On MeshCore, repeaters are the network. If your town has none, the single most useful thing you can do is put one up.
Where
Height, then height, then height. A repeater in an attic covers a neighbourhood; the same board on a 40-foot mast or a friendly rooftop covers a town. Because companions don't relay, there's no "lots of small nodes" fallback - put your effort into the site.
Which board
The same answer as Meshtastic: an nRF52 board (RAK WisBlock 4631 is the common choice) for anything on solar, because it draws a fraction of an ESP32's current. The solar power budget article applies unchanged - the radio duty cycle is similar.
Flash it
- At meshcore.io/flasher, choose the board and firmware type Repeater (or Room Server, below).
- Connect to it once over USB (or over the mesh from a companion) and set a name - short, and identifying the place:
TurkeyMtn-R1. - Set the admin password. Repeaters are managed remotely through the mesh; the default password is public knowledge. Change it before it goes on the roof.
- Set the radio preset to match your region, and the location so the repeater shows in the right place.
Then send a flood advert from the repeater. Every companion in range learns it exists and starts routing through it.
Room server instead?
A room server is a repeater that also keeps a message board. Members "join" it and post; anyone who was out of range can catch up later. Good for a club or an event where not everyone is on at the same time. It costs nothing extra in hardware - it's just a different firmware choice - but decide which you need: a mesh usually wants one repeater per hill, and one room server per community.
Tell people
- Post it in your state's MeshCore group on ChatterBack with the name, rough location and preset.
- List it on the state hub so it's on the map. MeshCore nodes can be added as listings and claimed so they show under your stations.
- Ask before you go up on the same hill as an existing repeater. Two repeaters that can hear each other perfectly cover less than two that can't.
A repeater that goes dark hurts more than one that never existed, because everyone's paths still point at it. If you take yours down, say so in the group.