How does it work?

We've set up a number of solar-powered radio repeaters across North Texas. These radios communicate over the LoRa protocol — on 906.875 MHz for Meshtastic, and on 910.525 MHz for MeshCore. Users connect to nearby repeaters over Bluetooth, or use their own handheld nodes to reach the mesh. Messages hop from node to node, extending the network's reach and helping every node receive every message.

Can you explain it like I'm 5?

Pretend you're sitting in class and want to send a note to everyone in the room. You write your note on a piece of paper and copy it three times. The message can be up to 228 characters — about as long as this paragraph so far. You hand those three copies to the three people around you. Then those three people re-write the message three times each and hand it to the three people around them, and so on. Now imagine a big gust of wind blows some of the messages away. As long as even a few people saw the note and keep copying and re-sending it, eventually everyone gets a copy. This is like sending an unencrypted message to everyone on the network.

Now imagine you want to send a message to a single person or a select group, but you don't want anyone else who sees the note to read it. You could write it in a secret language and hand a decoder key to your friends. The message still gets passed the same way — everyone copies it and hands it around — but only the people with the decoder key can understand it. This is like sending an encrypted direct message or encrypted group message.

NTX Mesh works just like the paper-note example, except instead of paper we use digital text messages carried over radio waves. Our radios are solar powered and need no internet or cell coverage, so they keep working even when the power is out.

What can it do?

Mesh networking is a bit like a decentralized social media platform or SMS texting. It offers several features that will feel familiar to anyone who has sent a text or posted online.

Why build this network?

Community. Because this is essentially a city-wide group text chain, we hope people use it to build community — tell the group where your band is playing tonight, chat about local happenings, or ask for a good cheese-dip recipe.

Disasters. If the power goes out — like during the 2021 Winter Storm Uri — this network lets people keep communicating without electricity, cell coverage, or internet. People can ask for help or offer it, find open warming centers, check who still has power, and send encrypted messages to coordinate privately with friends and family.

Decentralized, open, and resilient. NTX Mesh is decentralized — there's no central server or corporation, and all communication bounces through the mesh. It's open — you don't need permission to join and all the software is open-source. And it's resilient — our solar-powered radios don't need towers, internet, or grid power. We hope it inspires others to build things that are decentralized, open, and resilient.

For anyone familiar with the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) on ham radio, Meshtastic is similar in a few ways.

Similarities

Differences

But Meshtastic is also different from APRS in several ways.

Curious about other regional meshes, or want to start one? See Similar networks.