Ok so this is gonna be a short one - Where would you use meshtastic?

Anywhere. It's an off-grid, license-free, encrypted system. If you have more than one node, you're good to go.

You want to dive a little deeper? Ok, let’s go.

Let’s consider a group of people who use radios professionally in off-grid environments all the time: the US Government. From natural disasters to war zones, the US Government has been solving the comms problem for a century. While comms have changed a whole lot over the years - the issue of logistics has been a persistent one - “how do you get your message where it’s supposed to go?”

This is a big problem when it comes to using a radio because various radios come with various tradeoffs. Smaller radios are light and able to be carried by anyone, but often lack the range or power to reach over a few miles in dense terrain. HF radios usually have the range, but are significantly more cumbersome, power-hungry, and are low-bandwith, Satellite communications need clear skies above to work best, and in many cases these radios are not able to work on the same frequencies as the other radios.

What this means is that on top of the actual radios the people doing the work have on them, there is usually significant infrastructure around them to make sure all these radios can work. FEMA will deploy vehicle-mounted cell towers to disaster zones to help re-establish comms. The Military will fly planes, move satellites and heaven and earth to make sure that comms are reliable. What if you can’t afford a private military and space force to establish a network for you?

Well, that’s where Meshtastic comes in.

Let’s say you are in an area that’s been hit by a natural disaster - cell towers have been knocked offline, and you need to reach your friends on the other side of town, what do you do? Unlike FEMA, you can’t exactly deploy your own cell towers… or can you?

With Meshtastic, you can. Pocket-sized nodes are available for under $100, and dedicated repeaters can be found on Etsy for a few hundred dollars. For less than $500, you can set up your own repeater and have enough radios for you and your family to stay in touch over several miles. Other Meshtastic devices in the area will act as repeaters, extending your range.

All these devices use the same Meshtastic protocol, so you don’t have to worry about networking multiple types of radios, federal licensing, or switching frequencies. It just works.

So where can you use Meshtastic? Anywhere.

You can toss a solar-powered repeater on top of your roof and never have to worry about maintaining it. You can keep a repeater with a large battery and antenna in your car to deploy for weeks. And you can keep a pocket-sized one that lasts for days on your person, stick one in your wife’s purse or your kid’s backpack. The possibilities are endless.

I told ya this would be a short one.

We also have some good news: as of this post, we have LillyGo T-Echos back in stock. If you haven’t given meshtastic a try yet, there isn’t an easier way to dive in.