meshing-around

Random Mesh Scripts for Network Testing and BBS Activities for Use with Meshtastic Nodes

mesh_bot.sh

The feature-rich bot requires the internet for full functionality. These responder bots will trap keywords like ping and respond to a DM (direct message) with pong! The script will also monitor the group channels for keywords to trap. You can also Ping @Data to Echo as an example.

Along with network testing, this bot has a lot of other fun features, like simple mail messaging you can leave for another device, and when that device is seen, it can send the mail as a DM.

The bot is also capable of using dual radio/nodes, so you can monitor two networks at the same time and send messages to nodes using the same bbspost @nodeNumber #message or bbspost @nodeShportName #message function. There is a small message board to fit in the constraints of Meshtastic for posting bulletin messages with bbspost $subject #message.

The bot will report on anyone who is getting close to the configured lat/long, if in a remote location.

Store and forward-like message re-play with messages, and there is a repeater module for dual radio bots to cross post messages. Messages are also logged locally to disk.

The bot can also be used to monitor a radio frequency and let you know when high SNR RF activity is seen. Using Hamlib(rigctld) to watch the S meter on a connected radio. You can send alerts to channels when a frequency is detected for 20 seconds within the thresholds set in config.ini

Any messages that are over 160 characters are chunked into 160 message bytes to help traverse hops, in testing, this keeps delivery success higher.

Full list of commands for the bot.

• Various solar details for radio propagation (spaceWeather module)
  • sun and moon return info on rise and set local time
  • solar gives an idea of the x-ray flux
  • hfcond returns a table of HF solar conditions
• Bulletin Board (BBS) functions
  • bbshelp returns the following
  • bbslist list the messages by ID and subject
  • bbsread read a message example use: bbsread #1
  • bbspost post a message to public board or send a DM example use: bbspost $subject #message, or bbspost @nodeNumber #message or bbspost @nodeShportName #message
  • bbsdelete delete a message example use: bbsdelete #4
• Other functions
  • whereami returns the address of location of sender if known
  • tide returns the local tides, NOAA data source
  • wx and wxc returns local weather forecast, (wxc is metric value), NOAA or Open Meteo for weather forcasting.
  • wxa and wxalert return NOAA alerts. Short title or expanded details
  • joke tells a joke
  • messages Replay the last messages heard, like Store and Forward
  • motd or to set the message motd $New Message Of the day
  • lheard returns the last 5 heard nodes with SNR, can also use sitrep
  • cmd returns the list of commands (the help message)

pong_bot.sh

Stripped-down bot, mostly around for archive purposes. The mesh-bot enhanced modules can be disabled by config to disable features.

Hardware

The project is written on Linux on a Pi and should work anywhere Meshtastic Python modules will function, with any supported Meshtastic hardware. While BLE and TCP will work, they are not as reliable as serial connections.

Install

Clone the project with git clone https://github.com/spudgunman/meshing-around code is under a lot of development, so check back often with git pull Copy config.template to config.ini and edit for your needs.

Optionally:

• install.sh will automate optional venv and requirements installation.
• launch.sh will activate and launch the app in the venv if built.

Configurations

Copy the config.template to config.ini and set the appropriate interface for your method (serial/ble/tcp). While BLE and TCP will work, they are not as reliable as serial connections. There is a watchdog to reconnect tcp if possible.

#config.ini
# type can be serial, tcp, or ble.
# port is the serial port to use; commented out will try to auto-detect
# hostname is the IP address of the device to connect to for TCP type
# mac is the MAC address of the device to connect to for ble type

[interface]
type = serial
# port = '/dev/ttyUSB0'
# hostname = 192.168.0.1
# mac = 00:11:22:33:44:55

# Additional interface for dual radio support See config.template for more.
[interface2]
enabled = False

The following pair of settings determine how to respond: The default action is to not spam the default channel. Setting'respond_by_DM_only'` will force all messages to be sent to DM, which may not be wanted. Setting the value to False will allow responses in the channel for all to see.

Setting the default channel is the channel that won't be spammed by the bot. It's the public default channel 0 on the new Meshtastic firmware. Anti-Spam is hard-coded into the responder to prevent abuse of the public channel.

[general]
respond_by_dm_only = True
defaultChannel = 0

The weather forcasting defaults to NOAA but for outside the USA you can set UseMeteoWxAPI True to use a world weather API. The lat and lon are for defaults when a node has no location data to use.

[location]
enabled = True
lat = 48.50
lon = -123.0
UseMeteoWxAPI = True

Modules can be disabled or enabled.

[bbs]
enabled = False

[general]
DadJokes = False
StoreForward = False

Sentry Bot detects anyone comeing close to the bot-node

# detect anyone close to the bot
SentryEnabled = True
# radius in meters to detect someone close to the bot
SentryRadius = 100
# holdoff time multiplied by seconds(20) of the watchdog
SentryChannel = 9
# channel to send a message to when the watchdog is triggered
SentryHoldoff = 2
# list of ignored nodes numbers ex: 2813308004,4258675309
sentryIgnoreList = 

The BBS has admin and block lists; see the config.template

A repeater function for two different nodes and cross-posting messages. The'repeater_channels` is a list of repeater channel(s) that will be consumed and rebroadcast on the same number channel on the other device, node, or interface. Each node should have matching channel numbers. The channel names and PSK do not need to be the same on the nodes. With great power comes great responsibility; danger could lurk in the use of this feature! If you have the two nodes in the same radio configuration, you could create a feedback loop!!!

# repeater module
[repeater]
enabled = True
repeater_channels = [2, 3]

A module allowing a Hamlib compatible radio to connect to the bot, when functioning it will message the channel configured with a message of in use. Requires hamlib/rigctld to be running as a service.

[radioMon]
enabled = False
rigControlServerAddress = localhost:4532
# channel to brodcast to can be 2,3
sigWatchBrodcastCh = 2
# minimum SNR as reported by radio via hamlib
signalDetectionThreshold = -10
# hold time for high SNR
signalHoldTime = 10
# the following are combined to reset the monitor
signalCooldown = 5
signalCycleLimit = 5

requirements

Python 3.4 and likely higher is needed, developed on latest release.

The following can also be installed with pip install -r requirements.txt or using the install.sh script for venv and automation

pip install meshtastic
pip install pubsub

mesh-bot enhancements

pip install pyephem
pip install requests
pip install geopy
pip install maidenhead
pip install beautifulsoup4
pip install dadjokes
pip install geopy

The following is needed for open-meteo use

pip install openmeteo_requests
pip install retry_requests
pip install numpy

To enable emoji in the Debian console, install the fonts sudo apt-get install fonts-noto-color-emoji

Recognition

I used ideas and snippets from other responder bots and want to call them out!

• https://github.com/Murturtle/MeshLink
• https://github.com/pdxlocations/meshtastic-Python-Examples
• https://github.com/geoffwhittington/meshtastic-matrix-relay

GitHub user PiDiBi looking at test functions and other suggestions like wxc, CPU use, and alerting ideas Discord and Mesh user Cisien, and github Hailo1999, for testing and ideas!