Standalone Meshtastic (or similar) for voice comms?

[tink.]

I want to create an encrypted network that my friends and I can communicate over audio. The range is a secondary concern as we will likely be communicating at somewhat short distances, but the longer the better.

Obviously, I've looked into meshtastic and LoRa but most projects I see people building are text based and require a smart phone app. I want this to be a stand alone system.

Anyone have suggestions for where to start?

 

[chad]

cool project!

Just wondering, are you aiming for real-time voice chat? Also, do you have any experience with microcontrollers like the ESP32? It’s got WiFi and Bluetooth, and can handle audio stuff. Plus, you can set up encryption on it.

I assume you looked into using something like walkie-talkies… right?

If you give me some more details like budget, distance, full duplex, number of units, etc… I could probably help get you started.
Let me know what you think!