How to join NC Mesh

Join the group
Connect to the network
Best practices

Join the group

Outside of the mesh network itself, we're most active in our public Discord Server.

Connect to the network

Quick Setup Guide

Get a Meshtastic Radio.
You can build one yourself for about $35. The official Meshtastic page keeps a current list of Supported Hardware. The LILYGO T-Echo is a good first meshtastic radio, as it costs around $70 and is ready to go out of the box (besides having to flash the firmware).
You can also buy a pre-built battery-powered radio for between $50-$100 on Etsy or eBay - these usually have 3D printed cases.
If you can afford it, and have a place to mount it outside, we recommend you buy a pre-built solar-powered node for between $100 and $200 on Etsy and mount it as high off the ground as you can. Alternatively you can build your own.
Download the Meshtastic App on your iPhone or Android.
Pair your radio to your phone with Bluetooth
Open the Meshtastic app and say hi!

Detailed Setup Guide

Get a Meshtastic Radio.
You can build one yourself for about $35. The official Meshtastic page keeps a current list of Supported Hardware. The LILYGO T-Echo is a good first meshtastic radio, as it costs around $70 and is ready to go out of the box (besides having to flash the firmware).
You can also buy a pre-built battery-powered radio for between $50-$100 on Etsy or eBay - these usually have 3D printed cases.
If you can afford it, and have a place to mount it outside, we recommend you buy a pre-built solar-powered node for between $100 and $200 on Etsy and mount it as high off the ground as you can. Alternatively you can build your own.
Download the Meshtastic App on your iPhone or Android.
Pair your radio to your phone with Bluetooth
Open the Meshtastic app
Settings -> LoRa

Region: United States
Use Preset: on
Presets: Long Range - Fast
Ignore MQTT: off
Transmit Enabled: on
Number of hops: 4
Frequency Slot: 0
RX Boosted Gain: On
Frequency override: 0
Transmit power: 30dBm
Click Save

Settings -> Channels

this link

Click on Primary Channel
Do not modify channel details
Postions Enabled: on
Approximate Location: 0.2mi (larger if you have privacy concerns)
MQTT Uplink Enabled: on
MQTT Downlink Enabled: on
Click Save
Click Add Channel
Name: NCMesh (case sensitive!)
Key Size: Default
Key: AQ== (this should be automatically entered when you select "Default" under "Key Size")
Channel Role: Secondary
Allow Position Requests: On
Approximate Location: 0.2mi (larger if you have privacy concerns)
MQTT Uplink Enabled: on
MQTT Downlink Enabled: on
Click Save

Settings -> User

Long name: Name your node (up to 36 characters, shown on node list)
Short name: Short name for your node (up to 4 characters)
Licensed Operator (HAM mode): Off

Settings -> Device

Device Role: Client
Rebroadcast Mode: All
Node Info Broadcast Inteval: One Hour
Double Tap as Button: off
LED Heartbeat: off if using a solar or battery powered device (to conserve energy)
Serial Console: on
Debug Log: off
Time zone: leave at default
Button GPIO: Unset
Buzzer GPIO: Unset

Settings -> Position

Broadcast Interval: 1 hour
Smart Position: on
Minimum Interval: Ten Minutes
Minimum Distance: 100
Device GPS: Enabled if your device has GPS, Not Present if your device does not
Update Interval: Five Minutes
Position Flags: Only enable metrics you need. Suggest enabling altitude and # of satellites only.
Altitude is mean sea level: on
Altitude geoidal separation: off
Dilution of precision: on
If DOP is set, use HDOP: off
Advanced device GPS: all options should be "Unset"

Settings -> MQTT

Enabled: on
MQTT Client Proxy: on
Disconnect from MQTT: on (if it says connect to mqtt, click the slider and it will say disconnect instead)
Encryption Enabled: on
Map Report, Enabled: on
Map Publish Interval: One Hour
Precise location: off
Approximate location: 0.2mi
Root Topic: msh/US (case sensitive)
Address: mqtt.ncmesh.net
Username: meshdev
Password: large4cats
TLS Enabled: off

Extra Credit - Neighbor Info Broadcast (Optional!)

