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
Resilience Theatre
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 • •Daniel likes this.
reshared this
#meshtastic and #meshcore reshared this.
Ed W8EMV :city_ann_arbor:
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I did a talk for the U of Michigan Amateur Radio Club on #meshtastic and the slides are on the WE8CHZ "MiRATS" site here
we8chz.org/wp-content/uploads/…
The fun you have with any mesh depends on the number of other people using the same tech locally.
Too few - frustration, talking to yourself
Acceptable -interesting local net with reliable paths
Too many - mesh network overload due to congestion
For actual emergency comms? Depends. Severe weather nets run on 2 meter / 70 cm ham repeaters.
Alec Perkins
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Not sure I'll have enough time before #FOSDEM to set up a full #Meshtastic node, but I'll give it a go!
Russell Garner
in reply to Terence Eden • • •zipkid - Breaker of Systems
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Daniel Pecos Martínez 🇪🇺 🐧
in reply to zipkid - Breaker of Systems • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Daniel Pecos Martínez 🇪🇺 🐧 • • •Contact @edent
edent.telDaniel Pecos Martínez 🇪🇺 🐧
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Terence Eden • • •The hunt continues!
stfn
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to stfn • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Board is on the 3rd floor (over 6m above ground height.
Powered on, connected via Bluetooth, by a window.
Set to UK long range.
Been up for about 30 minutes and hasn't discovered any neighbours.
I know there are a couple of repeaters near-ish.
Just a case of wait and hope? Stick it in the loft? Increase power?
Any help and speculation welcomed 😄
Chaos
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Chaos • • •Daniel Durrans
in reply to Terence Eden • • •For Meshcore in the UK you need to change your radio settings:
Frequency: 869.618
Bandwidth: 62.5
Spreading Factor: 8
Coding Rate: 8
Transmit Power: 22
Terence Eden
in reply to Daniel Durrans • • •Daniel Durrans
in reply to Terence Eden • • •@psfshr Traffic on the Public channel can be sporadic. Last message was at 15.51 for me.
In the app click the vertial ... menu then tools then Discover Nearby Nodes then Discover Repeaters. This should find any local repeaters that can hear you (and then you hear them).
Hans-Cees 🌳🌳🤢🦋🐈🐈🍋🍋🐝🐜
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Also stick the antenna on the outside of the window for a while perhaps you have some foil in the glass. But first waiting a few hours is recommended
Paul Fisher
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Christopher M0YNG
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Christopher M0YNG • • •Christopher M0YNG
in reply to Terence Eden • • •not shocking. the repeaters are usually set to advertise with large gaps (I think 12 hours)
Put a ping out on the test channel (hashtag test) and check if "sent" changes to "heard 1 repeat". If so, one repeater heard you and you heard it repeat your message.
Try a couple of times if it didn't work immediately...
If not, try another position!
Terence Eden
in reply to Christopher M0YNG • • •grutzifix
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to grutzifix • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Now receiving #Meshcore messages. Don't know if any of mine are being seen though.
Daniel Durrans
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I haven't seen your messages (get to Bristol).
When you send a message do you see any repeats? Under your blue message bubble it may say something like “Heard 1 repeat”. If it just says "Sent" then it is possible no one heard you.
You may be able to hear things without anyone hearing you.
Terence Eden
in reply to Daniel Durrans • • •ralf tauscher :FreiburgSocial:
in reply to Terence Eden • • •@dan
i have one companion device indoor and a repeater on the balcony. how far away are your next repeaters?
Terence Eden
in reply to ralf tauscher :FreiburgSocial: • • •Daniel Durrans
in reply to Terence Eden • • •@stereo 3 to 6km should be fine. Do you have line of sight to them? That makes such a difference.
I ended up putting a repeater in my loft.
Terence Eden
in reply to Daniel Durrans • • •Ed W8EMV :city_ann_arbor:
in reply to Terence Eden • • •oh, antennas and antenna placement can be very weird to understand and to debug. in general it's better to not have your whip antenna near to a big piece of metal because it will couple with it and throw everything off.
recommendation: take a photograph, measure for a day, move something around, take another photograph, do another day's measurements, repeat.
If you can get the antenna outside rather than inside it will make a difference, but that's not always easy
Terence Eden
in reply to Terence Eden • • •With it's new placement I can just about hear one repeater.
I'm receiving some messages, but I guess my antenna is to puny to send any.
My noise floor looks good (I think) and I've discovered a few nodes.
I think I need more power and/or a bigger antenna.
If you're on the mesh, feel free to send me a message and I'll let you know if it arrives (details above).
