Radio & RF · Source briefing
An SDR sniffer shows who can read your channel
The story
Hackaday covers a standalone C tool for the DragonOS radio Linux distribution that uses a HackRF software-defined radio to scan Meshtastic frequencies, detect traffic and decode it when the channel key is known. The article notes the HackRF covers most, but not all, Meshtastic frequencies, and that traffic on a channel with an unknown key cannot be decoded. The builder's claims come from a project video and were not independently tested.
What it means for your next build
Treat the default public channel as readable by anyone with a radio, because its key is published. Put private conversations on a secondary channel with its own key, and never send exact home locations or personal details on the public channel.
Set up channels with purposeThis is BackCountrySignal's own short briefing. Read the original source for its complete details. Firmware and app announcements do not establish tested Graham County Mesh compatibility.