Narva Radio Club has completed and put into operation a bridge between two independent LoRa mesh networks — MeshCore and Meshtastic. The system is already running at its base installation site and provides bidirectional message exchange between users of both networks.
The bridge allows messages sent through MeshCore to be automatically forwarded to Meshtastic and vice versa. This means that two technologically different networks can now be used as a common information exchange infrastructure.
The club infrastructure also includes a centralised alert and messaging system that can distribute a message to all connected nodes in both MeshCore and Meshtastic simultaneously.
The centralised system supports three message levels, allowing regular information, important notices and emergency messages to be handled separately. It can therefore be used both for everyday network communication and for rapidly distributing important information when required.
Another important part of Narva Radio Club’s infrastructure is APRS. The network currently uses three technologies for transmitting position and digital data: traditional APRS on 144.800 MHz, LoRa APRS and DPRS.
Traditional amateur radio APRS operates on 144.800 MHz, exchanging packets over a VHF radio channel and connecting the local radio network to APRS-IS.
LoRa APRS uses LoRa technology to transmit position information, telemetry and other digital data.
DPRS complements this infrastructure by allowing position and other digital data from digital radio systems to be forwarded into the APRS environment.
A separate automated service operates within the digital DMR radio network. It processes weather warnings, determines the geographical area affected and routes the information to the appropriate DMR talkgroup.
Weather warnings concerning Ida-Virumaa are transmitted to TG24814, while nationwide warnings affecting Estonia as a whole are transmitted to TG248112.
Before transmission, the warning text is automatically converted into speech and broadcast sequentially in three languages — Estonian, Russian and English.
Narva Radio Club is therefore developing several complementary digital communication systems at the same time: MeshCore, Meshtastic, traditional APRS on 144.800 MHz, LoRa APRS and DMR. Some of these systems are already interconnected, while a number of services operate centrally and automatically.
The main objective is to develop an independent and resilient communications infrastructure in Narva and Ida-Virumaa that can be used both for normal amateur radio activities and in situations where conventional communications are limited or unavailable.
How to join the Mesh networks
Information about the Meshtastic and MeshCore networks, connection settings, the regional Meshtastic MQTT service and the network activity map is available on the Narva Radio Club website:
https://nrc.ee → APRS ja Mesh
and directly through:
https://aprsnarva.ee
The site provides up-to-date information for anyone interested in connecting their own node to the developing Mesh infrastructure in Narva and Ida-Virumaa.