Відео

@@hendetta I would say that's a good comparison. There's no explicit limitation on throuput, and once in the other side of the "bridge" , the mesh algorithm takes on additional targeted hops as necessary to complete the delivery. I have had to temporarily disable the cloud service in the past few days, as the mesh algorithm has changed substantially, and the cloud capability needs to be tweaked to take full advantage.

Max I have gotten in a single hop is a little over 14 miles between an 84" signal plus antenna and I think about a 16" omni antenna. Full disclosure, I was sitting in a helicopter..lol. The system is designed to maximize the benefit of packet caching, so if connections are intermittent or devices are moving, that is where it can really shine. Ground-to-ground, I can reliably get 8+ miles if rural and one antenna is about 20 ft up, but it's EXTREMELY flat where I live, so that's about where earth curve gets in the way. I get 6 miles between the 84" signal plus antenna (on my house) and T-Deck plus , which has only an internal antenna, also in a single hop. I have since tested a few bidirectional amps that work extremely well in the lab (1 watt, 4 watt, checking into 20 watt), but have not done any distance testing with those in the mix yet. I really need to find some hills to see what it can do with open air. I live in flat midwest.

@ that is very impressive👍

@@mrwoodcat not exactly. The last 100 (or so) messages are saved encrypted on the SD card, unless you turn that feature off. You can copy the SD card, and the original device would always be able to re display the messages that were stored, if you insert the encrypted/backed-up SD card into the same device and decrypt using the password that was utilized by the device at that previous point in time. The message logs are really designed to be unreadable to any other device though, at this point... including any PC or anything watching RF .

@@gustavo.ferrero I am trying to follow. There's not really a "master" in this context. The device with the sensor attached broadcasts a notification, which other devices may be configured to rebroadcast or not, produce audible notification or not. The benefit of mesh in this implementation is that if motion is detected, the notification can be passed along many hops and over a large distance, without any server/master. Having said that, I'm not very familiar with zigbee, so I don't know what differences there are.

It depends on many factors. You don't necessarily need perfect line of sight. The signals can penetrate some barriers, and if you use bidirectional amps, you can penetrate more. Since the devices do "smart" meshing, which involves path finding, if you have devices positioned in such a way that they can find paths around obstacles, they will do so automatically.

It depends on how much you trust asymmetric encryption. The security relies on asymmetric encryption, whereby the private keys are randomly generated on each device and never leave the device.

The video here is a little dated as well. When you send message via this protocol, it's broken into no less than 3 packets, encrypted, and the packets are striped across at least 3 different frequencies. The frequency chosen for each packet is based on time+public/private key encryption as well, so it's unpredictable to all but the 2 devices involved in exchanging the packets. All happens in less than a second usually, but for the security to be compromised, many frequencies would need to be recorded constantly and the public/private key encryption would also have to be compromised. I do agree, there is no perfect security though.

@@x81reaper that is a good idea, the wisblock platform supports fram, which is much better than SD cards. I will try to fit it in if I can make the time

@@mr.medicineman Midwest , but not too far off. You can email me with ideas, the contact page on the site goes directly to me. chatters.io/contact

@@KimSevern if you have a map app (say, on your phone) or mapping device that understands geo QR codes, scanning that QR code will show the node's location on a map.

There are certain circumstances where cloud is useful. If you have Internet available intermittently or satellite based internet, it just adds another option for messages to go any distance, while still maintaining the privacy and protections. It's totally an optional thing, and cloud/internet is not necessary or required for ChatterBox to work. There are certain distances you're just not going to get using meshing/LoRa alone, and for people who need that as an option, it's there.

There are parts of the world where some days internet/cell is available and some days it's not. If you think that could ever be a possibility, that would be one scenario where this could be useful.

@@mattcalhoun61at an additional monthly cost. How is this more beneficial than MQTT? Already paid $70+ for 3 licenses and. Now cloud is a monthly charge? The level of adoption isn’t there yet. The UI is shiny but it’s a walled garden.

@RandyAllman I wouldn't say it's more beneficial than mqtt, almost the same thing, this just was designed to require zero config for the user. Either way, whoever hosts a service (mqtt or otherwise), someone has to pay for the bandwidth and resources. That's the reason for the monthly fee if someone wants a cloud bridge.

