Feel free to steal this idea!
Hello Seatle area Meshies! I am George and I’ve already met up and done some awesome things with @amon and @Paul_Edward_Morris, only one problem: We need more people to adventure and test with! Lets step out of cyberspace and into IRL and do some amazing things!
Hey! I don’t facebook, but I just got a couple mesh units, and noticed this thread…I’m in the crown hill neighborhood, about 7 miles north of downtown seattle…
I don’t fb either, but have a relay node setup just off Alki beach. I have no idea if anyone has relayed through it tho. Still haven’t successfully hit the MOAN, if I can remember I’ll try next time I’m in the I90 bridge.
How to get the most out of your GoTenna Mesh units in the Seattle area UPDATED VERSION:
Short answer:
1. If you’re not using your unit keep it on so you can help keep the network going! Your Mesh unit will relay messages to other users even if your phone is not connected it to!
2. Have your unit as high as possible; an upper floor is way better than a basement.
3. Be outside when using your unit, buildings and/or building materials do a fine job of blocking radio signals. Yes this includes some types of glass.
4. Move to higher ground, the better the view the better the range you will have.
5. If you have any friends who live in a high rise condo let me know so I can talk them into letting me set up a MOAN unit in their place or on the roof.
6. Consider a relay unit located on a high hill if you’re down in a valley. Hell, I’ll even make you one!
7. I MIGHT be missing something, I hope not. A third revision will not make me look very smart.
Longer answer:
We don’t live in a flat part of the state, we have hills EVERYWHERE. While these hills are great for views and exercise they are NOT great for radio communication. It’s about radio line of sight, what the hell is that exactly? This is radio line of sight…
What makes GoTenna Mesh so awesome is that it is easy and possible to make it have crazy awesome range because each unit is a repeater. What is a radio repeater? It is this…
OK, great I just showed you some radio signal propagation basics, how the hell does this apply to real life? For the GoTenna Mesh Network to work well users need to be on/in both hills and valleys, well really all over the place. This is a concept called node saturation, meaning there needs to be a certain number of users in a given area in order to have a functioning network. I think the Seattle area has this already but users need to keep their units on in order to make a reliable network.
Having your units on will allow for the hops to happen. I call this the “hop zone”. A three hop message will travel like this…
You will send a message to your friend but a big ass hill is in the way and well radio signals don’t like things blocking them (like at all), good thing another awesome GoTenna Mesh user left their Mesh unit on! Now that message will go to another random user and then to the person you want to reach! This type of network is called a mobile ad hoc network or “MANET” for short.
Why I think this is so cool? It only relies on itself to function. No cell towers, no fiber optic cable, no switches, and no complicated infrastructure. Plus it uses something you already know how to use: Your cell phone.
Keep on Meshing…
-George Alex Ure II
Posting this map all over the place so people can see where they can hit the MOAN unit. More MOAN’s to come (seriously no pun intended).
Sssooooo @Paul_Edward_Morris is likely going to be able to put me in touch with the people who can get us a relay unit on the Columbia Tower. This is a huge deal (it’s only the tallest building in Seattle, giving crazy range to the network!). Can I get a heck yes?! Thank you @Paul_Edward_Morris!!!
My brother lives in Freemont and works downtown (3rd Ave). He’s not a social media kind of guy (more off grid oriented, living as much among the unnoticed masses as possible). I need to get him one of these devices – he and I have talked about them for a long minute.
My question about relay units on tall buildings as repeaters is this: has anyone tested the units for how much traffic they can handle? Putting one on the Columbia tower could well find itself very busy relaying messages. Has anyone reached the practical or theoretical limit to the number of messages per unit time a goTenna Mesh can handle? The larger the number of relay nodes, the less a problem this might be, but it will be interesting to see how the initial “big repeater points” handle the traffic!
I live on the east coast, but I’ll work on my brother! 
Update: 2/12 – I just ordered 4 more GTMs. I’ll send a pair to my bro in Seattle to get him up on the mesh (well, the active mesh if not this social media side). I’ll suggest that he puts up one as a relay node in a window of his office space “way up” (can’t recall which floor) in his downtown office and then use the other as an area node wherever he may roam.
BTW, thanks to @danielagotenna and @VirginiagoTenna for the Valentitne’s Day discount!!! 
Ok Seattle, since the hardware mod is close to being as perfect as it can be this is what’s next (let’s do this!)…
Operation: Mesh Network Parallel (MNP)
Objective: To make an independent communications network using goTenna Mesh that covers most if not all of the Seattle area. This will be useful to all users especially in an emergency situation when other means of communication are nonoperational.
Plan: Place goTenna Mesh DASS-RS/MOAN units in strategic locations in and around the Seattle area to provide goTenna Mesh coverage to users. Locations include roof tops, com towers, hill tops etc.
Considerations: The Seattle area is topographically speaking difficult. This can be overcome by multiple node placements, use of high gain directional and omnidirectional antennas. Nodes will need to be maintained at certain intervals.
What’s needed from the Mesh community: Access to high areas (roof tops of condos, commercial buildings etc), involvement in testing of the network, donations of time and necessary equipment (extra Mesh units, antennas, unit enclosures etc).
Special thanks to: @amon and @ShootAnyAngle 
Capital Hill, on the corner of 11th and E. Union St. I’m planning on moving one Gotenna to the roof. Anyone have a recommendation for a solar battery setup? Plus is there a way I can monitor the gotenna to make sure its still alive? I haven’t spent much time looking around this site yet so for give my ignorance.
This leaves the question why put a unit in “Relay” mode, if we can just turn it on and leave it allone…
The MOAN has been offline for the last month HOWEVER: It is back online now! New battery, old solar charge controller (the new one sucked), and a whole new attitude for the spring and summer!
Holler at me:
My GID is: 12064888987
The MOANs GID is: 91050117106145
Phones 
are connected to both!
#meshon
Just bought 2 pairs and trying to connect between Eastlake to Capitol Hill. I even set up a wall powered relay on a 4 story building. My current experience is that the range is really short, less than a quarter mile. The node map is pretty much useless because it’s not real time information and self appointed data. Is my experience different from yours? Please share before I return this product.
Hi LTC-
Sorry to hear that your range experience has been less than average. goTenna Mesh range is usually 0.5 - 1 mile in congested environments and 3-5 miles in open environments. With the 6 hops our beta users have now, this will extend the range much further.
I see that there are a few nodes between Eastlake and Capitol Hill but these might not be sufficient enough to relay the messages or they could be turned off.
@gua742 is our current Mesh Ambassador for Seattle. He has done some great testing in the past and I’m sure could do some testing with you now to try and strategically place nodes in between Eastlake and Capitol Hill. Feel free to DM him to set something up!
Hi Danielle,
Thank you for the response. I really wanted this to work because we are looking for a back up communication device between our Long Term Care pharmacy and the nursing home facilities that we serve. However even after purchasing and spreading out 8 nodes the topography and density of Seattle doesn’t allow it to be effective. We will be returning the devices and look for another solution.
Thank you,
! It will make your jaw drop!!!
