_ I posted to Portland dance community about MeshCore. I basically copy and paste to here so that easy to see the whole. I also edited some amount.

Hello dance people 🌲🕊️

_ I wanted to share something I’ve been enjoying for about a year as a tool for community connection and resilience: mesh networks.

_ Over the past few months, there’s been a noticeable shift among technical folks toward MeshCore, as it’s quickly become practical—at least across Portland, from downtown to the Mt. Tabor area as of today, and expanding pretty fast.

_ MeshCore is a local, off-grid communication network that allows devices to connect directly with one another — no internet, no cell service, no intermediaries.

It’s designed to support communities on their own terms.

_ This can be especially valuable for:

_ large dance events and retreats

_ outdoor or remote venues

_ moments when digital infrastructure lets us down

_ emergencies, power outages, or disruptions

_ 🌱 Why MeshCore matters to me

_ decentralized by nature — no single point of control

_ privacy as a foundation, not an afterthought

_ built on trust between people, not dependence on platforms

_ invisible until needed, reliable when called upon

_ You might think of it as:

_ “quiet infrastructure that holds space for community care.”

_ This isn’t about adopting new technology for its own sake.

It’s about offering an option that reflects values many of us already live by.

_ If you’re drawn to:

_ community care and collective safety

_ event coordination or support structures

_ resilience thinking and preparedness

_ exploring how technology can serve consent-based culture

_ I’d love to connect — whether that’s a conversation, a small demo, or simply sharing resources.

Feel free to comment or reach out directly 🌿

How MeshCore works?

_ It’s similar to how many people set up Wi-Fi hotspots, but using LoRa instead.

_ LoRa devices can communicate over much longer distances while using very little power, which means they can often run on small, inexpensive solar panels or a battery.

_ Traditional Wi-Fi hotspots usually don’t talk to each other.

_ MeshCore LoRa repeaters (or Meshtastic devices), on the other hand, pass messages between nodes, creating a true mesh network.

_ That makes them practical for outdoor events, remote locations, or situations where power and internet aren’t reliable.

Cover distance

_ As of today, folks in Portland are receiving messages from Vancouver, BC; Medford, Oregon; and Newport, Oregon.

_ Compared to the Portland downtown ↔ Mt. Tabor connection, these longer-distance links aren’t as stable yet, but it’s still exciting to see them coming through.

_ In typical Portland residential areas, LoRa devices usually reach about 0.5 to 1 mile, depending on antenna height and local conditions.

Basics

_ The mesh network community is moving to MeshCore quickly, so there isn’t yet a single place with all the best and up-to-date information.

_ Most Meshtastic devices work well with MeshCore, which makes getting started easier. This is a good reference list of commonly used Meshtastic hardware. Because you are living in U.S., please choose 915MHz version:

_ Rockland

_ That said, it’s important to confirm compatibility using the MeshCore Installer (WebFlasher), since a few Meshtastic devices are not yet ready for MeshCore:

_ MeshCore firmware web flasher

_ Documentation and explanations for MeshCore are still a bit hard to find, but so far this video is probably the best overview available:

_ The Comms Channel Youtube (There's a newcomer to the Mesh world)

_ If you are so into MeshCore and feels like joining developing the software, this is the developers web.

_ The MeshCore Web

Starting MeshCore near Portland Oregon

_ You’ll need one LoRa device for MeshCore (or Meshtastic) near downtown Portland.

If you’re comfortable with a bit of technical setup, you can start with devices around $27 (like T-Echo Lite).

_ For a simpler, more plug-and-play experience devices in the $40–$115 range work well.

_ Rockland

_ If you’re in the greater Portland Metro area, you may also want an additional device (repeater) placed near a window or in an attic to improve coverage.

MeshCore vs Meshtastic

_ If your focus is sensor networks, short-range coverage (under ~3 miles), or moving small groups, Meshtastic is usually the better choice.

For static setups, long-range communication, human-to-human messaging, or larger groups, MeshCore tends to be more practical.

Low cost but technical way to start MeshCore.

_ Below are two budget-friendly options, though note that connecting an external battery , an internal battery and solar panel is not always straightforward. Many low-power devices draw so little current that typical “auto-off” external batteries assume no one is using them and shut off automatically. Also you need to hold a very very small button by your finger nail for the firmware update. Still these are great for learning device.

