Meshtastic turns inexpensive LoRa radios into a people-powered mesh network. Messages hop from device to device — over hills, down the shore, through the woods — entirely off-grid.
Meshtastic is open-source firmware that runs on small, cheap LoRa radios. Pair one with your phone over Bluetooth, and you can send text messages and GPS positions with no cell service, no Wi-Fi, and no subscription. Every device on the network also acts as a repeater — so the more Nova Scotians who join, the farther everyone's messages travel. It works during hurricanes, in the backcountry, and on stretches of the province where the bars on your phone gave up long ago.
Your phone hands the message to your node over Bluetooth. The radio chirps it out on 915 MHz — encrypted, tiny, and power-sipping.
Any node in earshot re-broadcasts it. A node on a Halifax rooftop can hand your message to one in Bedford, which hands it to one in Sackville — automatically.
The recipient's node buzzes their phone. No carrier, no internet, no bill. GPS positions can ride along too, so your group sees each other on a map.
LoRa is line-of-sight. A node on Citadel Hill, a Ferris Cove rooftop, or a North Mountain ridge will out-perform a pocket node every time. Height is your amplifier — put relays up high.
Radio skips beautifully over flat water. Nodes around Halifax Harbour, the Bras d'Or Lake, or the Bay of Fundy shoreline get surprising range. Coastal paths are easy wins.
Canada shares the 915 MHz ISM band with the US — use the default US / 915 region preset in the app. Don't import European 868 MHz gear; it won't talk to anyone here.
When Dorian and Fiona knocked out power and cell service, many of us were dark for days. A charged node + a power bank = a neighbourhood text network that doesn't care about outages.
Hiking the Cabot Trail or paddling Keji? Nodes let your group share GPS breadcrumbs and check-ins where there's zero coverage. Set position broadcast to every 5–15 min to save battery.
A mesh only works if nodes exist. Convince your street. One relay per neighbourhood in HRM builds the backbone; rural nodes on barns and wharves bridge the gaps between towns.
Any board from the list above. Confirm "915" or "US915" is in the product title — it's the single most common beginner mistake.
Plug the board in over USB and use the web flasher at flasher.meshtastic.org in Chrome or Edge. Takes about five minutes.
Install the Meshtastic app (iOS / Android), pair over Bluetooth, and set your region to US — that's the correct 915 MHz plan for Canada.
Join the default LongFast channel and say hello. If you hear nothing back, that's your cue to put a relay on the roof — and to bring a friend aboard.
Yes. Meshtastic operates in the 915 MHz licence-free ISM band, regulated by ISED under the same rules as baby monitors and garage door openers. No amateur radio licence is needed as long as you use the stock, certified radios and the correct region setting.
Each hop covers roughly 2–5 km in town and 10–15+ km hilltop-to-hilltop. With relays placed well, messages cross metro Halifax easily; people worldwide have logged single hops over 100 km from mountaintops.
Channels are encrypted with AES-256. Anyone with the channel key can read that channel, so the public default channel is a party line — make private channels for family, friends, or your hiking group.
No — and that's the point. LoRa moves small text and GPS packets using almost no power, which is exactly what survives disasters and dead zones. Think telegrams, not Instagram.
The Nova Scotia mesh is young and growing — that's why this page exists. Check the Meshtastic node map and community Discord to see active nodes near you, and consider yourself a founding member wherever you are.