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Recommended Settings

These settings are based on real-world experience from the Arizona Meshtastic community. Following them helps keep our shared mesh network healthy and reliable for everyone. If you still need a radio, check our Recommended Hardware page first.

Preset and Frequency

The Arizona-specific preset and frequency slot are shared in our Discord server. Join to get these settings before configuring your device.

Join the Discord to Get Settings

Node Roles

Choosing the right role for your device keeps the network clean and efficient.

Client Mute

Use for: anything mobile -- backpacks, vehicles, pocket nodes.

Client Mute nodes can send and receive messages but do not rebroadcast other people's traffic. This is the best choice for devices that move around, since mobile rebroadcasters create unpredictable routing and extra congestion.

Client

Use for: stationary home or rooftop nodes.

Client is the standard role. Your node will participate in the mesh by rebroadcasting messages, which helps extend coverage for your neighbors.

When in doubt, client it out

Not sure which role to pick? Set your device to Client Mute and talk to a community member in Discord. You can always change it later.

Router and Router Late

Understand Router roles before switching

Router and Router Late are designed for nodes at high elevation, permanent fixed locations with good line-of-sight — think hilltops, towers, or mountain repeater sites. They aggressively rebroadcast traffic and are optimized to extend the mesh across long distances.

Used in the wrong context — a home, an apartment, or a mobile node — these roles can cause increased congestion, routing loops, and degraded performance for everyone on the mesh. Meshtastic's own guidance is to use these roles only where they genuinely improve coverage for the wider network, not just your own reach.

Before switching to Router or Router Late, make sure you understand the implications. If you're unsure whether your location and setup are a good fit, ask the community on Discord — we're happy to help.

Ask the Community on Discord

Broadcast Intervals

Keeping broadcast intervals tuned correctly reduces channel congestion and lets everyone's messages get through reliably.

Mobile Nodes

For devices that move around (in your car, backpack, pocket, etc.):

Setting Value Notes
Node Info Broadcast 43200 sec (12 hours) Your node info rarely changes -- no need to broadcast it often.
Smart Broadcast ON Automatically sends position updates when you move.
Smart Broadcast Min Distance 100 meters Only broadcasts after moving at least 100m.
Smart Broadcast Min Interval 60 seconds No more than one smart broadcast per minute.
Position Broadcast 3600 sec (1 hour) Fallback interval if GPS is enabled.
GPS Update Interval 300 sec (5 minutes) How often the device checks its own GPS.
Device Metrics 3600 sec (1 hour) Battery, voltage, channel utilization, etc.
Environment Metrics 3600 sec (1 hour) Temperature, humidity, etc. (if sensors attached).
Power Metrics 3600 sec (1 hour) Power monitoring (if sensors attached).
Map Report 3600 sec (1 hour) Sends position to the map server.

Stationary Nodes

For devices that stay in one place (rooftop, home base, solar nodes):

Setting Value Notes
Node Info Broadcast 43200 sec (12 hours) Same as mobile -- node info does not change often.
Smart Broadcast OFF Your node is not moving, so smart positioning is not needed.
Position Broadcast 43200 sec (12 hours) Only if GPS is enabled. Your position is fixed.
GPS Update Interval 21600 sec (6 hours) Minimal GPS checks since the node does not move.
Device Metrics 3600 sec (1 hour) Still useful for monitoring battery and channel utilization.
Environment Metrics 3600 sec (1 hour) If sensors are attached.
Power Metrics 3600 sec (1 hour) If sensors are attached.
Map Report 21600 sec (6 hours) Less frequent since your position is fixed.

Neighbor Info

Neighbor Info is a module that periodically broadcasts a list of your node's direct neighbors along with the signal quality (SNR) of each link. When enabled across multiple nodes, the community can build a real picture of how the mesh is connected — which helps identify coverage gaps, optimize node placement, and understand how traffic actually flows through the network.

Neighbor Info packets are small and infrequent, so the channel congestion impact is very low.

Recommended Update Interval

Node type Interval Seconds
Mobile 4 hours 14400
Stationary 11 hours 39600

4 hours is the minimum the firmware allows. Use the longer interval for stationary nodes since their neighbors rarely change.

How to Enable on Android

Requires Meshtastic app version 2.2.0 or higher.

  1. Open the Meshtastic app and connect to your node.
  2. Tap the three-dot menu (vertical ellipsis) in the top-right corner.
  3. Select Radio Configuration.
  4. Scroll down and tap Neighbor Info.
  5. Toggle Enabled to ON.
  6. Set the Update Interval to 14400 (mobile) or 39600 (stationary).
  7. Toggle Transmit Over LoRa to ON — this sends the neighbor info over the radio mesh and to MQTT.
  8. Tap Send to save the settings to your node.
How to Enable on Web Client
  1. Open the Meshtastic Web UI and connect to your node (usually at meshtastic.local or via USB serial).
  2. Click Config in the left sidebar.
  3. Click Module Config.
  4. Click Neighbor Info.
  5. Toggle Enabled to ON.
  6. Set the Update Interval to 14400 (mobile) or 39600 (stationary).
  7. Toggle Transmit Over LoRa to ON.
  8. Click Save to apply the settings.
How to Enable via CLI

Requires the Meshtastic Python CLI version 2.2.0 or higher (pip install meshtastic).

# Enable the module
meshtastic --set neighbor_info.enabled true

# Set update interval (seconds) — 14400 = 4 hours, 39600 = 11 hours
meshtastic --set neighbor_info.update_interval 14400

# Enable transmit over LoRa (sends over radio AND MQTT)
meshtastic --set neighbor_info.transmit_over_lora true

# Verify your settings
meshtastic --get neighbor_info

Run these commands while connected to your node over USB, Bluetooth, or TCP.

iOS: Neighbor Info not currently supported

The iOS Meshtastic app does not currently support enabling the Neighbor Info module. iOS users will need to use the Web client or CLI over a TCP/USB connection to configure this setting on their node.

MQTT

MQTT lets your node upload diagnostic data to a shared server, which helps us monitor network health and see all nodes on the map. It does not send your personal messages or private data -- only metadata like position, telemetry, and node info.

What MQTT does and does not do

  • Does: Shares your node's position, battery level, signal metrics, and channel utilization with the community map and monitoring tools.
  • Does not: Send your private messages, direct messages, or any encrypted channel content to any server.

How to Enable MQTT

To enable MQTT uplink, you will need the community broker settings (server address, username, and password).

Join the Discord for MQTT Settings

Once you have the broker details:

  1. LoRa Settings: Enable "OK to MQTT" -- this allows your node's data to be uplinked.
  2. MQTT Module: Enter the broker settings provided in Discord.
  3. Channel Settings (for each channel you want to uplink):
    • Uplink: ON -- sends your node's data to the MQTT server.
    • Downlink: OFF -- prevents MQTT messages from being injected back into the radio mesh.

Always keep Downlink OFF

Downlinking from MQTT into the primary channel floods the radio mesh with traffic from the internet. Keep downlink disabled unless you have a specific reason and have discussed it with the community.