@@BobBob-il2ku its available now. sadly the features are not the same on Android. i am currently waiting for Telemetry data to be available for backup and things. its on IOS but not on Android.
Can we get a whole series of videos or playlists of all communications stuff? I think you guys could tackle a beginner's guide to tactical communications for multiple situations very well.
@@ThinLineDefenseCo I believe you guys should start with just budget radios and what the average civilian should have them and could benefit from them. From there you could work your way up to how to run duel radios in a team setting, how to secure your radios (potentially), how to make it so that your radios can go long distance, etc. That was a few of my ideas.
I think this is my favorite video that you’ve done. You did a great job of laying out the weaknesses of traditional comms and the strengths of this system. Everywhere I’ve seen information on this stuff before has always come from radio guys either unaware of, or trying desperately not to show, the defensive applications of the technology. I also really appreciate that you kept it to an overview with links to more detailed information included. And I really appreciate it I wanna get bogged down with more info than I can digest, but I also don’t have to go hunting for relevant information if I want more. (And I definitely want more) I’m very much looking forward to getting and playing around with these. I wonder if the cases could be redesigned with a waterproof seal. Like a gasket with some screws to replace the battery when necessary. Maybe hardwire a solar charger in as well so you can set it and forget it.
We've played with them a bit, and they're pretty slick for a certain level and setting. As mentioned they require that cover of other devices being in operation otherwise they're still subject to RDF( in Ukraine they're hitting some emissions in under 60 seconds ua-cam.com/video/UZXzMUxfR6c/v-deo.html ) . You can still play the same tricks(directional, terrain masking, etc) but aerial surveillance can nullify a lot of that. One of the better options we've found for short term nodes is a Heltec Lora module ,AA to mini battery pack, sma extension , a 16 oz nalgene, and a 915dipole. Just drill a hole dead center of the lid for the antenna extension to mount to. Also we've had limited functionality with ATAK , basically position reporting within a functioning ATAK setup. Which can be done in some meshtastic versions without ATAK.
S2 Underground is the devil!! lol. I've been obsessed with ATAK and Meshtastic since I watched their video! Great video explaining the capabilities of a mesh network!! And thank you for posting the upgraded antenna link. Is it possible for you to post a link to the cases you use for your nodes? Or point me in the right direction? I don't have a 3-d printer, so i would prefer to buy them, or download the file to have a friend print them for me. Thanks again for the content!! New sub.
I was in Electronic warfare in the Air Force. This video is fantastic. Also yes blue tooth is insecure but the transmit distance is LOS and also very small so if you’re close enough to intercept the signal then I am close enough to shoot you. So that isn’t really an issue. The real problem with that is that the phone is giving out your location at all times if the cell network is enabled.
@@iamnothere454 There is no way to remove connection from a phone due to the backdoor access. Even when you turn off your phone it still is actually collecting data to transmit when you turn it back on.
People talking about fox hunting and battlefield control.... I just want to be able to text my SO to locate them when we're in a supermarket built like a friggin' faraday cage. Or contact loved ones in an emergency during an outage.
@@ThinLineDefenseCo awesome 😎 every time there’s a hurricane or large natural disaster, I wonder why LoRa and the like aren’t more commonly used and talked about. Amazon’s “sidewalk” network is a sketchy and probably not trustworthy implementation of something that could be used for good. And even with all their money, it’s sitting basically unused. It’d be nice if they handed it over to the open source community, but I’m afraid monkeys will fly out butts before that happens 😆
@@ThinLineDefenseCo The Technician licence gives you access to a whole myriad of amateur radio bands in the VHF, UHF and microwave bands in 30 MHz and up. It also comes with limited HF privileges. The General and Extra licences add further privileges.
Awesome video! We've designed a open sourced tactical enclosure for the T-beam that you might be interested called the RTE-1, videos are in our channel. It's gotten a lot of great feedback from the meshtatsic communtiy. Currently it is a bit tricky to assemble but we're working on a simpler version for the future!
Make sure to buy the batteries without the nipple on it, those with the nipple will be to big to fit in these boards. If you dont want to solder, you can buy these boards with the screen already on and most of the time it comes with Meshtastic already loaded on the board.
12:40 Even though a antenna has a mating SMA connector does not mean it will work on the same frequency. Make sure the antenna is resonant in the 902-928 MHz band
So glad this idea worked out so well. When I first saw it I thought that you guys could figure out a way to use it in a tactical situation. One note about the Bluetooth is that it normally only works within about 30 feet so you would likely be able to see anyone close enough to actually hack the Bluetooth part of the system
@@ThinLineDefenseCo True, but even then the data is encrypted and would need a way to un-encrypt it as the app on the phone handles that. So not sure what anyone could really gather from hacking the Bluetooth.
@@kalebfinlay ahhh yea agreed sorry I was talking more intercepting the Bluetooth of folks using Bluetooth PTTs. We were talking two different things lol
I'm just getting into Meshtastic, and it looks great.. but I've been a licensed ham for quite some time now and you don't know very much about ham radio, several mischaracterizations in this video.
