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Planning a MeshCore Community Network

Deploying a MeshCore network for a community requires planning beyond simply placing repeaters —- you need to think about coverage, redundancy, operator coordination, and long-term maintenance.

Phase 1: Define Coverage Goals

Before placing a single node, answer these questions:

  • Who are the users? —- Community members, emergency responders, ARES team, public? Each has different requirements.
  • What is the geographic target area? —- City, county, neighborhood, trail corridor? Define the boundary on a map.
  • What quality of service is needed? —- Best-effort casual use vs. mission-critical emergency communications have different reliability requirements.
  • What is the budget? —- A hobbyist community network might rely on volunteer-hosted nodes; a professional deployment might have a funded infrastructure budget.

Phase 2: Identify Candidate Sites

For each site, evaluate:

  1. Elevation —- Higher is almost always better. Use topographic maps or USGS terrain data to identify hilltops, water towers, or tall buildings that have commanding views of the target area.
  2. Power availability —- Mains power is most reliable; solar works at most outdoor sites; battery-only is acceptable for temporary or low-priority nodes.
  3. Accessibility —- You will need to access this site for installation and maintenance. A perfect hilltop that requires technical climbing is impractical for most operators.
  4. Permission —- Property owner permission is required. Start with sites where you have existing relationships: your own roof, a cooperating business, a friendly landowner.

Phase 3: Coverage Analysis

Before installing, verify coverage using tools:

  • HeyWhatsThat.com —- Enter your proposed repeater coordinates and height; generates a viewshed map showing where has line-of-sight to that point.
  • Radio Mobile Online —- More detailed propagation modeling including terrain, frequency, and antenna parameters.
  • Field testing —- Place a temporary node at the candidate site and drive/walk the intended coverage area while monitoring packet reception. This is ground truth.

Phase 4: Deployment Sequence

  1. Deploy the backbone first —- Install your 2-3 highest-coverage repeaters before deploying fill nodes. The backbone provides the largest coverage gain per node installed.
  2. Test between backbone nodes —- Verify each backbone node can communicate with at least one other backbone node before adding fill nodes.
  3. Add fill nodes for dead zones —- Use coverage testing to identify gaps; deploy targeted fill repeaters.
  4. Recruit community members —- Once basic coverage exists, recruit nearby property owners to host additional nodes. Their rooftops fill gaps and add redundancy.

Documentation and Handoff

Create documentation before deploying each node:

  • Physical address or GPS coordinates of the site
  • Property owner name and contact information
  • Equipment installed (board type, firmware version, power system)
  • Configuration (name, channel, advertisement settings)
  • Access procedure (how to reach the installation for maintenance)
  • Emergency contact (who to call if the node is causing problems)

Store this documentation somewhere accessible to all network operators —- not just one person's laptop.

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