Mashtastic in SA discussion

Tim_vb

Tim_vb

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Introduction to Meshtastic​

Meshtastic® is a project that enables you to use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communication platform in areas without existing or reliable communications infrastructure. This project is 100% community driven and open source!

LoRa Topology


Features ​

  • Long range (331km record by MartinR7 & alleg)
  • No phone required for mesh communication
  • Decentralized communication - no dedicated router required
  • Encrypted communication
  • Excellent battery life
  • Send and receive text messages between members of the mesh
  • Optional GPS based location features
  • And more!

@dadecoza resources:​

* Meshtastic in South Africa (@Danie_V 's detailed write-up)
* Meshtastic Map (Nice interactive map showing nodes)
* List of Active ZA nodes
* Realtime Graph of the ZA mesh
 
Last edited:
Tim_vb said:

Introduction to Meshtastic​

Meshtastic® is a project that enables you to use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communication platform in areas without existing or reliable communications infrastructure. This project is 100% community driven and open source!

LoRa Topology


Features​

  • Long range (331km record by MartinR7 & alleg)
  • No phone required for mesh communication
  • Decentralized communication - no dedicated router required
  • Encrypted communication
  • Excellent battery life
  • Send and receive text messages between members of the mesh
  • Optional GPS based location features
  • And more!
Some resources:
* Meshtastic in South Africa (@Danie_V 's detailed write-up)
* Meshtastic Map (Nice interactive map showing nodes)
* List of Active ZA nodes
* Realtime Graph of the ZA mesh
Click to expand...
Unfortunately this is run mostly by the radio amateurs. It is not a commercial service therefore it cannot be used with the kind of reliability needed for, say something like utility billing.
 
PaulGherkin said:
Unfortunately this is run mostly by the radio amateurs. It is not a commercial service therefore it cannot be used with the kind of reliability needed for, say something like utility billing.
Click to expand...
It's not run by anyone really as no central service - many people sue it on their own on a sheep farm to connect between points where there are zero comms. It is open source, so anyone can adapt and build a service on top of it. We have a brewery in Cape Town that has 4 active nodes, and I'd love to know what they use it for - as it could be using the telemetry to to remotely monitor brewing temps for example.

The only thing is it is license-free so can get congested or abused vs a commercial licensed frequency which is better controlled (but then you also get more locked in).

So I suppose it all depends on what one wants to do. There are already metro-wide IoT sensor networks but I gather those come at a price to use them.
 
Danie_V said:
It's not run by anyone really as no central service - many people sue it on their own on a sheep farm to connect between points where there are zero comms. It is open source, so anyone can adapt and build a service on top of it. We have a brewery in Cape Town that has 4 active nodes, and I'd love to know what they use it for - as it could be using the telemetry to to remotely monitor brewing temps for example.

The only thing is it is license-free so can get congested or abused vs a commercial licensed frequency which is better controlled (but then you also get more locked in).

So I suppose it all depends on what one wants to do. There are already metro-wide IoT sensor networks but I gather those come at a price to use them.
Click to expand...
I will write a more thorough piece about this once I have a moment.
Fundamentally that network is just, so... SMALL
 
gotaway said:
Interested, but not really sure what to do with it though.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
One of the things I wanted to do was put metering onto the network, but, alas, since the network in Cape Town is so sporadic, and so small I doubt that will be feasible. And I would imagine half the network goes down when Eskom does dirty deeds.
 
PaulGherkin said:
One of the things I wanted to do was put metering onto the network, but, alas, since the network in Cape Town is so sporadic, and so small I doubt that will be feasible. And I would imagine half the network goes down when Eskom does dirty deeds.
Click to expand...
There is one high site in Cape Town that connects many nodes already - I'm finding the broadcasts reasonably OK and reaching a few people. We're trying to now get nodes up above Durbanville and on Constantiaberg - but needing to sponsor the devices and get permission from the site owners. Then things should improve considerably.
 
This weekend I finally removed my CTWUG equipment and used the mast to try and get the most height for my little Meshtastic node.

Although I'm pretty high up and have clear LOS over Kraaifontein, parts of Brackenfell, and all the way to Paarl there is just not enough nodes this side of Tygerberg to allow me to join the greater mesh.

My next step is to get a proper antenna and then start convincing ex-wuggers to start setting up nodes. :)




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photo_5791911313490952646_y.jpgphoto_5791911313490952645_y.jpg
 
dadecoza said:
This weekend I finally removed my CTWUG equipment and used the mast to try and get the most height for my little Meshtastic node.

Although I'm pretty high up and have clear LOS over Kraaifontein, parts of Brackenfell, and all the way to Paarl there is just not enough nodes this side of Tygerberg to allow me to join the greater mesh.

My next step is to get a proper antenna and then start convincing ex-wuggers to start setting up nodes. :)




View attachment 1764456
View attachment 1764459View attachment 1764458
Click to expand...
Yes you are behind a slight hump and missing that high site on CT side. Good news is one of the first high sites being planned is going to be by the Hawequa repeater site so we are hoping that would light up Paarl, Worcester and Kraaifontein.
 
Danie_V said:
Yes you are behind a slight hump and missing that high site on CT side. Good news is one of the first high sites being planned is going to be by the Hawequa repeater site so we are hoping that would light up Paarl, Worcester and Kraaifontein.
Click to expand...

41Km with line-of-sight ... very promising. :)
Capture.PNG
 
dadecoza said:
This weekend I finally removed my CTWUG equipment and used the mast to try and get the most height for my little Meshtastic node.

Although I'm pretty high up and have clear LOS over Kraaifontein, parts of Brackenfell, and all the way to Paarl there is just not enough nodes this side of Tygerberg to allow me to join the greater mesh.

My next step is to get a proper antenna and then start convincing ex-wuggers to start setting up nodes. :)




View attachment 1764456
Click to expand...
running a long USB cable for power?
 
Tim_vb said:
running a long USB cable for power?
Click to expand...
There was already POE power for the routers I removed. I used a small dc-to-dc converter (read car usb charger) to knock down 12v to the needed 5v.
 
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