Coming from Meshtastic
Tri-Cities Mesh started on Meshtastic. In 2026 the community moved to MeshCore. This page covers what’s different and how to switch.
Why we switched
Meshtastic is a great project and got a lot of us into LoRa mesh. As the local network grew, we wanted a design that scales better over our hills and valleys:
- Repeaters do the relaying. In Meshtastic, nearly every radio rebroadcasts what it hears, which crowds the airwaves as the mesh grows. In MeshCore, only dedicated repeaters relay. Phones and handheld companions don’t.
- Direct messages find a route. The first message to someone is flooded, and after that MeshCore sends DMs along a known path, so they don’t hit the whole mesh each time.
- Room servers. Built-in bulletin boards keep messages for people who were offline.
- Easy remote management. You can check on and configure repeaters from the app over the air.
What changes for you
The two networks can’t talk to each other, so a Meshtastic radio won’t see MeshCore traffic and MeshCore radios won’t see Meshtastic traffic.
| Meshtastic | MeshCore | |
|---|---|---|
| Your phone’s radio | Usually relays traffic | A companion that doesn’t relay |
| Fixed relays | Router / Client roles | Repeater firmware |
| Radio settings | LongFast, etc. | USA/Canada preset: 910.525 MHz, BW 62.5, SF7, CR5 |
| Identity | Node number (!abcd1234) | A public key (contacts show a short prefix) |
| App | Meshtastic app | MeshCore app |
Reflashing your radio
Most common Meshtastic hardware, including Heltec V3, RAK4631, T-Beam, T-Echo, and Seeed trackers, runs MeshCore too.
- Write down anything you want to keep from your Meshtastic settings, such as the name and channel keys.
- Open the MeshCore flasher, pick your device, and choose Companion, or Repeater if it’s a fixed site.
- Follow Getting Started from step 3.
If you host a fixed Meshtastic router on a roof or tower, reflashing it as a MeshCore repeater is one of the most helpful things you can do. Please let us know once it’s converted so we can update the node directory.