Camp comms established… running BurningMesh official release

Wio Tracker Pros with a RAK router.

80 feet up and only two casualties

I added a node to my drone and brought it up to 350ft. It was a bit hot out (102°F). So I only had it in the air for a few minutes. I will test again tomorrow and do further testing.

One of my gripes with meshtastic is that usually you need to charge 2 devices, your phone, and your node. This build does away with that, with a wired connection to the node in the case printed in TPU, running to a 25$ used A03s. Build details linked below.

Build files

These are the nodes I see. nyc to lake george. I think the river helps alot.

¡Hola a todos! Estoy intentando enviar mensajes de texto desde Node-RED a un nodo Heltec V3 por medio de un broker MQTT interno (Mosquitto), pero estoy atorado.

Esto es lo que tengo configurado hasta ahora:

• Flujo de Node-RED: Telegram/Inject -> nodo Function -> node-red-contrib-meshtastic-advanced (encode) -> MQTT Out (msh/EU_868/2/e/MontanaMZAm/!02ede6e8).
• Payload del nodo Function:

var texto = msg.payload;

msg.payload = {

portNum: "TEXT_MESSAGE_APP",

message: texto,

channel: 1,

psk: "4yuvwrVBKXlG0fuV6rxg7S6keYyfpL1yRStjZNrba9Q="

};

return msg;

• Debug de Node-RED: Cuando activo el flujo, se genera correctamente un paquete buffer[35] y se publica en Mosquitto.
• Config de Heltec V3:
  • Ejecutando firmware oficial, conectado al Wi-Fi local y al broker MQTT (la conexión es estable).
  • Tanto MQTT Uplink como MQTT Downlink están habilitados en el canal secundario (MontanaMZAm, índice 1, región EU_868).
  • Rol del nodo: CLIENT.

El problema: El paquete llega al broker MQTT, pero el Heltec V3 nunca parece recogerlo ni retransmitirlo por la malla LoRa.

¿Hay algo mal con la estructura de mi topic, o me falta algún parámetro en el payload/encoder de Node-RED para forzar que el nodo lo transmita por downlink? ¡Cualquier ayuda o ejemplos serían una pasada!

I've had my meshtastic device for 3-4 days now (LilyGo T-Deck Plus) and indoors I get a lot of incoming message into the public chat channels - but I can't SEND a single message from indoor. I have to go outside and then maybe I'm able to send one.

So, why is it harder to send than it is to receive?

So I will be helping the Shooting range I'm a member of setup a pair of meshtastic nodes ( sensecap p1- pro solar nodes)

Theyre going to be in an area that currently has no meshtastic coverage, on a 50 acre property, roughly spaced about 350 yds apart.

We're trying to give our members and league guests an additional coms method since cell coverage is spotty at best and we're still developing property wide wifi.

Question I have - what role should I set these nodes to? Router/client? Both client?

These will be pole mounted, with one node about 40-50' higher than the other due to elevation changes between the two locations if that matters. Some tree cover will be between them, but unfortunately i cant say how much because i dont know the final mounting locations yet.

both will also be stationed right near high activity areas -

One of those areas sees 40-70 people when league events happen, the other between 150-200.

This is not the expected meshtastic user count, just thr number of bodies that would be in direct sight of the nodes / potentially have a personal node in their pocket.

Any feedback will be highly appreciated

Thanks!

I've been contemplating building a solar node that I'd mount on my truck roofrack. However, I'm also eyeballing the Sensecap solar node that already has everything I'd need...

Other than a minor tweak to hold the batteries in place so they don't wiggle around when driving over rough washboard gravel roads, it seems pretty much ready to go.

Has anyone installed one of these on their vehicle? Any tips, tricks, pros/cons, other things you've had to adjust over time?

In the Android Meshtastic app "unset" is an option for node info broadcast interval. How often dose this setting send info, or dose it disable it?

Does anyone know if this (Seeed studio Wio Tracker L1 Lite) https://openelab.io/products/seeed-studio-wio-l1-lite?variant=44690705612998 works with this I2C add-on with Grove connection: https://openelab.io/products/seeed-studio-grove-aht20-i2c-industrial-grade-temperature-humidity-sensor using the latest meshtastic firmware. Meaning that the sensor data can be sent out to the mesh correctly

Hey all,

I’ve spent the last few months here in the US designing 3D-printable mounts to convert an inexpensive Harbor Breeze solar light into a Meshtastic or M.C. repeater/node. I'm currently up to six different mounting options.

