Meshtastic

How do I configure a channel correctly?

Support
#1

Hey,

first of all thanks for this amazing project!

I received my first 2 preconfigured T-Beam (433 MHz) boards today and got right to it. Attaching the antenna and display, connecting each device to one android device and updating the firmware (to 1.1.32) was straight forward and no problem at all.

But I haven’t managed to send a message across yet. First I tried without selecting a channel, not expecting results before entering a common channel. So I created a channel (medium range but fast) on one device and shared it with the apps sharing button via mail to the other devices connected phone. There, I clicked the link from the shared mail and after accepting the channel (showing the right name) it shows the same channel name now. But messages still won’t end up on the other devices display or the phones chat view. Also, there is only one “user” shown in the user list (on both sides) - I suppose it should show all users of the current group? I restarted both T-Beams and tried to create a new channel with the other device, exchanging the key via barcode - same result.

Thanks for any advice :slight_smile:

Cheers, Arne

EDIT: Adjusted the title in hopes it raises the chance of getting some help :slight_smile:

#2

You should be able to send messages using the default out of box channels.

Cam the two devices see each other? If you cycle through the screens using the middle button you should see on the second screen at the top 1/2 or 2/2 and then the next screen will show distance and bearing between the two devices. This will confirm that the devices are communicating

#3

Hi @arne,

I’ll help with this tomorrow morning (taiwan time)

-kevin

#4

Thanks much for your suggestions! When I tried to reproduce the behavior today and check the output of the second screen as you suggested, I found that the connection seemed to be established. So I tried again without changing anything and I could send a message from one phone to the other after both were connected to an active device within the same channel! So thanks a lot for magically helping me :slight_smile:

I still have a lot of questions about how this is all supposed to work, but maybe I can start putting together some instructions and have them reviewed here. And if I get it all right, maybe it can serve as some kind of beginners guide…

Thanks again and cheers!
Arne

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#5

This is an excellent idea. Over time, instructions of how to establish a number of channels correctly and use them would be ideal.

We might also benefit from something like a web interface or python API that could let us see all messages on all channels as a log for debugging. Such a dump from all of the nodes in a mesh, with device identification and good GPS time stamping included could make for some fantastic mesh performance analysis development over time.

Mostly I would want to help identify the case where software is working perfectly but the RF link between two given nodes is intermittent. There are lots of ways this could be dealt with at the application level, but finding ways to identify the use case is not trivial.

Good software coping with less than ideal real world conditions gracefully makes any packet communications system much more valuable in the long run.

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#6

Hi @Arne ,

In the meantime have a read thru here

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