What is DenverMesh and Meshtastic all about?

What can it do?

Meshtastic is a bit like a decentralized social media platform or SMS text messaging. It has a number of different features which will be familiar to anyone who has sent a text message or posted on social media.
1) Primary Channel: You can broadcast an unencrypted message to the Primary Channel and everyone on your mesh will see it. This is a bit like “posting” publicly on a social media platform.

2) Group Channels: You can send an encrypted message to a select group of people on a Secondary Channel and everyone who is subscribed to that channel will get it. People can join the channel if you provide them with an encryption key which you can send to them via Direct Message or which they can scan from a QR code in person. This is a bit like a private group on social media, or a group text message chain on SMS.

3) Direct Messages: You can send encrypted direct messages to people on the mesh. This is like a private text message or a DM on social medial.

4) Location: If you choose to enable it you can send your location to the mesh and it will show up on everyone’s map in the app.

5) Connect Worldwide: If anyone on your local mesh is running an MQTT gateway your local mesh will connect to the other meshes around the world. This can allow you to broadcast messages to everyone globally or send encrypted messages to groups or individuals worldwide.

6) Telemetry Data: Nodes can be set up to send telemetry data like the battery status or signal strength, which is helpful for monitoring remote solar-powered nodes. Nodes can also have sensors connected to them which allow them to send data on temperature, humidity, or air pressure which allow them to act like weather stations.

Why build this network?

1) Community: Because this is essentially a city-wide group text message chain we are hoping people use the network to build community. Tell the group where your band is playing tonight, chat about local politics, ask for a good cheese dip recipe, etc.

2) Disasters: If the power goes out this network should allow people to continue to communicate with each other without electricity, cell phone coverage, or internet. This big city-wide group text chain could allow people to ask for help or offer assistance. People could get information about where warming centers are open or ask who in their neighborhood still has power. People could also send encrypted direct messages to check in on friends and family or they could send encrypted group messages to coordinate privately in a group.

3) Decentralized, Open, and Resilient: Denver Mesh is decentralized - there is no central server or corporation - all the communication bounces through the entire mesh. Denver Mesh is open to everyone - you don't have to ask permission to join and all of the software is open-source. Denver Mesh is resilient - our solar-powered radios don't need cell phone towers, internet access, or electricity. We hope this project will inspire others to build things that are decentralized, open, and resilient.

What kind of coverage does the mesh network have?

As of Winter 2024 we're setting up nodes and looking to provide connectivity throughout the Denver Metro area and throughout Colorado. Below is a map showing a recent snapshot of nodes in the Greater Metro Area. If you setup a meshtastic device, this is an example of what you'd see...