Not sure if it has been mentioned but many of the video links in the description all link to the same video. Good Video. That being said i cant seem to find out more from the links
Also using the CLI you can configure the T-beams much simpler than than using a phone. Setting your repeaters up on wifi and not bluetooth is a protip.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, you also do *_NOT_* need a ham license to use these b/c it's already in a civi frequency - which also saves you from doxxing yourself in their publicly accessible database.
There is a reason 33cm is using of IoT. Low-range when you don't have LoS. They talk about miles, but that's if you don't have anything between the two antennas, including too much air. Additionally, this is only text and relies on having a working cellphone. Which is much easier to track. Which means when you're out and about, you have _two_ transmitters running constantly. All for the advantage of being able to text someone. Radios, you turn them off, you're dark. Or you remote the antenna and draw the Opfor into a trap. Not saying these things don't have a use. Just it's not to replace radios. Not even close. And are generally only useful in a set location. When the SHTF, most of those that want to continue breathing are going to be on the move. This isn't going to be just some natural disaster that you can wait for the cavalry on. Funny thing about jammers. They have to be loud and on all the time. With lots of power.
Yeah Lora cluster could be . Say osprey V22 reading 100 Lora mesh in a area each 1000 meters from each other created cluster found 15 T beam is not responding well during rescue operation they can analyze what is the ground effects during disaster.
So far I haven't seen anything on this because it can't handle that much data. Although recently I saw a company using device called edge x AI that allows for audio/video
@@MetaVizionsI've seen several SDR radios that allow coms that's pretty common actually. Some of the radios don't have the fancy displays with waterfalls but allow for multiple ham bands
One very important thing that your video missed: The modulation used between the nodes is LoRa - chirp spread spectrum. It's low power ande the have can operate below the noise level. Second, i the Meshtastic nodes in high places where they are in line of sight LOS of another node in the mesh. The tablet or phone only momentarily transmits to send a message.
Sorry. I may have fat-fingered while typing on my cellphone or something got lost something in translation to English. 1) The modulation used between the nodes is LoRa (chirp spread spectrum). It's low power and can operate below the noise level. 2) It's most useful to have Meshtastic nodes in high places so that they are in line of sight (LOS) of other nodes in the mesh. The tablet or phone only momentarily transmits to send a message.
Furthermore, I have a couple of Meshtastic nodes that connect via USB. They never transmit over Bluetooth or WiFi. You have to be a very skilled fox hunter to detect a LoRa signal because it's often below the noise floor.
The only problem i have with this kind of system and the integration into the ATAK app is that you have to enable Bluetooth. That's the only real downside. Give me the option to plug it in with a 3,5mm audio or usb-c and we're talking.
I have a question. Has anyone tried to take one of these boards and put it into a Thyrm CellVault 5M? The reason I ask it that it can hold multiple 18650 batteries to connect in a series and it’s a hard case that can attach to molle web gear.
What about screen reading tech on the phones themselves? Is there a way to eliminate everything except what's necessary to operate just meshtastic with ATAK
Great video! Cannot help but laugh a little. Man wears a baseball cap with a brim meant to keep the sun out of his eyes. Then proceeds to bend brim defeating its purpose, making him squint the entire duration of the video.
Meshtastic is cool, but the battery life drains in less than a day. It uses an 18650 battery which is huge for modern electronics and it still drains in less than a day with no use in standby mode. This needs to last at least a few days in standby to be useful.
Yes this is absolutely AWESOME 😊 Jamming+FoxHunt+Triangulation tho.... Dudes is 1000% wrong for the 3 above listed! If your inna concentrated area with dozens n dozens+ well then sure, it's definitely harder and probably not mucha problemo! That said however..if rural and or trying to expand a very large rural area n over long distances then it becomes a different story & problem. GREAT OLD concept that has many NEW evolving+exciting capabilities due to modern advances 🙌🙌👍👍😱😱
Ah yes, the classic '1000% wrong' argument. Thank you for that insightful contribution to the conversation. Maybe next time you can enlighten us with some actual evidence or reasoning to back up your claims, instead of just spouting off buzzwords and emojis like a middle schooler on Instagram also... chat gpt wrote that because I didn't feel like reading your response lol thanks for watching -Walsh
@@ThinLineDefenseCo I didn't know your name as I'm not familiar with your channel. Thanks for your reply Walsh. Besides this reply...What other kind of evidence would you like me to provide for you? The info in my original reply was actually from your video including the things you called buzzwords; all of it. Saying you were 1000% wrong on one area is me expressing that I disagree with you. Fox hunting, I said was harder in a well populated area- such a metro but also not a problem, it just has its own set of challenges(it's not a buzzword. It's part of your video starting @ 3:55 a word you use). I also stated it's a different situation for people who are rural & in the exact opposite situation "meaning definitely harder" or at least it should be if they're smart, which is true as they could have dozen & dozens of receivers+ spread between each 1 person in their group making it harder to located as they are spread over vast distance. I also made mentioned of how old this tech is, but how new tech is constantly being integrated to improve & how great this is. Lastly, what is wrong with using emoticons? As spectrum, it's a form of expression. Sorry if that offends you as it's not the attention. It's also my opinion of course that there's way better set-ups of your looking for something for truly off-grid. Doesn't cost thousands or even 1K, has encryption, digital, can reach across the globe if you wish/send sms/email/etc. Only my opinion of course.
