MeshCore Interior BC
Welcome to the Mesh! This page contains suggested settings and commonly used channels in the MeshCore Interior BC network.
View the 🌐 Network Map to see current MCIBC mesh coverage.
MeshCore is an open source, off grid, secure text communication radio network that doesn't rely on cellular networks or the internet. Thousands of regional meshes have been built by enthusiasts installing low cost solar powered repeaters including here in the BC Interior. The mesh can be used by anyone with an inexpensive companion radio in range of a repeater for emergency or personal communication.
MeshCore uses radio frequencies in an unlicensed band, so an Amateur radio operator (ham) radio license is not required. However, some familiarity with radio communication concepts is useful, especially if you plan to install your own repeater. If you want to learn more, please join your local amateur radio club.
Official project website: Firmware flasher, documentation, user guides, blog, links to the official Discord server and GitHub.
As the MeshCore firmware is under constant development, updating your repeaters and companions to the latest firmware at least once per year is highly recommended to ensure mesh reliability.
National organization bringing together all regional meshes. Canadian Discord server, discussion forum, packet analyzer and network map, hardware guides and how to build your own solar node.
Salish Sea and surrounding area (Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, Sunshine Coast).
Repeaters and companions should use the "USA/Canada Recommended" preset for radio settings. All settings except Coding Rate must match for radios to communicate with each other.
Frequency: 910.525 MHz Bandwidth: 62.5 kHz Spreading Factor (SF): 7 Coding Rate (CR): 5
For more information about the Coding Rate (CR) setting, see the Troubleshooting section.
Recommended repeater settings for the BC Interior are provided below.
Most of the settings below can be configured through a USB connection using the web configurator at config.meshcore.io (click Show advanced settings) or by using the repeater admin features in one of the MeshCore phone apps. Using an app requires a companion radio to connect to the repeater.
To set all the recommended settings at once, the following commands can be copy & pasted into the repeater Console or CLI (command line interface):
set path.hash.mode 1 set loop.detect minimal set multi.acks 1 set advert.interval 0 set flood.advert.interval 47 region put bc region put bcint region save
It is recommended to leave the repeater's Guest password blank so that other mesh users can view repeater information and troubleshoot network issues (guest accounts are read-only). Repeaters should have approximate location set for network mapping.
Flood Advert Interval should be a minimum of 23 hours to preserve as much airtime as possible for message delivery. As of firmware release v1.16.0 the default advert flood interval is 47 hours and does not typically need to be lowered. Repeaters in remote or lossy locations can reduce their advert flood interval to compensate for packet loss. Zero-hop Advert Interval should be 0 (off) or 240 minutes if a zero-hop "heartbeat" is required.
If a repeater is located in a noisy environment, such as near industrial equipment or other radios, the automatic gain control (AGC) reset interval may need to be set to prevent the radios from going "deaf". This primarily affects SX1262 transceivers. The setting is only available from the Console/CLI:
set agc.reset.interval 4
The AGC reset interval should be left at zero if it is not required, as the repeater may drop packets if they arrive during the reset. Especially noisy environments (such as radio towers) will likely also require a tuned bandpass filter between the radio and antenna for reliable packet reception.
Companions should have "Multi Acks" turned on to improve Direct Message (DM) deliverability. In the main MeshCore app, this can be found in Settings -> Message Settings -> Direct Message Acks (change from 1 to 2).
Commonly used channels in the BC Interior (click to add in MeshCore app):
Public - General discussion. #test - Post test messages here. #kambot - Kamloops bot, send cmd to channel for list of commands. #alerts - Emergency alerts posted by KamBot. #news - Local news items posted by KamBot. #bc - Province wide general discussion, channel should be set to region scope bc #bcint - BC Interior only general discussion, channel should be set to region scope bcint
(Channel scope can be set in the main MeshCore app by clicking the three dots at the top of the channel page -> Set Region Scope. If region scope bc is not in the list, it can be added manually or discovered from the Select Region three dot menu.)
A Room Server (Room) is a special kind of repeater that acts as a bulletin board where you can leave messages that other people can read later. Rooms can be private or public (public rooms usually use the password "hello") and are especially useful if you don't have an "always connected" companion.
Commonly used Public Rooms in the BC Interior (click to add in MeshCore app):
VA7AV Public Room [81C7BA] - Kamloops Midway Message Board [1C2ADC] - Falkland
If you plan on adding your own bot to the mesh, please set up your own dedicated hashtag channel for the bot. Bots should not participate in the Public or #test or #bot channels to prevent mesh spamming, unless the bot is publishing emergency information.
Repeaters or companions that suffer from packet loss due to interference or weak signals may benefit from increasing the Coding Rate (CR) radio setting. A higher CR increases the number of error correction bits sent in each packet, improving deliverability at the expense of consuming additional airtime.
The CR setting only affects packets sent from the repeater or companion, it does not affect received packets and does not affect subsequent hops. Radios with different CR settings can communicate with each other. If you're having trouble sending packets, send one hop traces using the Trace tool while incrementing the CR setting. Run the trace again and compare packet loss figures. Please use the lowest CR value possible in order to save airtime for the rest of the mesh.
More information about Coding Rate and how LoRa parameters influence data rate and range can be found here: LoRa Bitrate & Sensitivity Calculator
For additional support, ask in the Public channel on the mesh or in the MeshCore Canada Discord server linked above.