@RandyAllman some people would actually prefer a walled garden, depending on why they're using a system like this , so cloud is disabled by default

@@MegaDroste do you get hung waiting on gnss, mount/decrypt, or are you not getting a screen at all?

If it's displaying mounting/decrypting while it's hung, I would try a different SD card. From what you're saying, I guess when it's hung it's still displaying "Acquiring GPS". I would do the following: 1) Reflash with the latest firmware, which I just uploaded today 11/23 2) After the flash is complete, power off the lilygo and disconnect it from your PC 3) make sure you have a somewhat decent view of the sky, power it on, and leave it ..it can take a minute or two to initially get that signal. What it's doing is trying to pull time/date from gnss. Once it's got that, it should be good to go. Next time it powers off, it does need to get time again, but if you have any other onboarded devices already up and running, you can touch the 'refresh' button on the startup screen and it will pull a timestamp from the other booted device, rather than gps. If you still can't get that going, I would give the US version a try, it's possible there is a difference I'm not aware of related to GPS acquisition between the two, but I would be surprised about that.

@@ericlessard5021 I wouldn't call either one better, they have different goals and strengths. You can find a list of some of the differences here: www.offgridcomms.club/help/chatterbox-vs-meshtastic/

well, it's a good question I get so often, i decided to write a quick article about it this morning. I hate to call it "VS" because they're not really in opposition, just different and have different goals/strengths: www.offgridcomms.club/help/chatterbox-vs-meshtastic/

@@yangzheng3214 I would like to, but currently the protocol is based on ASCII and I need to understand differences between Chinese language encodings and ASCII. I have not yet had the time to research that.

@@mattcalhoun61 Awesome, I'm glad you put this into your project list, this will definitely be a great idea, as long as it supports sending messages in Chinese, I'm sure it'll bring in a lot of users, hopefully this will come to fruition soon, I'm planning on purchasing a couple of licenses to start with and keep an eye on the project's progress, good luck with the project!

You definitely can use the T-Deck+ and T-Deck Supreme devices you already have, but you have to flash the ChatterBox firmware over top of what's already on your devices (pretty easy). Because of the security model of ChatterBox, it's currently not possible to communicate with meshtastic devices, but I have had several requests to allow ChatterBox devices to leverage meshtastic nodes as repeaters. That is certainly possible, but I've not implemented it just yet, as I'm not sure the reception would be too warm! lol

I'm not a meshastic expert, so can't give you a comprehensive answer, but ChatterBox is designed to be super easy to use with minimal setup. No phone/app/bluetooth/etc. Everything is digitally signed and all messages are asymmetrically encrypted. Devices remain aware of connectivity and location of every other device in your cluster, even those out of range...provided they are within range of SOME device on the cluster. GPS/Glonass/BeiDou location is shared (if you enable it) ongoing and via encrypted mesh communication. Every device in the cluster participates in a distributed/decentralized "mesh cache", where message packets are trickled out from the sender to recipient using shortest available paths, not just parroted/blasted out. Asymmetric means other devices that assist in delivery cannot decrypt the message. ChatterBox was designed specifically for NON-PHONE touchscreen devices, not ported to devices like that as an afterthought. If you look at the latest demo (published to youtube a few minutes ago), i think the benefit of that is evident. You can convert a ChatterBox node to a remote on/off switch pretty easily, using some instructions at www.offgridcomms.club, so it's definitely not just a texting/location sharing system. There is much more in the pipeline.

www.offgridcomms.club

Also, check some of the other videos on my channel, there is quite a bit there. DIY builds, technical info, and user guides are on the link i pasted in the previous comment. I'll be adding a lot more to that site in the next few weeks.

I think the message could be made audible, but I need to add that to the firmware, others have requested the same. For selected, that's a good suggestion, i will keep in mind when looking at adding tone. The screen lock timeout can be changed by going into settings (gear icon), Device, "Screen Timeout". If you touch the edit/pencil button there, it should prompt you with some options.

If you hadn't seen already, the screen should flash if you receive a new message, and continue flashing every few seconds until you look at the message.

@@mattcalhoun61 Thank you. I've found the setting for the timeout period, but I couldn't find a way to change it. I've tried using the edit button, but nothing happens.

@@mattcalhoun61 I've understood it's how I get notified and is neat. Would be feature complete if there's an option to switch from flash to chime at will imo.

