How to build a country wide Meshcore network 0. See if you already have a community. If not, start it - website, meetups, ... 1. Get ham radio and rf enthusiasts on board. They know things you don't and it's much more difficult than just get a big antenna 2. Settle on frequency and parameters that work in the country. If don't know, EU narrow preset is good to start 3. Repeaters in line of sight, preferably on hills. Solar+battery powered nodes (we want the network to work when grid is down) 4. Monitor, communicate, test, tune 5. Meetups are good 6. Do all this before a revolution, before apocalypse 7. Get as many companion nodes as possible. Give them to family members - flashed and ready to go. 8. Use them daily to get a feel, see uncovered areas 9. Have fun! Note: I do not take credit for this anywhere, it's just what I've observed others did. I have a shitty repeater in already well covered area, but hopefully I'll be able to set up and maintain a repeater in an uncovered area soon.

Replies (18)

lexat's avatar
lexat 0 months ago
What do you recommend as hardware for starters ?
Bouf's avatar
Bouf 0 months ago
Good question. I'm looking for hardware that supports both meshcore and meshtastic to play around a bit.
Most do both. I recommend Wio Tracker L1 pro. Preassembled with battery, antenna, USB-C charging. Works with both meshtastic and meshcore.
Bouf's avatar
Bouf 0 months ago
Thanks for the information. I checked on Meshcore's website and got a Heltec V3. Let's see how it goes.
MeshCore has much better infrastructure. I love Reticulum, I've tried unsuccessfully to build Reticulum network. And now half the country is covered with MeshCore. I work with what works and is deployed. I didn't even like Nostr as a protocol in the beginning. But here we are - it works, there are apps, people and I develop for it now. With tech, you gotta find a Schelling point if it's network based.
I tried to build the network without success, too few people too far away. And then some people built basically a country-wide MeshCore network. Network effects beat beauty of technology all the time. I need to work with something that people actually use.
rado1's avatar
rado1 0 months ago
VHS vs. BetaCam 2.0
↑