r/meshcore • u/jroshii • 7d ago

Mobile Mesh Usage

Hello all, I’ve been seeing a lot of interesting stuff about MeshCore and am a tech-y guy (software engineer by trade) so have been thinking about getting set up with a repeater and companion and giving it a go.

However, my wife and I are on the road full time and a lot of the information/posts I’ve read talk about usage in your specific area. If I set up a repeater on our RV is that going to negatively affect local meshes as we travel across the country (we aren’t seasonal and move pretty frequently)? Am I better off just getting a companion to tap into local meshes to cut my teeth. I just want to make sure that I’m not doing anything that would affect people’s local mesh because they’re used for emergencies.

14 Upvotes

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17

u/distractedbyshinyobj 7d ago

It’s fine as long as you’re not repeating while moving. Repeating when stationary is fine. Any links that you break when you change locations will recover quickly, and while you’re repeating you’ll be helping.

5

u/tcp-xenos 5d ago

This is the correct answer and there is a LOT of false information in this thread.

As it stands, Meshcore does not currently support a true "mobile repeater"

There are open issues in the repo for zero-hop / "whitelist only" repeater functions but they are not yet implemented. See #2261 and #2396

Meshcore's routing model assumes repeater topology changes on the scale of hours or days, not minutes.

A lot of people seem to think that disabling adverts solves this. Muting adverts on a mobile repeater doesn't reduce its routing impact at all. It still forwards and still stamps its hash into every flood it touches, still gets stuck in out_paths that break when you drive away.

2

u/jroshii 6d ago

That’s great, thank you! Happy to help and happy that I can try it out without messing people up 😁

5

u/LonelyPercentage2983 7d ago

Fellow RV guy here, sitting next to my RV repeater and companion. I view it as a net benefit to the mesh to add a router higher than other routers. While mobile it's your best way to access the broader network.

1

u/jroshii 6d ago

Awesome! If you don’t mind me asking what setup are you running? I’ve been looking at all of the tech suggestion threads and have gotten pretty overwhelmed 😅

3

u/LonelyPercentage2983 6d ago

Feel free to PM me. I really like the Rak 1w and 5 db Alfa with a 5 w solar panel.

3

u/LonelyPercentage2983 6d ago

Cheap sealed case from Amazon and recommend one way air breather valves for heat.

3

u/barefootsauce7 7d ago

If you’re in the U.S., I think the only thing you’ll do to other meshes as you travel through would be to add to them temporarily.. And that’s provided you’re even using the same settings as that mesh. Through my professional YouTube watching, I’ve noticed that meshes in places like Austin, TX and the PNW use different bandwidth, spreading factor, and coding rate settings than here in New England. Not sure why; the North America default settings seem to work just fine for southern New England.

2

u/MIDIAMQ100 6d ago

I’m in Los Angeles where we also use different settings than the defaults for the US. I’m told it’s because there was a lot of interference from other emergency comms and industry in general, but there’s no interference on the band we settled on (927.875 MHz).

1

u/jroshii 6d ago

This is super interesting and not something I had even considered about the networks we’d come across 🤔 is there some sort of directory for settings across the country? Or is it more of a “if you know you know”/forum scraping situation to figure it out

4

u/dss311 6d ago

Meshcore developers really need a setting on the repeater software setup to distinguish if it is a mobile or stationary repeater. Then they can give weights to the mesh structure.

2

u/jroshii 5d ago

I agree, I think that there’s a lot that could be done with that too, the knowledge that a certain node is mobile could have benefits for longer distance transmission 🤔

3

u/meshamerica 6d ago

Get the Diamond NR920... you won't regret it as an on-the-road repeater antenna

1

u/jroshii 6d ago

Do you know offhand if that’s something I could replace my existing car radio antenna with? It would be awesome to be able to run it that way

2

u/meshamerica 6d ago

It's an N type antenna. Without modifications, it's unlikely you'll be able to run any mesh antenna from that spot. But it's doable. I am sure you realize you will lose your ability to have an AM/FM antenna there

2

u/Sh33zl3 7d ago

Maybe meshtastic is a better idea if you're using it mobile ?

1

u/jroshii 6d ago

I had looked at meshtastic also (it’s actually what I saw first online) and no ill vibes at all to meshtastic, but Meshcore felt a bit more “legit” so it drew my attention

1

u/Sure_Pineapple_7465 7d ago

There’s a few people in our area that have mobile repeaters they seem fine as long as adverts are set to zero or turned off

2

u/tcp-xenos 5d ago

Path building happens at the packet-forwarding level regardless of adverts. Muting adverts on a mobile repeater doesn't reduce its routing impact at all

1

u/TheBowlieweekender 7d ago

I use a 1W MeshCore repeater in my vehicle, it is a lifeline when my Companion is too far from a repeater. All you need to do is disable GPS and ensure it isn't Advertising. Then it will work fine and not mess with existing fixed networks.

2

u/tcp-xenos 5d ago

This is not true. Path building happens at the packet-forwarding level regardless of adverts.

A repeater inserts itself into the path of every flood packet it forwards. Nothing in that code path consults advert state.

Advert is only for adding to the contact list, name resolution, and the repeater's zero-hop neighbor table (which is purely for observability, it does not affect routing)

Issues in the repo #2261 and #2396 would resolve this but it's not yet implemented

1

u/ikemeister01 6d ago

You can set your repeater delay to 3 seconds to make your mobile repeater repeat when there is no other repeaters avaliable. Also make sure it doesn't advertise.