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@tonytins@pawb.social
2026-09-17 17:15 UTC
FCC ISM Rules May Shatter Lora Mesh Communities
Although everyone has their own reasons for exploring a new hobby, one of the driving factors behind the popularity of Meshtastic and MeshCore has been the incredible accessibility offered by off-grid LoRa mesh networks. You don’t need any expensive hardware or a license to get on the air — armed with a $20 microcontroller dev board and open source software, you could be on the mesh in minutes. Then came the really exciting part, seeing who else was out there. The low barrier of entry and ad-hoc nature of these projects meant there was a good chance you’d soon find yourself exchanging messages with other like-minded folks in the area.
Or at least, that’s how it used to be. With the recent revelation that their default radio configurations have potentially been in violation of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) regulations governing amateur usage of the 900 MHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band, the users and developers of both Meshtastic and MeshCore have been sent scrambling. Getting in compliance isn’t necessarily a technical challenge. In fact, Meshtastic has already introduced changes aimed to address the issue and anyone running the latest alpha release can be sure that their initial radio configuration will meet FCC standards.
But unfortunately, this introduces a new problem. While it’s easy enough to get new installations of Meshtastic and MeshCore operating in a mode that keeps the FCC happy, doing so breaks compatibility with everything that’s already been deployed. The community will be fractured into distinct strata depending on when they first configured their hardware, with an added dash of confusion from the more rebellious users who will undoubtedly refuse to migrate over to the new settings.
Replies (5)
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Also, isn’t LoRa based on proprietary technology?
Open ##4840566
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I’ve heard of Meshtastic and Meshcore but haven’t really looked into it. I’m very interested in getting started and what all I need to do it, if anyone has some good information or sources. With the state of the way the internet is becoming and I now self-host my own media server, I would like to make this one of my next setups.
Open ##4848368
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dictates the minimum allowed bandwidth. Out of the box MeshCore operates at 62.5 kHz and Meshtastic uses 250 kHz, but the FCC says it needs to be 500 kHz or higher.
Why is more bandwidth better? Is it spreading out the same energy = less interference potential? Usually the goal is to use the least bandwidth (and power) possible, right?
Open ##4851327
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Switch to Reticulum.
Meshtastic/Meshcore were never scalable traffic/node wise.
Open ##4851738
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IMO they should have a set, compliant default for the radio and not allow users to change it.
Open ##4852302