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Tower Partners on Peavine: Sierra Electronics

· 6 min read
Ben Allfree
MeshEnvy Founder

Sierra Electronics has been keeping Northern Nevada connected since 1964. The company was built on public safety and mission-critical radio: hospitals, first responders, schools, and the wide-area systems that let people reach each other when it counts. That community focus is not marketing copy on their website. It is how Jarry Walton and his team have operated for more than sixty years.

When a tower owner with that history offers space on Peavine Peak for a nonprofit mesh repeater, it matters. Sierra Electronics is not just leasing us rack space. They are dedicating real infrastructure, at one of the best vantage points in the Truckee Meadows, to something that serves the public good.

Sierra Electronics communications compound on Peavine Peak

Industry Heights and Low-Impact Innovation: Notes from Brock Mountain

· 4 min read
Ben Allfree
MeshEnvy Founder

I recently spent some time up on Brock Mountain here in Tonopah, Nevada, for the annual Brock Mountain Users Group Summit. There were about 20 of us in attendance, representing the Department of Energy, the Nevada Department of Transportation, the FAA, and several private infrastructure companies. It was my first time in a room quite like that, and it was incredibly educational.

Communications site on Brock Mountain with towers, dishes, and summit buildings

Tax-Exempt Deployments: Scaling Nevada's Mesh Tax-Free

· 3 min read
Ben Allfree
MeshEnvy Founder

We just received a very official letter from the Nevada Department of Taxation, and it is a big deal for the physical expansion of our network.

Under Nevada Revised Statute 372.3261 and Nevada Administrative Code 372.700, MeshEnvy NCC has been officially granted sales and use tax exempt status as a charitable organization. This exemption is valid through June 3, 2031, and it changes the math for our deployments in a major way.

The Silver Triangle: A Blueprint for a Connected Nevada

· 4 min read
Ben Allfree
MeshEnvy Founder

At MeshEnvy, we believe that the vast distances of Nevada should not be a barrier to communication. Today, we are announcing our most ambitious project yet. We call it the Silver Triangle. This is a strategic mission to invite and inspire Nevadans from every corner of the state to help us assemble three critical backbones of mesh radio connectivity—an independent layer that complements cellular and tower infrastructure and adds redundancy for public safety.

The Path Forward: Why MeshEnvy is Migrating to MeshCore

· 2 min read
Ben Allfree
MeshEnvy Founder

At MeshEnvy, our mission has always been clear. We want to ensure that anyone, anywhere in Nevada, can stay connected. While the LoRa (Long Range) hardware standards provide a powerful foundation for this vision, the software protocols that drive that hardware are just as critical. After extensive testing and real-world experience, we are officially migrating our primary deployment strategy from Meshtastic to MeshCore.

The View from Ophir Hill: From Zero to One

· 4 min read
Ben Allfree
MeshEnvy Founder

There is a specific kind of awe that hits you when you reach the top of Ophir Hill. The summit sits in the Virginia Range above historic Virginia City in Storey County, at about 7,782 feet above sea level. From there the whole basin feels within reach, ridgelines in every direction and the Comstock country laid out below.

Virginia City in the valley below Ophir Hill

Site: Spanish Benchmark

· 4 min read
Ben Allfree
MeshEnvy Founder

Spanish Benchmark is a Washoe County high point northeast of Reno, near Spanish Springs. The summit sits at about 6,165 feet above sea level with roughly a thousand feet of prominence, which makes it a strong perch for looking out over the Spanish Springs Valley and the Truckee Meadows rim. We highlighted this location in our BLM Carson Field Office partnership announcement; here is a short field diary from early visits to the site.

What is a Mesh, Anyway?

· 4 min read
Ben Allfree
MeshEnvy Founder

If you hang around the off-grid tech space long enough, the words start to bleed together. Mesh, LoRa, Off-Grid, Decentralized. We use them like they're synonyms, but if we're being honest with ourselves, they aren't.

Lately, I've been thinking about what we're actually trying to build here. Is it just a hobbyist version of the cellular network, or is it something fundamentally different?

Scaling Peaks for Public Service: Our New Partnership with the BLM

· 4 min read
Ben Allfree
MeshEnvy Founder

In a state like Nevada, connectivity is defined by the land. Approximately 85% of our state consists of public lands, the majority of which are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). To achieve our goal of a truly connected Nevada, working alongside the stewards of this land is not just logical; it is essential.

We are thrilled to announce that MeshEnvy has entered into a strategic partnership with the BLM Carson Field Office.

BLM Carson City District Office entrance