The Meshtastic community in the Fort Smith area is always growing. Check it out!
Meshtastic is a project that enables you to use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communication platform in areas without existing or reliable communications infrastructure. (The project is 100% community driven and open source!) It's basically a long range walkie-talkie that sends text instead of voice messages.
While there are limitless uses for a long range data connection, the primary uses are the moment are for reliable off-grid communications. It's like having a community wide group chat that works without wifi, cell service, or internet. Most devices also provide GPS location, which can shared if you choose to.
On the mesh network, everyone who is using the network is also making it better. Every meshtastic radio is also a repeater. So even if you are not able to connect to the person you are trying to send a message to, other radios can recieve your message and rebroadcast it. Greatly increasing the chances of your message getting through.
The Meshtastic system allows people to send small amounts of data very far. And this can be used for more than just text messaging.
In addition to direct messages, meshtastic has a channel system that allows group chats. The default public channel allows you to send messages to anyone nearby who happens to also be on the same channel.
Most meshtastic devices have a GPS built in, and the ones that don't can use your phones GPS to get their location. You can choose to send your location to people of your choosing. Great to have in case of emergencies while doing off grid activities such as hiking,
If you would like to learn more about Meshtastic, feel free to message me directly using the info below.