MeshCore Channels

April 2026 Update

Note: This was adapted from an announcement on Discord in early April

The New Hampshire Mesh made an announcement about organizing their region in order to be good mesh stewards and to prioritize good mesh hygiene. You will need to join the NHMesh Discord first to view that message; the invite is listed in Related Communities. This push proposes the segmenting of certain channels or channel types by region. Instead of a blast to Public - which could have packets flood much farther than intended - a mesh user can target/tune their communication to something more local.

With New Hampshire implementing this practice and other nearby regions on board to do so, we should be good neighbors on the mesh and follow suit out of respect for everyone else.

TL;DR: How and where you transmit matters - not just for you, but for everyone in the region. This includes CT, NH, Maine, NY and RI.

The Flood Problem

MeshCore's default public channel uses a flooding protocol - every node in range retransmits the packet, which propagates outward like ripples in a pond. And a default of 64 hops. That is great for maximum reach! It's not so great when you're doing a war drive test in Boston and your packets are getting retransmitted by repeaters in New York City or Maine, in pursuit of confirmation that your mobile node was working.

Every unnecessary flood steals airtime from everyone. LoRa is a shared half-duplex medium. We're all on the same RF budget. In this case, "unnecessary" could be better understood as untargeted. In a real world example, if you're having a conversation with a friend beside you at a party, having someone across the room use a megaphone to broadcast their own conversation may drown you out... And you may not be interested in their conversation in the first place.

What We're Asking: Use Hashtag Channels

Until the MeshCore regional segmentation in firmware is stable enough for us to rely on, and enough repeaters are up-to-date with any new firmware changes, please use the appropriate hashtag channel(s) for your activity:

If you are brand new and have not added additional channels yet, starting in Public is fine. Move to regional hashtag channels once your client is configured.

Channel	Description	Status
#ma-mesh	General MA chat - say hi, share a spotting, talk mesh shop with MA folks.	➕ New Channel
#ma-hc	Health check pings - use the new Health Check service on the website!	➕ New Channel
#emergency	Actual emergencies. Flooding is appropriate here - that's the point. Keep traffic concise and relevant.	👍 No Change
Public	New users getting oriented, or reaching someone in a different region you can't DM. Save it for when you need the reach.	👀 New Behavior

Similarly, New Hampshire has implemented the following channels: #nhmesh (their NH-focused chat) and #nhhc (their health check). More regional hashtags will emerge as time goes on.

NOTE: This is currently an organizational initiative until a software/firmware solution for regional flooding is in place and sufficiently stable.

Practical Examples: What Should You Do and Where Should You Do It?

• War Driving or mobile testing?
  • #ma-wardiving or DM a known node. It's bad form to test that repeatedly in Public.
• Chatting with Neighbors a few hops away?
  • DM or #ma-mesh - Our neighbors in Rhode Island and New Hampshire probably don't need to be reached.
• Checking if your repeater is heard on the mesh?
  • #ma-hc. One ping. Wait. Done. (Or debug with the Boston Mesh Analyzer or with the help of others on Discord.)
• Checking if your companion is sending messages to the mesh?
  • #test is a better candidate than Public. Though if you perform your test by saying "hello" in #ma-mesh, you may get folks saying "hi" back!
• Actual "🚨Grid is Down🚨" Emergency?
  • Public or #emergency. Flood away, that's exactly the system is for.

Be a Good Steward, Follow Best Practices

We're building this for resilience, which means the network needs to work when it counts. That only happens if we treat airtime as a shared resource during normal operations.

If you have questions about channel setup or your device config, drop it in #ma-mesh or follow up in the MeshCore channels on the discord. We're happy to help!

Final Note

We understand that hashtag channels still will use flood packets, but as we take the first step to some organization, let's encourage better practices and build the muscle memory now so it's not a big deal later.

We need to share the mesh resources with surrounding neighbors, out of respect for all. Thus, we should do our best to adhere to the community standards our neighbors are proposing. We do not own the mesh; it is morphing into something beyond just ourselves.

Other Good Channels

As of April 2026, please note that these are not region-locked chats.

Channel	Purpose
#chat	General day-to-day conversation.
#coffee	Local meetup and casual social coordination.
#ice-alert	ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) activity alerts and related safety updates. NOTE: If you think ICE is in your area, please contact Mass LUCE 617-370-5023
#jokes	Humor and light social traffic.
#politics	Politics-focused discussion.
#test	Node testing, path testing, and signal/routing checks.
#weather	Weather reports, forecasts, and weather-related updates.

Notes

• Channel usage can evolve over time as community needs change.
• For current channel practices, check in Public or Discord.
• Bot/channel command reference: MeshCore Bot Documentation