t see this taking off tbh. Which is sad bcs it’s great tech

[@duanenavarre7234]

it appears alarm systems, some thermostats, and a few other devices use these freq as well.

[@SleeveZipper]

@@duanenavarre7234 The frequency is used for LORA solutions such as IoT devices, sensors etc. Meshtastic just uses the same frequency. The Things Network does also. That's the radiopart anyone can use.

[@nerminc.1713]

So you could fix this if you had someone put these on the roof of buildings?

[@SleeveZipper]

@@nerminc.1713 you can create a gateway, yes. High up is best

[@garycrant4511]

This looks very interesting - an affordable new hobby for tech heads. But the question remains: why ??? What do participants talk about, to what purpose ?????. Back in the early 1980s my sister got obsessed with CB. She had a bedroom transmitter, spending hours every night on it. I never really knew who she was talking to, or about what. But one night when we had the serious coastal floods, the amateur CB network proved valuable in coordinating help in the local community.

[@BabylonPatrol]

it's geared at black outs or if the net is down, eg due to cyber attack, or if you're blocked or out of devices.

[@derekromero2331]

Very high chance of losing internet cell service in the near future. This would enable communications- getting information/ news, etc.

[@recbo]

Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, 2004, blew away fire and police radio, and cell, everything. A tall concrete building was used to implement 802.11 wifi locally, and jump 50 miles dish to dish. Atheros, madwifi, voip put shelters online with families elsewhere. 911, DC MD VA cell was shut off for hours by the perps, the anthraxers of Russell Welch, Leahy, Daschle, to influence government like Mena vs Welch.

[@MakeAsylumsGre4tAgain]

Isn’t it obvious that we’re headed for a massive tech crash? Your sister is very smart.

[@cdl0]

The advice from Ringway Manchester in this video to avoid velvet bottoms is the kind of excellent tip that all viewers would do well to heed.

[@joedee1863]

I joined the local amateur radio enthusiast's group a year ago and they havent heard about meshtastic. I can't wait to get started. This is what I've been looking for after many years of searching. Thanks for this. 👍

[@The_Comms_Channel]

Great video! I'm glad to see you getting into Meshtastic and appreciate the shout-out!

[@RingwayManchester]

Guys go and check this guys videos!!

[@558vulcanxh]

Me too 😊, ✋️

[@andykirby]

Yes!!! AMAZING channel 😁

[@The_Comms_Channel]

@@andykirby Cheers! Yours as well! Love seeing how much fun you're having with it! 🎉

[@billwaterson9492]

​@@RingwayManchestersubbed. Appreciate you gents

[@christopherismcaceas4868]

Only in your universe everyone knows about this gadget. Living under a rock... :D

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

Now I understand what Andy Kirby has been talking about. Thank you for making this production.

[@PeterJavea]

Ok.... the challenge is on. We have to get a node path set up so you and Andy Kirby can send each other a message Meshtastic will be amazed and all the groups can celebrate a real achievement

[@jonfr]

This might not work well in super remote countries like Iceland (where there are areas with no population in any direction for up to hundreds of km). But in countries like Denmark and Germany, where density is good. This is a great backup communication path if the mobile network ever goes out. Since this is not centralized and runs in small power and transmission strength. Wish they allowed use for this at lower frequencies (for better range), but maybe that is going to happen in the future.

[@Isochest]

Even more so here in overcrowded England. I used to use packet ax25 on VHF on 6/4/2/70. This sounds good for a community prepper network

[@ice_man1117]

Pictochat in 2024

[@simontemplar0468]

Hi Lewis. My friend at work and I got our first of two Meshtastic kits today. Two of the Heltec 32 v3's with antenna and the little case like you have two of on this video. The kit of two Lilygo LoRa will be the two we put out in the wild. Now the fun begins 😊. 73 my friend

[@theoriginalzads]

Love the enthusiastic name of those 18650 lithium batteries. Is it a promise or a threat??? 😂

[@UD503J]

They were actually pretty popular in the tactical flashlight crowd for a while because they were pretty cheap, at least that's where I remember them from. That and folks that build DIY powerwalls. Still though, the old Samsung and Sony 18650s I have from old laptop pack pulls are still the most dependable ones I've got at least.

[@MrGeforcerFX]

judging by the claimed mah rating i am gonna go with threat.

[@Mavi222]

@@UD503J "Tactical flashlight"? oof.

[@L-udo]

@@UD503J They are most certainly not popular in the powerwall community or any group/community . they are unpredictable , with zero quality control, making it INCREADIBLY RISKY to use in a pack with other cells, they are outright unsafe to use.