_ High power consumption cost-effective option – $9.90 + $6.75 shipping:

_ Low-power consumption cost-effective option – ~8× more efficient – $13.49 + $6.75 shipping:

_ The T-Echo Lite (without shell, 915 MHz) option is $14.29 + $12 shipping. It’s also a low-power consumption device.

One advantage is that it’s easy to connect an internal battery or a solar panel. ⚡

Important: Be very careful with the internal battery connection — the + (red) and – (black) lines are often reversed on many batteries, so double-check before connecting.

_ I would like to introduce my most popular pod cast audio media. The content is about a dialogue with Lesley about ranks.

_ The title is "Rank Part 2 Dialogue"

_ You can listen by Spotify

_ You can listen by Apple Pod Cast too

_ Portland had Neighborhood Emergency Teams City Wide Deployment exercise as a part of IronOR 24 statewide exercise last night.

_ I joined Irvington neighborhood team as known as 🦺　meshtastic nodes.

_ I was a bit surprised because the private channels were more useful than I was imagining.

_ We also used FRS radio and GMRS radio.

_ seeing history of communications visually is very complimentary to real time radio audio communication.

_ My learning was:

_ putting message numbers like #1 #2 #3 manually.

_ ask receivers if they get message #1 to #3.

_ the sender get some level of idea if receivers got the messages.

_ BBS medium fast East direction test util 3-7%

_ 0.7 miles mf was ok. You need more multiple attempts to just angle etc.

_ 0.6 miles east mf is more practical bbs use distance

_ 0.4 miles is easy. The device can stay inside of my car.

_ I have compared Meshtastic BBS (TC²-BBS) practicality using LongFast, MediumSlow and MediumFast at SE Portland residential area.

I thought LongFast had advantages because of reach and other nodes hop.

Actually LS was about 0.5 miles practical distance and MS was about 0.9 -1.0 miles practical distance.

The antenna was original and hight was first floor.

That means typical one neighborhood in SE can be covered by one or two BBS nodes.

I also noticed when I used my BBS, the channel utilization went to 30-32% using LF. 15-17% using MS.

MF was about 0.8-0.9 miles practical distance. I also noticed when I used my BBS, the channel utilization went to 3.3% using MF.

LF 0.5-0.8 miles-30-32% util

MS 0.9-1.0 miles -15-17% util

MF 0.8-0.9 miles - 3.3-3.4 % util

_ LF is about 55 active nodes in two hours means about 15-20 % ch util usually. MS and MF both are pretty empty here.

_ All testing points are very few. So this results are just rough impressions base.

_ I noticed LF sometimes need long waiting time to see responses from BBS.

_ I took part in Wildness First Aid continual education training today.

_ I believe I was trained START triage when I became a volunteer for Oregon Portland city Neighborhood Emergency Team. I was aware that the triage was moved to a bit different one. I got to know more details about SALT triage today.

_ Please find more details about SALT triage with web site below.

_ I updated back ends of my web server. My web host OS was FreeBSD. I moved to Ubuntu.

_ This is group work focusing on Asia and Asian. All people with and without race and regional identities are welcome. I had dream with short experimental meeting with diverse couples and people including Korean and Chinese people. I worked on the dream and decided to create a group.

10/10/2021　- 8:45 am - 9:45 am japan time 10/9/2021 - 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm Portland, Oregon time (PST)

Please express your interest. You will receive the zoom link.

more detail please see facebook event page below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/6589381887753692/

_ Upgraded to FreeBSD 12.2. tDiary stopped working.

the message was

"freebsd Could not find rake-13.0.1 in any of the sources (Bundler::GemNotFound)"

looks like system could not find gem and bundler.

I went to new location /usr/ports/devel/ruby-gems

uninstalled old version by

> sudo make deinstall

> make install RUBY_VER=2.6

and

> gem install bundler

I went to tDiary directory

> bundler

everything was fixed.

_ COVID infection number can taken 16 to 50 times different depending on how people are handling.

Death number also can be handled 2 times to 5 times different that more realistic number.

So I trust death number than infection number.

I also see many statics use just numbers but when you compare you need to use per capita, otherwise you can not compare the quality of interventions.

https://youtu.be/-Fo9C9Qo-nw