My Reticulum experiments started when I designed an rnode with an output power of 2 Watt (33 dBm). And soon after, I ended up in the rabbit hole. I now run several Reticulum nodes, including a Nomadnet page server, a public backbone and a propagation node. And the LoRa network is also still up and running. I even started to migrate my git server from the clearnet to Reticulum.

● Dell Wyse 3040 running Debian as a transport node with the following interfaces:

- Backbone (IPv4 and IPv6)

- TCPServer (IPv4 only)

This is my main node, located in my house. It is the gateway to the public Reticulum network. It is also an LXMF propagation node and serves some Nomadnet pages.

If another Reticulum system on my network wants to connect to the public Reticulum network it uses this server.

It is also possible to connect to the backbone interface from the internet via IPv4 (86.87.5.211:4242) and IPv6 ([2a02:a466:458a:1:bd82:821d:fe88:f0fa]:4242).

A propagation node (22c55f9002800074df29d51f43319a8a) is also available.

These Nomadnet pages are served from this server as well. The address is 2303795a202217399bd2d2ebeb6597cd.

● Raspberry Pi Zero 2W as a transport node with three interfaces:

- LoRa rnode at 434 MHz (2 W with a high gain antenna)

- TCPServer via wifi for local clients

- TCPClient which connects to the main transport node

This is the LoRa local area node, located in my back yard on a five meters high antenna mast. It is the gateway for local LoRa traffic as well as near by wifi devices.

● Raspberry Pi Zero 2W as a transport node with three interfaces:

- LoRa rnode at 434 MHz (17dBm with a small antenna)

- TCPServer via wifi for local clients

- AutoInterface for local IPv6 enabled clients

This is the LoRa mobile node. It bridges a local wifi network to the LoRa network and can be used in the field as a way to connect multiple phones and laptops to the LoRa mesh.

● Smartphone with Sideband and three interfaces:

- AutoInterface (Wifi)

- TCPClient interface (5G)

- LoRa rnode (50 mW with small antenna)

This is my test user. It can send and receive messages via wifi/5G and LoRa. If the phone is in my house, it can use the wifi interface to connect to my main transport node. If it is outside in reach of the 2 W LoRa node, it can use the LoRa interface. If all else fails, it can connect to my main transport node via 5G.

See my website for technical information:

● The first experiments: https://www.meezenest.nl/mees/projects/reticulum_design_my_own_rnode/index.html

● Configuring a reliable Reticulum network: https://www.meezenest.nl/mees/projects/building_a_reticulum_mesh/index.html

With this setup, local users can communicate with each other even when no internet access is available. But when the internet is available the network can connect to it.

It can be utilized in an area by installing several gateways on high places, like buildings or antenna masts.

Households can install a personal node in there houses and connect these to the internet. When the internet is up, communication can go via LoRa as well as the internet. When the internet is down, the node can still use the LoRa radio for local communication.

Inside, users can use a smartphone connected to wifi and use the personal node to communicate via LoRa. Outside, users have to pair a bluetooth rnode to the phone to communicate via LoRa.

Every gateway could be equiped with an open wifi access point, so users in the immediate surroundings of the gateway can also use wifi to communicate with the LoRa network.

To make the network even more resiliant, gateways could be connected to each other via radio links. For example using Mikrotik long-range 5GHz dishes or NPR (New Packet Radio) links.