| Color | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green | BIDIR (Bidirectional) - Confirmed two-way coverage. |
| Cyan | DISC (Discovery) - Discovery packet sent and reply heard. |
| Orange | TX (Transmit) - Message sent, but no repeat was heard. |
| Purple | RX (Receive) - Heard traffic while in RX mode. |
| Grey | DEAD - Repeater heard the ping, but it did not make it into the wider mesh. |
| Red | DROP - Failed ping. No repeats heard, did not make it into the wider mesh. |
MeshCore uses a few clearly defined roles, and each one runs its own firmware. The same hardware can be a companion node, repeater, or room server—it just depends on what you flash to it.
Here’s the breakdown of how each role works and how they fit together.
Companion nodes are your personal, portable devices—the way you actually connect to the mesh.
Bottom line:
These are endpoints, NOT infrastructure. They rely on repeaters to move traffic across the network.
Repeaters are the backbone of the mesh. They route packets across the network and extend coverage.
Bottom line:
These ARE the infrastructure. They keep the mesh connected and help it grow.
Room servers act more like a shared message board or lightweight chat server than a traditional node.
Best use case:
Store and forward message channel for clients not currently connected to mesh.
Below are the local settings for the MeshCore network in our region. These are based on USA preset.
*Coding Rate (CR) is a measure of error correction. A higher CR means more redundancy and better performance in noisy environments, but it also reduces effective data throughput.
The default CR of 5 is a good balance for most use cases, but you can adjust it based on your specific needs and conditions.
A local #stmesh channel is in use to allow public, but scoped discussion that doesn't flood the general public channel.
We have a local room server running in the region that anyone can connect to.
It’s a great way to test your setup and see messages from the local mesh without needing to connect to the wider network.
To connect, use the following settings:
Feel free to connect and say hi! Leave a message for others to see.
The 1-Byte Limitation
In 1-byte mode, repeaters are identified using the first two characters of their Public ID (e.g., A1, 4F, 09). Since this is only two hexadecimal digits long, there are only 254 possible combinations (01 to FE...00 and FF are reserved in the MeshCore firmware).
As the number of repeaters in a region increases, it becomes statistically inevitable that two completely different devices will end up with the same Short ID.
When this happens, it is called a Collision.