Meshtastic is a very useful technology for emergency communications (SHTF).
If you have further questions please contact me directly on https://t.me/is_42 or on the Telegram group https://t.me/york4freedom
Usage
- Power cuts: in Spain the mobile phone system did not work during the 2025 power cut. If you need help, this may be the only way to get it
- Social unrest: in order to gather in a secure place to support each other. In many countries it has been proven that the phones and internet will be down during major civil unrest
- War: to organise help and resilience, if the infrastructure has been attacked and damaged
Beware: currently the public emergency services do not use Meshtastic.
Channels
- Index 0: public default channel for help and general emergency contacts
- Index 1: private encrypted channel for trusted people in our y4f group
If you DM bot1, it will reply and send you to this web page.
Devices
- Heltec
- WSL V3: headless transceiver used for the mesh-bot (bot1)
- V3: our main device used with a antennae pigtail and external battery
- Lilygo
- T-Beam M8N: our initial device with built-in battery
- T_Beam M8N with SX1276: experimental device with built-in battery
Build
We use a custom 868Mhz antennae from RF Solutions, which is about £10/each. This has been tested with a VNA and proven to be correctly tuned as opposed to many other cheaper antennae.
Our current build is using Heltec V3 with custom antennae and pigtail. This setup costs around £40/each with a custom antennae. We use the standard case with an added hole to guide the pigtail.
This design is useful, as any USB battery can be used and the antennae pigtail can just hang out of a bag, so no need for a water proof box. There is no built-in GPS but location can be provided by the mobile phone if desired.
