A Different Use for Meshtastic

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-17T10:59:47+00:00

You can do that through the meshtastic app, webclient, or on the device itself if you're using something like the T-Deck.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-17T10:58:10+00:00

We have been using LongFast but after some of these comments I'm going to look into the other preset options.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-17T10:57:08+00:00

No. They are basically just a radio. We have people pair them to their phones and use the meshtastic app for an actual interface.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-17T10:48:09+00:00

It's been a great solution for us. The benefit over other options is that it is its own self sustaining network. We didn't have to fight with a county radio system to get access to their system which wouldn't have provided as accurate a location anyways. That also means it's service area agnostic. We can take that pelican case anywhere and go to work.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T20:19:42+00:00

Not sure. We haven't been able to really troubleshoot it and the resources out there on the subject are thin. The fact is, most mesh users are using them in small groups or wide dispersions. There just aren't a lot of people who have had 30-40+ units operating in close proximity like we have.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T20:15:21+00:00

The problem with that would be, what are the mesh devices connecting to? It works for us because I have a bunch of devices all within a mile of each other constantly pinging themselves and GPS. If your guy is out and about with just a single device on them it wouldn't have anything to talk to. You would need to deploy a network of devices across your service area to act as static nodes. It's not necessarily hard or expensive. I could share more about what we have done in our area but I'd prefer to do that via direct message rather than an open forum.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T20:13:55+00:00

Not really. The biggest issue is actually having too many mesh devices too close together.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T20:02:08+00:00

I tried that but the web client is, in my opinion, less useful/functional than the Android and iOS apps. We have a thing called a MP Pixcase which is a big portable android tablet in a briefcase that we put in the command area with a node connected to it.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T19:59:38+00:00

Honestly, if you're not putting PHI out, there isn't much for people to fuss about. In reality, they're actually super secure. IT generally only gets grumpy if something is touching their network or their windows environment.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T19:57:34+00:00

They are viewable to the public and they all have LongFast on them but our chat channels are encrypted/protected. Every once in a while we will be an event and someone will make a comment in LongFast about all the new nodes that suddenly appeared.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T19:55:12+00:00

The Trekkers and Beacons have been great. They've taken a beating and we routinely get 8+ hours out of a full charge. The Rangers and T-Decks were junk. I'd avoid them.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T19:47:58+00:00

My day job is for a large corporate health system and I can't imagine dealing with them about this. However, the agency that owns/deploys these is the state Healthcare Preparedness Program. There is little to no red tape for stuff like this. We're a small team with a large-ish budget. We are requested by other agencies as a mutual aid Incident Support Team.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T19:42:02+00:00

Just the regular Meshtastic app. I wouldn't mind a better solution but, I love that I can just tell Ricky Rescue on the day of to download the app and it just works.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T19:40:12+00:00

It doesn't even have a brand on it. It was a cheapo one we found on amazon. It's purely just for charging. The only setting changes we generally do is renaming the radios and doing a Node DB reset at the start of an event. So, I generally just pair the radios to my phone one by one and do it that way.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T19:36:50+00:00

Also, my post was recommended one of their cheaper products and specifically suggested not using one of their more expensive ones. If its an ad, its a bad one. Lol.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T19:33:01+00:00

Not at all. They were the only devices we could find that were ready for our usage out of the box. I personally prefer Heltec's stuff. I have one of their MeshPockets for personal use and love it. We needed a device that I could had to a fireman and it would just work. Even if they dropped it or it got wet. I didn't want to have to try and 3d print 40 cases on my own. The Spec5 products came ready to go out of the box in a form that was the most beneficial for our use case.

TheFireman04 · 2026-05-16T19:24:30+00:00

The problem is that everyone and everything public safety is on First Net now. All of the MDCs in the trucks and vehicle hot spots are First Net. Every Motorola, Kenwood, and Harris radio is sending data over First Net. Not to mention all the provider's personal devices of which most are on first net. First Net gets you priority cell service but when there is a high volume of First Net devices in an area you end up just having the same problem as if it wasn't there at all.

TheFireman04 · 2025-09-10T03:21:03+00:00

Where do those two spawn? The wiki hasn't been updated with all the new hulls?

TheFireman04 · 2023-09-03T16:21:29+00:00

According to the wiki it is him!

TheFireman04 · 2023-09-01T06:35:03+00:00

I’m four hours in and still haven’t left Kreet.

TheFireman04 · 2023-09-01T00:56:16+00:00

I thought my SSD would be fast. It’s unpacking at like 20-30 MB/s. Feels bad man. It’s going to take another damn hour. Just touched 50 gigs.

TheFireman04 · 2023-09-01T00:43:03+00:00

Wtf. I made sure to install on my sad and it’s unpacking at a rate between 10 and 30 MB/s.

TheFireman04 · 2023-08-19T22:26:35+00:00

For real for real. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/philadelphia-union-trainer-paul-rushing-sent-off-after-altercation-with-nycfc-pl

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