Regional configuration guide

MeshCore region configuration for the UK

Example region-scope conventions for Great Britain. If you are setting up MeshCore on the island of Ireland, use the separate Ireland community codes instead of the British examples on this page.

View the regions How does it work?

Why region configuration?

As the LocalMesh network expands across Britain, managing message propagation becomes increasingly important. Without geographic boundaries, a message intended for neighbours in Cornwall might traverse repeaters all the way to Inverness, consuming precious airtime unnecessarily. Region configuration addresses this by creating intelligent boundaries.

Through Regions (configured on repeaters) and Scopes (applied to messages), operators can define the geographic reach appropriate for their communications. A village hall meeting announcement need not propagate beyond the county, whilst emergency broadcasts might warrant national distribution.

For Great Britain, this page uses practical gb-based examples such as gb-eng to illustrate how regional scoping can be organised. They should be treated as community conventions, not an official MeshCore standard. Important: if you are configuring repeaters for the island of Ireland, do not use British or Irish ISO-style codes from this page. The Ireland network uses separate community codes such as ioi and bhd.

Note: firmware required

Region and Scope functionality requires MeshCore firmware version 1.10.0 or newer. Verify your firmware version before attempting region configuration. Note: The Companion app does not yet support changing message scope, though this capability is planned for a future release.

How does it work?

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Regions on repeaters

Repeater administrators configure which geographic areas their infrastructure serves. Minimum requirement: broad area plus local area. For England this is often a combination like gb and gb-eng. On the island of Ireland, communities use separate shared conventions such as ioi.

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Scopes on messages

When sending, users can specify geographic scope: broad (gb), regional (gb-eng), or local. Messages without explicit scope propagate everywhere. On the island of Ireland, use the Irish community scope conventions instead of gb-* codes.

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Exact matching

Repeaters only forward messages when the scope precisely matches a configured region. gb does NOT automatically match gb-eng, though hierarchy can be configured to enable this behaviour. The same principle applies to ioi and local Ireland codes.

✳️

Wildcard *

Every repeater includes a default wildcard region *. Messages lacking explicit scope always propagate, maintaining backward compatibility with older firmware.

Example UK region scopes

Illustrative Great Britain conventions used on this page, plus a note for operators on the island of Ireland

Region Code Region Example Areas
gb United Kingdom Nationwide messages
gb-eng England London, Birmingham, Manchester
gb-sco Scotland Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen
gb-wls Wales Cardiff, Swansea, Newport
ioi Island of Ireland Parent scope for the whole island
bhd Ulster Province scope used on the island of Ireland
gb-nwk North West Manchester, Liverpool, Preston
gb-yor Yorkshire Leeds, Sheffield, York
gb-mid Midlands Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester
gb-sth South East Brighton, Oxford, Southampton
gb-swt South West Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter
gb-est East of England Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich
gb-nth North East Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham

Ireland uses its own region codes

If you are setting up MeshCore on the island of Ireland, do not use the gb-* examples from the rest of this page. Operators there use a separate shared set of region codes.

Current codes in use on the island are listed below. In practice, the same code family is used for repeater regions and message scopes.

Codes currently in use

The parent code is ioi, with the following province codes underneath it:

  • ioi - Island of Ireland (parent scope)
  • bhd - Ulster
  • snn - Munster
  • dub - Leinster
  • noc - Connacht
  • sco - Scotland

Some Ireland setups also include sco for Scotland, and ioi-admin for admin or wardrive traffic. If you are configuring repeaters or automated tools for the island of Ireland, stick to these codes consistently.

Basic repeater setup for Ireland

A practical starting point is to add the Ireland hierarchy, allow ioi, and then add the repeater home province. Some operators also add sco and ioi-admin where needed. That keeps island-wide and province traffic working without mixing Ireland setups with the gb-* examples above.

region put ioi
region put bhd ioi
region put snn ioi
region put dub ioi
region put noc ioi
region put robot
region allowf ioi
region save

Then set the repeater home province:

Ulster:
region allowf bhd
region home bhd
Leinster:
region allowf dub
region home dub
Connacht:
region allowf noc
region home noc
Munster:
region allowf snn
region home snn

If a repeater genuinely covers more than one province, allow the regions it actually serves rather than only the province where it physically sits. Keep * enabled for now.

