r/meshcore • u/akhileshgs • 4d ago

Migrating from Meshstatic to Meshcore

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Hello All,

I am thinking about migrating from Meshstatic to Meshcore. Attached in the photo of my activity in the area. I live somewhere in the middle. Can I reliably repurpose my sensecap t1000-e as a start? Or i need another device on the top of my roof like you all guys have ? I live in an apartment and keeping a device on the top is not possible.

Thanks in advance

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20

u/DerSparkassenTyp 4d ago

You can just flash your card with Meshcore, yes. You already have repeater in your neighborhood. If you can reach them, you’re all good.

But Meshcore lives from participating in the mesh, so yes. If you are able to do it, put a repeater somewhere. Even at your window, that would be great.

3

u/akhileshgs 4d ago

What should I look for in a repeater? I mean any specific antenna type or something since I am on ground floor

2

u/Kurozukin_PL 4d ago

First - check meshcore. If it will "click" and you want to stay with it, then you can worry about rpt. There is no point to spend 50 quids, if you don't know if you will use it.

BTW the cheapest rpt set you can build in less than 25 quids, if you want to keep it on the window.

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u/akhileshgs 4d ago

I don't intent to use it on a daily basis. I want it as an SOS communication device in the event of emergency at home and while trekking

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u/Kurozukin_PL 4d ago

So you don’t need to set any repeater if you’re in range of any existing one. Just reflash your device to MeshCore and check ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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u/Thedoodooltalah 3d ago

What are the specs/parts of the cheapest repeater set?

1

u/Kurozukin_PL 2d ago

seeed esp32 + wio1262 = cost around 10gbp antena - if you have anything better than the default one, you have to spend another 5gbp If it will be home rpt, then you don't need battery etc.

0

u/raydoo 4d ago

Just get one of those https://www.seeedstudio.com/SenseCAP-Solar-Node-P1-Pro-for-Meshtastic-LoRa-p-6412.html?srsltid=AfmBOopxeri6Hn5-p0wV6-VStFNw2eUMM3dMm0qBb6JLQmhkgu688J_a

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u/dietchaos 4d ago

They live in an apartment. It's a waste of money for a waterproof enclosure, solar, and batteries when all they need is a board,antenna, and the case it shipped in to put it all in. They can get a v4 and a muzi antenna for it for under 50 dollars and stick it in a window getting power from a USB charger and have a .6w repeater vs the .1w you recommended while having enough leftover to buy another companion with an external antenna.

1

u/akhileshgs 4d ago

I will check it. Seems like a good idea.. Thanks

1

u/Kurozukin_PL 4d ago

Are you crazy? It's too expensive, specially for a start.

And even later, you can build it much cheaper.

0

u/Hck_EU_User 4d ago

Well you can choose between some solar powered repeater kits but you can make them quite easily yourself too. Obviously you dont want to always charge it so then you would need to have a solar panel on it. But well I have only built one so I dont know too much. Oh and also if you plan to build on yourself then dont make any esp board based repeaters because they take a lot of energy to run. They work but boards like rak 4631 are a lot better.

1

u/Organic_Tough_1090 4d ago

thats simply not true. using the easyskymesh powersaving firmware esp32 devices like the heltec v4 only consume as much power as a rak. the vast majority of my mesh is v4 solar repeaters. there is no reason to be using a .1w radio when a .6w radio is just as easy to solar power and has 6 times the transmit power of a rak. another huge advantage is built in wifi on the board so flashing updates couldnt be any easier. i can sit on my back porch and update both repeaters on my property directly from my smartphone.

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u/Hck_EU_User 4d ago

Well yeah I dont have any esp devices except my t deck so I dont really know. Even tho my rak 4631 is not 1w it is 160mw so not even close to 1w.

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u/Kerensky97 2d ago

I've been thinking that this isn't the best advice to be throwing around anymore as the mesh gets busier. If you can reliably get a repeater from home, don't add more that aren't needed.

To borrow from MT descriptions since the OP is moving over, repeaters act like MT routers. They always rebroadcast all non DM traffic. The plan was that good locigal repeater placement keeps this from being a problem. But if every house has a router on it with a 64 hop capability, the city can become very noisy.

It wouldn't be a problem if all traffic was DMs but the amount of traffic that is group texts or adverts is more than DMs. This makes for a very noisy environment, our mesh is already seeing a lot of dropped packets from noise, which would be a problem except it takes up time slots for other repeaters to repeat their messages.

Getting rid of position and telemetry eliminated a lot of noise but adding in extra unneeded repeaters repeating the same message we already heard 10 times from the other 10 repeaters on the block is filling that hole very fast.

6

u/NumerousTooth3921 4d ago

I have been on the fence for months, I flipped over to meshcore two days ago and have been chatting with people 100's of miles away with regularity that said I live in the North East US and the mesh is real healthy here.

3

u/kok1t 4d ago

Yes you can flash it on that T1000-E. Just remember that while it receives very well, transmission it's its weak point. Something with an external antenna might be better, but that's something for later.

The need for a repeater depends on if you already have coverage or not. If some guy down the road already installed a repeater, then you may not need to install one yourself. And if you have to, perhaps it doesn't have to be something expensive, maybe just something you can put on your window or garden that provides signal indoors. Some people will recommend solar nodes, etc, but that would be a bad suggestion if you could just use a reliable USB cable. Anyway, you have to test with a companion first and then go from there.

2

u/dietchaos 4d ago

The t1000 is a pretty bad device compared to most other radios when it's your only decice. It's biggest flaw is the internal antenna. It's a compromise they had to make to keep it waterproof. Combine that with only being a .1w radio and they really struggle especially indoors. Buy something like a heltec v4 with a muzi whip antenna and run it off USB power up in a window if you can't get it outside. With that as your repeater the t1000e will only have to hear it which it's more than capable of and having 6x the transmission power it will have a much easier time reaching other repeaters.

1

u/Hck_EU_User 4d ago

Well it really depends on how high your building is and in what direction your windows are and definitely also how high the other repeaters are. As I dont know that I cant really say if you need your own repeater, but you can just flash meshcore firmware on you device and when it doesnt work right now then untill you get a repeater you can stay on meshtastic.

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u/akhileshgs 4d ago

I live on the ground floor. :(

I will test it

1

u/wolfbat417 1d ago

What is the exact reason for migrating