Five feet makes the difference​

My preferred method of range checking during site selection is simple. Start with a partner site and a tower, but do not assume that locating on the tower is automatically the best option.

Walk around on the peak holding the repeater in your hand and continuously test for connection to our other repeaters in the area. In some cases I could move five or ten feet and improve the signal connection a lot, or lose it entirely. Terrain, antenna orientation, and what the ridge blocks matter more than elevation alone. A few steps sideways can open a path that the tower compound never sees.

That is not a criticism of tower sites. Dave's compounds are fantastic starting points. They just are not the whole answer.

Finding Poitito​

With that in mind, I set out to Poito again. When I got to the summit the signal was very strong in general and quite strong into Gerlach. Down the valley toward Fernley it was not.

So I began walking the mountainside with a repeater in my hand, range checking from various spots to see what I could connect to from each one. Sure enough, I found one particular location where the radio could see two connections into Gerlach and three connections out toward Fernley, including our own Russell Peak node.

That spot became Poitito. A jank node on a T-post, a few dozen feet of walking from the tower fence, with links the compound never picked up.

The Black Rock corridor​

Creating the repeater link from that position immediately improved the Black Rock corridor to almost one hundred percent reliability. When the burners come this year, they will be able to reach back to Reno along NV-447. I am really looking forward to some of those conversations.

The BRARA partnership at Ranger Outpost Gerlach gave us the last hop toward town. Poito is the backbone anchor south of Gerlach. Poitito is the placement that made the path dependable. Getting the spot right on the mountainside is what turned a promising corridor into something you can count on when cell service disappears and the playa traffic starts moving.

More field data beats more assumptions. Next time I climb a peak with a tower on it, I am bringing a repeater in my hand before I zip-tie anything permanent.

That first Russell Peak trip I had almost no gear with me. Ruslito got the full jank treatment.

The drive in​

I drove the Jeep to the access point below the peak. The sun was dropping and the moon was coming up over the ridge. I color-corrected this photo as close as I could to what I actually saw. Nevada does that sometimes. You are out doing radio chores and the sky hands you something worth stopping for.

Up the steep side​

Ruslito was not on the main summit where we rebuilt the backbone node. It was on a steep flank of the mountain, tucked into one of the two test positions I had picked during the deployment. The climb up that side is short but honest. Loose rock, full exposure, and no trail worth mentioning.

From the highway I had been able to pick Ruslito up occasionally, but only from very specific spots. That pattern finally made sense when I found it.

Upside down in the rocks​

The funny part is there was no mount. I had just set the node casually on top of a rock and left it there, completely unsecured. Same day as the Russell Peak deploy, same empty-handed field kit. No zip ties, no stake, no nail. Just a rock and good intentions.

Somewhere between then and now, gravity did its job. I found Ruslito wedged upside down in a crevice between lichen-covered boulders. The enclosure was buried enough that line of sight from most directions was terrible. From the right angle on the road below, a sliver of signal still leaked through.

The solar panel was still functional despite the tumble. That is why Ruslito kept whispering to me from the highway even months later. Wrong orientation, wrong attitude, still charging.

I grabbed the node, packed it, and headed back down just in time for sunset.

Casual use on BLM land​

This trip is a good example of how we use the BLM casual use exemption for range testing. Casual use is described loosely as driving over existing roads, sampling, surveying, collecting data, or any other activity that does not cause appreciable disturbance or damage to the public land.

That upfront freedom matters. Casual use lets us narrow down site selection before anyone spends real time on paperwork. We can compare vantage points, prove a link, and walk away from the spots that do not earn a permanent home. By the time we ask the BLM to invest staff hours in a 299 approval, we are talking about sites we actually want to keep long-term. Their resources go to the right peaks, not every hill we climbed on a hunch.

Our low-impact repeaters probably fall within that exemption for short field tests like this one. For long-term placement, the BLM still wants us to go through the 299 process. That makes sense, especially for public radio communication infrastructure that is meant to stay put.

We coordinate closely with the BLM Carson Field Office on the peaks where that matters. Casual use buys us the freedom to learn quickly. Formal authorization is what lets us build something permanent with everyone's blessing.

Mission accomplished​

Ruslito did its job. The A/B comparison between the two nearby vantage points gave us a lot of valuable data for future Russell Peak setups and other summits like it. The node is back in my bag now, ready to deploy somewhere else.

That is the whole point of a soldier node. Go up scrappy, collect honest data, come home when the test is done. Sometimes scrappy means a rock and nothing else.

The road not taken​

onX eventually routed me down roads so untraveled that the path barely existed. The sun was going down. I was not going to reach Fox Mountain during daylight, and I was concerned I might not get there at all if I kept pushing into unexplored roads in the dark. I pivoted back toward Gerlach, a little defeated and ready for a good night's sleep. I thought I might save Fox Mountain for another trip.

In the morning I woke up refreshed and determined. I still wanted to know what kind of range we could get from that summit. I planned the route fresh and drove up to Fox Mountain.

Above the smoke​

Fox Mountain is a beautiful summit and a beautiful drive. I had to pass through a layer of wildfire smoke on the way up, and then I was above it at the top. There is a lot of radio equipment on the peak, including gear from partners and prospective partners.

It is slowly becoming confirmed through empirical data that co-locating on a radio tower is not always the best option, even when the option is available. The problem comes down to ideal placement, not proximity to steel.

Five feet makes the difference​

My preferred method of range checking during site selection is simple. Start with a partner site and a tower, but do not assume that locating on the tower is automatically the best option.

I walked around on the peak holding a repeater in my hand and continuously testing for connection to our other repeaters in the area. In some cases I could move five or ten feet and improve the signal connection a lot, or lose it entirely. Terrain, antenna orientation, and what the ridge blocks matter more than elevation alone.

After some searching I found a spot with an ideal connection back to Poito Mountain, about forty miles away. Unbelievably, it even had intermittent connectivity to Toulon Peak, more than seventy-five miles away.

That is the onX measurement for that hop. Seventy-six point four miles across the basin, from roughly eight thousand feet down toward the Trinity Range and back up again. On paper the path looks impossible until you are standing in the one place on the ridge where the geometry works.

It is mind blowing to me how big a difference a well placed repeater can be from a casually placed one. A few steps sideways on a summit can open links the tower compound never sees.

Playa mud​

After Fox Mountain I took the Jeep for a joyride on the playa on the way back toward Gerlach. That was a mistake. Near the south end the surface got soft enough that I almost bogged out. I had to turn around without losing momentum just to bail out of the soft playa before it swallowed the tires.

We picked up a lot of mud. Thick alkaline playa mud that clings to everything and does not want to let go.

Two car washes later it is still not really gone.

A tool for the next climb​

I am going to start working on a real-time tool to support this evaluation process. Walk around on a peak, ping repeaters in real time, and let the tool remember the optimal locations. It is fun going out into the field and coming back with new ideas for tools that would help improve the public mesh.

More field data beats more assumptions. Fox Mountain is another reminder that the best mount on a partner site is not always the obvious one.

The detour​

The other day I was out working the backbone toward Black Rock and Burning Man. Russell Peak was not on that day's plan, but I had the Jeep loaded with gear and a spare node, so I took a detour to see what had happened.

Last time I climbed this peak I only had tennis shoes and whatever I could carry by hand. This time I had the Jeep, a proper gear backpack, hose clamps, and an impact wrench. I also had my Baleaf sun hoodie in the pack. I bought it on purpose and keep it with me so I can get shade and shelter anywhere in the desert.

The hike up​

Russell Peak is not a casual stroll. The sun was high and the slope was exposed. The hoodie covered my face and neck without sunscreen, and I felt completely protected in the hot afternoon light. That is why it lives in the field kit. With it on, I feel like I can hike basically any time of day, which is a nice change for Nevada summits.

I also brought a T-post in case I needed a fresh mount. Now that I think about it, that post may still be up there. MeshEnvy follows a leave-no-trace policy in the field. If it is still on the summit, I will go back and pack it out.

What I found​

When I crested the ridge I saw an empty mast and wondered if someone had borrowed the node for a better cause somewhere else. As I got closer, the story got simpler and more embarrassing.

The node was lying face down on the rocks at the base of the mast. My professional, single rusty nail installation had failed us.

