title: VK4PK - Meshtasic
source: https://www.lyonscomputer.com.au/Meshtastic/Meshtastic/Meshtastic.html
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published:
created: 2025-05-10
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- loraContents:
Related Pages:
Here are my notes on Meshtastic to-date. It is mostly about the CLI on Ubuntu 24.10.
Please note that this is still a work-in-progress and I have much to learn. My observation is that it is very much a system still under development. The CLI lacks consistency and the ACM (Abstract Control Model ) serial UART (universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter) port is problematic on ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) based MCU's ( microcontroller units).
The link to this page is https://www.lyonscomputer.com.au/Meshtastic/Meshtasic.html
I have predominatly explored the Meshtastic Command Line Interface setup method on Ubuntu 24.10, with some references to the Web Client and the Andriod Application.
I am using the Heltec HTIT-Tracker V1.1 loaded with the esp32s3-2.5.18.89ebafc version of the firmware.
Chipsets on the Heltec are:
An open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on affordable, low-power devices
It’s a mesh network – a set of interconnected radio devices – for communication of short text messages and small data packets. The data is usually used to share device locations and related information. This makes it perfect for chatting and sharing where you are, or for tracking objects and vehicles. It also has other, more specialised uses.
Mestastic Home Page:https://meshtastic.org/
The Australian Meshtastic Home page:https://meshtastic.au/wp/?page_id=47
Meshtastic Configuration:https://meshtastic.org/docs/configuration/
Meshtastic Python CLI Guide:https://meshtastic.org/docs/software/python/cli/
Requires USB-C data cable for serial connection and power.
Other methods for flashing the ESP32 Devices:
https://meshtastic.org/docs/getting-started/flashing-firmware/esp32/
Firmware download Page:https://meshtastic.org/downloads/
All testing was performed on the Heltec Tracker v1.1. (Heltec V3). See: R25-heltec.html
System Platform Enviorment:
Platform: Linux-6.8.0-51-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.39
Release: 6.8.0-51-generic
Machine: x86_64
Encoding (stdin): utf-8
Encoding (stdout): utf-8
meshtastic: v2.5.11
Executable: /home/glenn/.local/bin/meshtastic
Python: 3.12.3 CPython GCC 13.3.0
Meshtastic is divided into two groups of parameters; Configs and Preferences. The Preference are grouped with a prefix, eg "lora.", "network.", or "mqtt.". They use the command formats --get and --set The config are more random meshrastic verbs as can be seen below. They can be referenced using --info | grep and --export-config and the output is json format. I am not sure how to obtain the complete set of either. I do think the Version of the meshtastic cli has to closly match the firmware version to be reliable, I have the meshtastic cli version 2.5.11 and firmware version 2.5.18. I am hoping that is close enough.
role # meshtastic --set lora.region ANZ # defauts to 915 MHz # triggers a reboot meshtastic --set lora.region MY_433 # to get 433 band meshtastic --get lora.bandwidth lora.channel_num lora.coding_rateFappen lora.config_ok_to_mqtt lora.frequency_offset lora.hop_limit lora.ignore_incoming meshtastic --set lora.region MY_433 # forces a reboot lora.ignore_mqtt lora.modem_preset meshtastic --set lora.override_duty_cycle lora.override_frequency lora.pa_fan_disabled lora.spread_factorrole
Frequency Slot Calculator:
The transmit frequency ranges employed are specific to each Region and
The Spread Spectrum Frequenies for MY_433 that is set to LONG_FAST:
This table shows the numberic value for each of the Region Codes. The meshtastic CLI uses numberic values as well as alph-numeric codes to address the regions:
<-- bartab.sh:lora-region-codes.tab:START:Start of table generated -->
| No. | Region Code | Description | Frequency Range (MHz) | Duty Cycle (%) | Power Limit (dBm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | UNSET | Unset | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 1 | US | United States | 902.0 - 928.0 | 100 | 30 |
| 2 | EU_433 | European Union 433MHz | 433.0 - 434.0 | 10 | 12 |
| 3 | EU_868 | European Union 868MHz | 869.4 - 869.65 | 10 | 27 |
| 4 | CN | China | 470.0 - 510.0 | 100 | 19 |
| 5 | JP | Japan | 920.8 - 927.8 | 100 | 16 |
