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meshtastic🛰 Meshtastic· beginner

Set your region and join a channel

Region US, the default LongFast channel, and how to add the one your state actually uses.

2 min readUpdated 3w1 contributor

Fresh firmware transmits nothing until you tell it where it is. Then it joins the worldwide default channel, which is fine to start and not where the local conversation lives.

1. Set the region

Connect with the phone app (Android / iOS) or the web client, go to Radio configuration → LoRa, and set Region to US. The node reboots. Until you do this the radio stays silent by design.

2. Understand the default channel

Every node ships with one primary channel: LongFast, using the default key. Everyone in the world on LongFast can hear everyone else within radio range. In a city with an active mesh, that's dozens of nodes chatting - which is great for confirming your radio works and mildly chaotic for actual conversation.

The modem preset (LongFast, MediumSlow, ShortTurbo…) trades range for speed. Leave it on LongFast unless your region has collectively decided otherwise. Nodes on different presets can't hear each other at all.

3. Add your regional channel

Most states or metros have a secondary channel with its own name and key, shared as a QR code. Find it in your state's Meshtastic group on ChatterBack - the pinned post, or ask. Then:

  1. App → Channels → scan the QR (or paste the https://meshtastic.org/e/#... link).
  2. Keep LongFast as the primary and add the regional one as a secondary. Primary is what routes traffic; secondary is who you talk to.
  3. Save. The channel list now shows both.

4. Name your node

Under User, set a long name (how you'll show on the map - "Dana / Turkey Mtn") and a four-character short name ("DANA"). Include your callsign if you're a ham and want to; it isn't required. Meshtastic is licence-free under Part 15.

5. Position

Under Position, decide how precisely to share your location. For a home node, most people set a reduced precision so the map shows a neighbourhood, not a doorstep. For a mobile node in the truck, full precision is usually what you want. You can change this per channel.

If nobody can hear you after this step, it's almost always region not set, wrong preset, or the antenna. In that order.