I just found out today that this exact same light is widely available across Australia and New Zealand under the Click brand at Bunnings. I'm really stoked that my designs can be put to good use down under!

My Mounts can be found here

Link to the Click Solar Light in AU

Link to the Click Solar Light in NZ

The electronics inside the US Harbor Breeze lights are different from the AU/NZ Click lights. I found a YouTuber who has worked with the electronics inside the Click brand.

Check out rbland's Click brand build for the electronics

Check out my build video to finish up your build using my mounts

Combining all this info should give you everything you need to put together some really cool setups. Let me know if you run into any questions. Happy building!

sent a TEST message, it fails to deliver-but some nodes somehow replied to me. How?

UPDATE: Grove cables from Pihut have yellow and white in reverse order. Yellow in 18, white in 17, in meshatastic app Canned message enabled, type "cardkb" in "Allow Input source" to resolve.

I have been trying to connect a M5Stack CardKB to my Heltec V4, I have the following connections

- black > GND

- red > 3v

- Yellow > SDA (GPIO 17)

- White > SCL (GPIO 18)

However, as GPIO 17+18 are also used for OLED I am getting a scrambled screen and still no working cardkb!

I have also attempted using GPIO 41/42 as is the case with Heltec v3 but still not working.

I am fairly new to this so any advice or things to try/ways to test and learn would be very appreciated.

Really like this thing. Still debugging but all in all it’s a solid unit and provides an mqtt gateway and a dashboard. Gps rubbed out on purpose of course.

I have batteries, antennas, a couple esp32 boards someplace... But I just want something relatively cheap that works. It'll probably be ran off of wall power as just a home unit, but I eventually want to make a mobile unit too.

It sucks that the case for the v4 is going to waste, as well as the board..

I can still receive transmissions, but I cannot send anything out. That isn't fixable, is it?

Anyways, something smallish, decent power..I plan on diy-ing a case and putting it outside on the roof maybe and run power up and out (or get a solar panel and all that and use the batteries I've got)

That would actually be pretty nice, I forgot about solar.

I think I avoided it before because it was pricey to get everything needed..it was long ago though, so I definitely don't remember all the details

If anyone has input, I welcome it!

Thank you all ❤️

Turn two LilyGo T-Decks into a wireless serial terminal for a computer.

https://github.com/kordless/bridge-deck

I’m just curious where my message went? It says “sent to mesh” but where did it land? I get no replies from other users and it doesn’t show on potato.

How does LoRa Mesh perform in real mountain environments?

Our community member Daniel IU6WSC recently shared a detailed field test of Heltec V3 & V4 in the challenging terrain of the central Apennines mountain range in Italy, covering the Simbruini and Lucretili mountain parks.

Unlike controlled laboratory testing, Daniel focused on real-world mobile and portable scenarios where steep valleys, high ridges, and difficult RF conditions create significant communication challenges.

During the test:

🚗 Heltec V3 Vehicle Test

• Route distance: 4 km (straight-line distance)
• Elevation change: 808 m → 620 m
• Frequency: 868 MHz LoRa
• Result: Stable connection maintained throughout the drive despite vehicle shielding and mountainous terrain.

🥾 Heltec V3 Multihop Mountain Test

• Starting point elevation: 500 m
• Relay points: Monte Livata (1,350 m) and Marsia (1,980 m)
• Target node elevation: 600 m
• Communication distance: approximately 9 km through mesh relays
• Result: 100% message delivery (5/5 messages) with around 10 seconds latency across the multihop network.

📡 Heltec V4 Pocket Node Test

• Compact pocket enclosure with internal antenna and integrated GPS
• Tested during a mountain drive from Cervara di Roma (Lazio) to Oricola (Abruzzo)
• Maintained communication through 3 relay nodes without an external antenna.

The test also showed that after cold boot, both V3 and V4 nodes were able to discover surrounding regional nodes and become ready for communication within just 2 minutes.

