The Third Gathering

After an initial meeting January 22nd, folks interested in radio mesh networking gathered February 12th at VIFR’s Penny Farcy building. Fifteen islanders attended, with only partial overlap from the first meeting. The VashonMesh meeting was noted at a previous CERT meeting, accounting for some new faces.

Contact List

Radio & repeater names are often cryptic and may not include position information. It’s frustrating to not know one’s chat partner after a while! So we had an opt-in sign up sheet intended for limited distribution, so we can follow chats and questions with phone or email. Currently it has ~22 folks on it. Spencer has a vision for something more maintainable & detailed, with info to come.

Open Space Technology - Attempted, but waylaid

In a nod to Open Space Technology, folks were urged to post their key questions up on the board. Unfortunately none did initially! After a brief welcome and some prodding the following questions were posted. (I’ve added a few quick answers where easy.) As only a few were addressed during the rambling discussion that followed, we hope to address some at our next meeting, or in side discussions online.

Learning

• Mesh 101: Difference between MeshCore & Meshtastic (Addressed, but also see this nice discussion)
• Recommended entry-level gear (Spencer recommended SeeedStudio Wio Tracker L1 Pro, but flash with this Custom Firmware)
• Comparison with ham radio rules (Future topic, or see <ISM radio band - Wikipedia>)
• How to fix loose USB C port, so cord doesn’t fall out (bend the metal case just a tad!)

How to post/use channels/MeshCore app usage

• none submitted

Repeaters

• Improving Routing Problems
• What bands do repeaters use (Future topic, or see Radio Spectrum Characteristics — AREDN® Documentation)
• What all-in-one solutions (no kits!) are recommended for a repeater (SenseCAP Solar Node P1-Pro for Meshtastic)
• What bands, what repeater hardware (+1!, see above)
• How to use Advertisements & Message Buffers (Future topic)
• Where are high places, most suitable for repeaters? (Future topic, but also see this post and this one)

Software

• More Apps, like BBS (Bulletin Board Service/persisted messages), Distributed Rooms (Future topic)
• Has anyone used MQTT with MeshCore (Future topic)

EmComm (Emergency Communications)

• Why won’t MeshCore work for EmComm, what problems exist (Future topic)

Back off track

After a show of hands, it was apparently that less than half had devices, and a general introduction was needed. (Most who had devices were successfully able to post on the public channel at a minimum.)

John totally forgot to do introductions (sin #1), then didn’t get to the posted questions (sin #2), and didn’t even set up a future meeting (sin #3). Ack.

We then discussed how to communicate & if we had any formal organizational structure. John Galus encouraged us to continue using the local radio club groups.io email server, as that what it was for. Spencer advocated for the facile discussions possible with Discord. JohnC said we were basically an offshoot of W7VMI’s Auxiliary Communications Team, since we are serving as an alternative radio technology. He didn’t mention having no desire to set up another organization!

There was discussion then and later about ways we all can stay in touch. They are listed at our GetInvolved page.

JohnC did discuss a lot of what is currently on our home page:

• LoRa is the base technology
• LoraWan & The Things Network are major industry consortiums leveraging LoRa
• MeshCore (urban) and Meshtastic (wilderness) are different software, but both run on the same Arduino compatible hardware: ESP32 & Nordic chips
• Companion & all-in-one radios vs. repeaters & room server: basically just different software, though hardware specifications vary
• Various user interface layers (Mesh OS & Ripple & Community) sit on top of MeshCore

Given a healthy bunch of ~6 software folks, half those attending, there was then a lot of technical discussion that followed about repeaters, antennas, bots, and how to have custom software interact with the MeshCore devices - often by direct serial connection between the device & something smarter, whether a Raspberry Pi or laptop. It was clear many of us were learning!

We never had time to get into how to flash and which devices to buy, though SeeedStudio’s Tracker & Solar Repeater units were favored. See our radio page or MeshCore.org for info on that or reach out on W7VMI & ask for an elmer!

Some central discussion themes:

• MeshCore’s current software is not baked solid
• MeshCore’s inappropriateness for EmComm, given that the system will get overloaded, its just chat not audio like GRMS, public keys for “private channels” can get exposed. Others noted it was still a great option for public communications and just another tool for the bag, each with their own caveats.
• Desire to have repeater operators get together & focus on repeater issues (the same group could likely get together and discuss software issues!)
• Limits of text messaging - for EmComm(?)

End of my notes… (sin #4!)

Overall the meeting was fun, and there was a lot of great discussion as we all learn aspects of this new accessible technology.

A number of individuals continued in localized discussions about their different directions with MeshCore. It was fun to see a lot of strangers figuring out where others had common connections!

We still have to figure out future meetings…