MeshCore — best practices

Useful firmware: 1.14+ for multi-byte hops, 1.17+ for CAD. Recent MeshCore app (1.41+ for hops, 1.49+ for the network menus described here).

Community

The most useful advice: get in touch with the MeshCore groups for your city, your region or your country. The radio preset, region names, channels and repeater placement are decided there. A lone node, even well configured, can hurt the mesh if it ignores local choices.

Radio

Every node on the same mesh must share the same frequency, bandwidth, spreading factor and coding rate. A different preset, and you hear nobody.

Pick the preset in Settings → Radio settings (or at flash time). In Europe and the UK the recommended preset is EU/UK (Narrow): 869.618 MHz, 62.5 kHz, SF8, CR8. Switzerland uses the same settings. Other countries have their own line in the app. Do not copy a foreign preset “because it looks better”.

Hardware must match the legal band: 868 MHz in Europe and the UK, 915 MHz in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. An 868 radio does not become legal in the US by changing a menu.

Presets listed by the official MeshCore app (checked October 2026; the app remains the source of truth):

Some presets suggest wider hops: 2 bytes for Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia, Netherlands (Limburg) and New Zealand, 3 bytes for Canada. The app also lists presets that are not shown here (433 MHz, Brazil, Costa Rica, other Australian regions, New Zealand (Gisborne), Southern California). Entries marked “Deprecated” (EU/UK, Vietnam) are old settings that MeshCore has abandoned: only use them if your local mesh still does.

European 869.4–869.65 MHz sub-band: typically 500 mW ERP and a 10% duty cycle. With a gain antenna, lower TX power so you stay inside the limit. In the United States, FCC 15.247 is different: there is no European 10%. Check the local authority (Ofcom, ANFR, BNetzA, FCC, ACMA…).

2-byte hops

A packet path can encode repeater addresses in 1, 2 or 3 bytes. One byte is enough for old firmware, but identifier collisions are common: the message goes out and reaches its recipients, who then cannot reply. 2 bytes (65,536 identifiers, 32 hops at most) is the right trade-off. Repeaters older than 1.14 silently drop 2- and 3-byte packets: check that the repeaters around you are up to date before you switch.

On the companion: ⚙ Settings → Network settings → default header size 2 bytes.

Companion

Name the node in ⚙ Settings → Public information. The ISO country + subdivision prefix is used on every node, companions included: GBNWK-Sam, USWA-Alex.

In Network settings: header 2 bytes, default region = your country (gb, us, fr…). Add your community hashtag channels (often #gb, #emergency for emergencies only, #info, #meteo, #test, plus the local one). Then, channel by channel, set the region scope.

Checklist

1. Join the MeshCore groups for your city, region or country.
2. Same band and preset as the local mesh (EU/UK Narrow in Europe / UK, unless the community says otherwise).
3. Firmware 1.17+ on every node.
4. Header / hops at 2 bytes in the app.

region def eu gb gb-eng gb-nwk
region default gb
region home gb
region save

set advert.interval 240
set flood.advert.interval 24
set flood.max.advert 6
set flood.max.unscoped 5
set multi.acks 1
set path.hash.mode 1
set loop.detect minimal
set dutycycle 10
set agc.reset.interval 4
set cad on
set repeat on
region def eu gb gb-xx gb-yy
region default gb
region home gb
region save
reboot
clock sync

set cad on

Sources

Adapted from the Alpes-Maritimes guide.
Commands: MeshCore CLI.
Hops: MeshCore FAQ.
EU radio: MeshCore Europe.
Presets: MeshCore radio presets.
CAD: 1.17.0 notes.
Project: meshcore.io.