tl,dr; Build Guides¶
You've found this site, you've seen cool videos, and now you're entirely overwhelmed with all the possible ways you can create repeaters and help extend the mesh. Collected here are some of the most basic kinds of repeaters you can make that are "good enough" to help extend the mesh. They won't last months without the sun, they won't might not operate the best if you're background contains a 5g cell mast and a tv broadcast tower, but they will work good enough for you 1) build something and 2) GET OUT THERE AND DO STUFF.
UK&IE Users: always make sure you've set UK Narrow as your radio preset
Note on Parts¶
Items here will be listed with UK & IE sources (once you figure out if you want to build more, you can venture into the world of buying in bulk for Aliexpress), assuming you're building repeaters to join the Island of Ireland Mesh. They can be reused for other locations, but part numbers and things like radio frequencies vary. This assumes you have a MeshCore companion already working.
Things that are just Good to Have: - Mini Breadboards you won't be doing complicated electronics, but they have an adhesive back, great for sticking into a case holding things in place without resorting to 3d printing or glue. - 1.25 and 2.0 JST power connectors. Some boards use 2.0 other use 1.25, same for batteries, and the polarity isn't always the same also. Fun! - Optional: some soldering stuff if you don't have it. Probably create a PiHut account now.
Attic Repeater¶
The first thing you should build. Literally a repeater you stick in your attic or loft or some elevated location in your home that has access to power 24/7. You may have access to the mesh on your companion device already or might be spotty and you see messages from people, but aren't heard often. Putting a repeater in your attic will act as a relay for all nodes near your house and will have the best chance at sending that traffic to the bigger dedicated repeaters in other parts of your region. Not everyone on MeshCore needs to run their own repeater, but everyone who runs a repeater does help contribute to the reliability of the mesh.
Do this first - you will get the basics of flashing a repeater, managing it remotely while only having to get a ladder or walk upstairs to retrieve it if you make some change that causes it to stop responding. And you'll probably have a better time chatting on the mesh with us about your progress on other builds once this one is in place.
Battery Repeater¶
Maybe the attic repeater isn't enough. Your companion can't pickup a signal, but the local mesh map shows that your friends house around the corner and up the hill appears to get signal. Or maybe standing in your back garden near your shed, you can pickup a signal, but you don't want to run power to it. Purchase this solar powered repeater, find some 18650 batteries, flash meshcore on it, and call it a day. (there's one with batteries if PiHut will ship it to you).
You're still here? Ok you want to build it yourself? Cool. First build a Battery Repeater - it's step 1 of making a Solar powered version that you will have to figure out this bit anyway, but also you'll need to learn how to keep the contents of the box dry, and where to find good places to put a repeater. And this battery based repeater should last 2-3 weeks between charges. You're likely to find out that you forgot a seal and it broke or you want to update or try a different firmware version, and go get your first repeater long before the battery needs to be charged.
Solar Repeater¶
Your battery repeater has been going great but you don't want to keep visiting your friend Stephen's house just to swap batteries in it, so you want something more permanent. That is what a Solar Repeater is for.
Observation Node¶
Test Test
Observation nodes are what power the mesh map and make it easy to know when you're scoping out a possible places for a repeater if the one in your attic back home can hear it. They forward the data to letsmesh.net and you can see your 'can you here me now' messages on your phone if you have data at the same time. It also helps us monitor the health of the mesh and notice which repeaters are critical links and which ones could maybe be relocated to serve more people.