Using ChatterBox
Cheat Sheet: Using a communicator
Message Types: DM vs Broadcast
ChatterBox Screens
The main ChatterBox screen
View nearby devices, locations, signal strengths
Information about any on-cluster device
Yours and others’ last known location & heading
Common Tasks
Securely send message to all in-range trusted devices.
Send message to a single device/person
Add a new device to your cluster
Configure a new cluster or new device (alias/etc)
Interact with an on-cluster proximity sensor
Interact with an on-cluster relay (on-off) switch
General Tips
Leave Devices Running
ChatterBox meshing features work best when all devices are available to participate in the mesh cache at all times.
Line of sight is important, but ChatterBox signals are able to penetrate many obstacles. Having one or two central/well-placed devices will substantially help your cluster perform better.
The Node firmware is tuned to be highly efficient for meshing, packet caching, time synchronization, and more. A few well-placed nodes can make your cluster extremely resilient.
Different antennas have very different characteristics. To span a large gap between nodes, you may want to try a directional/yagi antenna.
Be Patient
ChatterBox is not SMS or an online messenger, where the internet or other centralized system is assumed to be always available. Rather, ChatterBox is designed to work in extremely sub-optimal conditions and the absence of anything like that.
All devices in your cluster share the responsibility of delivering messages/locations/etc, and must coordinate without any centralized server/authority.
This is much different from other modern systems, and often requires devices to wait on packets to propagate throughout the cluster, which can sometimes take minutes, rather than seconds.