Things people actually ask.
Palouse Mesh is a volunteer-run, off-grid radio network covering the Palouse and Clearwater regions of southeastern Washington and north-central Idaho. It lets people send encrypted text messages without cell service, internet, or fees — using small, low-cost LoRa radios.
Both run on similar LoRa hardware, but the firmware and protocols are different — they can't talk to each other directly. Palouse Mesh runs MeshCore, which routes packets through known paths rather than flooding the whole network.
Good news if you already have a Meshtastic device: chances are it can run MeshCore too. Most common LoRa boards are supported — check meshcore.io/flasher to see if yours is listed.
Yes. As long as you're within range of a node or repeater, messages get through — the radio handles it. No cell signal needed at either end.
Some dashboards (Beacon, CoreScope, MeshMapper) require internet to view, but the mesh itself does not.
Private messages are end-to-end encrypted. Channel messages use shared channel keys — anyone with the key can read them. The Public channel is unencrypted and visible to all nodes.
You can also create your own private encrypted group by adding a channel with a custom key that you share only with your group. Anyone without that key sees nothing.
Repeaters and observer nodes are on the air in Pullman (including the WSU campus), on Kamiak Butte, in Palouse and St John, on Moscow Mountain, and in Kendrick and Lewiston on the Idaho side. The Colfax link is up but marginal.
Hilltop sites reach well beyond the town they sit in, so Albion, Colton, Uniontown, Genesee, Troy, Oakesdale, Garfield, Tekoa and Rosalia are all within plausible line-of-sight range — unconfirmed until a radio there hears the mesh.
Not covered yet: Potlatch (needs an in-town node), Pomeroy and Garfield County, and the Washington side of the LC Valley around Clarkston. See the roadmap for what's being worked on.
Range depends heavily on terrain and antenna height:
The Palouse Mesh is built for rural areas. LoRa radio works well over open terrain — a repeater on an elevated site can cover a lot of ground.
If you've got a node flashed and can't hear anything, we want to know about it. Reach out through the Palouse Mesh Facebook group or Signal chat — someone can help figure out if there's a coverage gap or a config issue. And if you have a high point on your property, putting up a repeater is one of the best ways to expand coverage in your area.
No. MeshCore operates in the 900 MHz ISM band (unlicensed), so no amateur radio license is required to use a companion device or even run a repeater. However, if you're interested in the radio hobby side, a Technician license opens up a lot more.
All nodes on the PUW region network use these settings:
Never change Frequency, BW, or SF — a mismatch means your radio can't hear the network at all.
In the MeshCore app, go to Channels → Add Public Room and type the channel name (e.g. #thepalouse). The app will derive the channel key automatically. See the channel directory for a full list of active channels and QR codes.
A few reasons:
Follow the Repeater Setup guide to flash and configure a node. To get it on the dashboards, you'll also need an Observer nearby. Reach out at Palouse Mesh Community if you need help with placement.