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A Mesh enthusiasts community in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA).
What is the CSRA Mesh?
What is the CSRA Mesh?
CSRA Mesh is a community created to bring together communication enthusiasts from around the CSRA for coordination and collaboration. Our members include makers, Amateur Radio operators, GMRS operators, preppers, and others who are experimenting with the Meshtastic, MeshCore, or other Mesh communication platforms.
What is a Mesh? To quote the Meshtastic website Meshtastic is, "An open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on affordable, low-power devices" (www.meshtastic.org). Using the LoRa protocol these inexpensive devices are able to talk to each other and pass messages to other nodes over moderate to long distances. Essentially, this allows you to send a text message several miles to another person without the need for internet, cell service, or other 3rd party infrastructure. MeshCore operates in the same general way. This makes these platforms ideal for simple communications in places that established communications fail. In light of recent events that impacted the CSRA (Hurricane Helene, cellular & internet failures) many of us have been exploring other, non-traditional means of communication, and these systems fill that niche nicely.
What are we doing?
What are we doing?
We are actively building out the "mesh". Ideally we want to be able to connect with and communicate across the mesh anywhere in the CSRA. As new nodes join they extend the overall reach of the mesh, allowing new areas to be connected together. Currently in Georgia we have nodes in Evans, Grovetown, and Augusta. In South Carolina we have nodes in North Augusta, Clearwater, and Aiken. More nodes are being added weekly as more people explore what Meshtastic has to offer.
Currently we have a two Mesh systems in the CSRA that are active and growing: Meshtastic and MeshCore. Both are great mesh systems that use the same base technology (LoRa) and mostly the same hardware.
You can assist the Mesh by purchasing your own node and then simply placing it in your home. Each node that is added will connect to any other node it can see and then rebroadcasts messages to extend the reach of the mesh.
What is a 'Node'
What is a 'Node'
A 'node' is what we call the LoRa device that is flashed with the Mesh system firmware of your choice that allows the app on our phone to send a text across the 'mesh'. Both the Meshtastic app and MeshCore app are downloadable for either iOS or Android. The app connects to the node via Bluetooth or WiFi and allows you to send and receive text messages. These nodes can be purchased pre-built or in kit form to build yourself. Low power units can be solar powered and some units come with a screen and keyboard similar to a blackberry to allow for use without a cell phone.
The node shown to the right is a home made node designed to run off of a small solar panel. This allows it to be placed on the rooftop of a building to extend the mesh without the need for power infrastructure. In the event of power or other infrastructure failure, the node will continue to work since it is not reliant on anything besides the sun. The small battery shown (about the size of two AA batteries) will run this node for more than two weeks when fully charged.
Want to join us?
Want to join us?
Interested in communications? Like to create things? Have questions? Click the link below to join our Discord server or Facebook Group!
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This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Meshtastic project.
We are an enthusiast community that is utilizing the Meshtastic communication platform.
For more information on Mestastic please see their website at www.meshtastic.org.
Questions?
Questions?
Join us on Discord or Facebook!
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