Turn off bluetooth on your mobile device or disconnect from your node in-app
Get a laptop or desktop computer with Google Chrome and Bluetooth
Use your computer to visit: https://client.meshtastic.org
Click new connection -> bluetooth -> new device
Find your device in the list and click pair
Your device should be listed on the webpage Connect New Device Dialog - click it
Click Config on the left side
Click Module Config on the left side
Click Neighbor Info at the top
Turn "Enabled" to on
Enter 900 as the update interval
Click save in the upper right corner (floppy disk icon)
Device will reboot - turn bluetooth back on your mobile device

Say Hi!

Open the app
Click Messages
Click Channels
Click Primary Channel or NC Mesh
Type a message!

Best practices

TL;DR;

Role: Client (NOT Router & Client)
Hop Count: 4
Broadcast intervals(info, position, telemetry): 1 hour

This is a community driven project, following these guidelines will ensure the best experience for everyone as we continue to grow.

Device Role

It may be tempting to set your device to ‘client/router’ or one of the other infrastructure modes, however from our extensive testing we’ve seen the best results for the end user, and the network as a whole using the ‘client’ role. Meshtastic does not currently have any intelligent routing built into the firmware. Nodes are set to rebroadcast any message they receive that they have not heard rebroadcast from another node at a random time interval. The ‘client/router’ and other infrastructure role takes that random interval and subtracts another random interval ensuring that they rebroadcast first.

While this may sound good on paper, due to constantly changing environmental variables you may be inadvertently creating dead ends in the network, bypassing intended recipients, and closing off redundant routing paths. We highly recommend starting with a ‘client’ role even for well placed nodes.

For device connected nodes (the ones you're sending messages from) that are not contributing to the network (not outdoor nodes) we recommend a device role of ‘client mute’ to reduce overall network airtime. An example of this would be a device connected node in your home that is connected to MQTT or goes through a relay node on your roof.

Hop Count

We recommend starting with a hop count of 4, and always using the minimum number of hops needed to reach your destination. If you are running a device connected node in your home and a relay node that your client always goes through, a hop count of 5 is advised. If you are on the edge of the network and are not achieving results with the above, 6 hops may be useful however we recommend ensuring that you've done all you can with regard to optimizing your node hardware and placement first, if these are not taken care of additional hops will not yield greater distance and will degrade the performance of the wider network.

Broadcast Interval (Position, Telemetry, Node Info)

In order to reduce overall channel utilization and ensure messages are delivered we recommend the following settings for everyday use unless you have a specific use case or are running a test that requires more frequent updates.

Device Config

Node Info Broadcast Interval: 2 Hours

Position

Broadcast Interval: 1 Hour, Enable Smart Position, Minimum Interval: One Minute, Minimum Distance: 100, Position Flags: Disable all flags that are not explicitly needed for your use case.

Telemetry (Sensors) Config

Device and Sensor Metrics: 1 Hour

MQTT

Opinions on using MQTT with Meshstastic are widely varied. Some Meshtastic users and groups have chosen not to use MQTT with Meshtastic in the spirit of building out a stronger RF based mesh network. Building out RF coverage is a noble goal that we all share, but we feel that MQTT has a lot of utility (especially in the early days of mesh building).

We use MQTT to bridge RF gaps in order to connect pockets of users throughout the state into a single mesh. We also leverage MQTT for hop count reduction. 7+ hops from Raliegh to Asheville can be reduced to two hops through MQTT (node->raleigh router->asheville router->node)

MQTT is also great for mobile/pocket nodes. You can stay connected to the mesh no matter where you are (or what local RF coverage looks like).

Our MQTT server is private, so your nodelist will only reflect other NC Mesh nodes/users (not the entire US/planet), and the probability of unwanted messages/spam coming across MQTT is greatly reduced.