cross-posted from: https://lemmy.radio/post/4523050
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By supporting networking (and also using a mesh to increase range).
As I understand “walkie talkie” radios, the spectrum they use (GMRS/FRS/CB/MURS, etc) isn’t permitted to transmit data in a way that’s useful for proper data networking (there’s some allowance for data but not really anything like what most people think of as networking, and encryption is right out of the question).
For the most part, these radio specs can only increase range by use of repeaters. IIRC meshtastic takes a mesh approach to increasing range and reliability.
It is text-based only. And since it’s such a small amount of data, it can be transmitted a much longer distance.
There’s also the Mesh part where if two nodes (radios) are too far apart, and another node is in between, it can act as an intermediary/relay to increase distance. You can use ~4 nodes (3 hops) in this way.
Communications are also encrypted.
Oh this is making some sense to me now. Will this replace or augment iMessage one day?
Hehe no. It is text/emoji only. Best used in places where cell networks don’t exist, go down, or become saturated, or some combination.