The enclosure itself was not damaged, but a few parts inside had shaken loose from the fall. I swapped in a fresh node and secured it with a hose clamp and the impact wrench. That is a much more honest mount for a peak that sees real wind.

Back on the air​

The replacement came up immediately. Within minutes it was picking up signals from Poito and the link was alive again. Russell Peak is back on the mesh.

That was the good news. The bad news showed up right after boot.

A firmware mystery​

This was the first time I have seen a node lock up badly enough that it needed a reset with the physical reset button. Something about sending adverts is triggering it. I suspect a regression in custom EnvyOS features I have added, not a MeshCore upstream bug. A regression that obvious in stock MeshCore would have been noticed and fixed by the community already. I will write more about that separately.

For now I turned adverts off on that node so it will not crash in the field. My hope is that remote firmware updates over the mesh, the same OTA path we have been building into EnvyOS, will let us ship a critical patch without another summit climb.

That will be a trial by fire. Russell Peak would be the first time we try to deliver a field fix to a remote repeater on a peak when the only way in is a long hike and a Jeep detour.

The rusty nail taught me humility. The hose clamp bought us time. The OTA stack is what has to finish the job.

That parent is the avatar I keep in my head. I picture a mom who drops something the size of an AirTag into her purse, opens an app on her phone, and gets help when she needs it. Flat tire, kids in the car, middle of the desert, no cellular reception. I want that to work without her needing a crash course in LoRa presets first.

I also think about the backpacking photographer who knows his trade and his camera gear cold, but not mesh networking. I want him to reach the farthest corners of Nevada, stay in touch with his group, or call for help without needing the equivalent of a ham operator's license to do it.

EnvyOS is what I am building toward: a comprehensive distribution with firmware, a bootloader, and client apps that fit together from the first launch. I am sharing it now because the pieces are starting to line up, not because the whole vision is finished.

Why I keep at it​

I think we are on the cusp of something huge with mesh networking, and I want to experience all of it and contribute however I can. Plenty of people in this community have great ideas and a much deeper grasp of radio physics than I do. I try to keep a curious mind and learn from them.

What I have noticed along the way is that the hobby aesthetic, lots of buttons, dials, and settings to fiddle with, works for some of us. It leaves a lot of other people out. Radical simplification feels underserved to me. That is the gap EnvyOS is aimed at.

Longer term, I would like a physical LoRa radio to be optional. Install the app, start chatting, and let the infrastructure carry messages onto the mesh when and where it makes sense. We are not there yet. Client apps are a big part of how I think we get there.

Standing on community work​

EnvyOS is not a from-scratch stack. It pulls together open source projects that already do real work in the field: MeshCore, motatool, OTAFIX, and contributions from people like vk496. My part is mostly integration, field testing, and packaging the pieces so they feel like one thing when someone new shows up.

Whenever we build something that belongs upstream, we contribute it back. Routing improvements, OTA primitives, tooling. The community did the hard foundational work. EnvyOS is my attempt to turn that into something a person can actually pick up and use.

I also want to stay backward compatible with MeshCore. Real networks are already on the air in Nevada. I would rather add to what works today than ask anyone to start over.

Firmware updates over the mesh​

The piece that unlocked a lot of this for me came from vk496 in France. He figured out how to send firmware updates over the mesh. I had been chewing on that problem for a long time myself, trying design after design. His approach solved fleet management in a way I had not reached, and it opened the door for the other improvements I wanted to stack on top.

His OTA stack uses idle airtime to move updates and other data across the mesh. That matters to me because I can try a routing change, push it to repeaters in the field, see what actually happens on real links, and try again. Lab time is useful. So is a jeep on a mountain pass.

We have wired that work into EnvyOS through firmware, an OTAFIX bootloader, and motatool for packaging and serving .mota artifacts. If you caught the mention from Desert Peak / Toulon, this is the same thread, now with a distro repo behind it.

If I ever make it to France, I am buying that guy a snail. It is the least I can do for some of the most outstanding community work I have seen in the last year.

Message reliability at distance​

Nevada does not do small geography. We already have backbone nodes hundreds of miles apart. Lately I have been feeling the pain of getting administrative messages through reliably as those distances grow.

Other people are working on routing improvements. So am I. What EnvyOS adds is the OTA loop. Ship a tweak, push it across the fleet over LoRa, watch the real-world result, iterate.

One example I have been working on is next-hop retry on direct-path repeaters. If a forward fails, the mesh gets another chance instead of dropping the traffic quietly. Small change. It helps when the next hop is forty miles away.

Remote seeders on solar repeaters​

The next thing I am exploring with vk496 is remote seeders. The idea is to use RAK's modular system on solar repeaters, give them 32 GB or more on a microSD card, and treat that storage like mesh-scale torrent seeders for firmware and other bulk data.

Picture a backbone repeater on a ridgeline with no USB cable and no technician visit scheduled for months. It advertises the .mota files it has cached. Nodes downstream fetch during idle airtime. Updates spread without anyone climbing a tower with a laptop.

That is the kind of fleet management Nevada-scale distances actually need.

Where things stand today​

EnvyOS is early. Version 0.1.0 covers the firmware and OTA toolchain: MeshCore-based envycore, an OTAFIX bootloader, motatool, build scripts, and bench workflows for WisMesh Tag and RAK4631 targets. Client apps are still ahead of us on the roadmap, part of the same distribution story.

The EnvyOS repo is where the integration work lives. I am closing the gap between what works on my bench and what I wish had worked the day I unboxed my first radio.

What I am trying to hold myself to​

I also want to take a page from the heritage of Linux distros. Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and the rest do not pretend they wrote every tool in the box. They assemble versions that are known to work together, add their own customizations, tooling, and apps, and ship one coherent offering. The value is not in claiming authorship of each package. It is in the interoperability and internal consistency of the whole thing. That is what I am aiming for with EnvyOS.

As it grows, these are the commitments I keep coming back to:

1. Proper attribution. Say clearly who built what.
2. Simplicity for the end user. Fewer settings, clearer defaults, one path in.
3. Contribute upstream. Give features back to the projects they came from.
4. Stay open source. The mesh only scales if people can trust what they are running.

There is a long road ahead: app-first onboarding, infrastructure-side LoRa bridging, seeder repeaters, routing that keeps up with Nevada-scale distances. If you already run MeshCore repeaters in our coverage area, nothing changes overnight. I will document each release plainly as it becomes something I would actually recommend to that mom with the flat tire or the photographer on the trail.

Why Medium Fast now​

For years, Long Fast was the sensible Meshtastic default. Sparse nodes, long airtime, maximum reach. That still describes a lot of rural Nevada. But the basins and corridors around Reno and Carson are not sparse anymore. More nodes on the same preset means more channel utilization. Slower presets spend more time on the air for each packet, and congested meshes feel it.

Medium Fast sits at about 3.5 kbps with a 250 kHz bandwidth and spreading factor 9. That is roughly three times the throughput of Long Fast while keeping most of the range you need in our terrain. The broader Meshtastic project is also discussing Medium Fast as a possible future default. As the mesh grows, having more bandwidth per hop helps everyone.

We are not abandoning Long Fast everywhere overnight. Remote repeaters and long-haul links may stay on slower presets where every decibel counts. For the Meshtastic community mesh we actively coordinate in northern and central Nevada, Medium Fast is the new baseline.

What to set on your radio​

If you are flashing or reconfiguring a node to join MeshEnvy-coordinated Meshtastic repeaters:

• Region: US (915 MHz)
• Modem preset: Medium Fast (MEDIUM_FAST)
• Primary channel: Leave the name blank (default). With the default PSK, the firmware derives the channel label from your preset. You do not need to type MediumFast manually.
• Matching nodes: Every node must share the same preset, channel name, and PSK. Blank matches blank. An explicit name like MediumFast only works if every node uses that exact spelling.

From the CLI:

meshtastic --set lora.region US --set lora.modem_preset MEDIUM_FAST

If your radio is still on Long Fast, you will not hear the Medium Fast mesh until you switch the preset.

Check your frequency slot​

Changing the modem preset is not always enough. On some clients, especially Android, the frequency slot is derived from the name on your primary channel (slot 0). If that channel still has a custom name from an old setup, the radio may stay on the wrong slot even after you pick Medium Fast.