[@ingmarm8858]

They are exactly as dodgy and fake as you think they are.

[@lagmonster7789]

6:30 FWIW: The power bank's cells shown seem to be Samsung 3.7v 5000mAh 21700 li-ion, which would suggest the 48h claimed runtime roughly equates to an average power draw of 2x3.7Vx5A = 37Wh / 48h = 0.77W Which isn't much at all, if you needed to mount a unit in a poorly accessible place, you could definitely run that off a ~5-15W solar panel(depending on location) 🤔

[@SchoolforHackers]

Thank you for the math!

[@RRyyas]

That's false claims made by the battery manufacturer. An 18650 battery have a maximum practical capacity of around 3500 mAh, and with that particular "Ultrafire" brand you won't get anywhere above 650 mAh. The dead giveaway that a battery is fake is that it weighs less than a genuine brand battery. So my advice is to buy battery cells from reputable brands instead of these cheap chinese off-brand ones

[@lagmonster7789]

@@RRyyas No, at the timestamp, the cells shown in the device are clearly Samsung branded 21700s(21mm x 700mm) i.e. wider and longer than a regular 18650 hence the increased capacity. Otherwise; I agree 💯that Ultrafire cells are complete trash though, for all the reasons you stated and more.

[@sgtbrown4273]

This is awesome! The emergency abilities of this could be life-saving in a communications black out. now, if we could broadcast our own video and digital data over a public wireless network, we would be set! 😊

[@dezman2003]

You already can with mesh wifi systems.

[@gerardsitja]

@@dezman2003 The whole Habana in Cuba it's set out this way! I don't see why we can't do the same and start sharing among us 😉

[@xanderplayz3446]

@@dezman2003Look who would use 100 routers for a mesh?

[@dezman2003]

@@xanderplayz3446 Not sure what your point is. You don't use only routers for a mesh network. What are you babbling about?

[@d.christianrathjens7209]

dont think the bandwith is anywhere near to media transmission

[@andykirby]

Absolutely brilliant guide rog! Loved it, gonna watch it again!😁

[@RingwayManchester]

Thanks N

[@Phil-M0KPH]

Several members of the Genesis Radio Group have these up and running around Bury and Prestwich. Got my first contact, recently, on the stock aerial. Distance was just over 1km with it just sitting on an upstairs room windowsill.

[@aeron-mw7ofs]

Great stuff , i quite fancy trying these out .👍👍

[@stevesmith7530]

I've just come across meshtastic in the last week, and already built up a nice shopping list of parts to play with

[@PK5Dloks]

Great video. The VervainNet nodes are mine, 01 being fixed and 02 being portable. Unfortunately I was out when you messaged, will hopefully get another chance to try soon. Great to see more and more nodes coming online 💯

[@RingwayManchester]

Oh great!! Catch you soon

[@ErikS-]

3:49 - they used the old "Winamp" logo as symbol for flashing haha!😊

[@EgoChip]

Thank you for making this guide just for me!

[@ArferNower]

There seems to be a lot of us under a large rock, this looks interesting and will give it a go, it reminds me of my packet radio tnc and nodes back in the 90's

[@ArferNower]

Ordered one

[@chrislx2006]

Checked the mesh map and noted I'm located in a 'hole' south of Manchester so have set up a node here.

[@chriskiwi9833]

Thank you. Please keep this content coming!

[@tonywalker8250]

My first exposure to the system and your explanation is really clear and informative, thankyou.

[@RingwayManchester]

Glad it was helpful!

[@buffplums]

This could revitalise Ham radio and it’s got that mode of operation that is reminiscent of CB radio.

[@KMcKaig72]

Thanks for this, Josh over Ham Radio Crash Course was streaming about this very tech last night.

[@ke4asc]

It looks like packet radio, Amateur radio operators have been doing this for years only we can legally run more power, these appear to be part 15 low power devices. I may have to play with this to see how well it works. Good video by the way. Very well done.

[@CTCTraining1]

Very timely video. Much appreciated 😀👍

[@thesaurusrext]

If you dont mind may i ask what makes it timely? I'm one of the "under a rock" guys.

[@CTCTraining1]

@@thesaurusrext ... for me as I've been getting a lot of offers (and some queries) about Meshtastic. I originally discounted it as I was expecting it would need huge hyping to get enough nodes to be useful, but seemingly not.