I’ve always been fascinated with this stuff but last time I looked a few years ago it wasn’t quite there yet. Actually tried it on the mountain with a bunch of people and it didn’t work. Different brand though. Think it was GoMesh Pro or Tactical series.
Yea I won't disagree there. It's not in a totally perfect consumer ready state. lots of tinkering still needed. but it's neat to see what will hit the shelves in a few years time. gotenna does have a pretty good setup with this and they actually have a military level that ties into a ham radio. Those have been seeing field use for a bit now -Walsh
Bluetooth is getting more and more secure, and the range is 10 meters max (in that version), so is not a big deal (it was in the past). But of course that a jammer can wipe out the all city's meshtastic network easy
well i certainly wouldn't assume mesh networks are following the region specific bands at that point. Running redundancy on different bands would give you early warning
My concern about LoRA/Meshtastic is that the protocol is probably not that hard to jam. There's no spread-spectrum hiding and LEOs are going to find your ass and right quick.... But I like the idea...
I Have coded something similar to metastatic on the T-Beam. But then tried Metastatic. But Meshtastic will only repeat messages within it's own network. This is restrictive in the growth of popularity as it would be useful to have a message forwarded through any group. But the problem with that is the network would become flooded with repeated traffic. A mesh system would need to build a dynamic routing table to link the shortest mobile end to end repeater to the end nodes.Also adapt to lost or moving repeaters and also a capability to store data for out of range end points. This radio text messaging over an app from a phone via bluetooth to an esp32 with a (LORA) radio Low power long range radio transmitter which is still only basically line of site. So unless as suggested you hide solar powered versions on hill tops your mate won't be able to msg you in the next valley. All that said, nice to have a play with it as a radio ham myself . But it is not ready for communications as a viable group communication tool or invasion survival preppers quite yet.
I apologize if this is a redundant question, but does somebody sell the 3D printed cases at a reasonable price? (I don't have access to a printer) Thanks!
No your phone just needs to be one or powered.the bluetooth from the phone sends to meshtastic device and amplifies it.think old phones. I am wondering my self how far each can go.i am hoping 5 miles
I know you said the light sucks but does it suck tactically but would still be good for attics/crawl spaces. I don’t wanna risk my good lights in insulation but I still wanna see wtf I’m doin.
First off, I love the content here and I learn a ton. Thank you for doing all this work that we get to benefit from. Second, I have a question regarding jamming the MeshTastic network. As far as I understand it, on a repeater network, localized jamming of the transmit freq of the node within LOS of the jammer would work exactly as described in this video (I.e. it would just take that node out of the network). However, to my understanding, jamming the receive freq of the node would instead pass the interference on to the other nodes in the network just like on a bent pipe relay system. Of course, all of this is based on either a TDMA or CDMA system that is constantly receiving on one freq and transmitting on another on order to facilitate a constant flow of comms/data, which is what I'm most familiar with. Is there something I'm missing or unaware of that nullifies that concern? Again, not trying to do the standard YT commenter thing where they try to turn your block of provolone into Swiss by poking holes in it. I'm really just super curious about and fascinated by this stuff. Any light you could shed would be awesome.
If the node was jammed, it just couldn't transmit or receive. It if was compromised it would transmit and send crap to all the other nodes. With AES256, it's not going to get compromised (hacked) unless they had a computer running a brute force attack for like 10 years straight.
@@ThinLineDefenseCo thank you for the clarification. I have almost 0 knowledge of how encryption works, but I do know the basics of RF EMI so my interest was piqued lol. I can't wait to get my hands on a few of these...
1:40 Who says that HAM radio has to use repeaters? In fact, Meshtastic acts like a mesh of 868/915MHz repeaters that are connected to Bluetooth at the end points.
@@WA4OSH He has no idea what he is talking about. You don't have to use a repeater at all. I don't in many instances, and can communicate over 400 miles depending on weather.
@@mst3rmind879 I have used spread spectrum modulations to communicate with satellites I both GEO and LEO orbit. LoRa is one of many spread spread spectrum technologies. I have used complex modulations using rain scatter or mountain bounce over microwaves for hundreds of miles. I have heard of Idaho to Florida on 6 meters and moon bounce between continents. Ham radio is not FRS GMRS MURS or CB. And it's not kerchunking repeaters with a Baofeng.
I feel like I'm going to break my T-Beam if I force my 18650 battery in the socket. Is that normal? I mean, I REALLY need to force it in there. Almost need a vice or something.. Can't be right. Is it?