For US 915 MHz, Medium Fast uses frequency slot 45 (913.125 MHz). Long Fast is slot 20 (906.875 MHz). If you switch presets but your node goes quiet, open LoRa settings and confirm the slot. Set it to 45 manually if the app did not move you there on its own.

The cleanest fix is usually to make primary channel 0 match the mesh: leave the name blank with the default PSK, or rename it to exactly MediumFast with the default PSK. If you keep a private name on slot 0, you will need to set the frequency slot yourself.

From the CLI:

meshtastic --set lora.channel_num 45

Thanks to Spider and others in the community who flagged this. It has tripped up more than a few people during preset migrations.

What this means for repeaters​

We will move MeshEnvy Meshtastic repeaters to Medium Fast on a rolling basis. We also maintain repeaters in key locations according to community requests, volunteer deployments, and what the terrain actually needs. If you host a community repeater that feeds our layer, match the preset and channel settings above so your node stays in sync with the rest of the mesh.

Still protocol agnostic​

This post is about Meshtastic settings, not a change in direction for MeshEnvy as a whole. We support Meshtastic, MeshCore, and we continue to experiment with Reticulum. We are a protocol-agnostic organization. Meshtastic and MeshCore both have real value for different groups.

MeshCore remains our first-tier backbone on the Silver Triangle, officially supported by MeshEnvy and our partners. Our main MeshCore community channel is #meshenvy, alongside the default Public channel. Meshtastic is the flexible, community-driven layer that excels where people and nodes move.

Whether you prefer Meshtastic, MeshCore, Reticulum, or something you are building yourself, this is still a mesh-loving nonprofit focused on pragmatism: what works best for Nevada, for emergency and backup communications, and for the community at large.

If you are new, start at Get Started. Pick US915 hardware, choose the protocol that matches how you actually use the mesh, and say hello on Discord once you are on the air.

A network built on the dust​

Burning Mesh has a rich history on the playa. Each year the effort grows stronger and more people join. What started as a handful of Burners experimenting with LoRa radios has become a playa-wide Meshtastic deployment that most of Black Rock City can lean on during the event.

Feeb, the founder of Burning Mesh, has been working diligently year after year to refine their approach and make things as easy as possible for newcomers. That matters. The playa is not a forgiving place to learn mesh networking for the first time. Feeb and the Burning Mesh crew have done the hard work of documentation, firmware guidance, community support, and on-the-ground troubleshooting so that a camp can get on the air without becoming a part-time RF engineer.

MeshEnvy became aware of the effort in the very early days. We watched what they were building and set a goal: bring a hello Reno milestone to the 2026 burn. Not a slide deck. A real message path from the playa back to civilization.

What playa comms look like​

If you have never used mesh on the playa, the screenshots below are from previous burns. They show the kind of communication Burning Mesh already delivers inside Black Rock City. This is not our backbone testing. It is the UX thousands of Burners already know.

On the map you see nodes lighting up across the city grid. Camps, art cars, and repeaters show up as pins. You can tell who is on the air and roughly where they are without cell service or WiFi.

In the message view, group chat carries the real life of the event. Meetups on a dance floor. Camp updates. Directions to a build site. It reads like texting, except the network is entirely off-grid and community-run. That is the experience we want to extend past the playa edge, not replace.

Testing the backbone​

We have just succeeded in establishing a MeshCore backbone out to the playa. Messages can travel all the way back to Reno. That is the infrastructure side of the hello Reno milestone, and it is separate from the Meshtastic network Burning Mesh runs inside Black Rock City.

That corridor is strategically important. Tens of thousands of people make the pilgrimage from Reno through Gerlach to the playa every year, and cell coverage falls off fast once you leave town. A resilient mesh path along NV-447 gives travelers, locals, and playa operators one more way to stay connected across one of Nevada's loneliest highways.

The backbone work includes our partnership with BRARA and the Black Rock Rangers at Ranger Outpost Gerlach. Burning Mesh is the playa community that meets that corridor at the desert edge. The RF path from Reno to Gerlach is live. Connecting it to the playa mesh inside BRC is the next engineering step.

Two stacks, one off-playa channel​

Here is the technical hurdle we are working through. MeshEnvy runs MeshCore on the statewide backbone. Burning Mesh runs Meshtastic ShortTurbo on the playa. Thousands of Burners already have Meshtastic devices configured for Black Rock City. We are not asking anyone to rip that out and start over.

The current plan is a single off-playa channel: #offplaya on MeshCore, bridged bidirectionally to a matching channel on the Meshtastic side. Post there and your message rides the backbone past the desert edge. A Burner on 7:30 and E can reach someone in Sparks. A reply from the Truckee Meadows shows up back on the playa.

Everything else stays local. Most playa chatter should never touch NV-447. The problem is that MeshCore defaults to public, and a newcomer who does not know better can spam the entire corridor without realizing it. Our interim fix is a channel whitelist at Poito Mountain. Only #offplaya gets through. All other channels are blocked so they do not leave the playa area. That is best-effort containment until MeshCore has proper region scoping end to end. Subject to revision as we learn more.

Direct messages between the two stacks are out of scope for 2026. We would rather ship one reliable group channel than promise private DMs we cannot deliver cleanly across two protocols.

Feeb and the Burning Mesh team own the Meshtastic channel setup on the playa. We own the MeshCore backbone side and the Poito fence. Getting the bridge and whitelist right is the engineering work ahead of us.

More repeaters, more redundancy​

We are headed back out to the playa to add additional repeaters. The first live link from playa country back to Reno was zero to one. Now we are bolting on redundancy and coverage throughout the region.

More nodes along the corridor means fewer single points of failure. It also means more places where a handheld on the highway or a repeater in Gerlach can find a neighbor and keep a message moving. That is the pattern we want before Burning Man 2026: not one fragile thread, but a mesh that can absorb a dead node and keep talking.

Welcome our newest partner​

Please warmly welcome Burning Mesh. Feeb and the team have been building playa mesh long before MeshEnvy had a nonprofit EIN. Partnering with them is not us teaching anyone how to deploy in the desert. It is us finally connecting their incredible community network to the statewide backbone we have been building from Reno outward.

If you are heading to the playa this year, Burning Mesh has you covered on the Meshtastic side. Their docs include gear recommendations and discount codes. Full setup instructions and custom firmware land August 14. Visit burningmesh.org to join their Discord.

If you operate along the NV-447 corridor or want to help test the Reno path, reach out on Discord or email hello@meshenvy.org.

What changed​

We can now send mesh traffic from the Black Rock Desert playa to Reno. That is strategically important because it adds one more resilient communication path across one of Nevada's most traveled and least connected corridors. It is socially important for the same reason. Tens of thousands of people make the pilgrimage from Reno to Gerlach to the playa every year, and cell service falls off fast once you leave town.

This is zero to one on the route that matters most to the Burning Man community and to everyone who lives and works in playa country year round.

Crow, ROG, and a tower in Gerlach​

Crow is the operations manager for the Black Rock Rangers and runs Ranger Outpost Gerlach (ROG). I drove out to ROG headquarters expecting to learn how their radio infrastructure fits into the landscape. What I found was a working tower compound with internet backhaul out to Razorback Mountain and from there onto the playa.

Crow and his team understand this country in a way no spreadsheet can replace. They maintain real communications infrastructure for one of the hardest environments in Nevada. When they offered the ROG tower as a host site for a mesh node, it was not a casual favor. It was a serious invitation to co-locate on infrastructure that already matters.

Testing the chain from Reno​

I tested nodes along the corridor on the drive out from Reno. Our Russell Peak node is currently dark, which explained why I had not been able to reach Poito Mountain from the Truckee Meadows side. That was useful intelligence on its own.

Once I got to Gerlach, the picture changed. Poito was alive and well. I could reach it from town. Knowing I had a path to Poito from Gerlach made the ROG tower feel like a natural home for the next hop. The site sits in the right neighborhood with the right line of sight and the right operators already on the ground.

Phil on the tower, ATGAT on my mind​

My new friend Phil climbed the tower and placed the node. I came unprepared because I thought I was only gathering information. I was reminded, once again, of ATGAT: all the gear, all the time.

