Meshtastic

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A community to discuss Meshtastic (https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction)

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Channels other than LongFast? (self.meshtastic)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by avidamoeba to c/[email protected]

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I just started using this so I know very little.

From what I gather, there's a default channel called "LongFast" which every device has from the start. I can see some messages in "LongFast" where I am.

I can see I can create another channel and share it via link, QR, etc.

Do people make such channels and share them publicly, for say local or topical chat groups? E.g. "Canada", or "Meshtastic Support", "BurningTesla", or "Cats"? Is this a thing? Can it be a things?

When I check local groups info, I see links to online comms like Telegram (ew), Discord, Matrix, etc. I don't see Meshtastic channel links.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

The largest limitation with a lot of nodes is channel congestion. Despite the name, LongFast is still pretty slow. The more nodes you have the longer channels stay active when a message is sent. Not to mention all the telemetry packets being sent about.

My local area is nowhere near populated enough to cause an issue, but I've seen many recommendations that switching to ShortFast is the way to go when you have enough node density. It's around 10x faster so it can handle more traffic. While range is smaller the higher number of nodes in your area would help offset the drawbacks.

The issue then is you're no longer on the default setting of all factory meshtastic devices so no one visiting your area would be able to see your mesh. The only way around this I know of is if you're putting key locations on the mqtt meshmap where it shows your device's default channel. Or a smaller mesh still running LongFast that periodically broadcasts something like "This area runs ShortFast, come join us!"