Converted $50 Helium RAK2287 into a Mesh Base Station with native TX | Meshtastic | Page 1

fair raven Mar 20, 2026, 1:36 PM

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I have a ton of old RAK V2's sitting around collecting dust from the better days of Helium IoT...

I've been working on a project called Meshpoint: a Raspberry Pi-based device that uses an SX1302/SX1303 concentrator to passively monitor Meshtastic traffic across 8 LoRa channels and all spreading factors* simultaneously.*

Not a node per se, more like a spectrum analyzer that understands Meshtastic protocol. It captures, decrypts, decodes, and stores everything it hears: text messages, positions, telemetry, node info, routing, traceroutes, etc (public, does not decrypt private channels but still captures the packets).

Everything shows up on a local real-time dashboard (map, packet feed, signal charts) running on the Pi itself. There is also an optional cloud component if you want to aggregate data from multiple Meshpoints across a city or see more node/packet granular info.

Cheapest way to build one: Grab a RAK Hotspot V2 off eBay for $40-70. It's literally a Pi 4, RAK2287 concentrator, metal case, antenna & SD card included. Flash the SD card, run the installer, done. SenseCap M1 works too. It's a WIP, US915 only for now, TX relay is in the works. Lots more features and capabilities on the roadmap.

More info in the repo: https://github.com/KMX415/meshpoint
Aggregator: https://www.meshradar.io/

GitHub

GitHub - KMX415/meshpoint: Open-source LoRa packet intelligence for...

Open-source LoRa packet intelligence for Meshtastic mesh networks. Raspberry Pi + SX1302/SX1303 concentrator — passive multi-channel capture, local dashboard, optional cloud sync. - KMX415/meshpoint

Mesh Radar — Mesh Intelligence Platform

See everything on the mesh. Passive 8-channel LoRa monitoring for Meshtastic networks. Real-time map, decoded packets, signal analytics.

wary vortex Mar 20, 2026, 1:55 PM

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fair raven I have a ton of old RAK V2's sitting around collecting dust from the better days...

We're you able to monitor the different bandwidths? Iirc, the sx120x is limited to Lorawan settings.

fair raven Mar 20, 2026, 3:50 PM

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wary vortex We're you able to monitor the different bandwidths? Iirc, the sx120x is limited ...

125, 250, 500 kHz work. Sub-125 kHz does not. Hardware limitation...

wary vortex Mar 20, 2026, 3:51 PM

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And all the spread factors?

fair raven Mar 20, 2026, 3:52 PM

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Yes, all spreading factors, simultaneously on the multi SF channels (one SF at a time on the service channel).

wary vortex Mar 20, 2026, 3:53 PM

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Pretty cool.

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O, wait, does this accept custom syncwords?

fair raven Mar 20, 2026, 3:55 PM

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yeah it uses custom sync words...a little more involved to change them around though.

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I appreciate the interest!

wary vortex Mar 20, 2026, 4:46 PM

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@wind summit

wind summit Mar 20, 2026, 8:15 PM

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Hey, Stary is the expert on this, but from my conversations with them over the last few months, this is probably not going to be that useful. You can get the sync words to work (it is undocumented in the semtech HAL). You cannot get the concentrator to work with presets outside 125 kHz bandwidth on the multi-channel radio.

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EDIT: correction. I need to read the post above

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Maybe I’m out of date!

wary vortex Mar 20, 2026, 8:23 PM

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@carmine marten sorry, I forgor

carmine marten Mar 20, 2026, 8:52 PM

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huh, really?

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I also thought multi SF was 125 only

wary vortex Mar 20, 2026, 8:58 PM

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¯_(ツ)_/¯

fair raven Mar 20, 2026, 11:48 PM

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yeah the service channel handles LongFast fine at 250kHz. sync word was the harder part but it's working. the 125kHz limitation on multi SF isn't really a blocker since most traffic is on the default preset anyway.

silk drum Mar 21, 2026, 1:13 AM

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fair raven 125, 250, 500 kHz work. Sub-125 kHz does not. Hardware limitation...

No no US meshcore sniffing?

fair raven Mar 21, 2026, 1:18 AM

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silk drum No no US meshcore sniffing?

I'm working on plug and play meshcore companion node support via USB.

fair raven Mar 21, 2026, 5:34 AM

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fair raven Mar 22, 2026, 9:39 PM

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Recent updates:
-Live dashboard UX— color coded packet feed, decoded payload contents, 24h active node counts, version based update indicator, and enlarged map view
-Color coded signal traces from node to Meshpoint indicating probable signal drop off
-Map dashboard tabs— tabbed layout with fleet view, interactive map controls, device-scoped filters, unified packet cards with signal strength bars, and public activity stream for visitors
-Meshcore USB capture— new capture source for USB-connected meshcore nodes with auto reconnect and health monitoring. Startup banner shows all active sources. About to be merged
-Custom frequency tuning— configurable SX1302 channel plan via local.yaml. Validated on live hardware with Longfast (SF11/BW250). Dual protocol HAL patch for simultaneous meshtastic and meshcore sync words. Tested, about to merge

Need these deployed in major US cities to really get the data coming in. One device in SF has been picking up nodes 250km away...

silk drum Mar 24, 2026, 2:20 PM

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Instead of “usb connect meshcore nodes”, can you add usb connected sx1262 (ch341 MeshTadpole or MeshStick)?

wary vortex Mar 24, 2026, 2:29 PM

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silk drum Instead of “usb connect meshcore nodes”, can you add usb connected sx1262 (ch341...

