In Switzerland there seems to be a real meshtastic pack in our region of Aargau, let’s see if one or the other is there, or other participants from Switzerland
Meldet eu doch do 
73&55 Haflinger73
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I am in Hinwil - Züri Oberland - If you want we could find a suitable elevated location (or two of needed) so we could establish a link. Let me know your approximate location so I can play around in heywhatsthat.com a bit… I am still working on a solar repeater project to connect to someone in another valley. Meshtastic activity has increased massively in recent months, but there still aren’t any fixed repeaters in useful locations yet. So far it is just nerds driving around in their cars and doing range tests and the like. BTW, haflingers are very cool, do you have the twin cylinder boxer variant or the one that runs on grass?
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Hello michi
I still write in English (i.e. Google translate) so that everyone can read along. Thanks for the reply. I am from the Brugg (Remigen) region and we have a functioning network here in the region, all the way to Lake Zurich (it will soon be tight with 4-5 hops to reach everyone). Due to the topography, we already have several well-placed routers here (most with solar). I already have 2 solar routers running myself, one will follow in the next 2-3 weeks on the Lägern near Baden (a good location at 800 meters above sea level). Yes heywhatsthat is a cool tool, there are even better ones. Since I am also a passionate CB radio operator, I have been working on propagation conditions for a long time. It’s quite a distance to Hinwil. In general, the nodes in Switzerland are distributed very selectively. On a trip to Wildhaus via Wintherthur, I only recorded one Mesher in Germany and last week via Bern in the Diemtigtal I recorded 2 nodes in Solothurn. Here in Aargau we have almost 40 devices in the air and an almost seamless network. Maybe it will work with a connection. As for the Haflingers, I have three of them that don’t need any hay or straw
Remigen, huh? So, if you place a repeater on “Top of Geissberg” we should be able to establish a link, according to heywhatsthat. You are about 57km from my home address, my longest link so far was 46km into Dettighofen(DE) [Elrir Router], have you ever seen that one pop up in your node list? Maybe it is time for me to get a serious antenna, I’ve only ever played around with the simple ones that come with the t-beams, t-loras and the RAK.
I played with CB too, i noticed that CB has pretty much the same kind of reach as meshtastic, it’s just that the Antennas are super unwieldy and repeaters are very hard to do and need 400 watts worth of solar (no one does this), so overcoming topology is not happening most of the time. Also, getting normies to participate is nearly impossible, meshtastic on the other hand is just another messenger app on people’s phone.
If a repeater was placed in this designated area…
…, then pretty much all of Züri Oberland would be reachable from your neck of the woods:
This is the coverage of the one solar node I am about to place.
Just doodling around on heywhatsthat…
What were those other tools that are even better?
Yes, I would even have access to the Geissberg transmission tower (145m) from my employer . At the top, the node could be charged overnight via anti-collision light. But the tower belongs to many providers, it is not that easy. Yes, with your node, we would have the interface on site. Exactly, we also have the Elrir on our map in the Dettighofen DE area. Yes, CB radio is my second passion, especially antenna construction and yes the parts are huge, so it’s easier to build something on 868Mhz. On to the little stubby antennas. They’re not that bad. If you attach a large rod antenna with 8dbi (which is almost unrealistic) and then have 30-40cm of cable in between, you will be wasting most of the profit. I’ve already measured everything. What’s better than heywhatsthat: https://www.ve2dbe.com/rmonline_s.asp you can calculate the transmission power, antenna gain etc. everything.
A picture from my Dimand-Loop Tripel Element:
In the last few years, I have been able to win every major CB contest in Switzerland with various antenna designs 
Wow! I just realized there are some users in the region to talk to once I setup my nodes (which are on the way to be delivered to me :-)). I will join the club the next few weeks in the region of Aarau/Lenzburg. Let‘s connect!
Hello ydontwe
Aarau/Lenzburg is still sparsely populated, but take your node up a hill and it will definitely work from there. We really have an active group here in the Brugg/Limmatthal region. Kind regards Haflinger73
Hi Lun.
Placing a router onto the Lägern is a good idea. I also planned to do that. Soon we will have a nice network in the Brugg, Baden, Zurzach area.
I would love to support the network but I am a bit concerned in terms of legal aspects when it comes to deploy a node somewhere on a hill.
