For the uninitiated:
"Meshtastic" is one of several open source projects that allow sending short text messages using small radio modules called "nodes" that you typically connect to using your phone. (Your boss cannot text you unless they are at Fusion too )
For fellow meshers:
Greetings! After the ConTent-talk about Meshtastic last year I have been getting into the hobby and will be bringing a couple of nodes for my group. I thought it might be a good idea to coordinate a little beforehand since I expect a lot of nodes at Fusion this year. What should our fallback preset be? (MediumFast seems to be common but at Fusion ShortFast might actually be a good fit) Should we even try a general LongFast mesh? I would be surprised if a LongFast mesh could handle the stress of 100+ or 200+ nodes. If everything else fails, I have also thought about sticking to LongFast but changing channel slot for our group.
Based on your linked article a Short Fast Network seems to be a good idea.
The festival grounds are very small compared to the New Zealand area, so id its working for them i‘d be great for us.
Do you have the knowledge to setup a bot to inform the others?
A bot would be neat (if there is somewhat of a consensus what the preset should be). Unfortunately I don't think I will have time to set one up. But I think broadcasting a public message every hour or so during day 1 and 2 could be done manually. I think in theory ShortFast should be a good fit if a large enough number of people switch (perhaps 50-ish?). MediumFast might be a safer bet if only a hand full of people switch. I will definitely be checking in on the different presets on day 1.
I think I will also disable location broadcast for our group. Obviously is would be nice to have but in my opinion the interval needs to be <30 min to be useful and that might just be to much for the mesh if everyone does it.
We will setup a large antenna ontop of the sonnendeck bar. I assume that there will probably be another fixed antenna on the workshop hangar like last year. These fixed big antennas should already cover the whole festival area, but all the portable nodes will help increase the coverage too (it was 30+ at least last year)
So i think it comes down to whatever they are doing
Inspired by last years threads I bought 2 units (heltec v4) and it works perfectly. I am a super noob, but looking forward to try and learn more about the technology behind.
Did anyone look into a small mesh meeting, in regards to exchange experiences and know-how?