The settings every radio here runs.
A mesh only works if every radio agrees on the numbers. Change one of them and your radio goes quiet: it is still transmitting, but nothing around it is listening on those terms. These are the numbers, and they are the same ones the whole Central Texas mesh uses, which is why a message can reach San Antonio.
You do not have to type any of this. flasher.lhtx.org writes every one of these settings for you and asks only for a node name and whether the radio has GPS. This page is here for anyone setting a radio up by hand, checking one that is already running, or curious what the tool is about to do.
The numbers
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Preset | USA/Canada (Recommended) | Picking this in the app sets the four radio numbers below in one go. |
| Frequency | 910.525 MHz | Inside the license-free 902 to 928 MHz band. |
| Bandwidth | 62.5 kHz | Together these trade speed for range. Narrow and slow travels furthest, which is what matters out here. |
| Spreading factor | 7 | |
| Coding rate | 5 | |
| Transmit power | 22 dBm | Or your board's maximum, whichever is lower. Do not exceed it. |
| Path hashes | path.hash.mode 1 | Two-byte paths. Fewer collisions as the network grows. |
| Node name | Yours | What neighbors see in their contact list and on the live map. Pick something recognizable, like a road or a business. |
| GPS | Your call | On puts your node on the map. Off shares no position at all. Fixed repeaters usually on, pocket radios usually off. |
| Flood advert interval | 12 hours | Repeaters and room servers only. Companion radios have no advert timer; they announce when asked. |
| Zero-hop advert interval | 60 minutes |
The table scrolls sideways; there is a column explaining why each setting matters.
Setting up a repeater by hand
A repeater or room server takes these over the USB serial console. Paste them in, and it restarts onto the right settings.
set radio 910.525,62.5,7,5
set tx 22
set path.hash.mode 1
set flood.advert.interval 12
set advert.interval 60
rebootA companion radio does not take these. Use the app, or flasher.lhtx.org, which speaks both.
If it still isn't working
Mismatched settings are the most common fault on the mesh by a distance, so if you got here from a radio that has gone quiet, compare every row above character for character first. Then work down the troubleshooting list, which takes the rest of the causes in the order worth checking them.
Never seen any of this before? Start at get on the mesh instead, which walks the whole path from an unopened box to your first message.