Posted: 3/28/2025 6:18:05 PM EDT
Well, you guys talk about them, I don't know shit about it.  . I've been playing with Meshtastic a lot but would like to come up with some kind of build it yourself IP Mesh setup kind of like what the military uses. I've been digging around knowing there is something out there but I just can't seem to find it. What do you guys know about it?
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I've played a bit with the "MPU5 we have at home" concept a bit. Just taking CotS wifi APs and flashing them with open firmware and enabling a Mesh. Then you can power them with batteries and make them portable. Basically you're making a carriable WLAN mesh. Every user carries a Wifi device and then a phone or tablet to connect to it and interact on the network, at that point it can do anything any other WLAN can do basically. Being limited to commercial gear, your range is pretty limited point-to-point, but you can always add more nodes, including fixed ones for more coverage if needed, it would depend on your use case. The big difference compared to Meshtastic is much higher throughput, at the expense of point-to-point range. So you could transfer large files or even stream audio or video over a Wifi mesh, whereas Meshtastic can only handle simple text messages or similar small data transfers. |
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MPU5's it for the portable/carriable versions (that i'm aware of). SWAT team uses that to stream video back to command truck. Helmet camera + MPU5 on the doorkicker, another MPU5 as a relay for the tail gunner, then back to the truck. What's your end goal with them? How far do you want to go? (Longer distance = bigger dishes, bigger antennas, more batteries, etc.) Recently built a 2mi+ shot, 60GHz unlicensed PTP with 5GHz fallback. 2x 2.5gbit plus SFP+ ports on the radios. It'll push nearly 5gbit/sec over the air. I do a fair bit of PTP fixed wireless work.  
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| We've been looking at deploying some of the Mesh Rider wearable radios. Not cheap by consumer standards but in the $2000ish range. When a BKR-5000 without trunking comes in around $1800 with a battery, clamshell pack, charger and Range Max antenna…that's not a terrible price. |
| Look at motorcycle mesh helmet communicators-not sure what kind of range you are looking for but they do pretty well (a mile or two each) on a bike. Some have 1/8” jack capability for headphone mic operation and pair with phones for discrete notification of messages etc. |
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Check out 802.11ah(HaLow) gear. It's a 900MHz variant of WIFI that adds range. The ISM hardware is limited to 125mW and they advertise 1km. I would think you could put together a solution based on phone communication apps for voice and text and a 2.4GHz WIFI to 900MHz IP bridge as a range booster. Maybe add a 900MHz amp and a good antenna if you can fit into the 33cm HAM rules. The HaLow gear is still a bit expensive. There are a lot of used LE 850Mhz amps out there that can be modified to do 900MHz. This little Heltec ESP32 device looks like fun. I may wait for the price to drop a bit. Attached File |
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Is this the new BBS/Winlink packet station for the unlicensed? The closest node to me is 20+ miles from me, so it wouldn't mesh with me if I put one up. I have a Winlink station on my GMRS tower. Other than still using a "phone" to text back and forth, I'm not seeing a benefit over V/U simplex encrypted communications. |
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A user here on arfcom has these in the EE. Not sure if he is affiliated with the company. https://morosx.com/ @Bilb0 |
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Quoted: A user here on arfcom has these in the EE. Not sure if he is affiliated with the company. https://morosx.com/ @Bilb0 He literally launched the website this week. Looks good on paper but by the time you add into the mesh IP radio to them once they are available...honestly not much of a price different between that and the Mesh Rider which can be had in a 900 MHz/2.4 GHz variant. |
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In my mesh radios there are a HUGE difference in hardware specs vs their mesh rider. In the description of the Lora version I have mentioned that those whom are early adopters of the Lora version get the upgrade for an additional $350 per unit so $840 for early adopters. The mesh rider runs 1600 radio...$600 proprietary battery and $300 antennas. 2200+ per unit vs $1200 full price. Twice as much. Routerboard vs full blown USA made Military spec ruggedized industiral computer with Android/Linux. Zero comparison Difference in wave form as well. I won't be going with aluminum due to expense and wanting to bring an affordable IP mesh MANET radio to the community. I may have the option available in the future. Choices are important. Case for the upgrades will be Carbon Fiber infused Nylon @WillieTangoFox @ZapZap |
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Quoted: In my mesh radios there are a HUGE difference in hardware specs vs their mesh rider. In the description of the Lora version I have mentioned that those whom are early adopters of the Lora version get the upgrade for an additional $350 per unit so $840 for early adopters. The mesh rider runs 1600 radio...$600 proprietary battery and $300 antennas. 2200+ per unit vs $1200 full price. Twice as much. Routerboard vs full blown USA made Military spec ruggedized industiral computer with Android/Linux. Zero comparison Difference in wave form as well. I won't be going with aluminum due to expense and wanting to bring an affordable IP mesh MANET radio to the community. I may have the option available in the future. Choices are important. Case for the upgrades will be Carbon Fiber infused Nylon @WillieTangoFox @ZapZap Thank for the reply. I sent you a PM in case you are interested in something. |
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Quoted:
That reminds of: https://www.tindie.com/products/bobricius/raksenger-rakwireless-meshtastic-communicator/ /i/7289/products/2024-11-19T07%3A28%3A19.481Z-IMG_1532_Large..jpeg?1731972659)
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Quoted:
I hope that’s nr52 based |