I ended up having to flash my client device over to a repeater configuration and leave it untested because I had no other equipment with me. Fortunately, the client node that day happened to be one from a fresh batch of jank nodes. I was wise enough to bring my laptop, and that was enough to get us over the hump and get things configured.

I am pretty sure it is working. I had no way to confirm on site. Next time I come out I will make adjustments and run proper range tests. For now, the node is on the steel and the partnership is real.

Welcome our newest partner​

Please warmly welcome our new partner, BRARA, and our new cooperating agency, the Black Rock Rangers and ROG. These are incredible gains for a single field day.

We will round out the deployment with a few more repeater installations along the corridor. The hard part was getting the first live link from playa country back to Reno. We went from zero to one. That is my favorite thing.

If you operate along the NV-447 corridor, host a site in Gerlach or playa country, or want to help test the new path, reach out on Discord or email hello@meshenvy.org.

Sun hoodie and the Jeep's to-do list​

I tried out a new sun hoodie on the summit. It provided good coverage against the high-altitude sun, which matters on an exposed Nevada crest. On a windy peak, though, a hoodie is only as good as its cinch. Mine could not tighten down enough, so the hood kept flapping and fighting the wind. Sun protection passed. Wind management failed. I will shop for one with a proper drawcord before the next windy install.

The Jeep's rear differential is still leaking from the Toulon trip, and that gets worked on in a few days. I also finally located a knocking sound that had been vexing me for weeks. It turned out to be a loose strut. Not something I could fix roadside, but something to add to the list when the Jeep goes in for the differential.

I can justify bumping back down a mountain on a broken strut. Knowingly heading up another peak that way is just asking for the universe to have some fun with me.

Dave's site and the T-stake mount​

We found Dave's radio site on McClellan and did the traditional perimeter walk. McClellan is loaded with radio infrastructure, microwave relays, and the kind of compound where you want to know exactly where you are allowed to be before you mount anything.

We picked a choice fence pole and went to work. I had no ladder, and the pole was taller than I could reach on my own. So I did what we do on a lot of early installs. I used a six-foot T-stake as a mast and hose-clamped it to the pole to gain the height I could not get with my boots on the ground. Inside the team we call builds like this jank nodes. The mount looks scrappy and it is built with intention. Get the node up, learn what the site can do, improve from there.

The node went on the air. That part of the mission worked.

The neighbor list mystery​

We were about to leave when I ran final neighbor checks and noticed something wrong. The node was not detecting any neighbor sites. Given McClellan's location and the number of repeaters already on that crest, I knew at least some other backbone nodes had to be within range. The neighbor list showed nothing.

That turned into about three more hours of testing on the summit. The node could communicate bidirectionally with other repeaters when I pushed it. Messages went through. Links worked. They just would not appear on the neighbor list.

My best hypothesis is that the latest MeshCore firmware may have a neighbor-finding problem. Either something changed in a recent release, or I am a very confused person. I could not settle it on the mountain, and I had already burned the Father's Day schedule.

What I could rule out mattered more in the moment. McClellan hosts many radio sites, and my main concern was RF interference from the crowd of existing infrastructure. As best I can tell, it is not an interference issue. If it is not hardware, it is software, and I can live with that until we get a fix or a clearer answer.

That mystery waits for another day. The node is on the air at a site that earns its keep on the Virginia Range crest.

Virginia City and calling it a day​

Willow and I took Ophir Grade back to civilization and landed in Virginia City. After the bumpy road and three hours of unexpected troubleshooting, our adrenaline was fully dumped. We settled for pizza and staring off into space instead of continuing the Father's Day planting run. Two more sites would have to wait.

It was probably for the best. We got one summit node deployed, learned something about firmware behavior, and did not push a Jeep with a loose strut into terrain that punishes bad decisions. Some days the mesh wins even when the checklist does not.

Thanks​

Thanks again to Dave Metts and High Sierra Communications, and to the Bureau of Land Management, for continuing to open Nevada summits to community backbone work. McClellan Peak is another crest in the Comstock country with a live node on it, and we will keep testing until the neighbor list catches up to what the radios already know.

The differential delay​

If you are like me and had no idea what a differential is until yesterday, it is the large bulb-shaped housing in the center of each axle on a Jeep. There is a small fill plug you can remove. If everything is going well, the gear oil level is visible right inside the opening. If it is low, you should at least add more in the meantime until you can get it properly fixed. Metal on metal gears mashing together under heat is not a good combination, especially when the nearest town is a long way down the hill.

I delayed the mission long enough to get the differential inspected, pick up replacement gear oil in case I needed it, and verify the current fluid level. I am still tracking down a few rogue knocking sounds and other nuisances that only show up on the trail, but I am slowly getting the Jeep into a condition I trust for summit work.

Storm tracks and the road in​

A storm had passed through earlier the same day, and there was evidence of flash flooding in several spots along the way to Lovelock. Once you are off the pavement the drive gets quite scenic. Rolling desert hills, long sight lines across the basin, and ridgelines that make you understand why a backbone node here matters.

Because of the differential delay I did not leave Reno until 6:30 PM. Sunset was around 8:30 PM and the clock was ticking the whole way.

Dave's tower site​

I got to the summit, found Dave's tower site, and went to work. High Sierra Communications maintains relay infrastructure across northern Nevada, and Toulon Peak is one of the compounds Dave has opened to MeshEnvy. The site is loaded with microwave dishes and tall fiberglass poles that probably carry dipoles. I am not sure of the exact nomenclature on Dave's side of the fence, but they are not whip antennas. It is exactly the kind of height that can see across a whole basin if our node can hold a link.

It got dark while I was on the summit. I finished installing just in time to lose critical visibility and depth perception. Across the valley I saw flashes of lightning and took that as a good omen that my work was done for the day and it was time to head back down the hill.

On a different day, when I was not expected back home, I would have absolutely slept under the stars at Toulon Peak. It was a truly beautiful experience even with the rush and the failing light.

Orphaned for now​

The Toulon Peak node is on the air, but it is currently orphaned. I was not able to reach Desert Peak from Toulon even though on paper it seems like it should work. The propagation map shows Desert Peak's coverage reaching Toulon Peak with room to spare. That is exactly why I expected the link to come up on the first install.

The path analysis tells the same story. It is only about 25 miles with a clean line of sight across the basin. That is a pretty simple hop based on prior experiments. I know whip antennas can communicate that far. I expected even better performance out of the fiberglass antenna on the Desert Peak node, but so far I am not able to verify that.

Desert Peak is running an experimental fiberglass antenna and I do not have much experience with that design yet. That hop east across the basin is exactly the kind of link we need as we extend coverage further. We will keep testing angles, mounts, and antenna choices until the map catches up to the geography.

As we push into longer paths and more demanding topology, I am also beginning to notice limitations in the MeshCore protocol. That motivates me to keep researching EnvyOS, my prototype microkernel-based virtual machine mesh operating system with superior routing algorithms and other mechanics a mesh OS needs, including deployment over the mesh itself. More on that as it develops.

Lovelock​

There is something special about Lovelock. Something charming. Kids can still go out for midnight McDonald's runs on golf carts, and I really like that small-town feel. It has a rural, safe, country character. I do not know much about Lovelock beyond what I saw driving through, but that was my impression. They do not have big-city rules that nobody needs in a town that size.

Thanks​

Thanks again to Dave Metts and High Sierra Communications, and to the Bureau of Land Management, for continuing to support this project. Working with tower operators and land managers like these is instrumental in getting the mesh deployed across Nevada summits. Toulon Peak is another step west from Reno. Even orphaned for now, it is a foothold in Lovelock country and a site worth coming back to when the light lasts longer.

The road in​

Getting there is part of the job. The washboard on the access road was some of the most pronounced I have ever felt. It was a long, rattling ride that had every bolt in the truck wondering what it had done to deserve the afternoon. Eventually we hit the base of the mountain, dropped into four-wheel drive, and had a much better climb to the top. Nevada back roads teach patience. The summit view makes the jarring approach worth it.

Walking the compound​

At the top I walked the perimeter of Dave's site the same way we do on other High Sierra compounds. I was looking for the best place to hang a radio without waiting for a tower climb. This visit was about going from zero to one: get something on the air, learn what the location can do, and improve from there.

