Meshtastic Off Grid Comms No License Needed!

Well for a while now we have been playing around with the LORA and we totally find it fascinating. We started a Tiny Ground Station for tracking LEO (Low Earth Orbit) Satellites and this project is going really well. Last year we reached a distance for receiving information from a satellite from 13,363 k’s from Australia which for a 7.5 inch antenna mounted to a LORA board and in a 2nd floor window WOW!

We are also playing around with Meshtastic using LORA devices flashed with the Meshtastic software for off grid communications and this is a game changer. You are basically paring your smart device – tablet / phone / computer with the Meshtastic device and 2 on the same network can send messages back and forth.  No Internet No Cellular network needed which makes this really cool. It’s growing the USA but really big in Europe this is really catching on and blowing up. This sort of technology you don’t need to have a HAM license or GMRS its license FREE. The service operates on specific frequencies depending on the country you are in.
LORA Frequencies Internationally: EU868 (863–870/873 MHz) in Europe; AU915/AS923-1 (915–928 MHz) in South America; US915 (902–928 MHz) in North America; IN865 (865–867 MHz) in India; and AS923 (915–928 MHz) in Asia.

In Europe Andy Kirby (video Below) and his followers from his YouTube channel have built up a really good network. These guys are getting messages that use the Mesh to travel and hitting as far as 30k’s or more away sometimes Really Exciting!! We Tested Our Node & Got 1.4 k’s from our main node which was just AWESOME!  We Have an upgraded antenna but all mounted in a 2nd floor window so 20 feet max!!!

We have set one up here in Sydney Called SWLQSL CHAT – If you live in Sydney and want to get on click the QR code below if you have a Meshtastic device paired with your mobile device and you can be added to the network. If there is no Meshtastic Node in your area no matter what country you’re in why not start one?
Check out Andy’s video on getting started and learn a bit about Meshtastic there are loads of videos everywhere on this. You can be the first in your area and build up your own Mesh!

NOTE: Example let’s say you had 50 of the Meshtastic people with nodes spread a distance apart where each one could message the other – but 2 of the people on the furthest end say 50 miles away – Well if they message each other their message will use the mesh and hop from node to node till it reaches the other end & Its encrypted how cool is that!

Meshtastic International Map: Once you set up your own Node why not let people know? You can set up on the Meshtastic International Map. This is cool you can in real time where Meshtastic Nodes are all over the world. Check us out in Sydney Australia SWLQSL Sydney. (Scan QR Code Below)  This is a fun project and it works – SWLQSL Lifetime members stay tuned we will have an Award for those of you that have uploaded a node to the system.

Add Your Node Here: https://map.meshtasticuk.com/

Have a great day and hope you try Meshtastic 73’s CJ Henderson VK2021SWL www.swlqsl.com