NEPAMesh

31
Aug
A LILYGO T-Deck handheld Meshtastic device shown from front and back, with its QWERTY keyboard, screen, and exposed ESP32 circuit board visible.

August on the Mesh: The Node That Wasn't a Plane

MeshShadow's airborne flag caught a node reporting 11,924 meters this month. It wasn't a jet. It was a handheld GPS having a bad day.
5 min read
24
Aug
Two RNode LoRa radios next to a phone showing live Reticulum status output, all resting on a laptop keyboard

A Primer to NEPAMesh on Reticulum

How NEPAMesh's public Reticulum transport node came together, what it actually does, and how to point your own instance at it.
34 min read
13
Aug
A diagram of a mesh network topology, showing multiple nodes interconnected by redundant links rather than routing through one central hub.

Meshtastic vs. MeshCore vs. Reticulum: What Each One Actually Does

NEPAMesh has always been Meshtastic. Here's how MeshCore and our new Reticulum backbone compare, and how to get on all three.
11 min read
10
Aug
The NEPAMesh live map showing Meshtastic node markers scattered across the Wyoming Valley region of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

NEPAMesh's Four Dashboards, Explained: Map, View, Monitor, and Propagation

NEPAMesh runs four Meshtastic dashboards, and each one answers a different question. Here's a plain English walkthrough of what each shows and how to read it.
7 min read
07
Aug
The silhouette of a jet airliner seen head-on against a sunset sky, with its contrail glowing orange in the last light.

July Follow-Up: What's New in MeshShadow

A passenger jet exposed a bug in NEPAMesh's node count. Here is the fix, plus what else is new in MeshShadow this month: proactive router health warnings and a way to claim your own node before it goes dark.
7 min read
01
Aug
A self-supporting amateur radio tower with antennas mounted on a mountain ridge at over 4,000 feet elevation, similar to the ridge-top router sites NEPAMesh depends on for coverage.

July on the Mesh: A Coverage Drop, a Silent Router, and Numbers That Don't Agree

A cat knocked loose an antenna connection at BMBF, and we thought that solved it. It didn't. Two routers are still missing, and the mystery is still open.
5 min read
30
Jul
Polar diagram comparing vertical radiation patterns of quarter-wave, half-wave, and 0.625-wavelength monopole antennas, showing longer elements flattening toward the horizon.

Antenna Gain vs. Takeoff Angle: Why Bigger Isn't Always Better in NEPA's Hills

A 9 dBi collinear sounds like a straight upgrade over a 2 dBi dipole, but in NEPAMesh's ridge-and-valley terrain it can make your node hear less, not more. Takeoff angle decides which antenna actually helps.
4 min read
07
Jun
UPDATE: NEPAMesh Games: MeshTrader, Red Dragon, and Pathfinders Over the Mesh

UPDATE: NEPAMesh Games: MeshTrader, Red Dragon, and Pathfinders Over the Mesh

UPDATE: Due to lack of interest this has been discontinued. The github is still active if you wish to put
7 min read
15
Feb
NEPAMesh community mesh network logo

NEPAMesh

Started in January of 2024, we have grown a nice little mesh in the Wyoming Valley. For the most part,
1 min read