NICE! A fellow ham! KF7OCD CQ n0ssc!
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I’m Elyssa. I’m a writer, marketer, traveler, and mother. I’m interested in products that solve problems. I’m here because I think our current systems of communication are challenged and love the great thinking behind goTenna Mesh: to be able to build your own network by relying on your friends’ (or family’s) nodes feels super intuitive and geared for localizing communities and strengthening them form the inside out. Excited to see where Mesh is being used and how!!
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I’m a friendly (white-hat) hacker based in the general Eastern Seaboard area who discovered GoTenna at DEFCON last year. I won’t share my real name here because I love anonymity but you can call me “femmesh”!
I just got my Mesh devices a few days ago and like a lot of you here believe in the potential of mesh-networking. The ability to create one using everyday phones is really powerful. I plan to set up a few devices as stationary relays once more of my friends get theirs (a big group of us ordered them).
Can’t wait for the GoTenna Mesh SDK to come out!!!
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Hello! I’m Michael. I’m located in the Pacific Northwest ( Seattle area ). I have yet to receive my GoTenna set but I’m really excited for them and to see where this technology heads. I plan on using them for hiking, camping, and family events where we are off in different groups. I’m also planning on purchasing a few more units to equip my immediate family and set up a stationary relay or two. 
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First-time buyer; not a backer. Mesh intrigued me. I’m located in the 'burbs a few miles west of NYC and from the map it seems the nearest gotenna customer is about 2 miles away.
Ordered a couple of meshes with latest firmware update already loaded, but still waiting for delivery. Last communique said “sometime in August”. Had hoped to use them on a cruise around AK, but leaving in less than a week and it doesn’t look like I’ll receive them in time. Disappointed about that. Will be in AZ later in the year and hope to have them by then.
Hope they’re working well for those who’ve rec’d them.
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Scott here. I like tech and I like the idea of tech helping those off grid. Whether that be urban survival in blackouts or meshing/helping third world communities that never had formal grids/access. I’ve backed BioLight, Onelaptop, and LifeSaver bottle and i feel like gotenna has the similar prospect/ability to help us in relative social comfort while also founding a way to unite and help others.
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Dan here in Sacramento, CA area - was an early supporter and beta tester of both v1 and v2, using Gotenna often ourdoors staying in touch while hiking/skiing/mountain biking, and have also found interesting situations where Gotenna solved communications, such as in the middle of nowhere at a campsite, chatting silently with your group about tomorrow’s hike while a baby sleeps next to you in a tent, or relaying between mesh units from cabin to cabin to cafe at a ski village for a last minute coffee order, or using the auto-ping GPS feature to track another party while backcountry skiing so you know which trail junction to take without wondering if the arrows on the trail are meant for you or someone else, and they never had to take their phone out of their pack (or hope that they were still within radio range but not sure if they just didn’t hear you). Even just compared to radio comms, having send receipts to know your message got there and can be read later is huge. We leave a v1 pair in the car and use them in random locations that cell service is unexpectedly gone, one of the most random was at IKEA - one bar of service, can’t get texts, want to divide and conquer - no problem! Really excited by the API and other distributed technologies (blockchains!) and seeing what the future will bring helped by all of you and the great team Daniela has put together.
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Dave in eastern Ontario, First time backer, heard good things about the gotenna but couldn’t get it outside the US, and it sounds like the Mesh is the next natural evolution of a great product. I live on the grid but get out to my parent’s 100 acre forest every chance I get with my 3 boys, daughter and wife. I haven’t risked going as far as I used to due to no cell coverage and questionable neighbors/hunters, but I’m hoping this will change that. I recall having some scary stuff happen when hiking, from deep cuts without a first aid to falling through thin ice, and I can’t imagine running out like I used to with three boys in tow. 2km in bush is like 20 on pavement. Beyond that I have a camper that I’m using to ‘rough it’ while I harvest logs for my cabin. Solar has worked great with an old cell phone to send me pics of deer, raccoons, cats and the occasional dog from the neighbors, (even in -30c winter with hardly any sun) so I’m hoping to have a Mesh in place as a relay for those that need it while I’m not around (dev boards still available? ;). Working on getting my Ham license as well, I’d like to mount the Mesh relay with my eventual antenna about 40-70’ up. Even without it, I can kerchunk a repeater over 40mi away. 
IKEA is totally a dead zone here as well!
Thank you and I’m looking forward to receiving my Meshs!
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Mitch here. I have actually had the V1 for a while. but have not used it much. that is about to change. I also have the mesh on order. but that looks like it will be late august or sept before they arrive. Wanting to setup a stationary repeater for others to use. as well as do some back country work with the.
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Hi, I’m Les. Uk based so haven’t received my mesh units yet. Totally clueless on all of it, backed the kickstarter based on the fact it looked like a brilliant gadget. I’m here to learn 
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My name is Travis and I’m a amateur radio operator from Texas that is big into privacy and high availability for communications. I’ve been a part of the information security community for a couple of decades now so security is also a big passion of mine. I’m looking forward to the possibilities that goTenna Mesh can offer. I’m expecting some fun opportunities with the API.
