Recommended Settings for the EF Mesh
These are the settings the EF Meshtastic community uses. They keep the network healthy when hundreds of folks pile into the Forest at once. Follow them and you'll be a good mesh citizen.
If you haven't done first-time setup yet
Start with How to Connect — it walks you through the whole 10-step flow. This page is the deeper dive for folks who want to understand why the settings are what they are.
The Forest Channel Bundle (Shared Openly)
Unlike some Meshtastic communities, the EF community shares its channel settings openly. Anyone with this QR can load the Forest channels onto their radio.
Or scan this from a second phone to bring it into the mesh.
This loads three channels on the Medium Range - Fast preset: a chgme-squad placeholder primary (you'll customize), the public forest-chat, and the Weather channel.
LoRa Settings
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Region | United States |
Meshtastic uses 915 MHz in the US — required for legal operation |
| Preset | Medium Range - Fast |
Change this from the default. The Forest is a dense crowd — hundreds of nodes in close proximity. Medium Fast gives faster message delivery, lower latency for quick-coordination pings, and way less channel congestion than Long Fast. We trade a bit of range (which we don't really need at festival distances) for a much healthier network when everyone's piled into Sherwood. |
| Number of Hops | 3 |
Default. More hops = more network flood. Less = shorter reach. 3 is the sweet spot. |
| Frequency Slot | 0 |
Default. Everyone needs to be on the same slot. |
| Transmit Enabled | On |
Default. If this is off, you can't send anything. |
Channels
Channel 0 — Primary
| Setting | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | (leave default) | This is the Meshtastic-wide default channel |
| Key | AQ== |
Default Meshtastic key, leave as-is |
| Channel Role | Primary |
Don't change |
| Position | Disabled |
Important — see note below |
| MQTT Uplink / Downlink | Disabled |
Don't change |
Why turn off position on Channel 0?
On Meshtastic firmware 2.7+, your radio shares your GPS position from whatever channel is first in the list. By disabling position on Channel 0 (the public default), your precise location only goes to your squad channel — not the world.
This only works on firmware 2.7 or later. Make sure you updated in Step 1.
Channel 1 — Your Squad
| Setting | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | (your squad name) | Customize in Step 7 |
| Key | (unique — tap blue lock to generate) | CRITICAL — tap the blue lock to generate a unique key. Don't skip this. |
| Channel Role | Secondary |
Don't change |
| Allow Position Requests | Enabled |
So your squad can ping your location |
| Precise Location | Enabled |
So squad pings give meters, not hundreds of meters |
| MQTT Uplink / Downlink | Disabled |
Don't change |
Channel 2 — forest-chat (public EF community)
| Setting | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | forest-chat |
Comes preset via the QR |
| Key | (preset via QR) | Comes preset via the QR |
| Channel Role | Secondary |
Don't change |
| Allow Position Requests | Enabled |
Optional — enable if you want broader Forest folks to see your location |
| Precise Location | Enabled |
Optional |
| MQTT Uplink / Downlink | Disabled |
Don't change |
Device
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Device Role | Client |
DO NOT CHANGE. Setting Router or Repeater without coordination breaks the mesh for everyone. |
| Rebroadcast Mode | ALL |
Default. Helps relay messages across the mesh. |
About Router and Repeater roles
Unless someone in the EF Discord has explicitly given you the green light, stick to Client. Mobile Router/Repeater nodes cause routing chaos, congest the network, and make everyone's experience worse — even (especially) yours. If you've got an awesome high-elevation node at your camp and think it'd benefit the community as a repeater, message the EF Discord first.
Position
For mobile radios (what you'll be wearing at Forest):
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Broadcast Interval | 1 hour |
| Smart Position | ON |
| Smart Minimum Interval | 30 seconds |
| Smart Minimum Distance | 100 meters |
| Device GPS | Enabled |
| GPS Update Interval | 30 seconds |
| Position Flags | All OFF |
No built-in GPS?
If your radio doesn't have GPS (some don't), use your phone's GPS. In the Meshtastic app: App Settings → Phone GPS Sharing → Enabled, and set your phone's location permission for Meshtastic to Always.
Store & Forward
Leave this disabled. Always. On every node. Store & Forward floods the network with replays of old messages and is not appropriate for a festival mesh.
External Notifications (Quiet Your Radio)
Most radios make beeps and vibrations every time something happens on the mesh. At Forest with hundreds of nodes, this gets annoying fast. Turn these off:
- Alert GPIO buzzer when receiving a bell:
OFF - Alert GPIO vibra motor when receiving a bell:
OFF - Alert GPIO buzzer when receiving a message:
OFF - Alert GPIO vibra motor when receiving a message:
OFF
You can also turn off the new-node-discovery notification in your phone's notification settings.
MQTT (Skip This for Now)
MQTT lets nodes upload metadata to a shared cloud server. We don't have a dedicated EF MQTT bridge set up for 2026 yet, so leave MQTT disabled on every channel — uplink off, downlink off.
If we stand one up before the festival, we'll update this page and post in the EF Discord.
Need Help?
The EF Meshtastic crew lives in the official Electric Forest Discord — we love walking new folks through settings.