Hi all! I just upgraded from the original GoTenna to a pack of 4 mesh units. Looking forward to building a simple relay on my roof. I’m located in coastal Sourh Orange County California.
Hey Navstar-
whats shakin,
Im on the central coast (Pismo) I bought the go mesh because my daughter is going to school in San Luis Obispo which is about 30 miles away and I thought it might be prudent to get the device so I could communicate in case of an emergency, network down ect,. I see some happy people on the boards and I see some not so happy people on the boards. You seem like a happy one, any advice how I might achieve that end, being able to communicate with her 30-40 miles away?
Maybe Im not understanding how I can get the most out of this device
Thanks for the shout
Duub88
Hola!
Just getting started so I’m not a good source of info yet but what I’m reading is that you need to be in range of another unit that is on for the mesh grid to relay that far away.
The key to communicating over that distance will be finding locations for relays that are on the high points of terrain or towers that overcome the effects of mountains by seeing over them with your signals. You also face a 6 hop/5 relay limit on message forwarding. Thus, it’s going to require some careful assessment and planning to achieve the links needed for a 30 miles connection.
In the Urbana, IL Mesh we have what I’d call low density urban terrain, except down near the university campus where some highrises are located. Nodes are typically at around 20 to 25’ above ground level and have at about a mile to reach another node. Because it’s flat around here, this works well enough, although a few much higher nodes could be a gamechanger for us.
For your 30 mile link, it looks like you’d need to plan on average links between relays of about 5 miles. And they would need to be hill toppers given the terrain in that area of California. If you know some well-located folks, then you’re in pretty good shape. If not, then you have a pretty good argument for how you could deliver a really good service around the area of the relay, as well as being able to extend that service along the line to other relays.
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