Meshtastic PR Blog
Field notes from the mesh
Tutorials, hardware reviews, node deployments, and coverage reports from operators building the network across Puerto Rico.
12 notes logged
2026
- Field ReportsYour Stationary Node Is Talking Too MuchThe single most common misconfiguration on the Puerto Rico mesh — a fixed rooftop node broadcasting on mobile-node timers — and the airtime math that explains why it quietly degrades everyone's range.
- TutorialsThe Channel You Moved Wasn't a Channel — It Was Your FrequencyIn Meshtastic there is no "channel order" to change — index 0 is the primary, its name hashes to your LoRa frequency slot, and one added channel or imported QR can silently move you eight megahertz off the regional mesh. When pinning the slot is the right call, and when it isn't.
- TutorialsGetting Your Node Onto the Puerto Rico Mesh MapWhat actually has to be true for your node to show up on the PR coverage map — the MQTT root topic msh/US/PR, OK to MQTT, uplink-only, and the position settings that decide whether you appear at all.
- TutorialsRouter, Router Late, or Repeater: Picking a Role for a Real Infrastructure SiteThe three infrastructure roles differ on two axes — when you transmit, and whether anyone can see you. ROUTER preempts, ROUTER_LATE never does, and REPEATER is invisible. Which one a Puerto Rico site should actually run, and why invisibility is a liability here.
- Node BuildsPower Budget for a Node That Survives a Long OutageThe arithmetic behind sizing a solar Meshtastic node for Puerto Rico's worst case — where the power actually goes, nRF52 vs. ESP32, GPS duty-cycling, panel voltage traps, and the tropical heat problem nobody plans for.
- HardwareHeight vs. Power: Why You Can't Buy More RangeThe physical-layer case against turning up TX power first — the FCC's 6 dBi antenna-gain rule, why doubling power rarely doubles range in cluttered terrain, and why Fresnel-zone clearance beats both.
- Field ReportsDuplicate Keys in the Puerto Rico Mesh: What That Red Warning MeansWhat MeshMonitor's duplicate-key warning actually means, the critical CVE behind it, and why a good chunk of what's flagged right now is a harmless firmware 2.8 renumbering artifact rather than a breach.
- Field ReportsNodes Out of Time: The Free Diagnostic That Almost Nobody Is ReadingWhat a wrong clock on the Puerto Rico mesh monitor actually tells you about reception — and the four unrelated causes that produce the exact same symptom.
- TutorialsPuerto Rico's Mesh Has No Backbone — And It's Not a Config ProblemWhy CLIENT_BASE, not ROUTER_LATE, is the correct role for a rooftop node — and why the real fix for Puerto Rico's fragile mesh is a handful of coastal towers agreeing to run ROUTER together.
- Field ReportsWhy elevation beats wattage every timeA field comparison of two rooftop nodes in the same neighborhood — one higher, one stronger — and what it means for where you put your next radio.
- CommunityA hurricane-season checklist for your mesh setupPractical steps to get your node — and your household — ready before the next storm knocks out cell service.
- Node BuildsA solar node's first 90 daysNotes from building and deploying an unattended solar-powered node, including what broke, what didn't, and what we'd change.
No posts in this category yet.