Pick a radio
Any board on this page works. The right one depends on whether you want to carry it, type on it, or put it on a roof.
Prices are what the makers list, in US dollars, checked in October 2026. They move around and stock comes and goes, so look at the page before you buy. Choose the 902 to 928 MHz (US) option wherever a listing offers a band, and attach the antenna before you power the radio on. If a listing does not say which band it is, ask the seller first.
The buy links go straight to the makers' own pages. This site gets nothing from them.
Radios you carry (Companion)
A Companion pairs with the MeshCore app on your phone over Bluetooth. The phone is your screen and keyboard.
Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3
$18 to $20. The cheapest way in, with a small OLED screen. The stubby stock antenna is the weak spot, so plan to swap it. On this site's flasher.
Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V4
$18 to $28. The newer Heltec, with more transmit power and an optional color screen. Same size and pins as the V3. On this site's flasher.
Heltec Mesh Node T114
$18 to $34 depending on options. An nRF52840 board, which sips power, so it lasts longer on a battery than the ESP32 boards. Good for a pack or a solar repeater. On this site's flasher.
Seeed Wio Tracker L1 Pro
$48 to $53. A small handheld with a 1.3 inch screen, GPS and a 2,000 mAh battery. It arrives with the MeshCore Companion firmware already installed, so you can pair it with the app out of the box. It is not on this site's flasher.
Elecrow ThinkNode M1
About $54. A ready-made handheld with a case, GPS and an e-paper screen that stays readable in sun. The MeshCore project lists it as a companion, but Elecrow sells it with Meshtastic on it, so you flash MeshCore over the top. Use the official flasher.
Radios with a keyboard (no phone)
These are standalone: they have their own screen and keyboard, so you can read and send messages without a phone. They run different firmware from the Companion boards, and the custom builds on this site do not cover them. Flash them from the official MeshCore flasher, or buy a version with MeshCore already on it.
LilyGO T-Deck Plus
About $71 to $76 with MeshCore. A keyboard-and-screen messenger with GPS and a 2,000 mAh battery.
LilyGO T-LoRa Pager
About $81 to $89. A pager-style handheld with a QWERTY keyboard, a 2.33 inch screen and GPS.
Elecrow ThinkNode M9
About $75. A keyboard communicator that Elecrow sells with MeshCore, not Meshtastic. Buy the MeshCore version, because the two are sold separately.
The MeshCore project lists the T-Deck Plus and T-LoRa Pager as standalone devices. Some extras, such as deeper map zoom and remote repeater administration on a T-Deck, need a paid unlock code from the firmware's author. Check the current terms on the official site before you count on them.
Radios for a roof or hill (Repeater)
A repeater helps the whole mesh more than any one companion does. Put it high, with power and a clear view in every direction. Do not run a repeater and a room server on the same board.
Ready to hang: SenseCAP Solar Node P1-Pro
A sealed, solar-powered repeater from Seeed Studio with a 5 W panel, four 18650 batteries and GPS, sold with MeshCore already on it. Seeed lists it at about $94 to $101. The MeshCore project lists it as a repeater, and it needs no soldering or battery work. On this site's flasher.
Build your own solar repeater
This is the no-solder design used by Austin Mesh: a solar panel charges a USB battery pack, and the pack powers the radio board over USB. There is no charge controller to wire, because the battery pack handles charging and over-discharge protection. Their notes say it takes roughly $75 to $200 in parts, depending on how you build it.
| Part | What they use |
|---|---|
| Solar panel | 10 W or more. Their filtered build uses a 10 W Voltaic Systems panel (about $65). Their cheapest build uses a 6 W Soshine. |
| Battery | Voltaic Systems V25 (about $45). It charges from the panel and shuts off safely when drained. Switch on its Always On mode, or the low draw of a radio makes it switch itself off. |
| Radio board | A RAK WisBlock kit (RAK4631) in their build. It ships with Meshtastic, so flash MeshCore onto it and pick the 900 MHz (US) variant. Any board that runs MeshCore as a repeater and takes USB power fits the same design, including the Heltec boards above. |
| Antenna | A 915 MHz fiberglass outdoor antenna with an N connector, about 3 dBi, or a 5.8 dBi omni. Fiberglass handles sun, wind and rain better than the small rubber ones. |
| Cable | A short, low-loss coax run from the radio to the antenna, plus a small pigtail from the board's antenna port to the box wall. |
| Enclosure | A waterproof project box with latches (IP65 to IP67), a cable gland for the USB cable, and a vent plug so condensation can escape. |
| Sealing | Self-fusing silicone tape over the antenna connections. Keep the battery box out of direct sun. |
- Skip the extras. GPS costs battery, and a fixed repeater does not need it.
- Size for your board. Their numbers are for a low-power nRF52 radio, which they estimate draws roughly 100 to 1,000 mAh a day. An ESP32 board such as the Heltec V3 draws more, so go up in battery and panel size.
- Near strong radio sources (public-safety towers, big transmitters), a 915 MHz cavity filter and short cables stop the board being deafened. Their filtered build adds one for about $65.
The antenna, cable, box and sealing parts are ordinary hardware. Austin Mesh's devices page lists the exact models and quantities they use, with sellers. Those links are theirs, and some earn them a commission. They also write up the hardware at each of their city repeaters on their infrastructure page.
What the flasher here covers
The flasher on this site builds the custom firmware for the Heltec V3 and V4, Heltec T114, LilyGO T-Beam (SX1276), Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 with a Wio-SX1262 or a wired SX1262, the SenseCAP Solar Node P1-Pro, and the Waveshare RP2040-LoRa-HF. Those builds add hop-by-hop retransmission and a route cache. Boards flashed from the official flasher run stock MeshCore, which works fine on the same mesh, but without those additions. See the firmware page for the radio settings every board must share.
Antennas and safety
- Never power a radio without its antenna attached. It can damage the radio.
- The small stock antenna on a Heltec V3 is the weak spot. A better antenna is the cheapest range upgrade you can make.
- Keep transmit power inside what your board is rated for. A wrong setting can permanently damage some boards.
- Height matters more than almost anything else. A repeater on a roof or hill beats a better radio at ground level.
Looking for a voice radio too? See other radios and gear on the preparedness page.
Credits
The repeater build above is adapted from the hardware pages of Austin Mesh (austinmesh.org), © Tommy Ekstrand, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. We reorganized and shortened it, and replaced their purchase links with the makers' own pages. This page is shared under the same license. Austin's content was last verified by them in July 2026. Check their page for current parts.