If you dont use the default LongFast meshtastic is really empty. I switched my node to MediumSlow, since it’s like 86% faster than LongFast. I knew there would not be any in my area, so I subscribed to the msh/US MQTT topic and theres still nobody else. I’m going to leave it like that for a while and see if I hear anything during any kind of band openings or catch any other MQTT nodes trying out that topic. And yes, both uplink and downlink are enabled. I do know that there are some nodes in the Bay Area on msh/US/mqtt-bayme-sh, but I am not near their.
How high is your node?
I live on a hill, mostly above the city.
I’ve tried 3db and 5db antennas. Also walking around the city.
Verified my nodes work and can talk to each other.
Occasionally get an unknown node from a passing train or a message from a flight.
I think there’s just no users here tbh. South east England.
I think a lot of the UK has gone over to meshcore but at least personally I wouldn’t use it because the app is not open source and I refuse to use anything that’s not open source if I can at all avoid it. https://meshcore.co.uk/
Also, keep your antenna game down. That 3DBI is fine. And even the 5DBI is okay. But much higher than that. And you’ll start to see problems with elevation changes. Not wanting to let your nodes communicate.
have you tried reticulum?
Not yet, no.