​@@musp3r Double-checked and obviously, as you already know, you're right. This setting was accidentally disabled some time in the past few builds. It will get re-enabled with the next build (likely within a week).

@@JustinOther did you see this page? www.offgridcomms.club/help/formatting-sd-card/

That means there's something about the SD card or its format that the firmware doesn't like. The page I pasted has some suggestions, and I'll add more/narrow that down, as users give me more info.

@@mattcalhoun61 Ok, I'll try reformatting the SD card and reflashing chatterbox. Thank you!

@JustinOther no need to re flash, as long as you already got v1.0.3. the internal flash holds absolutely no data, it's all on SD

@@dadscanplay2 yeah, the firmware was just updated yesterday and someone else reported the same issue, eventually got through it, but I'm checking it out. It will be related to the SD partition type probably. What OS are you using to format the SD?

@@mattcalhoun61 thank you for prompt response, I'm using Win11

@@dadscanplay2 thanks, checking into it. Hope to have a clear solution today

@ can’t wait.

​@@dadscanplay2 In case it's brand/model related, the exact SD cards I'm using are: amzn.to/40tGEt2 I was able to run with the above sd card, formatted/partitioned from windows 11 just now, using both the us and export versions of the firmware. I used a free tool called "Minitool Partition Wizard" to DELETE the existing SD card's partition and create a new one, using the settings you can see at this screenshot: www.offgridcomms.club/firmware/images/minitool_partition.png If you give that a try, can you let me know if it works (or doesn't). Whatever the solution, I will definitely update the website with better instructions.

It is possible. Are you using T-deck Plus or the standard T-Deck?

@@mattcalhoun61 T-Deck Plus

T-Deck Plus

Did you use the US or international firmware version?

@ Sorry for the late reply. I used the US firmware.

@@RandyAllman Just try another brand randomly. I've switched few, formatted with suggested SD format tool on windows or manually in linux and got it working.

@@musp3rI tried 2 diff brands but I’ll keep trying. Chatterbox is better suited for the t-deck than meshtastic anyway. I have a t114 v2 coming that I want to use as a node as well.

@@RandyAllman I've switched between 3 different brands. 2 brands worked one didn't. The one that didn't work is brand new 32GB. I've used other generic brands I've had lying around of 4GB and 16GB capacity.

You have to pay for a licence for the software, where as meshtastic is free! and open source!

@@marshmellow377 Uhm, that's exactly what i said?! It's sounds exactly the same, just that it is closed source (or for you: not open source) and expensive (or for you: not free).

@ I was agreeing with you buddy! 😂

It is not the same thing, here are some differences: www.offgridcomms.club/help/chatterbox-vs-meshtastic/ If you watch a short demo of how it works on T-Deck plus, I think the differences are apparent as well: ua-cam.com/video/S2dcxlq9oyQ/v-deo.html

@@RonnieTucker1 it can work if you have (or add) compatible GPS. It is similar in that other ChatterBox nodes/T-Decks that are paired will need to be within mesh proximity (intermittent is ok, as messages and packets are cached as needed). www.offgridcomms.club/help/t-deck-assembly/

@@c.m.d2651 these are text-only, so no calling. Also , they are for mesh-based off-grid communication that does not use internet or centralized grid/services, so you will not be able to communicate long distances with these

@@dontimberman5493 yes, they can show distance and direction from nodes, and also from each other (assuming the other party has location enabled). Also they show your heading/speed, and other parties ' last known heading/speed, again.. assuming other party has location sharing turned on

@@dontimberman5493 I'm getting some inventory here within the next week or so and will be ready to ship some around Halloween. It's looking like the entire batch will sell pretty much instantly, so I'm working on making it available in other ways as well .

@@mattcalhoun61 not a bad problem to have.

omg...lol. not sure how I missed that, thanks!

Hey, those are great questions. I've been developing all sorts of software since I was in high school in the 1990s, but you do NOT need that much experience to start building impressive things and learning/prototyping in whatever direction you want to go. If you are interested in off-grid comms, amateur radio might be a good place to start. The areas you could look into from there are really endless. hamradioprep.com/ is a great resource to start for that. If you are more interested in building with electronics and firmware, Arduino (www.arduino.cc/) and Adafruit (www.adafruit.com/) are great places to start. There is a learning curve, and it gets steeper the more you want to do, but is very rewarding with every new thing you learn.