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I’m Jason and live in San Francisco. Avid international traveler and excited to use goTenna mesh on my travels around the work.
I live in a high rise in the middle of SF and place on keeping a unit plugged in and turned on as a relay point.
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ham operator, former nordic ski patroller & CARDA ( search dog trainer).
the imeshyou map is useful for estimating coverage for your daily life, but how about a tab to set up for temporary festivals (i.e. Burningman, Coachella)? as a 4x burner, it would be very useful to see a coverage map for this year’s BURNINGMAN festival. Black Rock City only exists for 1 week every year so you can’t really place a node since it changes every year. mark your placement where you expect to setup your base mesh at camp.
any chance at expediting my kickstarter order so i can test them at burning man in 3 weeks? i’ll take any color if it helps. i ordered 6 total, but only need 1 pair for now.
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Hi Daniela, thanks for the welcome.
While working at NASA I became interested in the concept of civilian / organic based communications networks for use in times of crises outrages (think EMP, massive storm disruption, etc.,) and wanted to test the resiliency, usage pattern and potential benefits for helping communities recover from communication disruptions.
Best,
Guy
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Hi,
I’m Matthew, I am looking forward to receiving my units soon! I’ll be setting up at least 2 as stationary relays around Columbia, SC…
I’m a husband, father, electronics/radio enthusiast (WQTP327 (that is GMRS. I don’t have my ham ticket but I hope the Hams here will welcome me like my locals did)), brewer…
I hope to see this board grow into something that promotes learning, community, preparedness and innovation.
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Hi,
I’m Patrick, CERT Battalion 2 Coordinator volunteer for Northeast Los Angeles City.
Good communications will be critical during a disaster as we know that due to the high population density, cell networks will fail immediately during a disaster. Northeast Los Angeles is a hilly area so FRS and simplex radio will likely be problematic.
We are working on building self-sufficent teams in each of our 8 communities and developping affordable and easy to use and implement communications plans that work for our volunteers and geography.
One problem that a large city like Los Angeles has is that they simply don’t have the budget to support their sheer number of volunteers. We self-fund all of our equipment and exercises.
I currently hold a Ham General License (KK6DJV) and a GMRS license (WQVD860) and am working on my Amatuer Extra. I work professionally as a network and systems engineer.
We have 2 GMRS repeaters in our area including one in my neighborhood and I’m planning on setting up a GoTenna Mesh stationary node in my repeater room.
Our hope is that our local team leaders will get mesh units and that will enable the incident command post to track team locations when they are deployed during a disaster or exercise.
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Justin here,
Noah told me to join up today, so here I am! Been a customer for over a year, heard about gotenna on TWIT.TV.
I would like to see the company I work for use gotenna mesh for S&R. We have been training people and getting them CERT certified so we can recover ourselves if there is ever a disaster. Our teams need to communicate during drills, nobody wants to talk on the radio. Knowing the teams locations have been a challenge, people forget to check in.
I want to install local mesh points in my community; will be 3d printing some outdoor cases and posting them on thingiverse as soon as I figure out a solar charging solution. Looks like there are a few posts here with some good info! Memphis gets a lot of heat and humidity!
Justin
KM4VYW
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Jelmer here, live in Brooklyn and Brussels, I’m an EE and researcher, work on wireless sensor networks, mesh and routing protocols, do lots of hardware, hacking and taking things apart.
Followed gotenna from the get go, but waited to back until the unavoidable mesh version came out (remember when you guys said you couldn’t do multihop because the FCC doesn’t allow it 
). Also avid traveler and hiker, so gotenna comes in handy 
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Hi Everyone! I’m Richard Myers and I live in southern Sweden, near Lund.
I am coming to this community by way of the decentralized financial protocol known as Bitcoin. I first read about goTenna somewhere, maybe the kickstarter campaign. Somewhat later I saw Nick Szabo’s twitter post about broadcast/mesh networks and the connection with goTenna was clear.
I then watched the talk by @danielagotenna at the blockstack summit and I was very impressed by the vision of what she’s trying to build. It further convinced me that goTenna was a very complimentary project for bitcoin as both technologies seek to decentralize all the things.
I’m not a goTenna user right now, but I notice that southern Sweden is a goTenna free zone at the moment and I plan to help fix that. Look for some new dots on the map here soon.
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Hi,
My name is Bryan and I live in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. I am software engineer specializing in DevOps. I have a set of first generation goTenna and am awaiting my Mesh units. I am here because I am really interested in all the things I see coming in the near future and I think technologies like goTenna and blockchain can play a part in that cool future. I like to stay focused on things that are real and work today, for example…
- Peer to peer and Mesh networks that have the potential to disrupt Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile
- Global blockchain currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum that can disrupt VISA, MasterCard, AMEX, and even PayPal. I love the fact that new currencies and blockchains can spin up every day and you can just shapeshift to any currency you want from your mobile device.
- Decentralized web technologies like https://ipfs.io/
- Drones and robots - who does’nt love drones? I want them to mow my grass, deliver my food, vacuum my house, spread moss killer on my roof, drive me to work, and do all the things that keep me away from spending time with my family and working on cool stuff
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