@@ThinLineDefenseCo I tested some "Flat Top" 18650 batteries. They fit perfectly in my T-Beam. Just like you might expect a battery to fit. I'm 100% confident that T-beams were designed for "Flat Top" 18650s.
while I hear you, the chipset is open to you and can be easily soldered on if you wanted to remove a particular module. You'd certainly notice a cell module calling home.... Be smarter than the paranoia lol -Walsh
This downplays jamming but doesn't address it. Airborne jamming by state level adversaries can cover entire cities, entire regions, even. Furthermore, "drop of water in an ocean" strategy for hiding doesn't work because it doesn't matter that a million little IOT devices use the same frequency if the power's out and they only thing remaining on those frequencies are the meshtastics with battery backup, and yanking the power is the first thing that happens.
Thanks for the kind words! This is a very cool use case!
Wow, thanks for stopping by and checking us out!
-Walsh
When is the IOS app getting released in the App Store?
@@BobBob-il2ku its available now. sadly the features are not the same on Android. i am currently waiting for Telemetry data to be available for backup and things. its on IOS but not on Android.
Somebody finally explained in Laymans terms, normal guy terms how this thing works. Thank you.🔥👍🏼
I'd just avoid most the comments in here. It's where angry 80 year old men seem to be drawn to.
-Walsh
Can we get a whole series of videos or playlists of all communications stuff? I think you guys could tackle a beginner's guide to tactical communications for multiple situations very well.
Gimme more info so I can hit the mark. Like where would you want to start?
@@ThinLineDefenseCo I believe you guys should start with just budget radios and what the average civilian should have them and could benefit from them. From there you could work your way up to how to run duel radios in a team setting, how to secure your radios (potentially), how to make it so that your radios can go long distance, etc. That was a few of my ideas.
I think this is my favorite video that you’ve done. You did a great job of laying out the weaknesses of traditional comms and the strengths of this system.
Everywhere I’ve seen information on this stuff before has always come from radio guys either unaware of, or trying desperately not to show, the defensive applications of the technology.
I also really appreciate that you kept it to an overview with links to more detailed information included. And I really appreciate it I wanna get bogged down with more info than I can digest, but I also don’t have to go hunting for relevant information if I want more. (And I definitely want more)
I’m very much looking forward to getting and playing around with these. I wonder if the cases could be redesigned with a waterproof seal. Like a gasket with some screws to replace the battery when necessary. Maybe hardwire a solar charger in as well so you can set it and forget it.
Check out RAKBox-B2 Enclosure with solar panel I can’t send links on UA-cam
WisBlock Meshtastic Starter Kit Goes inside the rakbox
Love how you shoutout s2 underground. Need more dudes sending people to other sources of information. Doesn’t always happen.
Those s2 guys have some awesome content!
We've played with them a bit, and they're pretty slick for a certain level and setting. As mentioned they require that cover of other devices being in operation otherwise they're still subject to RDF( in Ukraine they're hitting some emissions in under 60 seconds ua-cam.com/video/UZXzMUxfR6c/v-deo.html ) . You can still play the same tricks(directional, terrain masking, etc) but aerial surveillance can nullify a lot of that.
One of the better options we've found for short term nodes is a Heltec Lora module ,AA to mini battery pack, sma extension , a 16 oz nalgene, and a 915dipole. Just drill a hole dead center of the lid for the antenna extension to mount to.
Also we've had limited functionality with ATAK , basically position reporting within a functioning ATAK setup. Which can be done in some meshtastic versions without ATAK.
Can you link to how you run it on AA?
Why do you like the heltecs better?
Your using the wrong battery, you need to use the Flat Top version, good thing you did not break the battery holder. Good Job on the video, well done.
Just found your channel. We're making noise in the underground farming world. 🤘 great video
S2 Underground is the devil!! lol. I've been obsessed with ATAK and Meshtastic since I watched their video! Great video explaining the capabilities of a mesh network!! And thank you for posting the upgraded antenna link. Is it possible for you to post a link to the cases you use for your nodes? Or point me in the right direction? I don't have a 3-d printer, so i would prefer to buy them, or download the file to have a friend print them for me. Thanks again for the content!! New sub.
I'll try to add them in!
@@ThinLineDefenseCo thank you!
I was in Electronic warfare in the Air Force. This video is fantastic. Also yes blue tooth is insecure but the transmit distance is LOS and also very small so if you’re close enough to intercept the signal then I am close enough to shoot you. So that isn’t really an issue. The real problem with that is that the phone is giving out your location at all times if the cell network is enabled.
Excellent point - but that could be thwarted by removing the SIM card from the phone, correct? Bluetooth and other functions would be unaffected.
Would airplane mode do the same thing?
@@iamnothere454 There is no way to remove connection from a phone due to the backdoor access. Even when you turn off your phone it still is actually collecting data to transmit when you turn it back on.
The phone still pings the tower even without the sim. It's how u are still able to contact emergency services without the sim.
There are new stand-alone devices that once set up, I don't believe need a cell phone or BT, like the T deck.