I realized I was not exactly clear on how much of the peak falls under Dave's jurisdiction. The collaboration between the BLM and private tower operators on a summit like this still has me a little confused in places. I picked a spot I thought respected both relationships. After walking the full perimeter, I found a location I like better than the fence mount I used today. If we are not going on the tower immediately, the new spot may be the right call. Someone can always grab the node later and move it up onto the tower when a climber or technician is on site. That is the same fence-today, tower-tomorrow philosophy we use at Patrick Tower, Peavine Peak, and Virginia Peak. I hope I operated within the spirit of the relationships we are building with each organization. If I need to move the node on a return visit, I will.

The valley lights up​

The range check is what makes a hard drive feel like progress. From Desert Peak we can now reach a repeater in Fernley and one in Fallon. The whole Desert Peak valley is on the mesh.

The moment that mattered most to me was standing on that summit and reaching all the way back to Virginia Peak above Reno. I sent a message and watched it echo back from home. That is how you know the mesh is connected. Northern Nevada is a big empty state on a map. Hearing your own packet come back from a peak you can see from the Truckee Meadows turns that abstraction into something real.

Sam's first summit​

My twelve-year-old nephew Sam came with me again today. He had never summited a mountain before. Desert Peak is not the highest peak in the state, but it is a real climb with real exposure, and the drive in is not gentle.

I am proud of him. He had to push through some limiting beliefs on the way up and pick up new skills on the side of the mountain. Field work is not just about radios and zip ties. It is also about showing up, staying with a hard thing, and learning that you can do more than you thought on the way to the trailhead. Well done, Sam. Here is to more adventures together.

Sam tagged the summit benchmark while we were up there. Here is that moment on video.

Thanks​

We want to thank Dave Metts and High Sierra Communications for their ongoing support and cooperation as we find our footing on Nevada summits. Dave continues to open compound after compound across the northern half of the state, and Desert Peak is another example of what that access makes possible. We are also grateful to the BLM Carson Field Office for working with us on the public-land sites that sit alongside these private tower facilities. Co-location on a peak like Desert Peak only works when both sides are willing to work with a charity still learning the terrain.

The mesh grows one site at a time. This one ties Fernley and Fallon back to the backbone above Reno. Sam made the summit. That counts for a lot.

Sam and backup gear​

My twelve-year-old nephew Sam came along on the trip today. Field work means long drives and long afternoons, and I like bringing family when I can. Before we left, Sam helped mock up the lightsaber-style antennas in the kitchen. That is what we call the tall white fiberglass sticks when they are standing on the counter looking like something out of a space opera. For the photo he clipped the primary and backup nodes together back to back, which makes a saberstaff. That is the special name for a double-ended lightsaber, and it is also a pretty accurate description of how we pack two radios for a site visit.

I try to bring a backup device on every site visit. Sometimes the drive to a tower compound takes hours. Having options on site can be the difference between success today and a return trip next month. Success now or success later is still success. On Patrick Tower we did not need the spare, but I am glad Sam was there to help carry gear and keep the mood light while I walked the fence and fussed with barbed wire.

Walking the fence line​

I started the same way we start most High Sierra sites on a first visit. I walked the perimeter from outside the fence line, looking for the best spot to hang a radio. You do not need gate access for that kind of survey. An initial visit is about going from zero to one. Patrick Tower sits near I-80 milepost 28, a Nevada Shared Radio System site that already serves northern Storey County, Vista, Lockwood, Mustang, and the West Reno fringe. Dave's permission to co-locate at his compounds is the whole ballgame. We will come back later for more.

After a few pokes through barbed wire and some fussing with strut hardware, zip ties won the day once again. Inside the team we jokingly call builds like this jank nodes. To us, jank means you can assemble something effective without a trailer full of shop tools. The mount can look scrappy and still be built with intention. Getting something on the air tells us more than another afternoon of spreadsheet modeling.

First 8 dBi fiberglass antenna​

This install is our first 8 dBi fiberglass antenna, roughly 36 inches long. That is a deliberate step toward tower-mount compatibility. We want gear that tower operators and equipment installers already recognize from their daily work, while keeping the flexibility to install on fences, buildings, rooftops, and T-stakes when a tower climb is not on the calendar yet.

The antenna uses an N-type connector rather than the SMA pigtails we started with on early field builds. N-type is what you see on commercial standoffs and fiberglass collinear antennas everywhere from public safety sites to microwave compounds. Moving in that direction makes later upgrades less of a translation exercise for the people who already maintain gear on these towers.

Side by side, the difference is obvious. The original model put a short whip on top of a plastic enclosure and asked the box to carry the load. The new design flips that relationship and borrows mounting logic from commercial tower gear.

Flipping the enclosure​

To make the layout work, I flipped the node upside down. The enclosure that used to sit antenna-up now hangs below the mount, and the N-type antenna runs out what used to be the bottom. The two product shots above tell the story.

I do not know if that counts as creative thinking or just stubborn field engineering. It felt creative at the time. The important part is structural. A small plastic enclosure cannot be the mount point for an antenna this tall. The leverage from a 36-inch fiberglass stick under wind load would tear through zip ties and enclosure walls alike. On a tower, the antenna base bolts to a standoff and the radio hangs below it. We copied that logic for the fence.

The antenna base is the mount point. The enclosure merely hangs off the bottom. That is not a problem at all because the enclosure is very lightweight. I got the idea from studying how antennas mount on tower standoffs, and I think it is a viable path forward as we move from SMA to N-type connectors and more robust antennas.

Fence today, tower tomorrow​

The thinking behind this design is practical. We can install on a fence or on a structure near the tower today, without waiting for a gate to open or a climber to show up. When a tower operator or equipment installer visits the site for routine maintenance, they can cut the zip ties and move the device up onto the tower. It will already look like familiar equipment and fit their existing mounting hardware. That permanent step is for a later visit. Today was about getting on the air.

That is the same co-location philosophy we use at Peavine Peak, Ophir Hill, and Virginia Peak. None of us at MeshEnvy are tower climbers. We depend on the expertise of the people who already maintain these compounds. Often the fastest path from zero to one is a fence post, not a steel climb.

Patrick Tower covers a different kind of terrain than the high summits. At about 4,578 feet it is a foothill site overlooking basin and highway, not a crest above the playas.

Range check and a mesh already on the air​

Every install ends the same way for me. I run a routine range check and set the node's final coordinates as accurately as I can. Accurate placement on the map matters to the community. People routing messages and planning coverage need to know where a node actually sits, not where a guess put it.

During the Patrick Tower check, I picked up four other community nodes already established in the area. MeshEnvy handles the complex permission work that comes with tower compounds and public lands, plus the long backbone links that connect population centers across empty country. The community brings personal and professional relationships to bear on sites we could never reach from a nonprofit office: rooftops, businesses, schools, and the places where people actually live and work.

Both halves matter for robust coverage. That is why we are so thankful to tower operators like Dave and to the Bureau of Land Management. They help us secure the premium heights and corridor sites where a single node can serve whole basins. Working with the BLM Carson Field Office is part of that same picture on public land across the district. Community members handle the rest through the networks they already have. Working together is how we connect all of Nevada.

Thanks​

We want to thank Dave Metts and High Sierra Communications for continuing to support the mission to stand anywhere in Nevada and use the mesh. Dave has granted permission to co-locate at compound after compound across Northern Nevada, and Patrick Tower is another example of what that access makes possible. We are also grateful to the BLM Carson Field Office for their role on the public-land sites that make co-location possible alongside the operators who already maintain gear on Nevada summits and corridors.

The mesh grows one site at a time. This one sits on a corridor that is only getting more important, and it already had neighbors on the air when we arrived. Sam made the drive worth it.

Why this peak earns its keep​

Virginia Peak is the high point of the Pah Rah Range at about 8,370 feet. It is the most prominent summit in Washoe County and sits just south of Pyramid Lake on BLM-managed land. NEXRAD radar, microwave relays, and decades of commercial infrastructure already share the crest. The view from up there is not subtle. You look north across Pyramid and the desert playas, south into the populated valleys, and east across basins that have almost nothing between them and the horizon.