Henryk Plötz
in reply to Terence Eden • • •My experience here in Berlin (with Meshtastic, though) is that I can't get to a node 4 subway stations (2.5km) from here.
Terence Eden
in reply to Henryk Plötz • • •@henryk I can only directly hear one node - about 4km away.
All the others have been seen via the mesh.
Daniel Durrans
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Daniel Durrans • • •Daniel Durrans
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I’ve seen messages from Yorkshire and Cheshire before now. There are some strong north/ south links heading along the M5 and M6.
The hams use directional antennas to prioritise distance between the cities.
Paul Fisher
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I had to get a repeater in the attic before I got any decent reliable connection.
With radio, height appears to be key
Terence Eden
in reply to Paul Fisher • • •@psfshr I'm on the 3rd floor, which I thought would help.
I do wonder if the solar panels on the roof might block the signal if I put a repeater up there.
Paul Fisher
in reply to Terence Eden • • •That I don’t know. We’ve got panels too on both aspects and still got signals. Brick and block I feel is worse 🤷🏻♂️
Ideal seems to be outside in free air, but that’s not always feasible.
Also depends on the direction of what you’re trying to get to, and how much stuff you’re having to go through on the way. Could just try moving to a different window, might be a repeater in a different direction.
Terence Eden
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Might try some different equipment or switching to #meshtastic.
Jeff Sikes - Hire me!
in reply to Terence Eden • • •I live in “the hills” outside Austin, TX and meshtastic is basically worthless until I get into a city or go further west into the flatlands. I was very disappointed.
And, not sure what the channels are like for you but the chat for me was definitely not my preferred circle of people. I’m sure that varies greatly depending on your location.
Beko Pharm
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Beko Pharm • • •Alec Perkins
in reply to Terence Eden • • •MeshCore Analyzer - LetsMesh.net
MeshCore AnalyzerTerence Eden
in reply to Alec Perkins • • •Looks like I need a better antenna!
Alec Perkins
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Richard
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Richard
in reply to Richard • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Richard • • •Raj 🇬🇧🇪🇺💻🖥(🌻🇺🇦;🇵🇸)
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Signal strength improved - but still poor.
Still can't actually send messages to the nearest #Meshcore repeater.
herrgruen
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to herrgruen • • •Mike K3LOE
in reply to Terence Eden • • •do you have any metal flashing under your shingles? That could interfere. Do you have any obstructions on the outside of the roof very close to your antenna?
Hams call attic antennas “compromised” but plenty of hams also have success with attic antennas. Have you confirmed all your settings are correct by trying to ping a very close repeater? Like less than 25 meters away?
Terence Eden
in reply to Mike K3LOE • • •Nearest repeater is 4km away.
I can hear it - but nothing hears me.
Mike K3LOE
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Mike K3LOE
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Jack
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Jack • • •⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to ⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ • • •⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️
in reply to Terence Eden • • •TinheadNed
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Cat West
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Martin
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Martin • • •NomDeTom
in reply to Terence Eden • • •The Femtofox team was strongly influenced by the loss of mobile phone towers in the Northern California wildfires. I still have a dream of solar powered linux nodes as part of a healthy mesh.
The reality is that it's just really really cool to play with.
Pol Dellaiera
in reply to NomDeTom • • •Terence Eden
in reply to Pol Dellaiera • • •Pol Dellaiera
in reply to Terence Eden • • •Michael Lynch
in reply to Terence Eden • • •My First Impressions of MeshCore Off-Grid Messaging
mtlynch.ioTerence Eden
in reply to Michael Lynch • • •Terence Eden
Unknown parent • • •@jwildeboer Yup - has been on for 24 hours. Only seeing that repeater directly.
My pings go unanswered and my messages to the test channels aren't delivered.
Voyager Meshcore DD
in reply to Terence Eden • • •AFAIU you run it as companion, right?
To overcome the loneliness (we have all been there), flash this one as "repeater", let it send some adverts once in a while and "Share -> Upload to Internet Map" with roughly your coordinates, and then wait.
(You might need a 2nd board as "companion" to do that admin stuff, the cheapest naked board is enough).
There *are* others like you, who *will* then see and try to close the gap to your repeater, just like you.
Maybe some social media noise in your area helps.
In the meantime, look up your area in map.meshcore.dev and drive around, to check reachability. Maybe you know friends and family in-between where you could set up another (yay, 🤣) repeater.
Good luck.
It's pioneering work.
There are not many such opportunities today.
@jwildeboer
MeshCore Node Map
map.meshcore.devTerence Eden
Unknown parent • • •Terence Eden
Unknown parent • • •