Hi, my name is Randy and I live in south Florida. I’m a huge believer in being prepared for any eventuality. Growing up in south Florida, I have been through many hurricanes and experienced the loss of cellular communications. When I saw the gotenna mesh project I knew I had to help fund such an amazing idea.
I just got my 4 mesh in the mail today! I have already paired two and am leaving the third set up as a node at my business and the fourth at my home, also always on.
I hope we can truly grow this community to cover the majority of the United States! This is an idea that has truly come. Thank you to the geniuses behind this amazing product!
Hi y’all, I’m Ian Mac, physicist working in energy efficiency. I’m also a burner and looking forward to trying these puppies out in the desert. (3mi range…I wonder what you had in mind… ) I am NERT certified in San Francisco (CERT for the rest of the country), and believe in being prepared. The infrastructure we rely so heavily on day to day is incredibly fragile. I am excited about gotenna mesh because besides being a cool thing to use at Burning Man to see where my peeps are at, it provides a simple way to enable communications when it really matters. Shout out to the hams. You rock. When life has settled a bit (I’m moving from SF to St Paul MN in Nov) I’m going to get my license.
I’m Drew, a student at the University of Oregon but originally from Austin, Texas. I dabble in whitewater kayaking and also enjoy backpacking and skiing. Cell signal is often unreliable but, though being unplugged is great, communication can also be a very reassuring safety net. I’m looking forwards to using mesh with my friends and family, and I’m very excited by the number of nodes already on the map. I love people-powered things like this and can’t wait to see where gotenna goes.
I’m cameron and I’m ready for StoHTF. Gotenna mesh fits in my faraday bug out bag next to some spare ammo and a HT ham radio. I believe off the grid communication will be the advantage me and my crew will have over others when society breaks down. Let me know if you’d like to start a mesh prepper group chat I am located on west burnside in Portland Oregon.
I am interested in the use of technology in emergency response, and the emergence of crowd-sourced response efforts, driven in no small part by technology. The idea of a low-cost, low-powered, decentralized networking system has fascinated me since a response effort in which I was involved following hurricane Katrina. People on the team I worked with used text messaging, email (often as SMS to email) and good old fashioned sneakernets to help connect loved ones, and transfer information between them, and to and from the outside world in our free time. Other communication systems were for, “official use only,” and many cell networks were overwhelmed, if not outright destroyed. A particular memory I have was of a person, just rescued, being processed into a shelter, and worrying about her mother whom she hadn’t heard from in a couple days. We were able, through text messaging, some internet searches by people outside the immediate area, some emails between those searchers and Red Cross volunteers, and then some more text messaging back and forth, to let her know her mother was safe in a Red Cross shelter in another part of Louisiana. This was in a matter of hours, as opposed to possibly days through more conventional routes.
While most people now have cellphones, and mobile networks for voice and data blanket many areas of the world, during times of disaster these can become congested, or destroyed. This is where technology such as goTenna can come into play.
Dave here. located in the eastern half of boston. currently work in telecomm manufacturing and run a communications consultant team in America and EMEA. backer of GoTenna Mesh on KS. will be running one node mobile (in my car) and one stationary at home for meshing.
Hello everyone! I’m Steve. Retired Los Angeles area fireman/paramedic CERT instructor, living in So Cal. I play HAM radio/RACES member (KR6TFD), safety instructor and disaster team responder. I jumped on the Kickstarter band wagon and just received my two mesh pairs today after the first order got lost in transit. Charging and programming in anticipation of potential deployment. Let the learning begin…
Seeing more people here with similar backgrounds of fire/EMS emergency response, and HAM. Funny how those things. @Amon and I are spitballing some ideas for use in emergency response.
Hi all - I bought 3 of these because there is intermittent to no cell coverage at our hunting lease property. I feel this is a safety issue as well as an inconvenience when anyone needs assistance.
I do wish the cell system relay and topo maps were not additional cost. looking forward to finding an easier way of sharing my devices with others without them having to register as a user, and then do the same thing when I hand one off to someone else.