[@ShebanFPV]

Many thanks for the guide! Apparently I've been living under a rock ))))) This thing is so cool! IIRC each antenna connection reduced dB gain by about 2dB, which is a lot.

[@gpTeacher]

Very informative. Thank you!

[@psychonauthacker]

I think the key is to build a network. I purchased a couple extra for friends. I am building a few antenna for 915 MHz and will be testing them out thoroughly. Eugene/Springfield Oregon.❤

[@TrystansWorkbench]

Hi Lewis, great video. I picked up your chat the other day, I was 0KAY (or 0K-1) on the mesh. Unfortunately, I'd gone to work, but it was fun to see all the picked up Meshtastic nodes when I got home (and the chat you had with the chap in Horwich with a colinear I think it was).

[@RingwayManchester]

Hey Trystan! Great to hear from you! I’ll keep an eye out for you again

[@IndianaDipper194]

this is just the video i was looking for! i am very much also an idiot and ive been curious about meshtastic for awhile now but i didnt know a ton about it. am gonna get a mesh going ASAP now.

[@michaelcarey]

Very interesting Lewis. I think one of these might have to end up at my repeater site 🙂

[@thes764]

I played with Meshtastic about half a year ago here in the south western corner of Germany. Didn't see any other stations then, neither on 70cm HAM nor 868MHz ISM. Testing with my own nodes the ranges and mesh routing looked impressive though. Might try again when I find the time.

[@RingwayManchester]

Keep me posted

[@thes764]

I have my 2 868MHz nodes up and running. Noone else seen.

[@batlin]

@@thes764 what distance do you reckon you can see with them? There's a map on "technicallyrural" which shows a lot of nodes in Germany but not many in the southwest, and very few in France. There's only 3 or 4 here in Ireland but I'm tempted to try it out anyway...

[@FilSerge]

@@batlin Can't find the link with map, can you provide, please?

[@taavisepp]

Was planning to set one up in München and another in Stuttgart. Good to know there are more enthusiasts here.

[@erikmutthersbough6508]

Cool video. Thanks Lewis.

[@petedapipe586]

Can we have Meshtastic on a Flipper Zero . Both use ESP 32 ?(ask Andy ) Love the show 👍🏻👌🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@wisteela]

Excellent. Andy made me aware of this, and I've so got to get into this year. My plan is one for portable, and a node in my flat. 73 M7TUD

[@Wildernessoutside]

thats my plan as well but stoke is a bit quiet at moment

[@LeeFall]

6800mah 18650 lmao Good one...

[@zwencore]

I started the hobby in the Netherlands, hopefully one day a nice reception possible with the UK

[@Dubsteppah]

Ok now this looks so fun, and also when SHTF you could still communicate even if cell towers are down, LORAD is super cool

[@elliot999]

Very interesting. I’ll have to try these out In Australia. We are using them at work for wireless comms for water meters and electricity meters. I like to use LL195 cables for short runs as it’s easier to move around than LMR400.

[@billynomates920]

i'll finally know what s2 is on about now!

[@ragingelch5042]

Same!

[@RogierYou]

Excellent tutorial 👍

[@B-RaDD]

I've been living under a rock

[@michal_king478]

never heard of it and I absolutely love it. Already have 2 solar panels on my terrace with a small battery and an inverter. If I add this Im really ready for the apocalypse 😄😄

[@maxbetatron]

Rock dweller here. I grew up with parent's who were missionaries to Haiti. This was before cell phones. To communicate, they got into Ham radio. Giant tower installed on the side of my house, and licenses. Crazy to see how obsolete ham has become. And I hope it stays that way but who knows.

[@vaughanweather]

Comparing this and ham radio is like comparing apples and elephants. This is a license free low power radio system that can be built out but only operates in a small window of radio bands and while nice, does have substantial limitations. HAM radio while requiring a license is basically being able to do everything Meshtastic does but faster and across a huge range of frequencies / bands with power levels that can be in excess of 1kW. Meshtastic is like a cordless home phone, ham radio is like a true cellular phone.

[@maxbetatron]

@@vaughanweather sorry I feel like I wasn’t clear. I’m just blown away by the tech shown in your video. I was sharing a story to demonstrate how crazy technology has progressed, and how ham has become so unnecessary at this time. Again I could have been more clear.

[@ke4asc]

Ham radio is very active, a long way from obsolete.

[@renatofp]

Hi! Thanks a lot for this. Helped me a lot.

