I recently purchased a couple of nodes as an experiment to see if there is anything nearby, one on 868MHz and one on 433MHz. (Having thought further I should have got two of each so I can at least get them connected to each other). Both are wifi enabled so I can access via the home LAN but not Bluetooth. Both were flashed with the latest firmware a week ago. Both are sending data to a local MQTT. I expected very little from the supplied tiny antenna.
Today I moved both up to the loft and the 868MHz one has gained a collinear. Once booted that one announced a number of peers but all unknown - which was surprising as I expected nothing. The list keeps growing, for example:
Name: UNK: 3663117388
Model: UNSET
MAC: UNK
Last heard: 6 minutes ago
SNR: 0.5db/52.5%/52.5raw
I am using the Python CLI. When I send a test message on the 868 node the CLI says it has received an implicit ACK - I am assuming that this is because the node knows there are peers and expects that at least one will answer. The 433 node has no peers (still the tiny antenna so no surprise there) and that one times out when sending a test, adding weight to my assumption. So is my assumption correct, and if so are these 868MHz peers real or imaginary? I can’t imagine there are 46 peers nearby. I wasn’t expecting to see any.
The node configs are basically out of the box, primary channel 0, set as client and ‘long fast’.
I really didn’t expect anything at all so I am interested in what the 868MHz node actually got.
Thanks
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Dunno if it’s the same problem but it has the same feeling. I was confuzzled by a bunch of peers happening about 17 miles away, though hey this LoRA stuff has improved since last time.
Seems like these are MQTT peers, and that answer tells you how to KO that stuff. I found the android app cached 'em, so it’s not enough to turn off MQTT, and delete node_db, I had to restart the phone.
I believe MQTT is enabled out of the box, which is how i got caught out as soon as I enabled WiFi. Presumably MQTT is smart and only sends you nearby nodes rather than the whole world. It’s a nice feature, trunking these through the internet, but since you can’t tell these apart it can be misleading at first glance.
Thanks - I (hopefully) have the central MQTT disabled but I did do a node-db reset via the CLI, then they all come back one by one (of course they are not transmitting all the time). Note I am not using a phone at all, just commands sent over wifi.
But I’ve had a look at the meshtastic map and some of those received are close by, one is line of sight. So I am tending to believe what I am seeing is real. Of course, being stupid it took me a while to note that the map shows hex numbers whereas I am seeing decimals, then it clicked.
Early days, much to learn
I have range envy 
I am lonesome Billy-no-mates on this, other than my other stations. I think node-db is cached on the meshtastic board, and it also happens to be cached on the app. The clear node-db applies to the board. The peers on the app got more confusing once it had been cleared on the board until I bumped the app and they all went away. The CLI is probably a more pure experience of what is on the board than the app.
You can try a traceroute command like here which gives you a result if you are in real-time two-way connection. You need to have the same encryption key as the outstation. I have a secondary channel set to LongFast AQ== as per the docs so I would be able to see and relay default stations without sharing my loc with them. There’s only one RF channel on EU_868 else I’d also have to set that as default.
Right I’m getting my head around it now… traceroute fails immediately, and if I do a --nodes it only knows itself. But using the meshtastic Python library I can see data being broadcast by numerous other nodes. I’ll see if I can find the owner of one and see if they also pick up my node’s broadcasts.