If you have strong opinions about #Mesh networking, please let me know.
I keep seeing things about #MeshCore and #Meshtastic and I am now thoroughly confused.
If I want to set up #LoRa messagingfor emergency / fun usage, which should I be looking at?
(Looking for people who use them - not just googled speculation, thanks!)
Terence Eden reshared this.
Rachel Lawson
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Do they even speak to each other?
Terence Eden
in reply to Rachel Lawson • • •Rachel Lawson
in reply to Terence Eden • • •boxly
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to boxly • • •boxly
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to boxly • • •Krahabors
in reply to Terence Eden • • •It actually works;
It is actually open, does not belong to branding fanatics.
Terence Eden
in reply to Krahabors • • •Hans-Cees 🌳🌳🤢🦋🐈🐈🍋🍋🐝🐜
in reply to Terence Eden • • •If you have a device on constant USB power, or battery that should last a day heltecv3 or v4 are fine.
Krahabors
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Krahabors • • •Krahabors
in reply to Terence Eden • • •There are factory made versions of that combination now and a lot of newer, probably better options.
Daniel Durrans
in reply to Terence Eden • • •In the UK I went with MeshCore as the network is busier and has more chatter. Mesttastic feels a bit dead (in my area).
I would hesitate to consider it for emergency use. I guess if there is nothing else, but it feels like there are other alternatives (e.g. just using a basic radio for voice) that would be better.
It is fun though.
Terence Eden
in reply to Daniel Durrans • • •Daniel Durrans
in reply to Terence Eden • • •In the loft running as a relay:
Heltec V3 from Amazon
Case from Etsy that looks 3D printed
Antenna from ThePiHut (thepihut.com/products/lora-ant…)
Powered using PoE over ethernet plugged into a PoE to USB-C splitter. No networking over the ethernet, just a way to get power into the loft.
Client device is a T1000-E (thepihut.com/products/sensecap…) connected over bluetooth to my iPhone.
The firmware running on the relay is super stable. The T1000-E firmware is not as stable and I often have to reboot it every 2 or so days.
LoRa Antenna with Pigtail - 868MHz Black
The Pi HutdeNiRo
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Matt Copperwaite
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I wanted a device I could leave in my loft and control with a phone, but also take around to (hopefully) EMFCamp.
amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0F1CYWVL…
I'm planning on getting this pair to split with my dad who lives a few miles away and see how it goes.
I found meshmap.net useful for seeing what was nearby.
Resilience Theatre
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Resilience Theatre • • •Resilience Theatre
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Frederik Braun �
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Russell Garner
in reply to Terence Eden • • •@vaurora posted something good recently, apologies if you've already seen mstdn.social/@vaurora/11590434…
(and appears to be giving a talk, hope that one makes it online at some point mstdn.social/@vaurora/11591532… )
Valerie Aurora 🇺🇦 (@vaurora@mstdn.social)
Valerie Aurora 🇺🇦 (Mastodon 🐘)Valerie Aurora 🇺🇦
2026-01-16 10:39:12
Markus
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Even if you chose the best technology, its not much worth if you're the only one 😀
Resilience Theatre
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Markus
in reply to Terence Eden • • •julf
in reply to Terence Eden • • •jtonline
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I've so far stuck to meshtastic because it seems more, well, meshy. My use case doesn't include joining a wider local mesh so it's exactly what I need.
If your use case is joining a wider local mesh then you have to go with the (local) crowd, which you'll probably need a non-mesh network to find out about. Probably Facebook but who knows!
I'm currently using Sensecap and RAK card devices which work pretty well.
Andreas, DJ3EI, he/him
in reply to jtonline • • •#meshtastic or #meshcore - how to find out what the others around you are using?
The lazy way: Compare map.meshcore.dev/ (meshcore) with meshmap.net/ (meshtastic).
And the obvious brute force idea would probably also work: Get a device, flash one of the two, try it out for a week, flash the other, try that out for a week.
(Have not flashed my own shiny new device yet for either. Intend to start with meshcore.)
@jtonline @Edent
MeshMap - Meshtastic Node Map
meshmap.netRichie McCoy aka Dr Deej
in reply to Andreas, DJ3EI, he/him • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Richie McCoy aka Dr Deej • • •Ben Stewart
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I'm much in the same boat with similar intentions so no real world experience yet.
I've got my eye on a couple of Heltec v4 devboards. v4 because they support gnss which is interesting for a few 'fun' use cases I have with friends and while it seems Meshcore is the way to go in NL as its more widely used, I understand incan switch to meshtastic pretty easily using same hardware.
Heltec appear to have decent shipping methods from their own site but I've seen similar if not exactly the same ones on usual suspect large online retail shopfronts.
Fredrik
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Taylor Hay
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Been using meshcore the last year or so.
Meshcore is MUCH more reliable for permanent setups, and usable for long range. We have like 200 meshcore nodes covering our whole state. Regularly messaging people hundreds of km away 12-14 hops.
This would be impossible on Meshtastic.
Jon "The Nice Guy" Spriggs
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Caz Mockett
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Pini
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I've attended this seession a few days ago: techwerkers.nl/en/events/2026-…
It was recorded.
They recommend MeshCore over Meshtastic.
What if the Internet goes down? Intro to mesh network communication
Tech Workers CoalitionTerence Eden
in reply to Pini • • •Chill
in reply to Terence Eden • • •mossman
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I don't know if Benn Jordan has a presence on Mastodon, but I'm sure he'd have something to say on the subject. ..
youtube.com/watch?v=W_F4rEaRdu…
- YouTube
www.youtube.comBas Langenberg
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I'm on #meshcore because that looks to be more active in my area. (Netherlands)
I sarted with 25 euro investment for a helltec v3 (3.2 iirc) and I learned a ton about wireless signals already. I am planning to build a repeater to get the network more stable and put that out on the balcony where I live.
I'm having fun but it's still very new. It feels like proper emergency comms are still with the hams, but then I need to get a license.
Highly subjective takes, all of this. 😊Learning
Terence Eden
in reply to Bas Langenberg • • •Éric
in reply to Terence Eden • • •icecarrotpig
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I prefer Meshtastic, but my local mesh switched to Meshcore. MC is not as good. It doesn't do as much. If you turn on a new node, it takes days to populated with the mesh nodes and half of them are unreliable links. I wasn't involved in the vote to switch.
Meshtastic has sensor integration and some simple stuff to get started. It's useful for IoT stuff. It quickly finds local nodes even factory fresh.
Both apps are quirky. Only one of them is open source.
KawaiiPunk
in reply to Terence Eden • • •this is the best talk on Meshtastic I found
media.ccc.de/v/38c3-hacker-s-g…
Meshtastic very active in my area.
Hacker's Guide to Meshtastic: Off-Grid, Encrypted LoRa Meshnets for Cheap!
media.ccc.deabeorch
in reply to Terence Eden • •reshared this
#meshtastic and #meshcore reshared this.