Getting started

As with any hobby, there are a lot of rabbit holes to go down and we've all spent a lot of money and time going down them to figure out what's good and what's not. This post is to help people get started and be pointed in the right direction. Please do not let this post diswade you from asking questions no matter how small, there are lots of people in this community who specialize in different parts of the hobby and they are all very helpful and friendly. All links to products provided in this post will not be monetized and will be updated as often as possible with new links and recommendations from the community.

Legal

Gotta get the boring but most important thing out of the way. Australia and New Zealand use the frequency of 915–928 MHz for Lora. This is not a community preference and we are restricted to these bands by law. Do not purchase or operate Lora or Meshtastic devices on frequencies outside of 915–928 MHz unless you're prepared to deal with the legal consequences. Secondly do not enable any Ham operator settings unless you hold an Amature radio license. This is again a legal issue. One of the things it will allow you to do is increase the radio power past the legal limit for a non-license holder. However cool this might sound it'll also make your device a target for authorities and will make it easier to track down the broadcasting location.

Safety

Meshtastic is by no means dangerous but there a few things that you will need to keep in mind to keep yourself and your devices safe.

Do not tun on a device without an antenna installed

If you turn a device on without all antennas attached (some devices have separate antennas for Bluetooth and wifi) you are likely to damage your radio module. To perform testing without an antenna or broadcasting use a dummy load to test without damaging your hardware.

Be careful handling batteries

Lots of devices and cases will require you to add your own batteries. Generally, LIPO and LION batteries are safe, but if you shortcircuit them they can and will catch on fire. If you need to rewire contacts or connectors for batteries and you are not 100% confident in your skills stop. There are many ways to power a Meshtastic device without handling batteries directly.

General Hiking safety

A lot of the relays set up in Canberra are on top of mountains which can only be accessed by hiking trails. Below are some general safety tips that you should perform at a minimum.

• Have a GPS device with offline maps
  • A smartphone will do this perfectly, however some trails have no mobile reception so make sure you have your map and trail details accessible offline
• Tell someone where you are going and organise check in times
  • If no one knows where you are no one can find you if something goes wrong. Make sure to share your trail plan with someone who is not hiking with you and organise specific times that you need to check in so they can call for help if something goes wrong.
• Always have water
  • Very basic but also very important. Always have water on you, it's very easy to get dehydrated on a hike and once you do it will make it harder to get back to the start.

Contributing

This is a community driven website. If you would like to add, edit or update anything please see the Github page.

https://github.com/ellahin/meshtastic-getting-started