Meshcore/Meshtastic on DigiPi

[Randall Luebke]

Craig-Would it be possible to add MeshCore and Meshtastic capabilities to your DigiPi?

[Craig]

Hi Randall,

I have a meshcore-node and a digipi on the same mast, but there's zero
connectivity.

I'm curious what you're envisioning, or how they might bridge.  I know
there's aprs
for the heltec/lora devices, maybe an aprs extension?  or a mesh
extension into ham?

USB connection maybe between a lora device and a Pi?

cool,
-craig
KM6LYW

On 4/13/26 1:02 PM, Randall Luebke wrote:
> Craig-Would it be possible to add MeshCore and Meshtastic capabilities

> to your DigiPi? --

[Randall Luebke]

I asked AI to help me craft a response to your question, Craig.

First off, thank you for DigiPi. It’s become one of the most practical and well‑thought‑out platforms I’ve used for digital ham comms, especially for Winlink, packet, and emergency‑response scenarios.

I wanted to ask whether support for MeshCore might be considered for a future DigiPi release.

To be clear on scope, I’m not suggesting DigiPi replace MeshCore firmware or handle low‑level radio routing. What I’m envisioning is DigiPi acting as a MeshCore gateway or host node, something DigiPi already excels at architecturally.

Conceptually:

• MeshCore runs on an ESP32 / LoRa radio node
• DigiPi connects via USB or serial
• DigiPi provides:
  • A managed MeshCore service/daemon
  • Basic node status and configuration
  • Message ingest / store‑and‑forward
  • (Optionally in the future) bridges to other systems like Winlink or email

MeshCore seems like a natural complement to DigiPi:

• Low‑power, infrastructure‑free local messaging
• Useful for disasters, field deployments, and neighborhood‑scale comms
• Aligns well with DigiPi’s existing “gateway / glue layer” role rather than competing with packet or VARA

Even experimental or advanced‑user support would be very valuable and would broaden DigiPi’s role as a general digital communications hub.

If this is something that interests you, I (and likely others) would be happy to help by testing, documenting setup, or providing feedback on real‑world use cases. And of course, I completely understand if this isn’t feasible or a priority right now — I mainly wanted to put the idea on your radar.

Thanks again for all the work you’ve put into DigiPi.

73,
Randy Luebke, WA4SKI
Newport Beach, CA

[Craig]

Heh, AI for the win!  exactly what you asked for but not what you want :)

Kidding aside, I'm game, but need to learn a lot more about meshcore.  I have
a meshcore node on the hill (same post as the COOL AX.25 node), but I don't
have any experience with it otherwise - just no nodes near by.

I'd like to look at aprs combinations.

meshcore doesn't replace ham radio in the slightest, but I think we could
bridge mesh/ax25/aprs networks within the constraints (physical and legal)
of each radio service.

cool,
-craig
KM6LYW

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[Art Botterell]

If I may interject…

Just now I’m working on a MeshCore companion client to run on desktops and Pis… not that the world actually needs another one, but I have some ideas.  Down the road in my mind is a backbone architecture using Reticulum over HaLo (915 MHz wifi) and/or wireline TCP/IP for regional and wide-area linking among MeshCore nodes.

There's already some community discussion on this:  https://github.com/meshcore-dev/MeshCore/discussions/1736… and I may have the opportunity to do some experimentation.

Randall, might this fit into your line of thinking?  Craig, what do you think?  Other folks care to tell me I’m nuts?  (I’ll take it as read that “that’s not real ham radio”, but I’m an unruly sort.)

73

Art KD6O

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[Art Botterell]

Can’t imagine what wouldn’t be legal about it.  Yes, it’s much like iGate, or like Echolink, IRLP or AllStar.  Anyway, using 915 MHz allows us some flexibility, e.g., to use encryption, that wouldn’t be available to us on ham frequencies.

Here I’m using a Seeed Studio SenseCAP Solar on a mast on my roof for a repeater, with a mesh core “companion” device in the shack connected via BlueTooth to my Mac.  Working on a user interface right now, so I don’t have to squint at my phone all the time.  I’m a huge fan of MeshCore as it handles network scaling a lot more gracefully than Meshtastic… especially when folks start putting repeaters on mountaintops.

Art

On Apr 16, 2026, at 16:33, Randy Luebke <ra...@lifetimeparadigm.com> wrote:

Meshcore over TCP/IP is beyond what I was considering, Art, but it is a cool idea if it’s legal.  It sounds like it’s the equivalent of iGating an APRS message.  My vision for DigiPi was more like the toggles DigiPi has for APRS with a APRS Digipeater or APRS TNC/iGate and APRS WebChat, where DigiPi can become a chat client and/or a repeater.

[Design Build Execute]

We have a dedicated Discord to LoRa APRS.  Consider joining us over there.  A lot of good discussion on hardware, software, etc.

https://discord.gg/dnKpcMPmj

Jason Rausch K4APR

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/digipi/00F978EA-ACB9-48FE-BEFC-361E5F3A6DA0%40botterell.net.

[Heber Soto]

I am using Reticulum  RNODE in Heltec V3 915MHz  with encryption on it, it complies with FCC same Meshtastic.

I connect to shell on the digipi since I have node in top o a mountain without internet, works pretty good.

You can also use it MeshChat, SideBand.  These might be more feasible to integrate with Digipi 

[pd2ch 2CH]

Maby an easy start is to implement the option to use lora aprs with digipi?

https://github.com/richonguzman/LoRa_APRS_iGate

https://github.com/richonguzman/LoRa_APRS_Tracker

These small lora boards (same use with meshcore/tastic) have an amazing range! 

72, Kees de PD2CH

Op do 16 apr 2026 om 22:41 schreef Craig <km6...@gmail.com>:

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[Julian White]

Meshtastic integration - whatever that ends up looking like? - would be neat.
LoRa is really the star of the show, especially once you start comparing networks like Meshtastic and MeshCore to the AX.25 we’ve all been putting up with. But even those only really shine if there’s a solid network built out around you. I didn’t fully appreciate that until a citywide power outage hit.