Using the Mesh
Once your radio device is connected and your Radio group is set up, using Flaresat feels nearly identical to an online group, but everything is transmitted over LoRa radio.
Dropping pins​
Drop a pin exactly as you would in an online group:
- Long-press on the map
- Fill in the label, icon, and color
- Tap Create
Flaresat encodes the pin into a compact binary format and transmits it over the mesh. Teammates with their devices in range will see the pin appear on their map within seconds.
Drawing routes and areas​
Works the same as online groups. After you finish drawing:
- Name and style the route/area
- Tap Create
Large routes (many points) are automatically split into fragments and reassembled by receiving devices. If the mesh is congested or packets are lost, Flaresat uses erasure coding to reconstruct the data even if some fragments don't arrive.
Sending messages​
Open the chat panel and type a message just like in an online group. Messages are transmitted over the mesh and appear in teammates' chat feeds.
Type @ in the message input to mention a map item by name, the mention becomes a tappable link to that location for all recipients, just as in online groups.
Note: Voice notes are not supported in Radio mode, LoRa bandwidth is too limited for audio data.
Each Radio group retains the last 200 messages locally. Messages older than that are dropped once the limit is reached.
Message delivery status​
Each outgoing message displays a delivery indicator so you always know whether your radio got it:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending (clock icon) | The message is queued, your device hasn't transmitted it yet, or it's waiting for the radio to be free |
| Sent (single check) | Your radio device accepted the packet and broadcast it over the air |
| Failed (cross icon) | The radio did not acknowledge the packet after the retry window expired |
A Sent status means the packet left your device, it doesn't guarantee that a specific teammate received it. In a mesh, packets are relayed automatically, so even if the direct link failed, intermediate nodes may still deliver it.
If a critical pin or message shows Failed, try resending it or moving to a location with better line-of-sight to nearby nodes.
Location sharing​
Enable Appear on Map in Group Settings → Privacy (tap Menu → Settings → scroll to Privacy). Your GPS coordinates are broadcast over the mesh roughly every 8 seconds, rate-limited to keep LoRa bandwidth available for map data and messages.
Teammates see your dot on their map, labeled with your name, updating as you move.
Trackers, other mesh nodes​
Any radio device in range that broadcasts a GPS position will appear as a tracker on your map. This includes:
- Other Flaresat users in your mesh
- Non-Flaresat devices running Meshtastic or MeshCore that share their location
Each tracker is labeled with the node's name from its firmware config. If the name isn't available, the label falls back to Node XXXX (the last 4 characters of the device's node ID).
Non-Flaresat nodes still relay packets through the mesh, they're part of the network backbone even if they don't run Flaresat.
Range and reliability​
LoRa is a long-range, low-bandwidth radio protocol. Key things to understand:
- Range varies a lot, open terrain gives you miles; dense forest or buildings reduce it significantly
- Mesh = automatic relaying, packets hop between nodes, extending total coverage beyond any single device's range
- Latency, a message might take 2–15 seconds to propagate through several hops, depending on hop count and congestion
- Bandwidth is limited, large amounts of data (like a route with hundreds of points) take more time to transmit
What happens if a packet is lost?​
Flaresat's FlareMesh protocol includes erasure coding, a technique where additional redundancy data is sent alongside the main payload. This means even if some fragments of a large item (route, area) are lost in transit, the receiving device can still reconstruct the full item from the remaining fragments.
For small items (pins, short messages), a single packet is usually sufficient.
Mesh without internet​
The mesh works entirely independently of any internet connection. As long as radio devices are in range of each other, directly or through intermediate nodes, the network functions.
This makes it suitable for situations where internet is unavailable, restricted, or deliberately avoided.