[@adamdevmedia]

This makes you realize how much is going on under the hood with data transfer and texting etc, i feel like you could build in some intelligence to lora/bluetooth meshing to create a backup communication system that would work without cell towers or satellites, maybe you have lots of little hidden solar powered nodes to bridge gaps between users

[@collinmc90]

this is awesome. Definitely gonna look more into this. Alternative communications could be crucial.

[@TradieTrev]

Good to see you get onboard mate!

[@ivekuukkeli2156]

Very informative. Thanks very much. Using a paraboloid will extend the range even longer; surplus satellite-tv dish, but only to certain direction naturally.

[@ChrisShawUK]

I've never come across this before, but definitely want to learn more! I'll be investing in some boards to experiment

[@oscarsh2909]

Me in chat: Hey guys I just set up this node Others: Oh cool! Others: I just set up my node it’s working perfectly! Me: Oh cool another node! Others: God this radio is so good! Me: yeah, these nodes are really powerful. Others: I love radios Me: yeah I love radios too Others: hey guys I just set up a new node! Me: Oh cool, a new node! Others: damn these nodes are so good Me: So what are you guys doing on Friday? …….. …….. crickets chirping….. …… Others: On Friday after work, I’ll set 3 new nodes up so we can talk to each other better. Me: …

[@zjzozn]

Brilliant vlog 👍

[@paulsengupta971]

I have resisted until now, but the KZbin crowd has worn me down (I'm looking at you in particular, Andy!). One Heltec ordered from AliExpress as of two days ago!

[@TheKendalCrew]

You should deffo get two to play with just incase!

[@paulsengupta971]

@@TheKendalCrew One at a time, one at a time. Just like my collection of Baofengs and Quanshengs...

[@andykirby]

😂

[@pdoherty926]

I'm another one who's been living under a rock. This looks really useful and interesting, though! Also, great apologies for being that person, but given some of your implied concerns about privacy on the channel, maybe you should consider suggesting that folks use Firefox instead of those other browsers.

[@davebrown2728]

Great work. Missed your videos

[@torspedia]

Greetings from the rock that I've been living under. 🤪 This is certainly something for me to explore at some point, especially with it not being tied to any mobile network. 🙂

[@IllIIllIllIIllIlIIllIIllIIllI]

Long Range, Low Power TX/RX. You can choose only one. Either it is to have long range but that requires high transmit power or low power at the expense of short range. The idea of this device is quite interesting, but it can't be called Long Range Comms but rather Local Range Comms. A better solution would be to implement such a system on the CB band. Then there is no problem with range because a 5W transmitter can have a range of hundreds of kilometers, and fewer devices are needed to create a network covering a large area that will meet the definition of Long Range Comms. In the case of this device, it is impossible to build a network that runs through large agricultural or forest areas, because there will be no space to install repeaters.

[@mesapysch]

Bah humbug! I bought a Digirig when that was the rage and made no contacts. I got into Meshtastic with the same result. These techie things just seem to be trendy and not a lot of people use them where I live, and then there is some new tech to replace it. Much of this relies on LoS, which doesn't work in many areas.

[@1kr1sb]

Great video. This product is the way of the future. Whether it be a zombie apocalypse or war, it’ll be useful to find friends, family and allies 😂

[@StuartMcKenzie-me9wc]

Thank you, that was really good!!

[@sarahlicious6453]

Very interesting. I’m about to buy one. Located in West-Belgium.

[@NoName-rl3fh]

By that logic, Most people are under a rock.

[@varer]

You know, I am something of an idiot myself!

[@RingwayManchester]

You and me both brother

[@TRIPPLEJAY00]

Plus 1 me 😂

[@BoxLaneProductions]

I got the Motorola walkie talkies about 3 months ago and thought hopping would already be a thing, glad there's something out there for it

[@mrmangosir]

Great video, but I'm struggling with what real life applications this has. I'm going to grab a board anyway, as I'd like to see what it can do. Just curious what people are using them for.

[@jspiro]

Would it be possible to set up a proxy on a fixed end, like at home, that would pick up messages from the field and forward it to devices that were on Wi-Fi, for example? Or is it reliable enough that you can just leave it on and when you're in Bluetooth range it just works? Does it save messages that you may have missed? Use case: live in off grid area, wanna communicate with home when away, but it's impractical for family members to have to be tethered. How would you architect this ?

[@GamerzClub420]

Yes. I have been truly living under an rock...

[@theobserver9131]

This looks like cool tech! If I liked talking to people, I'd get it.

[@Mellow_Wood_Hill]

I have two nodes so far up and running in West Yorkshire, just waiting on delivery of an 868mhz 8dBi omni antenna from Supaerials for the pole.