That height is why Virginia Peak connects regions that otherwise feel worlds apart. The Pah Rah Range forms the eastern wall of the Truckee Meadows. A backbone node here can reach toward Peavine, Spanish Benchmark, Ophir Hill, and the other heights we are building across northern Nevada. Under the right antenna setup and atmospheric conditions, paths from Virginia Peak can theoretically stretch all the way to Poito Mountain on the NV-447 corridor south of Gerlach. That is not a guarantee on day one. It is the kind of long-range link this summit makes thinkable.

Working with the BLM Carson Field Office identified Virginia Peak as a priority site on public land. Dave Metts and High Sierra gave us permission to co-locate at his compound there. Those two pieces of authorization have to work together on a peak like this, and everyone involved has been generous with their time as we survey, test, and put gear on the air.

Zero to one on the crest​

We got our first node planted at the High Sierra site on a solo summit trip. No fanfare, no convoy of vehicles. Just the unglamorous work of going from zero to one on a peak that has been on our map since the BLM right of way came through.

That node will help connect Reno and the surrounding Truckee Meadows communities to the wider Nevada mesh. The mount follows the same philosophy we use everywhere: start with something practical on the ground, learn what the site can do, and improve from there. Virginia Peak is not a fence-post experiment like our first Peavine install, but the goal is the same. Get a live path on the air and let field data tell us what comes next.

Every backbone build depends on someone showing up, placing the node, and making the summit a little more connected than it was when they arrived.

Many designs on the air at once​

We do not wait for a committee to bless a single canonical node before we build. Volunteers iterate on their own design ideas concurrently, in shops and garages while the rest of us do the same. When a site like Virginia Peak needs a backbone node, we deploy multiple approaches alongside each other and let field testing tell us which survive Nevada.

That diversity is deliberate. Nevada summits punish gear in specific ways: UV, wind, ice, dust, and temperature swings that would make a coastal engineer wince. No spreadsheet settles which enclosure wins. You put honest prototypes on real peaks and see what still talks after the first bad storm.

One design bias runs toward IP67 weatherproof enclosures, sealed bulkhead connectors, and mounts built to stay put for years. My bias runs the other direction: shortest path to deployment, even when the hardware might not last as long. Zip ties and fence posts have their place. So do machined brackets and silicone around every penetration.

Both instincts keep MeshEnvy healthy. We share the workbench and the field results openly. Ideas cross-pollinate. Weatherproofing discipline shows up in faster field builds. Appetite for speed shows up in longer-lived mounts. Neither approach pretends we have the final answer yet.

Virginia Peak is exactly the kind of site where that experiment pays off. The first node on the crest is one data point in a living comparison. Range reports, weather events, and maintenance visits will tell us which design choices belong on permanent mounts at 8,000 feet and which were right for getting to zero to one quickly.

Partners on the heights​

None of this happens without the people who already maintain gear on Nevada summits.

Dave Metts and High Sierra Communications have been our tower partner from the start of this work on the Pah Rah crest. Dave founded the company in 1982 and built a ridge-to-ridge microwave network across Northern Nevada. He opens his compounds to amateur radio, public safety, and community backbone because he believes height on a Nevada peak should serve more than one paying customer. Virginia Peak is one of several High Sierra sites where MeshEnvy has permission to install. The quality of what we can build from here would not be possible without his cooperation and expertise.

The Bureau of Land Management, and the Carson Field Office in particular, stewards the public land that makes summits like Virginia Peak accessible for authorized field work. Their two-year right of way for site surveys and range testing is what lets a charity like MeshEnvy put nodes where they can actually matter, alongside the operators who have been on these ridgelines for decades. We are grateful they have worked with us so patiently as plans turn into boots on the ground.

What comes next​

Virginia Peak is a hub, not a finish line. Range testing from the new node will tell us which links are solid today and which need better antennas, better mounts, or better luck with the weather. We will share results as they come in.

For now, we have a backbone presence on one of the best seats in northern Nevada radio, thanks to Dave Metts, High Sierra Communications, and the BLM. The mesh grows one summit at a time. This one was worth the climb.

Dave Metts and a company built on the heights​

Dave Metts is the president and CEO of High Sierra Communications, Inc., and an amateur radio operator with the callsign K7UI. He built the company around a fully digital microwave relay network that spans Northern Nevada, leasing tower space and delivering DS3, T1, DS0, and broadband connectivity from ridge to ridge.

What sets Dave apart is how deliberately he shares that infrastructure for community and public good. Tower space on a peak like Peavine is scarce and valuable. Dave could treat every foot of steel as a commercial asset and stop there. Instead he has spent decades making room on his sites for amateur radio, emergency communications, public safety, and now community mesh backbone. If you have listened to SNARS or Washoe ARES nets in the Reno-Tahoe region, you have already benefited from that instinct. He opens his repeater sites to the amateur radio community because he believes height on a Nevada peak should serve more than one paying customer.

That community focus is not a side project. It is how Dave runs the company. He understands that a relay site is part of the civic fabric of the basin it overlooks, not just a private compound on a ridgeline.

I got to know him over dinner in Virginia City a while back. He is a fascinating, passionate, enthusiastic man, full of stories and wit, and I can only hope I accumulate as many in my life. He is also an inspiration for staying in shape and having important work to do. The man gathers no moss under his feet.

High Sierra maintains relay sites across the region, including McClellan Peak, Toulon Peak, Mount Rose, Bald Mountain, Eagle Ridge, and West Red Peak. Dave has granted MeshEnvy permission to install on all of them. That is a significant commitment from an operator who already shares his compounds with ham repeaters, ARES groups, and public safety systems up and down the state. More sites are slated thanks to his incredible support.

Walking the fence at Peavine​

Peavine Peak dominates the skyline northwest of Reno and Sparks. A lot of communication sites share that crest, but Dave's is widely considered the crown jewel of Peavine because it sits at the highest point with the most line of sight.

I walked the perimeter of his site, guarded by about five rows of barbed wire along the chain-link fence surrounding the premises. Once I found a good spot for an initial node placement, I called Dave to confirm I had permission. He said yes without hesitation. The node overlooks all of Reno, Sparks, and Cold Springs. It is an absolutely fantastic location. I cannot thank Dave enough for his generosity, or for treating community backbone the same way he treats the repeaters and emergency systems already on his towers: as something worth making room for.

As with many of our placements, the initial jank node is a way to go from zero to one without a lot of expense. We put a node on a fence post or a nearby structure so that we do not have to engage skilled tower climbers or get blocked by complexity. We gradually improve on things and see how the node behaves in the environment as field data begins to come in.

That interim step is deliberate, not a shortcut. Getting something on the air tells us more than another afternoon of spreadsheet modeling. When the site performs the way we expect, we work with Dave's team on a more permanent mount.

Peavine Peak​

Peavine forms one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Truckee Meadows. The west summit rises to about 8,266 feet and already carries a dense cluster of towers and dishes visible from almost anywhere in Reno.

The mountain has a long human history. Prospectors worked placer deposits here as early as the 1850s. John Poe established the Paymaster Mine and the town of Poeville on the northeast flank in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1942, the U.S. Grazing Service and the Mono National Forest cooperated to build a fire lookout on the summit, complete with two-way radio back to Reno. That lookout could see from Alpine County to Pyramid Lake. Today the crest is defined by microwave relays and trunking sites rather than fire spotters, but the logic is the same. Height and visibility are everything.

We also have a separate partnership with Sierra Electronics on the same ridgeline. Peavine is that kind of peak. Multiple operators, multiple paths, and room for a small mesh node to add community backbone capacity without getting in anyone's way.

Poito Mountain​

Poito Mountain sits near Empire on Nevada State Route 447, south of Gerlach and the Black Rock Desert corridor. The summit elevation is about 5,759 feet, modest compared to Peavine or Virginia Peak, but strategically placed for coverage along the highway that links the playa country to the rest of the state.

Poito Mountain anchors public safety and interoperability radio for the NV-447 corridor. Washoe County tactical crossband repeaters and the Nevada Shared Radio System depend on height here to reach the remote stretches between Nixon, Empire, and Gerlach. High Sierra operates microwave paths through Poito Mountain as part of the relay network Dave has maintained for more than four decades.

For MeshEnvy, Poito Mountain extends the backbone toward the Black Rock country and the communities that live along that lonely highway. It is a different kind of summit than Peavine: lower, drier, and focused on keeping a long road connected.