| 6 | ANZ | Australia & New Zealand | 915.0 - 928.0 | 100 | 30 |
| 7 | KR | Korea | 920.0 - 923.0 | 100 | |
| 8 | TW | Taiwan | 920.0 - 925.0 | 100 | 27 |
| 9 | RU | Russia | 868.7 - 869.2 | 100 | 20 |
| 10 | IN | India | 865.0 - 867.0 | 100 | 30 |
| 11 | NZ_865 | New Zealand 865MHz | 864.0 - 868.0 | 100 | 36 |
| 12 | TH | Thailand | 920.0 - 925.0 | 100 | 16 |
| 13 | LORA_24 | 2.4 GHz band worldwide | 2400.0 - 2483.5 | 100 | 10 |
| 14 | UA_433 | Ukraine 433MHz | 433.0 - 434.7 | 10 | 10 |
| 15 | UA_868 | Ukraine 868MHz | 868.0 - 868.6 | 1 | 14 |
| 16 | MY_433 | Malaysia 433MHz | 433.0 - 435.0 | 100 | 20 |
| 17 | MY_919 | Malaysia 919MHz | 919.0 - 924.0 | 100 | 27 |
| 18 | SG_923 | Singapore 923MHz | 917.0 - 925.0 | 100 | 20 |
Useful Meshtastic Commands roleheck we are on 433 MHz meshtastic --get lora.region # displays a decimal value meshtastic --info | grep longName # Should now be VK4PK-01 meshtastic --info | grep shortName # random 4 char string
Meshtastic Web Flasher:https://flasher.meshtastic.org/
Mestastic Web Desktop:https://client.meshtastic.org/
role
Linux Native Application: https://meshtastic.org/docs/software/linux-native/
meshtastic --setlat -27.6421 --setlon 153.4135 --setalt 20 # turn off gps and set fixed location manually meshtastic --set-canned-message "Hi from VK4PK" # Standard messageimal value. Use --info | grep for text label role
How LoRa Modulation really works - long range communication using chirps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHWepP1ZWTk
How LoRa Modulation really works - long range communication using chirps:https://youtu.be/aWtqm7lbYoo
A wifi pasword beginning "0" and is all numeric, when set with CLI fails with the message "4WAY_HANDSHAKE_TIMEOUT", which in this case means wrong password as the leading zero is dropped.
Mestastic will not pipe into "less" but will pipe into more.
eg the command "mestaitic --info | less" fails.
The "--set lora.region" and "--set-ham" commands change other paramates.
What are they?4. "--get >preference<" commands, as opposed to --get->preference< (note the space), does not work for config-type attributes. It only works for preference-type attributes.
When a command fails the message is headed:
"LocalConfig and LocalModuleConfig do not have attribute owner." Why? What does this imply?
A "--get device.role" returns "0" when set to "CLIENT"
See meshtastic.org information on roles
Setting and Getting the region code
After many hours of work I decided to set the lora.region. After much experimenting, (I should have downloaded the source code and extracted the headers instead of experimenting.) I found the CLI set command requires a decimal number eg ANZ is "6" and MY_433 is "16". The get command returns the same number if set correctly, However, the "meshtastic get --info | grep region" returns the enumerated string, eg "MY_433".Anyway, I set this preference to "13" or LORA_24 and now the reboot will not complete and the white LED stays brightly lit and the flag page keeps reappearing. Now I will have to reload the firmware and reset all the configs and preferences. These heltec units do seem a little FLAKY! The set may not be the cause of the fault. MOre testing is required.
This is CONFIRMED. Setting the lora.region to LORA_24 prevent the Heltec Tracker 433 from completing the boot. I know it is the wrong freq but it should handle it better than that. My fw vers is "firmware-esp32s3-2.5.18.89ebafc" if you want to try this at home.
[Home]
The "meshtastic --info" has these lines as the last of the output. What are the implications?
Channels:
Index 0: PRIMARY psk=default { "psk": "AQ==", "moduleSettings": { "positionPrecision": 13,
"isClientMuted": false }, "channelNum": 0, "name": "", "id": 0, "uplinkEnabled": false,
"downlinkEnabled": false }
Primary channel URL: https://meshtastic.org/e/#CgcSAQE6AggNEgwIATgQQANIAVAUaAE
Meshtastic Protobuf Definitions: https://buf.build/meshtastic/protobufs/docs/main:meshtastic
Heltec Protobufs fork: https://github.com/HelTecAutomation/protobufs?tab=readme-ov-file
BDARS Meshtastic Map:
http://meshmap.bdars.org.au:8080/?lat=-27.56913764856193&lng=153.2905197143555&zoom=11
Liam Cottle's interactive map of all Meshtastic nodes:
https://meshtastic.liamcottle.net/?lat=-27.647343517052978&lng=153.1476974487305&zoom=11
The Meshtastic.org Coverage Map:https://site.meshtastic.org/
To generate a coverage map:
Another godd coverage map is:https://www.heywhatsthat.com/