After building my Medium Priced Solar Node, I wanted to explore cheaper options. I wanted to be able to build nodes to give to friends or community members to place in advantageous locations, and not feel like I was losing $100+ if it doesn’t work out. If you’ve been around the Meshtastic community for more than a month, you’ve almost certainly heard of the Harbor Breeze Solar Light hack. This involves using the solar panel, solar management board, battery, and enclosure from a low-cost solar light available in the USA at Lowes for less than $10.

So you’re interested in getting started with Meshtastic and you live in or around Philly. There are plenty of resources online to help you get started, but this article will walk you through some things that are specific to our area. Local Online Meshtastic Communities Phillymesh.net has been around forever, focused on Mesh networks in Philly, but has recently been revived as a hub for Meshtastic enthusiasts in the area. We generally congregate in our Philly Radio & Meshtastic (PRM) Discord server.

For most of the day, I can be found carrying a T-1000e in my pocket. My home has (or will have) a node on the roof with a longer range antenna, and my T-1000e works perfectly to keep myself connected to the mesh, even if my phone can’t connect all the way to my roof node via bluetooth. However, when I travel outside of the house the tiny antenna in the T-1000e leaves something to be desired.