Ophir Hill​

Ophir Hill rises to about 7,782 feet in the Virginia Range above historic Virginia City in Storey County. The name comes straight from the Comstock. The Ophir Silver Mining Company opened the first major claim on the Comstock Lode in 1859, and the hill above Virginia City has carried that name ever since.

From the crest you look down on the Comstock towns, across Washoe Valley, and out toward Reno and the Sierra. The summit already hosts substantial communications infrastructure, including Dave's High Sierra relay site. We wrote about our first zero-to-one test on Ophir Hill earlier this spring. That jank node on a T-stake talked with both Spanish Benchmark and Peavine across roughly thirty miles of basin and ridge.

Having High Sierra's formal partnership here means we can build on that early proof with Dave's team rather than treating every visit as a one-off field experiment.

Virginia Peak​

Virginia Peak is the high point of the Pah Rah Range at about 8,370 feet, the most prominent summit in Washoe County. It sits just south of Pyramid Lake on BLM-managed land and already carries extensive communications infrastructure, including National Weather Service NEXRAD radar.

The Pah Rah Range forms the eastern wall of the Truckee Meadows. From Virginia Peak you can see Pyramid Lake, the desert basins to the north, and the populated valleys to the south. It is exactly the kind of high, clean vantage point where a backbone node earns its keep.

Working with the BLM Carson Field Office already identified Virginia Peak as a priority site on public land. Dave's permission to co-locate at his facility there complements that federal authorization and gives us a trusted operator who already knows the compound.

BLM stewardship on public land​

Several of Dave's sites occupy Bureau of Land Management land. Nothing we do on those peaks happens in a vacuum. Private tower infrastructure and public-land authorization have to work together, and the BLM Carson Field Office has been generous with their time and expertise as we survey and test across the district.

We are grateful to the BLM for making co-location possible on the public-land sites where Dave operates. Their stewardship of Nevada's heights is what lets a charity like MeshEnvy put nodes where they can actually matter, alongside the operators who have been maintaining gear on these summits for decades.

Thanks​

This partnership would not have happened without Dave Metts and High Sierra Communications. Dave walked me through his vision for the network, opened his sites across Nevada, and let us start small with a fence-post install on Peavine while we learn what the mesh can do from the best seat on the mountain.

What matters most is the spirit behind that access. Dave has built a business on some of the most valuable real estate in Northern Nevada radio, and he consistently dedicates space on those summits to community service: amateur repeaters, emergency nets, public safety backhaul, and now a nonprofit mesh backbone. That kind of sharing is rare. It is also exactly what Nevada needs if we want resilient connectivity that does not depend entirely on commercial carriers.

We are also grateful to the Bureau of Land Management for their role on the public-land sites that make this work possible, and to the amateur radio community leaders who have long recognized what Dave contributes to Northern Nevada.

More field notes from Peavine, Poito Mountain, Ophir Hill, and Virginia Peak will follow as installs go up and range data comes in. For now, we are glad to have Dave and his team on the heights with us.

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.

Why sharing the heights matters​

Tower compounds on peaks like Peavine are scarce, expensive, and hard won. The steel, power, shelters, and permits represent decades of work. Most operators treat that capacity as a commercial asset first and last.

Sierra Electronics takes a broader view. Their own history is rooted in keeping communities safe. They design, install, license, and maintain the systems that hospitals, public safety agencies, and local businesses depend on across Northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra. Opening a site on Peavine to MeshEnvy fits that same instinct: put reliable communications where people need them, not only where the billing model is easy.

That is the heart of this partnership. MeshEnvy is a public service charity building backbone for rural and underserved Nevada. Sierra Electronics already lives in that world. Sharing tower space with us is an extension of the work they have been doing since 1964.

A site survey at the top​

Jarry Walton met me at the summit for a site survey, and we walked the compound together looking at line of sight, existing infrastructure, and where a small mesh node could live without getting in anyone's way. He did not treat the visit like a vendor call. It felt like two people who care about coverage on the same ridgeline trying to figure out how to make something useful happen.

Peavine is one of those peaks you can see from almost anywhere in Reno and Sparks. The west summit rises to about 8,266 feet and already carries a dense cluster of towers and dishes. Sierra Electronics runs a trunking site up there as part of the radio backbone their commercial and public safety customers depend on. Standing on that crest, it is obvious why a community mesh node belongs in the same neighborhood.

Fence post first, tower mount later​

We decided the fastest path forward was easy enough to execute on the spot. Jarry was generous enough to let us zip-tie a solar node to one of his fence posts so we could get something on the air and start learning what the site could do. One of his technicians will come back and mount it properly on the tower when schedules align.

That interim step is deliberate, not a shortcut. Getting something on the air tells us more than another afternoon of spreadsheet modeling. It also reflects the kind of partnership we want: low friction, respectful of their compound, and oriented toward learning before we ask for a permanent home on the steel.

A pilot with room to grow​

Sierra Electronics maintains several other tower locations across northern Nevada, not just Peavine. We are excited to take this first step together: pilot a node at one of their sites, prove the model, and build from there. If the Peavine install performs the way we expect, we hope to expand to additional Sierra Electronics compounds in Elko and Galena.

Each new site would follow the same logic. A local operator who already serves the community from the heights agrees to share a little capacity with a nonprofit trying to extend that reach. That is how you stitch together backbone coverage across basins commercial carriers never found worth serving.

We have already seen how far a modest mount can reach. From Ophir Hill, a simple test node on a T-stake talked with both Spanish Benchmark and Peavine Peak across roughly thirty miles of basin and ridge. A repeater at Sierra Electronics' site should strengthen that northern Nevada spine in a much more permanent way.

Forest Service authorization​

Peavine Peak sits on Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest land, so getting on the air at Jarry's tower is not only a conversation with the site owner. It also requires federal authorization. The U.S. Forest Service facilitated our grant to co-locate at the Sierra Electronics compound, which cleared the way for the pilot install you see in these photos.

Thanks​

This pilot would not have happened without two organizations willing to put community benefit ahead of paperwork and profit. Sierra Electronics donated tower space, walked the site with us, and let us start small with a fence-post install while a proper mount is planned. That generosity comes from a company whose whole reason for being is keeping Northern Nevada safe and connected. Sharing their Peavine compound with MeshEnvy is not a side project for them. It is the same public-minded instinct that has guided their work since 1964.

The U.S. Forest Service made the federal side possible on Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest land. They facilitated our authorization to co-locate at the Sierra Electronics compound, reviewed our mission and nonprofit status, and granted us a generous exemption from rental and processing fees. Private infrastructure, federal stewardship, and a charity building community backbone only work when everyone at the table cares about the outcome.

More field notes from Peavine will follow once the permanent mount is in place and we have range data to share. For now, we are grateful to have partners on the mountain who understand that the heights belong to the community as much as to any single tenant.

The Fresh Eyes Audit​

One of the main activities of the summit was going over site audit sheets. The group has an elegant peer-review system where everyone audits each other's sites. They find it is much easier for a fresh set of eyes to spot problems that the owner might have grown blind to. If you spot a problem, you document it on the sheet, and the site owner has an opportunity to resolve the issue and bring their installation back into compliance.

During our rounds, we found several instances of improper documentation. More importantly, we spotted occasional repair and maintenance items caused by weathering throughout the year. High-altitude peaks take a serious beating from the Nevada elements, and things inevitably degrade over twelve months of exposure.

Mac and Cheese vs. Heavy Industry​

Seeing these massive, industrial installations really put what we are doing into perspective. These sites are heavy-duty. They have massive diesel generators, heavy steel cabinets, and everything is bolted deeply into the concrete and bedrock. It is serious, heavy-duty industrial engineering.

And then there is us, walking around with little LoRa nodes that are literally the size of a box of macaroni and cheese, deploying them all over the state.

Ours are completely self-contained and require no generators. Our setups are so low impact that they represent a completely different kind of innovation. Every once in a while, a suite of technical breakthroughs coalesces into a really elegant solution for an old problem. Even when all the constituent parts have been around for years, a single new technology, like the LoRa chip, will come along and tie those disparate pieces of technology together. Suddenly, you have a solution with a level of elegance that was previously not achievable.