My name is Justin. I’m a HAM radio operator, storm chaser, emergency operations center volunteer, outdoorsman, and systems administrator. I loved the idea of using mesh around the community as a backup communication method, especially with all the parks, walking trails, and outdoor areas we have locally. Hopefully I can talk my EOC into getting some mesh units to distribute among our shelter locations for ease of communication instantly around the city during disasters and exercises.
Not that this is the place to do anything but intros, but to explain this: SMS network relay requires us paying Twilio to provide the SMS gateway. Topo maps we also have to license from MapBox. That’s why those features cost money, but we do swallow the cost of the free offline maps which we also pay for (they’re just much more affordable than the topo maps.)
Hi there. Radin from Singapore here. I already received my Kickstater goTenna Mesh a week ago and trying them out.
Hope more Singaporean will join the mesh.
Hello everyone I originally purchased my GoTenna to be prepared in the event of catastrophe, I’m looking forwarded in the future to purchase quite a few more for family and friends to have as well. I currently only have two GoTenna’s not the Mesh’s but I will buy probablt about 8 maybe 10 in specific because my family is quite scattered across the U.S. & also have family in Mexico I would love to give these as gifts. the first time I’ve heard of these I was baffled as to how I never heard of suck product I just had to buy a couple on the spot. I live in the city but was made for the outdoors, hope their is others in Dallas you all have a nice day.
Hello everyone! My name is Chad, I am a paid firefighter with a town outside of Charleston, SC. I am also an endurance event thinker-upper. I host running events from 5k to 212 miles in length. (www.eagle-endurance.com). I plan to use the mesh devices (once I get them mailed to me) primarily for my running events. Most of the events happen in remote locations with very spotty cell service. So by creating a mesh network and getting participants to download the app, I should be able to remain in contact with all of my participants should they need to contact me. The second use would be for the Fire Department. If our communications ever go down, having these devices should allow the 2 fire trucks assigned to my station the ability to stay in contact with each other during a natural disaster.
Allo everyone I figured I ought to get around to actually posting in the introduction post oops.
I’m a computer engineer in the Delmarva region. Mostly I just like toys, and have a minor level of paranoia about being prepared and ready for situations whether or not they are logical
I’ve got portable solar panels, loads of USB batteries, and more small gadgetry than is reasonable I backed the original gotenna, and when the Mesh came out I was even more excited, since I’ve been interested in decentralized networks since the Shadowrun 5th edition books came out and provided a damn good reason why Mesh networks should exist.
Honestly, I’ve never even been in a situation where I needed to use the original gotenna, and I won’t likely ever be in a situation where I’ll need to use the Mesh. But if I ever am I’ll be ready at least. I’m looking forward to the developments that other users come up with, since I could see some really useful things coming out of it. If we can figure a way to connect to computers even better
Guess I’ll introduce myself. Amateur radio, tinker, cyclist, photographer, etc. I liked the idea of Gotenna when I first read about it, but I held off getting it when I read about Gotenna Mesh. Love the idea of creating a citizen powered communications network. I already have some plans for a solar powered weatherproof enclosure with the hopes that I’ll be able to mount it on the roof of the office I work at in downtown Raleigh.
On a more personal note in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria I have family in Puerto Rico that I still haven’t heard from. By far, I’m not the only one. I can only imagine the frustration and fear that comes from not knowing when support is coming or even knowing how to send distress call when needed. For many citizens, communications begins and ends with our cell phones. I have been in situations where being able to reach friends without a cell phone signal is frustrating. What my relatives and fellow islanders are going through goes beyond ‘frustrating.’
This tool is arriving just as I’m understanding the grand importance of reliable communication.
) I am NERT certified in San Francisco (CERT for the rest of the country), and believe in being prepared. The infrastructure we rely so heavily on day to day is incredibly fragile. I am excited about gotenna mesh because besides being a cool thing to use at Burning Man to see where my peeps are at, it provides a simple way to enable communications when it really matters. Shout out to the hams. You rock. When life has settled a bit (I’m moving from SF to St Paul MN in Nov) I’m going to get my license.
I am located on west burnside in Portland Oregon.
