1. Forum
  2. FsxNet
  3. fsx ham

  • Re: Thinknode M5

    From pyrewyrm@21:2/150 to nblade on Sun Mar 15 18:58:14 2026
    This morning a work buddy pointed me to the Thinknode M5.
    Guess it uses Meshtastic. I was wondering if one has used
    either this device or Meshtastic flashed device.

    I have an M1 that I carry when I visit the big cities w/ Mesh networks (like Tulsa, where I'm at right now for work).

    I've used Meshtastic for a couple months now. Its an interesting system and I'm planning a home network project, using a remote weather station connected by mesh.

    ... Played poker with Tarot. Got a Flush. Five people died.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From phigan@21:3/193 to nblade on Mon Mar 16 02:23:59 2026
    of is how similar in basic capablities this thing is to
    the old Gotenna Mesh or the original Gotenna. Both of which
    I had at one point. As far as I can tell this devices can

    Probably the same thing, just different in how the mesh acts and the messages are sent. There's also a Meshcore, too :). Runs on a lot of the same devices as Meshtastic. AND there's some defense dept used/back one, too. Tactical something something. Maybe it was just 'TAC'? I forget now.


    --- NE BBS v1.16 (linux; x64)
    * Origin: NE BBS - nebbs.servehttp.com:9223 (21:3/193)
  • From nblade@21:1/126 to pyrewyrm on Wed Mar 18 11:19:36 2026
    pyrewyrm wrote to nblade <=-

    I've used Meshtastic for a couple months now. Its an interesting system and I'm planning a home network project, using a remote weather station connected by mesh.

    So I guess that gets to a question I have about Meshtastic. Does it just send messages? In the case of your weather station, does it just send a message that is formatted a certain way (say JSON) and then at the the other end does it just
    accept that message and then do something with it? Or is there a way to send some
    sort of data packets via the mesh network?



    ... No matter where you go, there you are.
    ___ MultiMail/Linux v0.49

    --- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Al's Geek Lab -=- bbs.alsgeeklab.com:2323 (21:1/126)
  • From pyrewyrm@21:2/150 to nblade on Wed Mar 18 23:22:40 2026
    So I guess that gets to a question I have about Meshtastic. Does it just send messages? In the case of your weather station, does it just send a message that is formatted a certain way (say JSON) and then at the the other end does it just
    accept that message and then do something with it? Or is there a way to send some
    sort of data packets via the mesh network?

    Meshtastic is intended as a text-based system. So I'd likely use pre-formatted text strings, in the case of the weather station. Wx station emits the message, listening radio receives. From here, I could either go w/ a MQTT bridge or, if my listening radio transceiver is connected to/a part of a computer, the Meshtastic python library can directly read the message.
    In either case, once I have the message in hand, I expand it out to JSON or some such, commit the record to a database, and send the JSON to whatever I am displaying the current weather output on.

    If I wanted to get fancy, Meshtastic supports me building my own protocol buffer schemas and sending raw data packets.

    Actual JSON is a no go. The messages are tight on space and JSON (along with most other web data exchange standards) are just too much. In my formatted string concept, I'm thinking something more raw - ie 0814305 is decoded to 081 - Temp in F, 43 relative humidity, 05 wind in kts.

    ... MY SysOp lets me say things like [ C E N S O R E D ]

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From pyrewyrm@21:2/150 to nblade on Sat Apr 11 17:50:23 2026
    So I guess that gets to a question I have about Meshtastic. Does it just send messages?

    Yes, Meshtastic is text only.

    In the case of your weather station, does it just send a
    message that is formatted a certain way (say JSON) and then at the the other end does it just
    accept that message and then do something with it? Or is there a way to send some
    sort of data packets via the mesh network?


    Meshtastic has support for telemetry/sensor data transmission.
    It also supports arbitrary byte data payloads via Python API.

    ... OS/2 Virus Scanner: WIN Virus found [R]emove or [R]emove?

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)