They use a full Meshcore companion for that setup, because the concentrator doesn't do narrow band

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They also use a compiled Meshtastic blob for decoding.

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The whole thing looks sus, tbh.

silk drum Mar 25, 2026, 12:34 AM

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wary vortex They also use a compiled Meshtastic blob for decoding.

So they just updated radiolib to work with the concentrator in RX only, and put a good looking UI on top of it?

fair raven Mar 25, 2026, 5:05 AM

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wary vortex The whole thing looks sus, tbh.

A few points...the concentrator is an SX1302 (RAK2287), running the Semtech HAL (libloragw) directly, not radiolib. The concentrator is doing proper concurrent demodulation, not a single-channel transceiver. Very different hardware and software stack...

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The compiled modules are Cython, standard Python compiled into C extensions. It's an open-core model, and the full edge device code (capture pipeline, API, dashboard, config, installer) is public and readable.

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Meshcore support uses a separate radio path because the SX1302 doesn't demodulate Meshcore's waveform natively...(hardware constraint of the concentrator, not a workaround.)

fair raven Mar 25, 2026, 5:11 AM

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silk drum Instead of “usb connect meshcore nodes”, can you add usb connected sx1262 (ch341...

usb sx1262 sticks are interesting for sure, but the transport layer is different (ch341 usb to SPI vs. native SPI). Meshcore path uses a companion node because it was the fastest way to get dual protocol capture working reliably, and most folks already have heltecs to test with.

fair raven Mar 25, 2026, 5:27 AM

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Anyways, it's no surprise people have a bunch of these miners sitting just collecting dust. I wanted build a solution for Meshtastic, and AFAIK I haven't seen it done successfully before on the 2287. If it has, I would be interested to take a look.

fair raven Mar 26, 2026, 1:18 PM

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fair raven Mar 26, 2026, 10:13 PM

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silk drum Instead of “usb connect meshcore nodes”, can you add usb connected sx1262 (ch341...

I see why you asked now...I was looking for a form factor like yours for a while when I was double stacking waveshare SX1262 SPI hat + SX1302 hat for a usecase. I might grab a couple to test with...

silk drum Mar 26, 2026, 11:11 PM

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pyMC support the ch341 radios now, so using that as your radio interface may be your path of least resistance.

fair raven Mar 29, 2026, 3:04 PM

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Added NEIGHBORINFO and TRACEROUTE decoding on edge devices, enabled more multi-region frequency support. Concentrator autotunes to 6 Meshtastic regions: US, EU_868, ANZ, IN, KR, and SG_923.

MC companions auto-configure to match. New meshpoint meshcore-radio CLI command enables switch presets (US/EU/ANZ) or enter a custom frequency anytime without re-running the full wizard.

Also messed with preset tuning. The service channel is now fully configurable: not just frequency, but spreading factor and bandwidth. Settings modifiable for all presets.

On the map, static radius rings were replaced with convex hull polygons that reflect actual RF reach based on observed node positions. Meshpoint names, node names, and topology links are now individual layer toggles. Node popups show more detail: short name, node ID, hardware model, SNR, battery, and temperature when available (will populate as info comes in). Filtered MQTT nodes out of the database to reflect true, RF only relationships.

fair raven Apr 1, 2026, 4:53 PM

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fair raven Apr 11, 2026, 3:13 AM

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Converted $50 Helium RAK2287 into a Mesh Base Station with native TX

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Quick update, I got the concentrator to transmit natively using the Meshtastic sync word and AES-CTR encryption. Phones and nodes see it as a regular participant. The RAK2287 datasheet specs it at 27 dBm max output, and the TX power is configurable from the dashboard. You can send on LongFast, custom channels with PSKs, or DM individual nodes. It's a single TX channel (one frequency at a time), but since the concentrator handles 8 RX channels in parallel across SF7-SF12, you're receiving on everything in the band while transmitting on one. No separate radio needed for TX, it all goes through the concentrator. Same UI for MC&MT messaging. Pretty big update, effectively turns this from a node listener to a base station with a local web messaging interface. Repo is here: https://github.com/KMX415/meshpoint

#Converted $50 Helium RAK2287 into a Mesh Base Station with native TX