What if you could send text messages across town without using a cell tower, Wi-Fi network, or Internet connection?
That is one of the ideas behind MeshCore, and we’ll take a closer look at it at the next meeting of the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club.
The presentation will be held:
Tuesday, November 3, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Nacogdoches County Emergency Operations Center
727 FM 3314, Nacogdoches, TX 75964
Need help finding the EOC? Visit our directions page.
What Is MeshCore?
MeshCore is a communications system that uses small LoRa radios to send digital messages over radio.
A personal MeshCore device can connect to a smartphone through Bluetooth. Your phone gives you the screen and keyboard, while the small radio handles the actual radio communication.
Dedicated repeaters can then help those messages travel farther.
In simple terms, it can look something like this:
Phone → Personal Radio → Repeater → Another Radio → Another Phone
The local radio network can continue working without depending on the Internet.
What Will We Demonstrate?
Andy Delgado, KE5EXX, will share some of the MeshCore equipment he has been experimenting with and explain how the pieces work together.
The presentation will include personal Companion nodes that connect to a phone by Bluetooth, along with a solar-powered MeshCore repeater that can operate independently from normal household power.
We will also look at some of the ideas we have been exploring for a local network around Nacogdoches.
That includes placing repeaters at useful locations, extending coverage from one part of the community to another, and eventually exploring things such as Room Servers and optional Internet gateways.
No, we are not building Skynet.
At least not Tuesday night.
Why Is This Interesting to Amateur Radio Operators?
MeshCore is not a replacement for amateur radio, public-safety communications, or cellular service.
It is another technology worth learning about.
For amateur radio operators, it combines several familiar ideas:
- radio propagation
- antennas and elevation
- repeaters
- solar-powered equipment
- portable communications
- network planning
- experimentation
It also gives us a chance to work with technology that may be useful in places where ordinary Internet or cellular coverage is limited.
And because the equipment is relatively small and low-powered, it opens up some interesting possibilities for portable and remotely powered installations.
Could We Build a Local Network?
That is one of the questions we want to explore.
Imagine several repeaters around Nacogdoches. Personal nodes could communicate through whichever repeater or path was available.
Later, other communities could build their own local networks and experiment with ways to connect them.
We are still very much in the learning and testing stage, which is part of the fun.
Rather than starting with a finished system and a stack of claims about what it can do, we want to build it, test it, measure it, and learn from the results.
Everyone Is Welcome
You do not need to own a MeshCore radio.
You do not need to understand LoRa.
You do not even need to be an amateur radio operator to find the technology interesting.
If you are curious about radio, mesh networking, off-grid communications, solar-powered electronics, or just enjoy seeing new technology in action, we would be glad to have you join us.
Tuesday, November 3 at 7:00 PM.
Come see what we have been experimenting with and help us explore where this might go next.