When the grid goes down
Mesh Comms
A growing MeshCore radio network across the Hwy 17 corridor — off-grid messaging that keeps working without power, internet, or cell service.
MeshCore setup guide
Everything below is tuned for the Hwy 17 corridor. Match these settings and your radio lands on the same mesh as your neighbors — different settings mean an invisible network, even from the next ridge over.
Corridor radio settings
- Region / band
- US 902–928 MHz (ISM)
- Frequency
- 910.525 MHz
- Bandwidth
- 250 kHz
- Spreading factor
- SF11
- Coding rate
- 4/5
- TX power
- 22 dBm
- Public channel
- corridor
- Firmware
- MeshCore companion / repeater
These are the corridor defaults. If a neighbor's node card lists something different, their node is on a separate mesh — coordinate in the Mesh Comms group before changing anything network-wide.
Pick hardware
Heltec V3 (LoRa32 915 MHz)
Cheapest way to get on the mesh. Great as a phone-paired companion node.
RAK4631 / WisBlock
Very low power draw — the right call for a solar repeater you'll leave on a ridge.
Station G2
Higher TX power and a proper enclosure. Best permanent repeater for wide corridor coverage.
T-Deck / T-Echo
Standalone handheld with a keyboard — works without a phone at all.
Budget for an antenna too. A $15 gain antenna up high beats a $50 radio in a canyon every single time.
Flash and configure
- 1. Flash the firmware. Open the official web flasher in Chrome or Edge, plug the board in over USB, and pick companion firmware for a phone-paired node or repeater firmware for a site you'll leave running unattended. MeshCore web flasher
- 2. Set the radio parameters. Use the config tool or our browser client and enter the corridor values above.
- 3. Name your node. Something a neighbor would recognize — "Summit Ridge Repeater", not "node-4f2a".
- 4. Mount it high. Height beats power. A rooftop, a ridge, or a tall tree does more than any amount of transmit power from a valley floor.
- 5. Add solar if it's permanent. A 10 W panel and a small LiFePO4 pack keeps a RAK repeater alive through a multi-day outage — which is the whole point.
- 6. Register it on the map. Put it on the corridor registry so neighbors know the coverage exists, and check the link estimates to see who you should be able to reach.
Rules of the road
- 915 MHz ISM is license-free in the US — no ham license needed, but keep transmit power and duty cycle within FCC Part 15 limits.
- Mesh traffic is relayed by your neighbors' batteries. Keep messages short and don't flood the channel with automated chatter.
- Assume anything you send can be read by anyone on the mesh unless you're in an encrypted channel or direct message.
- In a real emergency, mesh supplements 911 — it never replaces it. Call if you can.