About Us

NEPAMesh is a community-built Meshtastic mesh network in Northeastern Pennsylvania. A bunch of people with cheap LoRa radios, some mountaintops, and a shared interest in building communication infrastructure that doesn't depend on cell towers or the internet.

What started as a handful of nodes in the Wyoming Valley has grown into a network of almost 500 devices spanning eastern and central PA. Hobbyists, ham operators, tinkerers -- if you're the kind of person who puts radios on things, you'll fit right in.

What We Do

Meshtastic turns inexpensive LoRa radios into a mesh network. Every node relays messages for every other node, extending range far beyond what a single radio could reach. Text messaging, GPS location sharing, telemetry data -- all of it works without any external infrastructure. No cell service required. No internet required. Just radios.

The mesh operates on the 915 MHz ISM band. No license needed. Encryption is on by default. Messages hop up to 3 times between nodes, and our longest verified single-hop RF link sits at 94.5 miles -- pure radio, no internet relay.

The Network

As of April 2026, the mesh has close to 500 known nodes with roughly 270 active in any given 24-hour window. Coverage spans the Wyoming Valley, Lehigh Valley, Pocono region, and Susquehanna corridor, with nodes reaching into the York/Lancaster area and beyond.

The backbone is a mix of RAK WisBlock, Heltec, and PORTDUINO (Linux) nodes -- many of them solar-powered and sitting on ridgelines. The SUSQ VAL PA Mesh crew runs serious distributed infrastructure across central PA. Combined with the Lehigh Valley and Pocono nodes, we've got solid coverage across most of eastern Pennsylvania.

Our Tools

map.nepamesh.com -- Live map of the network. Every node reporting to our MQTT server shows up here with position, hardware info, battery status, and neighbor connections. Want to see the mesh? Start here.

propagation.nepamesh.com -- RF propagation monitoring dashboard. Tracks signal quality between nodes, correlates propagation with weather data, identifies coverage gaps, and suggests optimal locations for new nodes. Still in active development.

nepamesh.com -- You're here. Blog posts, setup guides, and network updates.

Get Involved

Grab a Meshtastic-compatible radio (a Heltec V3 runs about $20), flash it, and turn it on. That's genuinely it for joining the mesh. If you want to show up on the map, there's an MQTT setup guide on the site.

We're always happy to help newcomers get set up. Best places to find us:

• Discord -- Most active. Best place for quick questions and real-time help.
• Facebook Group -- For those who prefer Facebook.

Every node someone adds makes the mesh better for everyone. More nodes, more coverage, more resilience. That's the whole idea.