The mesh is the people running it

Where operators meet

• Melbourne Meshtastic Users, Australia Meshtastic’s GitHub discussions A long-running thread for Melbourne operators covering roles, settings and coverage. Quieter lately, but a good record of what’s been tried.
• Meshtastic Discord the official project server Worldwide, with help channels for settings and hardware questions.

Melbourne doesn’t have an entry yet in the official list of local groups; Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and Tasmania do. That’s worth fixing.

See who’s on the air

These maps show nodes that choose to share their position over the internet (MQTT). They show only part of the mesh, but they’re a quick way to see activity near you.

• meshmap.netpublic MQTT map
• Meshtastic map by Liam Cottlepublic MQTT map

A note on MeshCore

Much of Victoria’s LoRa activity, including the EastMesh community, now runs MeshCore. It’s a different system that can’t exchange messages with Meshtastic. This site and Pulse are about Meshtastic.

The groups above are run by their own members, not by The Clique online. Know one we’ve missed? Tell us.

Organising better coverage

• Map the gaps together. Compare which nodes you can and can’t hear with people in nearby suburbs. A gap shows up quickly when two people describe it from either side.
• Look for the high spots. A rooftop, a tall building or a hill can link areas that ground-level nodes never will. If you have access to one, it may be the most useful thing you can offer.
• Agree before you install. Hosting a node on someone else’s roof or building needs their permission, and usually a plan for power, weatherproofing and access.
• Coordinate router roles. One well-placed router in an area helps. Several overlapping ones mostly add traffic. Talk to nearby operators before changing yours.

Sharing what you hear

Reception reports are voluntary, and they’re the best tool the community has. A useful report says which node you heard, how many hops away, the signal on direct contacts, and roughly where you were.

• Share locations at suburb or landmark level, not street addresses.
• Never publish someone else’s precise node location without their consent.
• If you share your own position over the mesh, consider lowering its precision.

Keeping the public channel useful

• Answer hellos. A reply is what tells a newcomer the mesh is real.
• Keep messages short, and move long conversations to a direct message or a group channel.
• Run range tests and repeated test messages on a private channel.
• Leave the hop limit on its default.
• Bots should identify themselves, answer briefly and never answer each other. That’s the standard Pulse holds itself to.