MeshCore, which uses LoRa on 900 Mhz, has exploded in use over the past couple of years.  More importantly it’s taken off in a big way in SoCal and the SoCal SOTA operators are taking advantage of it.  

The team has created a public hashtag channel, “#socalsota” and uses it to communicate with chasers and others before, during, and after SOTA expeditions in SoCal.  If you have a MeshCore device, and are in SoCal, add the channel on your node and join the fun.  

Like others, I’m learning about Mesh, playing with different hardware devices and I have setup a repeater.  If you’d like to learn more, check out my post on mesh at HamNinja.com/mesh.  I cover the various hardware devices that I’ve tried, what I think works the best, and at bit about how “channels”, direct messages, and room servers work.  I also go into the experiences I’ve had so far while setting up and using MeshCore.  If you’re getting into Meshcore, I have a few tips to share as well.   I’ll be updating the post as I learn more. Also, the SOTA-NA Slack group has a mesh channel as well.

Hope to get a QSO with you soon on the mesh, VHF, or HF.

Chris Claborne, N1CLC