Projects:Meshcore

YOU CAN REACH US ON MESHCORE HASHTAG CHANNEL #hackerspacenijmegen:

Our Meshcore ID for our public channel: meshcore://channel/add?name=%23hackerspacenijmegen&secret=f7eaefaa8f8098f31e7ff589c54f88a6

The QR code for our public channel:

Join our public MeshCore channel (#hackerspacenijmegen)

Hackerspace Nijmegen has a Meshtastic node. Given the limitations in reach without the internet with Meshtastic, another open source project has become popular recently: Meshcore. Meshcore has a clear distinction between repeaters and clients (companions) and seems to be a more robust implementation of Lora.

As there are hardly any repeaters (October 2025) in Nijmegen, we have setup a Meshcore repeater in the space as well.

Heltec e290

Specs:

Software:

Meshcore repeater name: Hackerspace [NYM]

Public Key: <ba8f4501920598737c2fa7acccc383c0495d27c55ed9c40e05b52aeb37a0cb49>

Telemetry: EU/UK (Narrow) 869.618MHz SF8 / BW62.5 / CR8

Add HSN repeater to your meshcore network with this QR code

Hardware:

- Heltec Vision Master E290

Heltec v3 Meshcore Companion

- Professional Lora Antenna with 4,5m coax

//TODO:

• Enhance antenna with a reflector

//Done (4-11-2025)

• added professional antenna (to gain highest possible point.

Useful links:

https://meshcore.co.uk

Apps: https://meshcore.co.uk/apps.html

Flash: https://flasher.meshcore.co.uk/ (use webgl browser like chromium)

for more meshtastic and meshcore background:

https://www.meshnet.nl/

https://valleirug.nl/

Tips:

1. Flashing When you enter the Heltec E290 (Esp32) device to flash or control with the browser, press boot button while plugging in. When your machine shows the device to be present (lsusb), but the webclient cannot connect (Could not open serial port /dev/ttyUSB0) check if your username is added to groups (cli: groups). To add:sudo adduser your_user dialout -- When your machine will not connect over USB - serial:
   1. dmesg | grep tty
   2. check permissions: ls -l /dev/tty****
   3. add your user to the dialout group: sudo usermod -aG <user> (where -aG = Add group)
   4. reboot
2. Advert and Sync When setting up a companion, don't forget to do a clock sync and do (set) adverts.
3. Set on internet map Put your repeater on the internet map. In the app, select the 'share' options via the 3 dots and select "upload to Internet Map
4. OTA update

OTA update pagina Repeater Meshcore

To update your repeater over the air (OTA), please follow the following procedure:

• Connect to your repeater via the Meshcore app and click on "manage".
• After entering your Repeater password, you are logged in (as admin).
• Go to the Command Line and type: start ota. The reply should be: Started: http://192.168.4.1/update
• You should see an open (unsecure) wifi network "Meshcore-OTA".
• You can then connect your laptop to this wifi network and a simple webpage opens.
• Here you can upload your new firmware.
• After the flash, you can reboot the repeater.

4. Prevent Public key collisions.

The first two letters of the public key are used to identify your node or repeater. This could cause collisions when these ID's are the same. The ID of the Hackerspace repeaters is BA, so I changed my personal repeater to E4 to prevent collisions nearby. To do this you need to first create a new private key. This can be done here: https://techspeeltuin.nl/meshcore-keygenerator/. You then need to connect to the console of your meshcore repeater (via USB or via Manage in the app) and use set prv.key <generatedprivatekey>

Plan: Donate for a Heltec Meshtower

For our new Hackerspace location, we would like to install a Heltec Meshtower. This device is a standalone, battery and solarpowered Lora device that can be installed outside. The device itself will cost around 200 euro, excluding mounting (to be determined)

If you would like to participate (donate), please join!

who	amount	payed
Voorstad	5 tenners	yes	.
Kas	5 tenners	yes	.
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MeshCore Jam December 9th 2025:

Bestand:MeshCore CTF presentation-v1.pdfSildes:

Hackers involved:

Voorstad, Spik-e, PPaul

(contact: https://mastodon.nl/@voorstad)