Meshtastic
Off-grid text messages and GPS positions over LoRa radio, kilometres away, with no internet or cell network.
Chipnik catalog@chipnik-catalogWhat you need
- Board
- One of 6 boards: Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3, LilyGO T-Beam, LilyGO T-Deck and 3 more
- Parts
- LoRa antenna for your region
Meshtastic turns a cheap LoRa board into a node of a mesh network for text messages and positions. Every node repeats what it hears, so messages travel kilometres between people with no internet, no SIM card and no cell towers. You type on the phone app over Bluetooth, or right on the board if it has a keyboard. Original project by the Meshtastic team on GitHub, GPL-3.0. Chipnik hosts the release binaries unchanged so you can flash them from the browser.
Chipnik flashes the main firmware image. The official installer also writes a file system image and a small OTA helper; the node works without them and the firmware sets up its file system on first start. If you want Wi-Fi updates later, run the official Meshtastic web flasher once.
Set your region in the app right after flashing, the radio stays silent until you do. The nice!nano and Raspberry Pi Pico builds are DIY nodes: a nice!nano with an SX1262 module, or a Pico with the Waveshare LoRa HAT.
Firmware files come from the v2.7.26.54e0d8d release.
Parts
Buy everything for this project
- LilyGO T-DeckBuyLilyGO
- LilyGO T-BeamBuyLilyGO
- Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3BuyAliExpress
- Seeed XIAO ESP32S3BuySeeed Studio
- Raspberry Pi PicoBuyAliExpress
- nice!nano nRF52840BuyAliExpress
After flashing
- The board restarts by itself when flashing is done.
- If nothing happens, press the RST (EN) button once.
Versions
2.7.26 added to Chipnik 2026-11-05
Release v2.7.26.54e0d8d of meshtastic/firmware, files unchanged. Release notes on GitHub
