Low-bandwidth / off-grid meshes
MeshCore
Open-source LoRa mesh messaging with repeaters and path-based routing, popular in the UK
Text & telemetry only active
Updated 29 Oct 2026
| Internet traffic | No. It is a messaging system. We found no documented internet bridge in the sources we read. |
|---|---|
| Node count | 20,603 repeaters heard in the last 7 days on the self-uploaded map (69,134 records ever; all types, many stale) (as of 29 Oct 2026, source) |
| Geography | Global, with large UK, US, European and Australia/New Zealand presence. The project's apps and firmware are developed in different countries. |
| Regions | Global, United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand |
| Tech |
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| Typical cost | Hardware only, no fees. One UK volunteer site quotes boards from around £25 on one page and around £40 on another; the UK shop at meshcore.co.uk lists the M9 handset at £69.99. These are third-party figures. |
| Bandwidth | LoRa-class and text-oriented. One UK volunteer site claims 500 m to 2 km between nodes in built-up areas and 5 to 15 km from elevated positions. Treat that as a claim, not a guarantee. |
| Legal | No licence needed within the limits. UK: 868 MHz (Ofcom IR 2030 v1.16): 500 mW e.r.p. and 10% duty cycle at 869.40-869.65 MHz, 25 mW e.r.p. across most of the rest of the band. US and similar regions: 902-928 MHz under FCC Part 15. The MeshCore app's preset list offers "EU/UK (Narrow)": 869.618 MHz, SF8, 62.5 kHz bandwidth, coding rate 4/8, which sits inside the 869.40-869.65 MHz slot; presets can change, so check the app. MeshCore repeater firmware has a duty-cycle limit that defaults to 50%, above the UK 10% limit: on a UK repeater run set dutycycle 10. |
| Governance | Open-source community project (MIT licence). The project site is meshcore.io. A separate commercial site, meshcore.co.uk, sells hardware and hosts a flasher; we could not confirm its relationship to the project. |
| UK notes | UK: licence-exempt 868 MHz band under Ofcom IR 2030 (v1.16, published 7 April 2026). Most of the band is limited to 25 mW e.r.p.; the 869.40-869.65 MHz slot allows 500 mW e.r.p. with spectrum-access techniques per EN 300 220 (such as listen before talk) or, alternatively, a duty cycle of 10% or less. 915 MHz equipment is for the US and similar regions, not the UK. Map-derived figures for 29 October 2026 from the official map's self-uploaded data, so duplicates, test nodes and bad clocks exist. The areas have different shapes and were measured separately, so do not compare them across rows. UK and Ireland box: 1,201 repeaters and 1,258 nodes of all types heard in the last 7 days; 1,815 heard in 30 days; 4,695 records ever. Within a 25 km radius circle around Coventry: 17 nodes heard in 7 days. A wider West Midlands rectangle (52.2-52.75 N, 2.4-1.3 W): 25 heard in 7 days and 39 in 30 days. A tight Coventry city box: 3 heard in 7 days and 6 in 30 days (5 repeaters and 1 companion), so roughly 5 live repeaters in the city. The Coventry and West Midlands counts exclude future-dated entries, which the map contains (some dated years ahead, from bad device clocks). Realistically that is a small number of live repeaters, so coverage is partial. LocalMesh claims 800+ volunteer-run repeaters across Britain (undated, unsourced); that does not reconcile with the map and we have not tried to. We could not verify any Coventry-specific or West Midlands-specific group, so none is listed: use the MeshCore Discord, Mesh Hub UK and the map. Trap: meshcore.co.uk is a separate commercial site, and we could not confirm its relationship to the project; and "Birmingham Mesh" on meshmap.me is Birmingham, Alabama. |
| Links |
How it works
MeshCore is an open-source (MIT) LoRa messaging system. Unlike Meshtastic, it does not make every node relay. It has three firmware roles: companion radios (your handset's radio), repeaters and room servers (a simple bulletin board). Only repeaters and room servers with repeating switched on forward packets. The FAQ says plainly that MeshCore clients do not repeat.
Routing starts with a flood. For a direct message, the first message floods, the destination returns a delivery report carrying the repeater path, and later messages use that path. Group channels use flood routing only. The hop limit is 64 with 1-byte path hashes. The maximum packet payload is 184 bytes.
How to join
- Buy a board for your region. UK and EU use the 868 MHz range; the USA, Australia and New Zealand use 915 MHz.
- Flash firmware with the official flasher at flasher.meshcore.io. Choose the companion firmware for a handset radio, or repeater firmware if you are placing a repeater.
- Install a companion app (Android, iOS, desktop or the web app at app.meshcore.nz) and pair it.
- Check your radio preset for your country. The app's preset list offers "EU/UK (Narrow)": 869.618 MHz, spreading factor 8, bandwidth 62.5 kHz, coding rate 4/8. Presets are community suggestions and can change, so check the app. See flash MeshCore.
- Look at the map to see the nearest repeater, and join the official Discord via meshcore.gg.
Two sites, not one
The project is at meshcore.io. A separate commercial site, meshcore.co.uk, is a UK retailer that also hosts a flasher and a user guide. Its footer says "MeshCore(TM)" but we could not confirm its relationship to the project, and its "30,000+ users across 80+ countries" is marketing copy. Use meshcore.io for documentation and the official flasher.
The UK and the Midlands
The official map is self-uploaded, so it contains duplicates, test nodes and wrong clocks. These figures are from 29 October 2026. In a box covering the UK and Ireland, 1,201 repeaters (1,258 nodes of all types) were heard in the last 7 days. Within a 25 km radius circle around Coventry, 17 nodes were heard in 7 days. In a tight Coventry city box, 6 were heard in 30 days (5 repeaters and 1 companion) and 3 in 7 days, so roughly 5 live repeaters in the city. In a wider West Midlands rectangle (52.2-52.75 N, 2.4-1.3 W), 25 were heard in 7 days and 39 in 30 days. These counts exclude future-dated entries (the map holds some dated years ahead, from bad device clocks). That is a small number of live repeaters, so coverage is partial.
LocalMesh, a volunteer UK site, claims 800+ repeaters across Britain, with no date or source. Its city pages for Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton read like templates and name no groups.
What it realistically gives you
Short text messages between people within a few repeater hops. The project site describes the messaging as end-to-end encrypted. Direct messages are encrypted between the two nodes' keys (AES-128 in ECB mode with a 2-byte MAC, per the source code); channel messages share one key among all members. That is weaker than modern authenticated encryption, so do not use it for sensitive messages. See privacy and encryption. One UK volunteer site claims 500 m to 2 km between nodes in built-up areas and 5 to 15 km from high positions. That is a claim, not a guarantee. MeshCore does not carry internet traffic, and we found no documented internet bridge.
Sources
- meshcore.io
- FAQ
- Map, read 29 October 2026
- LocalMesh
- Ofcom IR 2030