If you dont use the default LongFast meshtastic is really empty. I switched my node to MediumSlow, since it’s like 86% faster than LongFast. I knew there would not be any in my area, so I subscribed to the msh/US MQTT topic and theres still nobody else. I’m going to leave it like that for a while and see if I hear anything during any kind of band openings or catch any other MQTT nodes trying out that topic. And yes, both uplink and downlink are enabled. I do know that there are some nodes in the Bay Area on msh/US/mqtt-bayme-sh, but I am not near their.
I see! Thank you, that’s hopeful then. Is it designed to be very local area, or is that just the way it is now? Could it one day be used in a more general way beyond chat?
That really depends on the nodes you have around you. If everyone is sitting in their houses with small Keychain nodes your mesh will never reach more than a few miles. But if you add a few key nodes in high places with good antenna then each hop of the mesh can easily reach 10+ miles. Even with the default 3-hop limit I’ve hit a town 60 miles away from me.
This thread is my first introduction to mesh and am curious if it might be worth investigating further. I looked at the map above and see that my nearest “neighbour” is about 900km away, then I see your post where you seem happy that you got 60 miles. I guess things would be quite for me for a looong time if I built a node.