This post is going to be a work in progress, but I wanted to get some notes on paper so bear with me.
What is Meshtastic?
You can read about it here, but here’s the intro.
Meshtastic® is a project that enables you to use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communication platform in areas without existing or reliable communications infrastructure. This project is 100% community driven and open source!
Check out these range tests with up to 331km over ground! Here’s a video on how to get more range. Here’s a Reddit thread of people talking about how the communicate with Meshtastic.
How to get started?
Here’s the official Getting Started page. First, you’ll need a LoRa board. Here’s a comparison table. If you’re like me and don’t know what to compare, here’s a Reddit thread with some opinions on top boards. Lots of people recommend the LILYGO T-Echo because it has a power-efficient nRF52840 MCU and e-ink display, but it’s $55-60. I’m going to start with an ESP32-based Heltec v3 ($18) and a GPS-enabled Heltec Wireless Tracker ($23). You can check other supported devices here. In many cases, you can order them with a case or print your own. Or if you just want something more polished, the RAK WisMesh Pocket V2 ($99) looks pretty good.
You can read this Reddit thread if you’re curious about why ESP is more popular than NRF chips. Basically, because it’s cheaper.
Here’s a Meshtastic Discord Bot!
UPDATE: April 27 2025
So I got a few boards to play with. This MakerHawk one comes with a small rigid antenna that works with most 3D-printed cases. This MakerFocus one doesn’t come with a rigid antenna so I also got this 5 dBi antenna. Note you’ll need to use a case that can fit the larger base. Lastly, I got these 3000 mAh batteries to play with standalone applications. You could also just power it from your phone device with a USB C cable.
I’m just following Meshtastic Getting Started documentation for this next part.
Installing drivers
On my later-model computer, I didn’t have to install any drivers. On my 2013-era Thinkpad, I had to install this CP210x Universal Windows Driver to get the Flasher tool to recognize my board.
Flashing the firmware
This was super easy. I just plugged my device into my Windows laptop, went to Meshtastic Web Flasher in Microsoft Edge browser, picked Heltec V3, chose default settings for everything else, and clicked Update. I got a browser notification to select a device, chose COM5 (might be different for you), and the flashing process did its thing.
Connect and configure device
Download the app from F-Droid or Google Play. Pair the newly-flashed Meshtastic device with your phone’s Bluetooth. It’ll be named something like Meshtastic_XXXX. There will be a pairing key on the Meshtastic device’s display to complete pairing.
Echoic Dev 