Algorithm blessing me today
People talking about fox hunting and battlefield control.... I just want to be able to text my SO to locate them when we're in a supermarket built like a friggin' faraday cage. Or contact loved ones in an emergency during an outage.
haha well just showing some examples but yours would be a good application also
-Walsh
@@ThinLineDefenseCo awesome 😎 every time there’s a hurricane or large natural disaster, I wonder why LoRa and the like aren’t more commonly used and talked about.
Amazon’s “sidewalk” network is a sketchy and probably not trustworthy implementation of something that could be used for good. And even with all their money, it’s sitting basically unused. It’d be nice if they handed it over to the open source community, but I’m afraid monkeys will fly out butts before that happens 😆
This video earned you a subscriber! Outstanding run down
3:30 There are many ham bands. In fact here in the US mashtastic shares the same frequencies as the 902-928MHz ham band.
Oh very interesting! I wasn't even familiar with this 33 cm section of wavelengths
Learn something new all the time!. Thanks for sharing.
-Walsh
@@ThinLineDefenseCo The Technician licence gives you access to a whole myriad of amateur radio bands in the VHF, UHF and microwave bands in 30 MHz and up. It also comes with limited HF privileges. The General and Extra licences add further privileges.
Awesome video! We've designed a open sourced tactical enclosure for the T-beam that you might be interested called the RTE-1, videos are in our channel. It's gotten a lot of great feedback from the meshtatsic communtiy. Currently it is a bit tricky to assemble but we're working on a simpler version for the future!
Make sure to buy the batteries without the nipple on it, those with the nipple will be to big to fit in these boards.
If you dont want to solder, you can buy these boards with the screen already on and most of the time it comes with Meshtastic already loaded on the board.
12:40 Even though a antenna has a mating SMA connector does not mean it will work on the same frequency. Make sure the antenna is resonant in the 902-928 MHz band
very true!
I ordered one of these thing the last time you kinda talked about and i can wait for it to come in and try it out
Have you used them yet?
@@BobBob-il2ku just between myself and my wife right now setting some more up for the group im part of
Great video! And you are a natural in front of the camera... Funny shit. *subscribed*
hah well thanks and welcome!
-Walsh
So glad this idea worked out so well. When I first saw it I thought that you guys could figure out a way to use it in a tactical situation.
One note about the Bluetooth is that it normally only works within about 30 feet so you would likely be able to see anyone close enough to actually hack the Bluetooth part of the system
I'd be more worried about setting devices that just packet sniff and listen in if you're in range of them.
@@ThinLineDefenseCo True, but even then the data is encrypted and would need a way to un-encrypt it as the app on the phone handles that. So not sure what anyone could really gather from hacking the Bluetooth.
@@kalebfinlay ahhh yea agreed sorry I was talking more intercepting the Bluetooth of folks using Bluetooth PTTs. We were talking two different things lol
T-beam for the A-team. Yay!
I'm just getting into Meshtastic, and it looks great.. but I've been a licensed ham for quite some time now and you don't know very much about ham radio, several mischaracterizations in this video.
Not sure if it has been mentioned but many of the video links in the description all link to the same video. Good Video. That being said i cant seem to find out more from the links
Amazing video!
If Meshtastic can ever add TTS, or nonsyncronous voice communication it will blow gotenna, and all the other competitors out of the water.
Very cool and informative vid.
Also using the CLI you can configure the T-beams much simpler than than using a phone. Setting your repeaters up on wifi and not bluetooth is a protip.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, you also do *_NOT_* need a ham license to use these b/c it's already in a civi frequency - which also saves you from doxxing yourself in their publicly accessible database.
also correct!
Awesome video brother. Would be a great piece of kit
Weather proofing ideas? Sikaflex maybe?
RF signals can be jammed regardless of the modulated information on the carrier frequency being encrypted or not.
yes. Another random fact of the day is that cats enjoy food.
-Walsh
First Time here, love it.
There is a reason 33cm is using of IoT. Low-range when you don't have LoS. They talk about miles, but that's if you don't have anything between the two antennas, including too much air. Additionally, this is only text and relies on having a working cellphone. Which is much easier to track. Which means when you're out and about, you have _two_ transmitters running constantly. All for the advantage of being able to text someone. Radios, you turn them off, you're dark. Or you remote the antenna and draw the Opfor into a trap.
Not saying these things don't have a use. Just it's not to replace radios. Not even close. And are generally only useful in a set location. When the SHTF, most of those that want to continue breathing are going to be on the move. This isn't going to be just some natural disaster that you can wait for the cavalry on.
Funny thing about jammers. They have to be loud and on all the time. With lots of power.
You can pull the sim card and still connect to these devices...just fyi
Not to mention that you don't need a phone because some units have a standalone keypad
Yeah Lora cluster could be . Say osprey V22 reading 100 Lora mesh in a area each 1000 meters from each other created cluster found 15 T beam is not responding well during rescue operation they can analyze what is the ground effects during disaster.
Can this do voice over comms? That would be epic, to get able to plug one of these into a headset and talk real time.
My issue too. Finding an SDR handheld that allows for Voice TX.
