Companions
The node you carry, paired to the MeshCore app over Bluetooth, USB or Wi-Fi. Companions send and receive but never repeat, so they don't clog the airwaves.
Bathurst · Central West NSW · MeshCore
Messages that hop the ridgelines
BxMesh is Bathurst's MeshCore network: off-grid, encrypted text messaging over LoRa radio, carried hill to hill by community repeaters from the Blue Mountains to Orange, and from Hill End down to Mt Darling. No phone towers, no subscriptions, no internet needed.
Our frequency915.075 MHz
ProfileAustralia (Mid) · 125 kHz · SF9 · CR 4/5
Say g'day on#bathurst · scope au-nsw-bhs
Live on CoreScope
What MeshCore is
Small radios, big hills, messages that find their way
MeshCore is open-source firmware for cheap LoRa radios. Your first message floods out across the mesh; the reply brings the path back, and after that your messages go direct along it. Channels always flood. Three kinds of node make it work.
Repeaters
Solar boxes on hilltops and rooftops that carry everyone's messages onward. A good repeater is high, has a clear view and stays on. Bathurst has dozens.
Room servers
Little bulletin boards on the mesh. They keep posts, so when you log in you catch up on up to 32 messages you missed.
Coming from Meshtastic? The two can't talk to each other. Around 90% of the active NSW network now runs MeshCore. Why NSW Mesh moved
Get started
On the mesh in four steps
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Get a node
Heltec V3, V4 or T114, a RAK WisBlock 4631, Seeed T1000-E or XIAO S3 WIO, a Station G2, or a LilyGo T-Deck. Got two? Make one a repeater and put it up high.
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Flash MeshCore
Open the MeshCore Flasher in Chrome, plug the node in by USB and pick Companion firmware. Then get the MeshCore app for Android or iOS, or use app.meshcore.nz.
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Set the radio
Choose the Australia (Mid) profile. Every repeater around Bathurst moved to it in May 2026, so a node on the old Wide settings hears nothing.
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Say g'day
Set your scope to au-nsw-bhs and join #bathurst. BathurstBot answers ping, path and test on #test.
| Frequency | 915.075 MHz |
|---|---|
| Bandwidth | 125 kHz |
| Spreading factor | SF9 |
| Coding rate | 4/5 |
| Scope | au-nsw-bhs |
Setting up a repeater
Flash Repeater firmware, then set it up at config.meshcore.io or from the command line:
set radio 915.075,125,9,5Name it with your emoji and the place, like 🐝 Mt Bindo, and claim your emoji on the NSW Mesh repeater guide so nobody doubles up. Give it a real but approximate location.
On airMeshCore radios here share the 915–928 MHz band under the ACMA's LIPD Class Licence 2025. Keep to its power limits: no more than 1 W EIRP.
The network
Live status on CoreScope
Repeaters on the hills around Bathurst
Run by locals, named by their owners. The mesh runs east into the Blue Mountains, north to Hill End, west to Orange and beyond, and south as far as Mt Darling. Mudgee has repeaters too, not yet linked in.
🐝 Mt Bindo
Repeater · observer🐝 Kelso
Repeater · observer🐝 Mt Lambie
Repeater🐝 Hill End
Repeater🥔 Panorama
Repeater🫃 Mt Ovens South
Repeater💥 Robin Hill
Repeater✈️ VK2XJM Limekilns
Repeater
A selection. Every repeater, with who heard it last, is on CoreScope.
Observers
Lend the mesh your ears
An observer is a node that listens and streams what it hears to our broker, so everyone can see coverage, paths and which repeaters are alive on the live map.
Each observer gets its own login, so a misbehaving box can be switched off without affecting anyone else. Apply with a username and your email; once approved, your login arrives by email.
The one ruleObservers listen only. They never send, bridge or auto-reply.
Part of something bigger
One corner of the NSW mesh
Bathurst ties into the statewide NSW Mesh, which reaches Victoria over an intermittent southern link. Messaging to Sydney and Canberra is fairly reliable now. Beyond that, MeshCore communities run all around the world.