Hi Guys, anyone in the know: This is becoming a real thing, and the opportunity for this LoRa technology to be implemented in places where multiple rescues are conducted cant be overstated as a great thing
A bit of googling/youtubing for Haltec LoRa Meshtastic and youll get the idea
Basically these are low cost electronic small radio units for short messages in off grid situations. the messaging is free and requires no mobile phone reception of satellites of subscriptions
The idea is that you type a message with your phone - bluetooth it to the LoRa device which then sends out a signal to other devices to get your signal to one individual or to a network of whoever is listening: they also transmit your location.
The units can be brought quite cheaply, through AliExpress. and even built.
Having a few scattered around in the hills solar powered would create a network of these that communicate with each other and relay your message onwards.
In the case of Table mountain it would be very easy to implement and to rent out the devices to hikers with WCSR contact number on the back.
These could cut down the time to report incidents and locate lost individuals significantly, so many other areas where they’d be useful. and best of all they’re an open network, so the more out there relaying the messages the more people will be connected to where they want to be connected to. And its all subscription free.
As a neighbourhood watch security opportunity its huge. and again free after purchase.
It’s a great technology and interesting to watch how it develops, but a big issue is ICASA. 1% duty cycle in that range which limits things quite a bit.
The line of site is also very important, without it, it has almost no transmission range.
Doesnt make sense to rent this to anyone. Doesn’t work with phone numbers put the challenging cycle of teaching someone how to use it and bonding it to their phone, still with no guarantee that it will work.
So you install an app that can interperit the signal and I think the the UI could use some polishing, but its all open source (so changes are easily made).
I defenitely think that a place with high traffic levels like Table mountain could be well suited to this type of network. my concerns would be theft, I’ve seen streetlights and cameras being stolen for the solar pannels.
That being said on something like a trail-run race or mountainbiking route, i think this could be a good way to help improve communication between stations.
Story time: I was running the whale trail last year, and on my way during the seccond 15km stretch one of the entrants twisted their ankle and could not move further. I ended up grabbing their gps location and once I got to the waterstation I gave the details to the medics who then had to start moving back along the trail to find them. Having a means to send a message via the network along the trail would have made a massive difference and the kit requirements are light enough that I think on trail it could be a game changer.
Meshtastic has moved on quite a bit with lillygo offering a stand alone device that doesn’t need a mobile phone.
Rak wireless offering a clip on range of plug and play accessories. It still think that for popular trails
Otter Whsle Fish this could be a game changer
No one in my village has one- so I’ve not had much success - left it in the roof as a repeater for now.
I did take it into town the other day and saw some activity but no responses here.
I have joined a radio club (two villages over) and am trying to get them excited about it to have friends to communicate with.
Also want to put mine into a high altitude balloon and use it for repeating from up to 30,000 ft and then hopefully tracking for retrieval. Not figured out the sensors yet - but this halter isn’t the way I’d go so need to buy a different one.
Meant to also mention that the technology at the moment is kind of raw and clumsy and being restricted to 80 nodes is a bit “experimental” at this stage but it feels like we’re on a communication springboard.
At this stage the biggest holdup is the FREE aspect - theoretically this could replace cellular text communication but as there’s no unlimited income commercial aspect the development pace us slow.
Personally I think the possibilities are endless in a connected environment and I love the idea of a handful of solar powered repeaters on peak’s of a hiking trail and having groups each “rent” one of the Lilkygo T Deck.
Fish River Canyon as a case in point would be very easy to establish a network of say 10 solar powered repeaters (even feeding temperature info) covering the whole trail
Then 100 Lillygo Tdecks covering 12 groups of hikers for 7 days (plus NWS warden and spares) capital expenditure under US $8000 rented out at US$20 per group assume 10 groups a day it would pay for itself in under two month’s
For the record I’ve experienced how easy it is to track down a solo hiker in the Canyon - drive down to barbell pools and have the video coming out this was the fifth place we’d looked for the hiker
I think maybe comment again once you have used the service. I’m based in Cape Town and it’s slow and unreliable. The range is far lower than what you are thinking as everything needs physical line of site. It is an experiment for preppers who think the cellular networks are one day going to turn off.
Satellite communicators exist. Garmin InReach and others are great and they connect you to a real response team. Modern iPhone’s already support satellite comms in many countries. Android 15 supports the same. In 2-3 years it will be commonplace worldwide on multiple phones.
Meshtastic is a solution that’s looking for a problem.