So far I haven't seen anything on this because it can't handle that much data. Although recently I saw a company using device called edge x AI that allows for audio/video
@@MetaVizionsI've seen several SDR radios that allow coms that's pretty common actually. Some of the radios don't have the fancy displays with waterfalls but allow for multiple ham bands
@@MetaVizions FX 4CR radio is one example
Good stuff. Thanks for the post!
Great presentation!
Awesome video, much appreciated
One very important thing that your video missed: The modulation used between the nodes is LoRa - chirp spread spectrum. It's low power ande the have can operate below the noise level. Second, i the Meshtastic nodes in high places where they are in line of sight LOS of another node in the mesh. The tablet or phone only momentarily transmits to send a message.
Reread this please. You're missing a whole lot of words that would be useful in it making sense
Sorry. I may have fat-fingered while typing on my cellphone or something got lost something in translation to English. 1) The modulation used between the nodes is LoRa (chirp spread spectrum). It's low power and can operate below the noise level. 2) It's most useful to have Meshtastic nodes in high places so that they are in line of sight (LOS) of other nodes in the mesh. The tablet or phone only momentarily transmits to send a message.
Furthermore, I have a couple of Meshtastic nodes that connect via USB. They never transmit over Bluetooth or WiFi. You have to be a very skilled fox hunter to detect a LoRa signal because it's often below the noise floor.
I need to improve my soldering skills!
Wowza! I want to learn more!!
The only problem i have with this kind of system and the integration into the ATAK app is that you have to enable Bluetooth. That's the only real downside. Give me the option to plug it in with a 3,5mm audio or usb-c and we're talking.
The heltec lora 32 board can do that
Balloons + Meshtastic = Good Times
Sounds like a good way to make a extended network of them.
Release them from different points with solar cells from each operator at "tactical moments"
Scattered nodes on the move.
Good stuff!
I have a question. Has anyone tried to take one of these boards and put it into a Thyrm CellVault 5M? The reason I ask it that it can hold multiple 18650 batteries to connect in a series and it’s a hard case that can attach to molle web gear.
see i wihs it could do voice comms that would be cool
Is their any where that I can get these things ready to go out of the box with no soldering and no 3D printing?
you can find them yes. On Etsy and other sites. The price is usually around 100 bucks for one though which makes it kinda mehhh
What about screen reading tech on the phones themselves? Is there a way to eliminate everything except what's necessary to operate just meshtastic with ATAK
Noice! 🔥
Your doing a fine job to make it look easy….it’s not and the cost just continues to climb.
If someone steals one of your nodes they could listen in to your traffic, which is significant
I think you can out think this problem
-Walsh
Excellent
Great video! Cannot help but laugh a little. Man wears a baseball cap with a brim meant to keep the sun out of his eyes. Then proceeds to bend brim defeating its purpose, making him squint the entire duration of the video.
....while confusingly having the sun at his back....what is going on here!!??! The world must know.
-Walsh
Meshtastic is cool, but the battery life drains in less than a day. It uses an 18650 battery which is huge for modern electronics and it still drains in less than a day with no use in standby mode. This needs to last at least a few days in standby to be useful.
It's called solar
Yes this is absolutely AWESOME 😊
Jamming+FoxHunt+Triangulation tho.... Dudes is 1000% wrong for the 3 above listed! If your inna concentrated area with dozens n dozens+ well then sure, it's definitely harder and probably not mucha problemo! That said however..if rural and or trying to expand a very large rural area n over long distances then it becomes a different story & problem. GREAT OLD concept that has many NEW evolving+exciting capabilities due to modern advances 🙌🙌👍👍😱😱
Ah yes, the classic '1000% wrong' argument. Thank you for that insightful contribution to the conversation. Maybe next time you can enlighten us with some actual evidence or reasoning to back up your claims, instead of just spouting off buzzwords and emojis like a middle schooler on Instagram
also... chat gpt wrote that because I didn't feel like reading your response lol thanks for watching
-Walsh
@@ThinLineDefenseCo I didn't know your name as I'm not familiar with your channel. Thanks for your reply Walsh. Besides this reply...What other kind of evidence would you like me to provide for you? The info in my original reply was actually from your video including the things you called buzzwords; all of it. Saying you were 1000% wrong on one area is me expressing that I disagree with you. Fox hunting, I said was harder in a well populated area- such a metro but also not a problem, it just has its own set of challenges(it's not a buzzword. It's part of your video starting @ 3:55 a word you use). I also stated it's a different situation for people who are rural & in the exact opposite situation "meaning definitely harder" or at least it should be if they're smart, which is true as they could have dozen & dozens of receivers+ spread between each 1 person in their group making it harder to located as they are spread over vast distance. I also made mentioned of how old this tech is, but how new tech is constantly being integrated to improve & how great this is. Lastly, what is wrong with using emoticons? As spectrum, it's a form of expression. Sorry if that offends you as it's not the attention. It's also my opinion of course that there's way better set-ups of your looking for something for truly off-grid. Doesn't cost thousands or even 1K, has encryption, digital, can reach across the globe if you wish/send sms/email/etc. Only my opinion of course.
