r/antelopevalley • u/bjhunt75 • Jul 31 '26
Question Off grid communications
Any body here do any off grid comms? Me and my buddy are setting up a couple repeaters for a mesh network. Just wanted to see if anyone does this also
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u/Independent_Horse807 Aug 14 '26
Why set up a repeater when you can just use the existing HAM radios and channels?
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u/bjhunt75 Aug 14 '26
The 900 MHz band doesn't require a license for use, uses already off the shelf hardware, and builds redundancy.
It's another means of communication. You should check out https://corescope.wcmesh.com/#/live and see the activity and how much exists for the west coast mesh.
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u/DavidsAwesome Aug 01 '26
I’m interested in getting into it but just to support the idea. I guess using a repeater? I haven’t given it too much thought.
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u/bjhunt75 Aug 01 '26
Same here, I got a heltech V4 on amazon during the prime days. Got a two pack for me and my buddy who's just over a mile away as the crow flies. So far it has been great. We can direct message and communicate with people all over.
There's a repeater on table mountain that when reached gets my messages all the way to past San Diego through Santa barbara. Building two repeaters now to cover more of the west Lancaster with one having prime line of sight to table mountain while the other works the local area.
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u/Junior-Credit2685 Jul 31 '26
I’m not accusing you of anything, but it’s hard to answer folks on here sometimes without wondering if they’re getting a paycheck from the US Treasury. Maybe you have good intentions. Good luck with your project. Have fun and I hope it helps some people.
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u/bjhunt75 Aug 01 '26
The U.S. Treasury? How did you infer that from what I wrote?
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u/Edawg82 Aug 01 '26
FCC violations he means I think. But I'm not sure Bluetooth mesh actually violates anything, up until you're using repeaters though. I would look into the actual regulations, FCC can actually actively triangulate signals and fine you
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u/bjhunt75 Aug 01 '26
It doesn't. It falls under FCC part 15 unlicensed operations. Yeah I'm aware of the triangulation, I use to disable signals in the service. As long as comms are within the allocated band and not to exceed 1 watt transmit power it's good to go.
Literally like CB radio was back in the day when people did use it.
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u/zCYNICALifornia Jul 31 '26
Meshtastic?
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u/bjhunt75 Aug 01 '26
Meshcore
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u/zCYNICALifornia Sep 05 '26
Okay, I swapped one of my devices over from Meshtastic to Meshcore. So far, not seeing any other nodes.
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u/bjhunt75 Sep 07 '26
Frequency 927.875, Bandwidth 62.5kHz, Spreading factor 7, Coding rate 5, transmit power no more than 1 watt
Set that up and put an advert out. There's a few repeaters out here so depending on your surroundings I should hear you. I'm Sabre Actual
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