[@NebulaHatesWatchdog]

I’m a ham and I love communications and decentralized technology, but I just can’t imagine this will take off. Don’t get me wrong, I really hope it does, but what purpose does it seriously serve for most people? It’s just communications that aren’t as reliable as our pre-existing cell network. For the average user, it’s a serious downgrade from what we have and it requires buy in to even use it. Even if we imagine that cell phone manufacturers put LoRa devices in every phone, there’d definitely be groups who would hate it because of the privacy concern of having a transmitter connecting with other people at all times. And that’s one thing I can think of, people would come up with lots of reasons that “the cell network is just a better tool”. I honestly don’t believe that we live in a world where CB would get a resurgence or that LoRa would serve the same purpose. Our infrastructure is just too good for the average person to care about that.

[@scottmb99]

Thank you SO much for this! I've been seeing Meshtastic videos around a lot lately, but everyone is over this idiot's head - this is perfect, thanks again!

[@scottmb99]

So, second time through this great video! I was on the Heltec website and saw LoRa Gateways and LoRa Concentrators - can you give a brief description of what those do in your third Meshtastic video??

[@JeffreyGroves]

Thanks for the video. There is a MacOS version too!

[@apted]

Over in Halifax with a recently purchased Heltec v3, seeing no actively at all which is disappointing (not even sure everything is working properly). Upgraded the antenna to a Paradar in the hope that would help but still nothing. Any tips?

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

Can this system route? I.e. I send to a specific destination, and it's routed and re-transmitted by successively closer nodes until the destination is reached? Thanks.

[@joesonwong]

I’ve lost most of my EE knowledge from college. But can I hook up some sort of amplifier if want to extend the connection using a coaxial with reasonable quality?

[@TheNodeChannel]

I've been looking to get a set of 4 of these to use in some areas with no cell reception out of country. Little nervous about the buy in with it, but I think I'll get its value worth.

[@oasntet]

To be clear, pigtails are also coax, and fairly terrible coax. It's best to get the absolute shortest pigtail you can, or skip it entirely by connecting the antenna directly to the module.

[@bobbysenterprises3220]

I going to try a few of these. There isn't many in my area (none at all within range). Partly just to do it partly to try and contribute to a network. I work 29 miles from home and I could probably deploy one roughly half way so could use for work to home. My push right now is for times my daughter doesn't have service and we can't telegram. But planning on going to the eclipse here in the us. It may actually be useful since we may be out of cell network and it can get very crazy busy on the path of totality. Might prove useful for us or someone else.

[@cameronweston1762]

Hurry make the next video! 🙌🏼

[@paulgrindley8192]

I might put up a repeater in my little town. I’m new to this but it would be fun to see how far I can get a signal. My area is flat flat flat. With the ability to install a solar powered repeater at 35-40 feet(10-12 meters) that should be impressive.

[@Liberty4Ever]

I'm not an idiot, but this was brilliant! Thank you. 🙂

[@oznews1]

Cheers mate👍🏻✌🏻

[@winterburan]

😃fantastic technology, for remote areas, or in case of emergency, the very expensive goTenna or beartooth Project Lantern etc comes to mind

[@budprepper3811]

That's terrific. Now we're all idiots 😂

[@JoeKyser]

yeah I bought this box with a rasp pi and a lora hat. it was a coiple hundred bucks and I did it a couple years ago. I am just remembering about it lol. I remember hearing about lora and wanting to create my network system for emergency uses.

[@KenPar-nx2bk]

What is this???? This looks interesting. Just randomly popped in my recommended. Subbed!!

[@cupofdirtfordinner]

This is so cool! I wonder if I could use this to make some sort of MMO....

[@stevejava4336]

I guess I have, been living under a rock. I have never herd of your little tiny radio or the youtube channles you mentioned in the first 20 seconds of your video. I am interested in getting my ham license though. If this turns out to be a low powered ham radio, I guess I'm interested.

[@BillyNoMates1974]

Where did you get the mag mount from ? I assume it has a SMA connecter on the base and on the end of the lead.

[@Bill-jt1fe]

Looks like a good way to establish COMMS for disaster recovery or search and rescue operations.

[@PHILG2864]

When you put a node up in the loft, do you talk to that node directly from your phone via bluetooth, or do you hop via another node in your radio shack? I've just received my two Heltecs from Aliexpress yesterday, all flashed up & can see a dozen nodes already :) I'm G4PHL