$20 Open-Source Meshtastic Board Hits 832 km on 25 mW: LoRa Mesh for Off-Grid Messaging
TinfoilTricorn · x · 2026-09-05
A thread on Meshtastic, an open-source firmware for cheap LoRa radios ($20): it trades speed for range, capping messages at 237 bytes (text only), but signals slip under the noise floor — a few kilometers in cities, tens of kilometers in open terrain.
Records: 331 km ground-to-ground, and one balloon packet landed 832 km away using just 25 mW, roughly 40x less power than a phone. Every mesh node relays up to 7 hops; batteries last weeks, solar removes the concern entirely. Encrypted by default, Bluetooth pairing, no account, no monthly fee.
Use cases: hurricanes, blackouts, wildfires, and valleys no carrier will ever cover because there's no one there to bill.
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