More specific: local regions in Great Britain

For metropolitan areas or cross-boundary communities in Great Britain, more granular codes can be established. This remains optional and is determined by local community consensus. Examples:

  • gb-man - Greater Manchester area
  • gb-brs - Bristol and surroundings
  • gb-edi - Edinburgh area

These Great Britain examples supplement the broader gb-based hierarchy shown on this page. Coordinate with your local mesh community before treating them as fixed conventions.

Repeater configuration

Via CLI (Command Line Interface)

Regions are configured through the CLI, accessible via USB serial connection or remote administration through the app or companion device. For Great Britain, a typical setup is a broad scope plus a regional scope. If you are on the island of Ireland, follow the Ireland code set shown above instead of the gb-* examples.

1

Establish CLI connection to your repeater

2

For England or Great Britain, add the broad scope: region put gb

3

Add your regional scope with hierarchy: region put gb-eng gb

4

Enable flood propagation for both scopes: region allowf gb and region allowf gb-eng

5

Persist configuration with region save

Example configuration (north west England)

region put gb
region put gb-nwk gb
region allowf gb
region allowf gb-nwk
region save

Important

  • Verify each command receives an OK acknowledgement
  • Confirm configuration using the region command
  • The hierarchy syntax (region put gb-nwk gb) establishes gb-nwk as a child of gb
  • region save is essential for configuration to survive power cycles
  • For Ireland, use the established ioi, bhd, snn, dub, and noc codes instead of creating gb-nir or ISO-style variants locally

Technical specifications

Maximum length

29 bytes (UTF-8) per region identifier

Permitted characters

Lowercase letters (a-z), numerals (0-9), and hyphen (-) only

Maximum regions

32 regions per repeater (auto-discovery limited to 172 characters)

Uniqueness

Region identifiers must remain unique within the mesh network

Benefits of region configuration

🚀

Increased airtime

Messages avoid unnecessary propagation beyond their intended scope, freeing channel capacity for other communications.

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Faster delivery

Messages require fewer hops when constrained to relevant geographic areas, reducing end-to-end latency.

🔋

Battery conservation

Repeaters handle fewer messages, reducing energy consumption, which proves particularly valuable for solar-powered installations.

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Local relevance

Receive only messages pertinent to your geographic area, eliminating noise from distant regions.

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Scalability

Network growth becomes sustainable as each region functions semi-independently without degrading overall performance.

🤝

Community driven

Local communities determine their own configuration conventions whilst the national structure provides consistency.

Frequently asked questions

Must I update my repeater for region support?

Yes, MeshCore firmware 1.10.0 or newer is required. Earlier versions lack region functionality. Flash the latest firmware via meshcore.io/flasher.

What happens when sending without specifying a scope?

Messages lacking scope propagate through all repeaters via the wildcard * region. The network operates as before, though you forfeit the efficiency benefits of regional filtering.

Can multiple regions be configured on a single repeater?

Indeed, up to 32 regions per repeater. In Great Britain the minimum configuration is usually a broad scope plus your primary regional scope, for example gb and gb-sco. Ireland follows separate community conventions such as ioi.

How does the hierarchy (region put gb-nwk GB) function?

Hierarchy establishes parent-child relationships. region put gb-nwk gb designates gb-nwk as a child of gb. Consequently, messages scoped to gb also propagate through repeaters configured for gb-nwk.

Can scope be selected within the companion App currently?

Not presently. Message scope selection in the Companion app awaits a future release. You can experiment with scope using the CLI meanwhile.

Who determines which local region codes to adopt?

The local community decides collectively. On this page, Great Britain uses gb-based example conventions, while Ireland uses the ioi-based structure shown above. Coordinate locally before creating new codes.

Want to discuss region configuration?

For questions about repeater setup, scope naming, or how to align with the wider LocalMesh UK community, use the Discord server:

Join Discord

Help the network grow

Configuring regions on your repeater contributes to maintaining a scalable, efficient MeshCore network across Great Britain, while operators on the island of Ireland should follow their own shared regional conventions.

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