What’s the acceptable way to put a node in an public area? Is the “Amateur-Funk” community in Switzerland interested in the Meshtastic topic to get some support from their side?
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Hey Guys, Hoi zäme,
Still a newby to the radio and meshtastic scene, it is good to see you guys coming online here.
With the support of LUN, I am planning to open a Facebook group for Meshtastic users in Switzerland in order to have an online meeting-point in German. That should further ease the entry into the scene for many.
I currently operate one router in Hausen (bei Brugg). Furthermore I am planning to setup one or two solar powered routers in Möriken on private ground soon. And, by the end of March I should learn more about potential possibilities to mount a router on the transmission tower “Chestenberg”. See also Chestenberg Antenne | Mapio.net
I defenitely will need expert-level knowledge about how to build and deploy a router in a height of 20m above ground. 
So any help is welcome.
With the nodes in Möriken (Chestenberg 645m), the Lenzburg Region should get already quite some coverage and even locations located up the river Aare towards Aarau.
As I am working in Zürich-Altstetten I am keen to expand the mesh throughout Limmattal. So, anyone who would know about good locations for deploying routers in that area, I would be happy to learn about them.
So, let us grow that mesh!
Best Regards,
Frank
Regarding reaching out to “Amateur Funker” I already contacted the following group:
https://www.hb9am.ch/index.php?op=news
I will meet them in persona for the first time end of March. A quick survey in that group of 12 revealed that about 5 of them would be interested in using Meshtastic devices. They seem to have many projects going already, so it may require quite some involvement and support from “our” side to reach the goal to deploy a router on Chestenberg. I will keep you posted here and/or in the coming Facebook group.
As an idea, I could imagine that Meshtastic would find support in the firefighter, first responder and civil service (Zivilschutz) scene. Maybe firefighters would be willing to place and run a router in their firefighter stations for a start?
FYI: I will discuss this use-case with Zivilschutz Aargau Ost (https://www.zso-ago.ch/) end of March. As per today the process of contacting the members is heavily relying on public infrastructure (SMS & phone, even post mail). Alternative solutions which are not relying on centralized infrastructure with limited resources (especially mobile network and Polycom) might be interesting.
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Very good idea. If that gets broader support we might want to support them with putting together a guide on how to build solar powered routers.
The use-cases by Firefighting, Rescue and “Zivilschutz” services may generate the necessary political weight for allowing the installation of routers to higher elevated places - solving the potential legal issues that may arise with doing so when done privately. Ideally the local communities should care about deploying and maintaining routers.
The whole thing is developing in a very good direction 
Frank, we are already in contact and I would be happy to offer help as an “industrial climber” again if things work out with the Chestenberg. Yes, we should really start the Facebook group, I think that would give Switzerland a nice push. We really have one Great group in the Brugg/Wohlen/Limmattal area. Concerning the fire department. I’m starting a 2-3 month test with our local fire department in Döttingen/Klingnau/Koblenz on February 29th with 15 knots as an emergency alarm option. I’ve already installed 3 solar routers and the goal is to get there by the middle To equip the entire Zurzi area with the Meshtastic system in 2025 if the test is positive. We are happy to discuss this via PM. Greetings Simon Haflinger73
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Since I live in the “low-land” I was looking for a good place for a solar powered router covering a larger area and found a silo by a farm on a nearby small hill, providing additional height if mounted on the metal railings on top of it. I think I would try to discuss installation up there with the owner, but first would need a solar powered router. Since I can solder and programm, I would need some help, guides and if somewhere available old material that could be reused to build a stable running setup.
So I don’t want to do a guerilla installation, I what a good place where I could maintain it when needed. And I think a silo out of fiberglass could be a real good place with a quite good height, a ladder and mounting points.
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.8769851,7.5244886,34a,35y,89.43h,74.65t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
I now reliably reach the router on the Lägern, according to traceroute. Thanks Lun! Maybe it’s due to my first homebrew antenna:
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Hello Michi, I’m glad, yes HR04 is mine. There may be a second one with a better antenna (I received the N-type to Ipex adapter today ).
Your triple-leg ground plane antenna looks interesting. You could probably shorten the 3 radials by half, as the length is essentially canceled out by the wires being laid around.
Kind regards Haflinger73 Simon (what is your node called?) Try sending a direct message.