Choosing Your Protocol and Channel

Choosing Your Protocol and Channel
The two dominant LoRa mesh protocols for community networks are MeshCore and Meshtastic. They are not interoperable - nodes must use the same protocol to communicate.
Protocol Comparison
 
Feature
MeshCore
Meshtastic
 
 
Infrastructure model
Dedicated repeaters + companion nodes
Peer-to-peer; any node can relay
 
Room servers
Yes - built-in store-and-forward
No full equivalent (an optional Store & Forward module on a PSRAM node is a partial analog, not a room-server/bulletin board)
 
MQTT gateway
Community brokers (e.g. letsmesh.net, meshmapper.cc)
Official public broker (mqtt.meshtastic.org)
 
Regional scoping
Yes - operator-defined region labels (lowercase alphanumeric + hyphen, max 29 bytes) hashed to 2-byte transport codes; no official registry or ISO standard
No
 
App
MeshCore companion app
Meshtastic app (iOS/Android)
 
Hardware compatibility
Commonly ESP32 and nRF52840 boards with SX1262 radio (e.g. Heltec V3, RAK4631, T114, T-Beam); some SX1276 boards are also supported. Verify the current board list at flasher.meshcore.io / docs.meshcore.io.
ESP32 and nRF52 boards
 
Large existing network
RegionMesh (a growing national MeshCore network; see the live map at regionmesh.com for current coverage)
Meshtastic worldwide (meshmap.net, a community map - the official map link is on meshtastic.org)
 
General Guidance
 
If your area has an existing RegionMesh presence or you want to contribute to a nationwide infrastructure, choose MeshCore.
 
If your community already uses Meshtastic or you need nRF52 hardware compatibility, choose Meshtastic.
 
Running both is possible but means operating two separate device fleets (the protocols cannot share a radio), which adds operational complexity.
Channel Selection for MeshCore
Most North American MeshCore networks use the USA/Canada preset: 910.525 MHz / 62.5 kHz BW / SF7 / CR5 (as of 2026-06). This is the default for RegionMesh and many other communities; confirm current settings with your local network before deploying, as presets are periodically revised.
If your area has a pre-existing local MeshCore deployment on different settings, match those settings to join that network. Check locally first - then default to the USA/Canada preset.
Channel Selection for Meshtastic
 
LongFast preset is the documented Meshtastic default and the most widely used (as of 2026-06); some communities migrate to MediumFast/MediumSlow as they grow.
 
Default channel key: 
AQ== (the publicly known default key, base64 for the single byte 0x01 - default-channel traffic is readable by any Meshtastic node)
 
Hop limit: 3 (default; increase only if you have specific reason to)
Do not use a custom channel key unless your community has a specific reason to create a private channel. Using the default key ensures maximum interoperability with travelers and other local nodes.