@@ThinLineDefenseCo what a jerk
I’ve always been fascinated with this stuff but last time I looked a few years ago it wasn’t quite there yet. Actually tried it on the mountain with a bunch of people and it didn’t work. Different brand though. Think it was GoMesh Pro or Tactical series.
Yea I won't disagree there. It's not in a totally perfect consumer ready state. lots of tinkering still needed. but it's neat to see what will hit the shelves in a few years time.
gotenna does have a pretty good setup with this and they actually have a military level that ties into a ham radio.
Those have been seeing field use for a bit now
-Walsh
Bluetooth is getting more and more secure, and the range is 10 meters max (in that version), so is not a big deal (it was in the past).
But of course that a jammer can wipe out the all city's meshtastic network easy
well i certainly wouldn't assume mesh networks are following the region specific bands at that point. Running redundancy on different bands would give you early warning
Meshtacticool
What's the most recent version I see lilygo has 1.2 will that work for me or no do I want 1.1
Verrrryyy interesting...
My concern about LoRA/Meshtastic is that the protocol is probably not that hard to jam. There's no spread-spectrum hiding and LEOs are going to find your ass and right quick.... But I like the idea...
What company was it that said that civilians shouldn’t use radios? I must’ve missed that one
don't worry... they don't save their live chats. It's a company we ridicule often.
"Ham radio guys are a bunch of yokels."
"Here are some links to these awesome, helpful videos by some ham radio guys."
"that actually know what they're talking about instead of writing 8 pages of old man nonsense"
I Have coded something similar to metastatic on the T-Beam. But then tried Metastatic. But Meshtastic will only repeat messages within it's own network. This is restrictive in the growth of popularity as it would be useful to have a message forwarded through any group. But the problem with that is the network would become flooded with repeated traffic. A mesh system would need to build a dynamic routing table to link the shortest mobile end to end repeater to the end nodes.Also adapt to lost or moving repeaters and also a capability to store data for out of range end points. This radio text messaging over an app from a phone via bluetooth to an esp32 with a (LORA) radio Low power long range radio transmitter which is still only basically line of site. So unless as suggested you hide solar powered versions on hill tops your mate won't be able to msg you in the next valley. All that said, nice to have a play with it as a radio ham myself . But it is not ready for communications as a viable group communication tool or invasion survival preppers quite yet.
I apologize if this is a redundant question, but does somebody sell the 3D printed cases at a reasonable price? (I don't have access to a printer) Thanks!
Nice! Where can I find the cases?
I think I pulled them off thingiverse. p80ralph cooked up a bunch for me
Świetny film. Czy możesz dać link do pliku .stl tej czarnej obudowy abym mogl wydrukowac na drukarce 3d?? Pozdrawiam
HOW DO WE GET YOUR 3D PRINTED CASE?
So how does this help in an emergency if you need a phone to send and receive sms on them? Does it require phone signal or internet if so?
No your phone just needs to be one or powered.the bluetooth from the phone sends to meshtastic device and amplifies it.think old phones.
I am wondering my self how far each can go.i am hoping 5 miles
The phone or tablet is only used to connect via Bluetooth to the Meshtastic board. No phone network or Internet is needed.
I know you said the light sucks but does it suck tactically but would still be good for attics/crawl spaces. I don’t wanna risk my good lights in insulation but I still wanna see wtf I’m doin.
how do they compatriot to go Pro snd are these radios encrypt
6:30 How do you know which nodes in the mesh are out? How do you know which nodes a message took?
Each node can show what other nodes are connected. If one goes offline, it'll go dark or it'll be like 15/16 nodes.
-Walsh
@@ThinLineDefenseCo So how do I do that with a Meshtastic node? I own a half of a dozen of them.
First off, I love the content here and I learn a ton. Thank you for doing all this work that we get to benefit from.
Second, I have a question regarding jamming the MeshTastic network. As far as I understand it, on a repeater network, localized jamming of the transmit freq of the node within LOS of the jammer would work exactly as described in this video (I.e. it would just take that node out of the network). However, to my understanding, jamming the receive freq of the node would instead pass the interference on to the other nodes in the network just like on a bent pipe relay system. Of course, all of this is based on either a TDMA or CDMA system that is constantly receiving on one freq and transmitting on another on order to facilitate a constant flow of comms/data, which is what I'm most familiar with. Is there something I'm missing or unaware of that nullifies that concern?
Again, not trying to do the standard YT commenter thing where they try to turn your block of provolone into Swiss by poking holes in it. I'm really just super curious about and fascinated by this stuff. Any light you could shed would be awesome.
If the node was jammed, it just couldn't transmit or receive. It if was compromised it would transmit and send crap to all the other nodes. With AES256, it's not going to get compromised (hacked) unless they had a computer running a brute force attack for like 10 years straight.
@@ThinLineDefenseCo thank you for the clarification. I have almost 0 knowledge of how encryption works, but I do know the basics of RF EMI so my interest was piqued lol. I can't wait to get my hands on a few of these...