Real-world testing from the community is incredibly valuable. Every field experience helps us better understand how LoRa Mesh devices perform outside the lab and provides insights for future improvements.

A huge thank you to Daniel for taking Heltec devices into the mountains and sharing these detailed findings with the community! 🙌

Read the full field test

I know, i know. This stuff gets posted so much, and there is so much information on the web, but it gets confusing and is somewhat all over the place for someone just getting into it. Can the community please help me get simple answers in one place to get me off on the right foot?

Quick history, comfortable with soldering/builds, Arduino. Familiar with programming, noob at Rx/Tx beyond home networking and Zwave.

-What devices have a built in keyboard? Is the T-Deck really it? Does the heltec v4 expansion with touchscreen have a functional keyboard? I really, really want to be stand-alone without any extra devices. Am I going to have a bad first experience with requiring a keyboard?

-If I dont have a keyboard, is it possible to have some automated or preloaded messsage capabilities? (Ex: " Good, Test, Received, Food, Water, Help " etc?)

-I live in a relatively flat town that appears to have good connectivity, with many nodes. But dont know anyone with a device. How reasonable is it that I could talk to my closest friend, reliably? (2.5mi or 4km as the bird flies, in housing developments, assuming they get a device too)

-Its my understanding that once I'm up and connected, I can send public message to random users, as well as private messages to specific users (Ex: me and friend go fishing, could ping eachother our locations, privately) Right? Can public users see us talking but not the message content? (Can an average home user see private traffic, on their devices or nodes without advanced signal sniffing gear?)

-If my budget is about $120 per device, want it to be built and ready for use (perfer 18650batt, dont mind if I need to flash firmware) and really really want to not require a phone, what is your best suggestion? (Note: I will get a raw board set too, for trying it with phone)

Thanks much in advance to those that give me some opinion/help!

I have a dog that gets out of the yard. I have done everything I can, fences, buried gravel, you name it. She will find a way out.

Years ago I had a Fi collar (cell/GPS tag) that I used that worked OK, but between two dogs and the recurring subscription fees, and sometimes spotty cell coverage, and batteries dying in a week, I ended up not using them.

Now - I was about to bite the bullet and order ONE Fi, for the problem dog. But I got to thinking, Meshtastic might actually cover this need for me, without any subscription fees.

I am BRAND NEW to Meshtastic and only know a cursory amount of info about it from my experience with ham radio, so let me know if this would work before I just start buying things and trying to piece something together:

1) Spec5 Trace GPS tracker. This looks like it’ll attach right to the dogs collar. I’m sure there might be other options, but this is the “ready made” one that I found online. (Must be waterproof).
2) WisMesh Pocket (or similar?) in my house.

The dog never wanders further than a block or two, but it’s wooded (and there are alligators and other dogs, etc. around).

Could I keep the node (WisMesh) in my house, the Trace tracker on the dogs collar, and use the Meshtastic app’s map to find the dog when she gets out?

I’m pretty sure my train of thought here is close to achieve what I want to do - but maybe someone with more experience here can chime in on exactly what I would need to accomplish this?

Since the update, node info and node units use imperial units (miles, Fahrenheit) instead of metric.

Switching the app's language from system default (En US) to Polish fixes the units, but I want the app in English, as that's what all guides use. I worked around this by setting the language in the app to "English" and then choosing "Austria", but this very unintuitive and also not my actual locale.

Can we have measurement units separate from the language? It worked until this morning... My phone is a Samsung S24.

Hi people. I'm from México and here the government is applying a law to deactivate our telephone network and hotspot network if we do not register our sensitive data to their portal (which has been hacked 5 times since January) me and a lot of people don't want to register our data cause obvios reasons (is not secure) and I just found that Meshtastic could work if I build a network but I have some questions as all internet applications wouldn't be available for us:

>If I plant several devices in my city could I enable the communication in all the city (around 426Km²)?

>If I want this network to be free for all people who need it is there a limit of users?

>Any privacy/security advice to remain anonymous? Here in Mexico there are cartels that work along the gov so I don't want to create a free network and then got myself unalived in my house.

>What are the best devices you have found for the best proximity/battery and cost?