Am I understanding use case correctly?

Builds / Use Cases
1

Hi,
I’m bit unsure about use cases for Meshtastic.
If I understood correctly I should be able to do:

  1. Person A at bottom of ski slope (has access to cellphone), person B is carrying a small meshtastic device (doesn’t have cellphone). Person A should be able to see where person B is at any given time and person B can send small message if needed without needing any extra device.

This can be extended to any such scenario (hiking / kid’s backpack / camping etc)
Is that correct understanding? Also if there are any beginner friendly reading material please point me to it.

2

Person A needs another device. In your scenario, its limited by BT range of the phone.

3
  • Person A would also need a meshtastic node to pair with their phone in order to see person B’s location, assuming there’s line of sight to receive the position broadcasts. Phones pair with the device via BLE which has a much more limited max range. Without a device of their own to pair with, they would not be able to connect with person B at all.
  • Person B: If all they have is a meshtastic node, and no phone to pair with, then they would be unable to send any messages unless they had either: a) device with keyboard attached or b) a device with a rotary dial attached and predefined canned messages configured (see: Canned Message Module Configuration | Meshtastic).
4

Ah ok.
So I need at least 2 Meshtastic devices.
Is node different than normal devices? Or just any 2 (or more devices) from Supported Devices | Meshtastic? (running on same frequency)

LoS is interesting, in real world scenarios generally it’s hard to get LoS though.

5

Replies above in bold.

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6

Thanks bought 2, gonna try few things and see how they work (mostly around city first and on hikes)

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