Finally
Is there a way to do voice comm with meshtastic
I don't think so...it requires too much data. Don't quote me on that though!
-Walsh
1:40 Who says that HAM radio has to use repeaters? In fact, Meshtastic acts like a mesh of 868/915MHz repeaters that are connected to Bluetooth at the end points.
Ham is the technology of your Dad's Dad. It's time to move on.
@@ThinLineDefenseCo ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz You know nothing about HAM radio then.
@@WA4OSH He has no idea what he is talking about. You don't have to use a repeater at all. I don't in many instances, and can communicate over 400 miles depending on weather.
@@mst3rmind879 I have used spread spectrum modulations to communicate with satellites I both GEO and LEO orbit. LoRa is one of many spread spread spectrum technologies. I have used complex modulations using rain scatter or mountain bounce over microwaves for hundreds of miles. I have heard of Idaho to Florida on 6 meters and moon bounce between continents. Ham radio is not FRS GMRS MURS or CB. And it's not kerchunking repeaters with a Baofeng.
Can you drop a link for somewhere that it can actually be purchased? Unavailable from your Amazon link.
amzn.to/37X2VWK
I'll update the main post
Thank you!
What is the range of these things?
However, the maximum of hops is 7 so if you have too many nodes the message won't get very far
I'm having trouble getting mine up and running
Find help on the Discord group.
Is this all made in usa? How do we know that this is not just bait to set up networks for folks who we would prefer to nit have a network?
Some of it's made in US, some of it isn't. Like Ford. Ford has 8 manufacturing plants in the US...but they have 6 in China.
- Not Jason
I feel like I'm going to break my T-Beam if I force my 18650 battery in the socket. Is that normal? I mean, I REALLY need to force it in there. Almost need a vice or something.. Can't be right. Is it?
I definitely jammed mine in there... 100 had to commit like I was gonna break it
hope that helps lol
-Walsh
@@ThinLineDefenseCo yeah, I went all in, and got it in there. Still works. So, thanks..
@@ThinLineDefenseCo I tested some "Flat Top" 18650 batteries. They fit perfectly in my T-Beam. Just like you might expect a battery to fit. I'm 100% confident that T-beams were designed for "Flat Top" 18650s.
Has anyone incorporated something like a LILGO T-beam into a drone so the node could have a higher elevation and thus longer range?
so question, if you were running 900mzh radio like Motorola xpr series that run 900mhz would it work on this network?
I don't see how they would. I'm fairly certain it's the protocol and not the wavelengths
@@ThinLineDefenseCo how about on your cell phone will a push to talk app like Zello work?
ehhhh no. it would need a way to voice to data the transmission
Is there a chance would you be able to make some for us?
can you link me to the video here> 05:27 thx
All the links are to the same video
Is it safe to carry on your gear?
No...you'll probably develop multiple tumors and won't be able to reproduce...
Geez
- Not Jason
🥺
Thanks 👍
Anytime
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
They would not jam it, they would gather info from it.
it has aes 256 encryption and you'd likely pull the LED screen.
I think my comments assume you're actually trying
Ok
1nd!
You know, you can buy proper batteries and not have an included flashlight that you just throw away.
of this whole video, you keyed in on....batteries
@@ThinLineDefenseCo The whole video is about battery powered devices.
It's also a whole video about being outside but that conversation is also kinda dumb isn't it?
@@ThinLineDefenseCo No, it's not about being outside.
but it's about batteries? I'm not following
All I heard this entire video was node
7:15
I'm hesitant to rely on Chinese stuff, due to CCP backdoors. I wish someone in the US would build this stuff.
while I hear you, the chipset is open to you and can be easily soldered on if you wanted to remove a particular module. You'd certainly notice a cell module calling home....
Be smarter than the paranoia lol
-Walsh
242rd!
This downplays jamming but doesn't address it. Airborne jamming by state level adversaries can cover entire cities, entire regions, even. Furthermore, "drop of water in an ocean" strategy for hiding doesn't work because it doesn't matter that a million little IOT devices use the same frequency if the power's out and they only thing remaining on those frequencies are the meshtastics with battery backup, and yanking the power is the first thing that happens.
30 seconds in the video and I can tell you don’t know anything about amateur radio. Maybe don’t criticize things you know nothing about….
*looks at his HAM license* ok fuddster. I'm just proud you figured out how to work a computer.
I agree, this guy has no clue and is an idiot.
great video.. but the fake laugh affect is off-putting
huh huh huh huh
-Walsh
love you but your hands while talking at the start were so distracting i couldn't hear anything you said. lol. gg
hahaha sorry. otherwise I just stand there like I'm confused... there is no middle
@@ThinLineDefenseCo seriously though I didn’t know about those pouches made for it thanks!
ua-cam.com/video/bwAioN2mtsA/v-deo.html
Ewwww... tactical? WTFa civilians Nedd tactical BS besides Halloween or COSPLAY boys.
Thanks for the input Buzz. Weird but thanks lol