Blackout Comms Support
Device / Cluster Setting Up
Watch demo of setting up & using a Pager
Check out our user group on Reddit and our YouTube channel.
Onboarding a Device
To add a new device to your private cluster, it must be onboarded. Only the root device can onboard new devices to your cluster.
Setting Up a New Device
If we built you a kit, you can skip this. If you build it yourself, you'll need to flash and setup devices as shown here.
Compare with Meshtastic
Blackout Comms is easier to use by design, does not rely on your phone, and requires very little to no configuration out of the box.
Blackout Comms uses deterministic and always adapting path planning, by combining shortest path algorithms and the decentralized mesh graph. Meshtastic uses "spray and pray"
Blackout Comms enforces and automates digital signature, asymmetric encryption, and unpredictable frequency hopping. Blackout Comms packetizes and stripes your encrypted messages across multiple unpredictable frequencies. Meshtastic does not enforce/automate digital signatures, uses hand-typed symmetric keys (passwords) and sits on a single frequency.
General Tips
Be Patient
Blackout Comms is for backup or private communication using extremely limited bandwidth offered by LoRa. Fast deliveries can take anywhere from 5 seconds to 3 minutes. Slower deliveries may take 10-15 minutes or more.
Trust the Meshing
Blackout Comms uses different strategies to deliver your message and location in different situations. Instead of forcing instant deliveries, allow Mesh delivery and let your device sleep for a few minutes.
Leave Devices Running
Blackout Comms’ meshing features work best when it learns connectivity patterns for all devices. Most meshing occurs when your communicator’s screen is asleep!
Position Devices
Line of sight is important, but Blackout Comms signals are able to penetrate many obstacles and automatically re-send missed packets. Having 1 or 2 well-placed devices will help your entire cluster perform better.
Add Links
Blackout Comms link firmware is tuned to be highly efficient for meshing, packet caching, time synchronization, and more. One or more well-placed links can make your cluster extremely resilient.
Important Icons
