How to Master the Mesh - EP1 Meshtastic Routing

In the first episode of this new series aimed at existing Meshtastic users I attempt to explain the routing system used in Meshtastic LoRa Mesh networks, grab a coffee or a beer as this is about to get real!
This is a complex subject with a lot of unknown variables so please take the advice onboard and use it to influence your own decisions in your own meshtastic networks.
If there are any errors please respectfully let me know in the comments or by email and and I'll make changes accordingly. Meshtastic is a community project which is worked on by volunteers.

Liams Map
TO BE SEEN ON THE MAP PLEASE USE THE UPDATED MQTT DETAILS BELOW:
Username: uplink
Password: uplink
Encryption Enabled: Yes
JSON Output: No
TLS Enabled: No
Please note, nodes can only uplink to this server. Downlink is disabled.
We suggest running dedicated nodes for uplinking to the map.

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[EricSolomon-opti]

VERY !!! Helpful. Just beginning my Mesh journey.
Thank You
You continue to be an incredible source for me.

73

[dsldsl]

This was super helpful for the mesh i am working to setup in Arizona. I will be make some updates soon. Thank you!

[lua-nya]

Ooh, looking forth to the next stop in this journey filled with mesh!

[mistermarkdavis]

I’m American and am doing my best to understand the instructions in English. I love the channel, even with the language gap.

[slipperyslope]

Questions:
1) Is msg content visible to relaying nodes? Or is it obscured/encrypted?
2) Are msgs blasted to all nodes in range? Or can the final destination node be selected (even if that node isn't visible directly, IE needs to hop).

[Androctonus]

Love the new series. I've heard you and others mention that there is a problem having too many routers in a mesh. I assume that because they have priority the way they do, messages could just get stuck bouncing between routers and never reach a client node. I'm just wondering, because I can see about 40 nodes from my house, but about a dozen of them are set to router, which seems excessive. In particular, more than half of these appear to belong to one entity who has routers all around the county, including one on MQTT. There seems to be very little traffic on the network, but I'm wondering if it isn't because this mess of routers all in a relatively small area (the terrain here is VERY flat, so I would expect that 3 or 4 could more than cover the whole county) are just trapping a lot of messages.

[bluenetmarketing]

It would help to be able to create a private cluster of nodes that uses the mesh and that ignores and is ignored by all nodes not identified as part of that particular private cluster of nodes.

[mtrsradio]

Great work and update. All three of mine are set to client-retirerd as they are all in a draw lol. I managed to find one node near me. Which was on and off just like mine probably due to charging. Lol
Great video 73

[Name-pwlh]

Hi, on my opinion Meshtastic network is theoretically nice, but in practice I haven't seen much use for it in among anyone of the users. Most common usage case is when people build their own nodes and then communicate to those base nodes with their own mobile nodes. What is the purpose of communicate to your self? Everyone is comparing ranges and SWRs but why? What is the benefit of all this? I think Meshtastic network should be much more dense and there should be much less configurable parameters because too much parameters make the Mesh unreliable. One of the biggest Mesh destroyer is the MQTT. Why to relay messages via internet dependable MQTT when the whole initial purpose was to create off grid network. And one thing...The LoRa has PRACTICALLY only 2-4km radio range. It would be very nice to see how people do something USEFUL with the Meshtastic network.

[jonjohnson]

I wonder if meshtastic could introduce something like a 'master node/relay' system where volunteers run servers that hold messages which keep reattempting for x times until successful delivery...I don't know I'm just thinking out loud, my background is in IP, only recently started messing around in SDR.

[mestora]

Every client will eventually rebroadcast a message (as long as there is hop count remaining) if it does not hear three other radios rebroadcast first. The time a client waits and listens is inversely proportional to signal strength of the received message. This is how the furthest nodes usually get to do the rebroadcasting.

A router or repeater follows its own rules and blasts out everything. The only use case for a router or repeater is to connect two or more isolated sub-meshes. If a client on a mountain were to hear 3 rebroadcasts from one side of a mountain it would never re-broadcast and the other mesh on the other side of the mountain would not get the message.

Routers and Repeaters degrade mesh performance by shortening hops and adding congestion. They should only be used if they bring in other clients which have no other way of joining.

People by nature want to contribute and "help" the mesh by running a router or repeater and don't realize they are actually degrading the mesh. Many think being on a hill is reason enough to be a router. It is not, you should be I'm a great position AND connect isolated nodes. Just being high, even very high, is not a justification to be a router or repeater.

[Jim_EHKM]

I've had my outdoor node setup for just over a month, I'm in a rural location but it can receive over 100 nodes all over the place as we're just under 200m high here, yet other than with the other small nodes in the house I've never managed to have a message exchange with anyone?
I receive the odd few but never get a response back? It's a shame Meshtastic can't simultaneously listen to long slow mode as well as long fast as that might help a slower yet more reliable messages in rural locations.
I'm not sure where to go with it now. I've got plans for 2 other nodes here with great take off north & south to hopefully join Crewe & maybe Manchester and the other which overlooks the south & into Birmingham, but basically just hoping for some message exchange with some more local nodes but no doing at the moment.

[jamess]

Bean Fries Supreme, hold the chives.
Make that 2 orders please, with a twister wrap

[Andyschannel-phsw]

Hi Andy, hope you're well. Can you supply a complete ready to run Meshtastic? 2E0BGB, I'm in Cockfosters. Thank you. Andre....

[percentviking]

I have a heltec v3. I have flashed it. I'm in the UK. I asked for help on your discord, and I got one reply. Is the whole meshtastic thing full of gatekeepers? or is it just me that feels lost? I've flashed it and connected it via Bluetooth to my phone.

[TheCasualDrinker]

@andy kirby

Hi Andy im trying to link the isles of scilly to mainland uk (lands end) aprox 32 miles. Straight line across the sea. Do you have any advice ?

[Tom-jdrm]

So if I have two nodes in my house that I want to share messages on wifi, the same network, should they be set to client mute? Will they see each other and messages?

[gartmorn]

Could users be encouraged to incorporate the first half of their postcode into their client name? This would make it easy to identify the location of signal (providing they are not mobile)!

[Seikatsu]

How about each node gets a score based on how many nodes it can reach and the routing preferres nodes with higher scores?

[iclmb]

I’ve been participating in Meshtastic in Utah, US for about 9 months. In our area we have hundreds of active nodes. We can say definitively that Meshtastic DOES NOT WORK for general purpose comms. Once the mesh is overloaded it becomes almost useless. I wish more “influencers” jumping on the bandwagon for clicks would mention this. It still has value for use in remote areas and I believe could be useful in a situation where traditional comms aren’t available at all but day to day, the more nodes there are, the worse it works. There is also no way to “fully control” a mesh when anyone can join. People join, get frustrated it doesn’t work and immediately set hops to 7 which makes the whole situation worse.