Resources
Curated links: communities, documentation, hardware vendors, regulators and tools.
Updated 29 Oct 2026
Directories and primers
- Meshtastic documentation is the official reference. Useful starting pages: the mesh broadcast algorithm, radio settings and encryption.
- MeshCore is the project site for the MeshCore firmware; its GitHub repository holds the firmware and its FAQ, and docs.meshcore.io hosts documentation.
- Reticulum manual explains the Reticulum networking stack, including destinations, announces and transport nodes; the repository carries the code.
- NYC Mesh wiki: networking overview describes how NYC Mesh uses BGP and OSPF.
- Freifunk is the English-language entry point to the German-origin community network movement; Gluon documentation covers its OpenWrt-based node firmware.
- Guifi.net is the landing page of the Catalonia-based community network foundation.
- AREDN documentation covers the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network firmware and hardware.
- Wireless Networking in the Developing World is a free book on building low-cost wireless networks, with a PDF download and a print edition. Good for the physics of links and line of sight; we did not confirm its edition year.
- redecentralize/alternative-internet is a GitHub list of alternative and decentralised network projects, including Guifi, Freifunk, NYC Mesh, Funkfeuer and LibreMesh, with a "Dead" section for defunct projects. Recommended as a broad starting directory.
- eric-erki/awesome-decentralized-web is a general list of decentralised technology that includes LibreMesh and disaster.radio. Only loosely about mesh. (The
distribute-d/awesome-decentralized-webrepository we were pointed to returns 404.) - p2pisp.com is an informational hub on community-driven peer-to-peer internet and mesh projects, describing MeshCore, AREDN, Meshtastic and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth meshes.
- nodestar.net is Node Star, a publishing and community project about neighbourhood LoRa meshes using Meshtastic and Reticulum, with a book titled "Own the Internet". It is US-oriented and promotes its own books and programmes; check claims before treating it as an authority.
UK-specific
- Mesh Hub UK offers community tools, maps and live network information for Meshtastic and MeshCore users across the UK, with a Discord and an events page. It is one of two UK entries in Meshtastic's official local-groups list.
- LocalMesh is a volunteer-run UK network built on MeshCore. It claims more than 800 repeaters across the UK and devices from about £40; both are its own unchecked claims. It states that it is not a substitute for the emergency services.
- New Welsh Mesh is the other UK entry in Meshtastic's local groups list. Its website domain had lapsed as of 29 October 2026, so we do not link it. We have not looked beyond that listing.
- Ofcom's rules for the 868 MHz band are in the next section, and in our LoRa vs Wi-Fi mesh explainer.
- To find a nearby group, see our find a local mesh guide.
Community chat
- Meshtastic. Discord at discord.gg/meshtastic and r/meshtastic; the official community page also lists Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram, YouTube and X. Meshtastic's Discourse forum has been retired in favour of GitHub Discussions, according to search results we could not open the original announcement for.
- MeshCore. Discord at meshcore.gg and r/meshcore.
- Reticulum. Discussion and issues on GitHub. We could not confirm a Matrix room name, so none is listed.
- NYC Mesh. Slack is the primary chat, plus a newsletter and meetups; start at nycmesh.net.
- Freifunk. The Freifunk forum is German-language and was active in October 2026.
- AREDN. See the documentation for community links.
Spectrum regulation by country
| Region | Primary source | Key limits |
|---|---|---|
| UK | Ofcom IR 2030 v1.15, March 2023 | 869.40 to 869.65 MHz: 500 mW e.r.p., listen-before-talk or 10% duty cycle. 868.0 to 868.6 MHz: 25 mW e.r.p., 1% duty cycle or listen-before-talk. 868.7 to 869.2 MHz: 25 mW e.r.p., 0.1% duty cycle. 869.30 to 869.40 MHz: 10 mW e.r.p., 10% duty cycle. 869.7 to 870 MHz: 25 mW e.r.p., 1% duty cycle or LBT. UK LoRa uses 868 MHz, not 915 MHz. A newer version may exist. |
| EU / CEPT | ERC document (docdb.cept.org); also ECC Rec 70-03 and ETSI EN 300 220 (not linked: we did not fetch the current versions) | 868.0 to 868.6 MHz: 25 mW, 1% duty cycle. 869.4 to 869.65 MHz: 500 mW e.r.p., 10% duty cycle. The linked document dates from 2001 (modified 2007): check the current Rec 70-03. |
| US | 47 CFR 15.247 | 902 to 928 MHz: 1 W for systems with at least 50 hopping channels, 0.25 W for systems using fewer than 50 but at least 25 hopping channels; reduce power by the amount antenna gain exceeds 6 dBi; digital modulation needs a 6 dB bandwidth of at least 500 kHz. Section 15.249 not checked. |
| Australia | ACMA LIPD Class Licence 2015 | From search snippets only: 915 to 928 MHz up to 1 W EIRP with conditions. Check the primary document, and the current consolidated version. |
| Canada | ISED RSS-247 Issue 3 | Covers 902 to 928 MHz, 2.4 and 5.8 GHz. Issue 4 is reportedly in force from 24 July 2025. Specific limits not read: check the primary document. |
| India | DoT low-power equipment rules for 865 to 868 MHz (2021) | From search snippets only: 865 to 867 MHz, 1 W transmitter power, 4 W ERP, 200 kHz carrier bandwidth. We could not parse the PDF: check the primary document. |
Japan and New Zealand are not in the table because we found no verified primary source. For reference only, Meshtastic's firmware presets for those regions are 920.5 to 923.5 MHz at 13 dBm (Japan) and 864 to 868 MHz (NZ_865); these are software settings, not law.
The Meshtastic region list is on its LoRa configuration page. It shows firmware ceilings, not national limits.
Historical (defunct)
- Commotion Wireless was an Open Technology Institute project built on OLSR and OpenWrt, funded by a US State Department grant in 2011, with v1.0 in December 2013. The Wikipedia article says its code development profiles had not been updated since 2016 and its website went offline around September 2024. Listed for the history, not as something to deploy.
Further reading
- Resilience in practice, the ISP as a single point of failure and privacy and encryption on this site.
- Meshtastic node map (meshmap.net) is an open-source map built from the public Meshtastic MQTT broker; coverage is limited to nodes that publish position.
- MeshCore map is MeshCore's official node map.
- AREDN world map shows AREDN nodes.
- Royal Holloway on Bridgefy is a university news item on security flaws in an offline mesh messaging app.
- Access Now #KeepItOn tracks internet shutdowns.