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We're using Meshtastic quite extensively for communication on our boat. Each crew member carries a mobile waterproof node (Seeed T1000e), the boat itself has a

by bergie 10mo ago

We're using Meshtastic quite extensively for communication on our boat. Each crew member carries a mobile waterproof node (Seeed T1000e), the boat itself has a node, and we also have a Meshtastic tracker for the dinghy. We often sail in places where there's no communication infrastructure, or it is prohibitively expensive. With Meshtastic we can talk when somebody goes ashore, and the boat can send telemetry and alerts to the remote crew. Some of our buddy boats also have Meshtastic on board so we can text chat with them instead of using VHF. Here's a story describing this: https://blog.noforeignland.com/off-grid-boat-communications-with-meshtastic/ https://blog.noforeignland.com/off-grid-boat-communications-...

Zenst 10mo ago
The only real problem I foresee with this use(fantastic use case btw) is if you travel across regions, does the kit currently get automatically switched to correct frequencies and power limits?
- bergie 10mo ago
  No, you need to switch the region manually. Not a big deal to do for a couple of nodes. The trickier part is to figure out the correct preset for more exotic locations. I've had to ask a couple of times from the local Meshtastic community group.
  - jonhohle 10mo ago
    There’s no reason this can’t be done in software though via GPS, right?
    - wtallis 10mo ago
      Many (if not most) Meshtastic devices don't have a GPS receiver of their own, and also may not be paired with a phone app to supply location. So at least some devices would need to sniff GPS coordinates from traffic on the wrong band in order to know it's time to switch to the new band appropriate for the new location. Some amount of automatic reconfiguration could probably be made to work, but there would be serious limitations on how many use cases it could handle.
      - godelski 10mo ago
        I think the way to do it would be that you have GPS run a update script to sync the devices. Surely the boat has a GPS, right? Or there's a GPS somewhere in the system. So to refine the gp's question: surely there's a way to push an update or sync with a script that can do this based on GPS coordinates, right? I would think a syncing mechanism would be a big help anyways since regardless of the reliability of the GPS script you're still going to be doing this, right?
        Zenst 10mo ago
        I agree, need central control and the boat the obvious choice as would need to send out to all nodes to switch and make sure all have received, so would want any switching done with a delay (say in 5 minutes switch to region XYZ), so the mesh does its magic to get the message out.
    - bergie 10mo ago
      I think the primary problem is that the polygons for regions would take quite a bit of space in the limited microcontroller. Though bigger reason likely is that very few people actually travel between different regions
ProllyInfamous 10mo ago
This is really cool; it's the merchant marine equivalent of the flight park near me which uses meshtastic for glider tracking/comms (secondary). Lots of LoRa stations nearby.

by bergie 10mo ago

Zenst 10mo ago

The only real problem I foresee with this use(fantastic use case btw) is if you travel across regions, does the kit currently get automatically switched to correct frequencies and power limits?

bergie 10mo ago
No, you need to switch the region manually. Not a big deal to do for a couple of nodes. The trickier part is to figure out the correct preset for more exotic locations. I've had to ask a couple of times from the local Meshtastic community group.
- jonhohle 10mo ago
  There’s no reason this can’t be done in software though via GPS, right?
  - wtallis 10mo ago
    Many (if not most) Meshtastic devices don't have a GPS receiver of their own, and also may not be paired with a phone app to supply location. So at least some devices would need to sniff GPS coordinates from traffic on the wrong band in order to know it's time to switch to the new band appropriate for the new location. Some amount of automatic reconfiguration could probably be made to work, but there would be serious limitations on how many use cases it could handle.
    - godelski 10mo ago
      I think the way to do it would be that you have GPS run a update script to sync the devices. Surely the boat has a GPS, right? Or there's a GPS somewhere in the system. So to refine the gp's question: surely there's a way to push an update or sync with a script that can do this based on GPS coordinates, right? I would think a syncing mechanism would be a big help anyways since regardless of the reliability of the GPS script you're still going to be doing this, right?
      - Zenst 10mo ago
        I agree, need central control and the boat the obvious choice as would need to send out to all nodes to switch and make sure all have received, so would want any switching done with a delay (say in 5 minutes switch to region XYZ), so the mesh does its magic to get the message out.
  - bergie 10mo ago
    I think the primary problem is that the polygons for regions would take quite a bit of space in the limited microcontroller. Though bigger reason likely is that very few people actually travel between different regions

ProllyInfamous 10mo ago

This is really cool; it's the merchant marine equivalent of the flight park near me which uses meshtastic for glider tracking/comms (secondary). Lots of LoRa stations nearby.