Respecting the Towers​

Of course, the use cases are not quite the same. We are not trying to broadcast high-power commercial signals across the basin. But I am still incredibly grateful to learn how this high-end equipment operates.

I can definitely appreciate now why you need proper training and certifications to climb these towers. It is not just about the risk of falling or damaging incredibly expensive equipment. Some of those arrays look like things you absolutely do not want to stand in front of while they are transmitting.

A huge thanks to the Tonopah BLM and the Brock Mountain Users Group for the invitation. It was a fantastic experience, and it gave me a lot of respect for the giants of infrastructure we share the peaks with.

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.

Every Dollar Goes to the Peak​

When you are building a physical network across thousands of square miles of basin and range, the gear adds up fast. Radios, high-gain antennas, solar panels, battery banks, weatherproof enclosures, and mounting hardware all cost real money.

Up until now, a chunk of every purchase we made to get a new site online went straight to sales tax.

With this official exemption, that friction is gone. Every single dollar we spend on hardware now goes 100 percent toward putting nodes on peaks and getting communities connected. It means we can buy more gear, deploy more repeaters, and cover more ground with the same budget. This is a massive accelerator as we ramp up our hardware deployments throughout the state.

Recognition for Public Safety and Access​

Beyond the immediate financial relief, this is a major milestone for validation. We are incredibly grateful for the State of Nevada's cooperation in recognizing the important work we have undertaken.

Nevada is a land of vast, beautiful, and often dangerous empty spaces. If you wander off the highway in the remote areas of our state, you quickly realize how fragile our standard communication networks really are. When the grid fails, or when you are simply out of range of the nearest cell tower, you are on your own.

By recognizing MeshEnvy as a tax-exempt charitable organization, the state is acknowledging that decentralized, ad-hoc communication is not just a hobbyist pursuit. It is a vital public safety initiative. We are building a resilient, community-owned backup system to secure public access and safety for underserved, rural, and remote areas of Nevada where traditional infrastructure is either non-existent or prone to failure.

Building the Infrastructure Together​

As I have said before, the mesh is not just about the radios in our pockets. It is about the community choosing to become the infrastructure.

This tax exemption is another tool in our kit that helps us interface with larger systems. It makes it easier to work with public agencies, land managers, and institutional donors who need to see this kind of structured, recognized organization before they let us put gear on their property or sponsor our builds.

We are moving fast, and this approval means our next batch of hardware is going to go even further. If you have been waiting for the right time to get involved, scout a site, or host an access point, this is it. We have the green light, we have the momentum, and now we have the tax-free purchasing power to make a fully connected Nevada a reality.

The hike up​

Flowery Peak sits in the Virginia Range east of historic Virginia City at about 6,570 feet. There is no casual drive-up. Tim and I walked the last stretch on foot through brush, loose rock, and foxtail grass so thick it felt like we picked up ten thousand of them by the time we topped out.

The terrain is honest about what it wants from you. Every step is earned. By the time we reached the summit we had a clear view of the basin and a clear sense of why this peak matters for radio.

Respect the summit​

Flowery Peak is not an empty ridgeline. Near the high point we found a USGS benchmark disc set into the rock and what looked like a burial site marked with a wooden cross and a stone cairn. We gave both a wide berth. People came before us for reasons that have nothing to do with mesh networking, and the courteous thing is to leave those spots alone.

Finding the spot​

Elevation alone does not pick your mount. We walked the crest with handheld radios and kept checking links back to Davidson, Ophir, and the other neighbors we expected to hear. A few steps in the wrong direction and the path dropped out. A few steps the other way and Virginia City lit up in the valley below.

We settled on a spot with a clean view down into town and solid cooperation with the existing repeaters on the ridge. Tim drove a T-post into the rocky ground and we staked the node there. Same jank node philosophy we use everywhere: zip ties, a fence stake, and field data before we talk about permanent hardware.

Why this peak earns its keep​

Virginia City sits in a bowl. Coverage from one direction rarely covers the whole town. Davidson Peak handles the high west side of the range. Ophir Hill anchors the south. Flowery closes the gap from the east and gives handheld radios downtown a much better shot at the mesh.

That three-node geometry is what turns a promising ridge into something closer to full coverage for a historic town that still depends on reliable comms when the cell network gets thin.

I meant to write this up when we came down the mountain. Life got in the way. The node did not wait. It has been serving the basin since May, and the field results match what we hoped for on the summit that day.

More peaks, more foxtails, more zero-to-one installs. Flowery was worth the climb.

Defining the Triangle​

The Silver Triangle is more than just a name. It represents a physical blueprint for state-wide resilience. The three sides of this triangle will connect Reno to Las Vegas, Reno to Elko and Wells, and finally Wells back down to Las Vegas.

By establishing these three primary routes, we create a solid backbone that allows us to expand our network both outward to our borders and inward toward the interior of the state. This foundation is what will eventually allow for complete coverage across the Silver State, ensuring that no matter how remote the canyon or how high the peak, a signal can reach its destination.

A State-Wide Collaboration​

Completing a project of this scale requires an unprecedented level of cooperation. We are currently engaging with nearly every BLM field office in Nevada. Each district has its own unique land constraints and ecological considerations. We are having careful and thoughtful conversations with each field office to ensure our deployment strategy aligns with their specific requirements for public lands.

In some cases, the backbone will require collaboration with private landholders. This may involve obtaining easements to access strategic locations or, in some instances, placing access points on ideal private peaks. Concurrently, we are working closely with existing communication site operators to minimize our footprint and utilize existing infrastructure whenever possible.

Low Impact, High Performance​

Our commitment to the land is as strong as our commitment to connectivity. For areas that require new installations, we are designing "pack-in" mast kits. These are specifically engineered to be carried to the summit by foot. By using lightweight, high-efficiency components, we can ensure a minimal impact on the surroundings while providing a vital public service.

This network remains accessible to anyone with a simple LoRa radio device and the correct software. However, we are also looking toward the future. We are currently exploring ways to bridge the gap between those on the mesh and those off the mesh. Our goal is to allow a family member at home with a standard internet connection to stay in touch with a family member in a remote area who only has a radio. This level of integration would be a game changer for safety and peace of mind in Nevada.

The Road to October​

We have set a monumental goal to have the Silver Triangle completed by late October. This timeline requires a massive effort from our community, our partner agencies, and the MeshEnvy team.

Our designs are ready. Our range checks are complete. Now, we need nodes on peaks. To finish this critical infrastructure, MeshEnvy needs your help. Whether you can volunteer your time and labor for a summit installation, or you are interested in corporate sponsorship or private donations, your contribution is what will make this vision a reality.

Together, we can ensure that every Nevadan stays connected. If you would like to participate in building the Silver Triangle, please reach out to us today.

Same Hardware, Different Standard​

It is important to understand that the underlying technology remains the same. We still believe in the incredible power of LoRa. The hardware standard is robust and capable, but there are competing software protocols that determine how that hardware communicates.

For a long time, Meshtastic has been the go-to choice, supported largely by a dedicated community of volunteer enthusiasts. However, as our network requirements have grown, we have had to look closer at performance metrics that impact our users every day.

The Fresh Approach of MeshCore​

Our testing has shown that MeshCore consistently outperforms Meshtastic in three key areas: speed, message reliability, and ease of use.

MeshCore represents a fresh approach from both a user experience standpoint and a software engineering standpoint. Because the MeshCore team was able to start with new ideas, they moved forward unencumbered by the legacy compatibility requirements that often slow down Meshtastic. By building from the ground up, they have created a protocol that feels modern and functions with a level of stability that our mission requires.

Reliability in the Field​

While Meshtastic may still have a place for specific or niche applications, the ongoing day-to-day reliability issues have become a hurdle for our deployment goals. In the rugged and expansive landscapes of Nevada, "mostly working" is not enough. We need a system that ensures messages reach their destination without constant troubleshooting. MeshCore provides that peace of mind.

Staying Agile for Nevada​

Our commitment to Nevada means that MeshEnvy will never be tied to a single platform forever. Our values are rooted in community building and staying connected. As hardware and software continue to evolve, we will continue to evaluate the best tools available.

Right now, MeshCore is the best service to our mission. It aligns with our values of providing a professional, reliable, and accessible network for the community. We are excited about this new chapter and the increased connectivity it will bring to the Silver State.