Skip to content

ON/QC region scopes proposal

Proposal for discussion

Region scopes stop local chatter from flooding the whole network. Today's setup is hard to follow, so this proposal cuts it down to five levels of codes that everyone in Ontario and Québec can remember.

  • Not adopted yet
  • Ontario + Québec pilot
  • Repeater firmware 1.16+ recommended
  • MeshCore app 1.43+

What do I need to do?

You… What to do When
Use the MeshCore app with a companion radio Nothing yet. Leave your settings as they are. Phase 2 walks you through two settings, with screenshots. January 2027 at the earliest
Own a repeater Follow Phase 1: Repeater setup. Now
Run a bot or MeshMapper Scope it to your city, as described in Bots and MeshMapper. End of Phase 1, once the repeaters around you are set up

Each phase is announced on the MeshCore Canada Discord. The rest of this page explains how it all works. You don't need to understand it to follow the steps.

The short version

There are five levels of scope. Every repeater carries one code from each: its city, its province, onqc, can and na. When you send a message, the scope decides how far it travels. can and na are reserved for later, so for now you only pick from the first three.

City

yow yul yqb

Your local area. Same codes as MeshMapper.

Province

on qc

Every repeater in that province.

Mesh

onqc

Every repeater in Ontario and Québec.

Canada

can

All of Canada. Reserved for later: carried now, not used yet.

North America

na

Canada and the US. Reserved for later: carried now, not used yet.

Once every phase is done:

  • Repeaters carry their city, their province, onqc, can and na.
  • Bots and MeshMapper use their city, so they stay local.
  • Companions use onqc as their default, so direct messages reach anyone.
  • Public uses onqc, so everyone in Ontario and Québec can talk.
  • Test channels use your city, so they stay local.
  • Messages with no scope still work inside each city. Edge repeaters, the ones that link two cities, drop them, so they don't flood the next city.

Companions come last, in Phase 2. Setting a scope on your companion before the repeaters around you are ready makes your messages reach fewer people, not more.

Words used on this page

  • Companion: the MeshCore radio you pair with the app on your phone or computer.
  • Repeater: a fixed radio, often on a roof or tower, that passes messages along.
  • Flood: how a message spreads when it has no known route: every repeater that hears it passes it on. Channel messages always flood, and so does the first DM to someone.
  • Hop: one repeater passing a message on.
  • DM: a direct message to one contact.
  • Advert: a radio announcing itself so others can find it.
  • Edge repeater: a repeater that regularly talks to repeaters in two MeshMapper zones, for example both yow and yul.

What a scope is

A scope is a short name attached to a message, such as yow. Repeaters use it to decide whether to pass the message on.

A scope is not encryption and not a GPS fence. Anyone who knows the name can use it, and it has nothing to do with where you are. It is only a label that says "repeaters that carry this name, please forward this."

Your app turns the name into a small code and puts it in the message header. Every repeater keeps a list of names it will forward. When a message arrives, the repeater checks the code against its list.

How a repeater decides

Show the explanation

Here is an Ottawa repeater under this proposal, and what it does with five different messages.

Ottawa repeater

* yow on onqc can na
Its list of names to forward
  • yow Ottawa channelForwarded
  • onqc DM to Québec City, sent with the companion defaultForwarded
  • none Older app, no scopeForwarded
  • yul Montréal channelDropped
  • qc Québec-wide channelDropped
Name is on the list: forward it.
Name is not on the list: drop it.
No scope at all: it counts as *. Forward it only if * is allowed.
Too many hops: dropped once it passes flood.max, whatever its scope.
The DM is tagged onqc because onqc is the companion default in this proposal. See why further down. The repeater still hears every message. A scope only decides whether it passes the message on. Your companion also receives everything that reaches it.

Four details catch people out:

  • Spelling must be exact. yow, YOW and ott are three different names. A companion set to yow is ignored by a repeater that only carries ott.
  • Only floods are checked. Once a direct message has a known path, it goes straight along that path and scopes no longer matter.
  • There is no inheritance. Carrying on does not mean carrying yow. Each name has to be on the list by itself.
  • A repeater with no regions set drops every scoped message. Out of the box, a repeater only carries *, so it forwards messages with no scope and nothing else. Scoped messages only work once the repeaters along the way are set up.

The five levels

na North America Reserved for later. Carried now, not used yet.

can Canada Reserved for later. Carried now, not used yet.

onqc Mesh Every repeater in Ontario and Québec

on Ontario

yowOttawa, Lanark, Calabogie, Renfrew, Alfred, Hawkesbury
yyzToronto
ygkKingston
ykfWaterloo
…Other MeshMapper zones

qc Québec

yulMontréal, Trois-Rivières
yqbQuébec City
yowGatineau, Rigaud (shared with Ottawa)
ytfSaguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean
…Other MeshMapper zones
What an Ottawa repeater actually stores: *yowononqccanna A flat list of names. The boxes above are for people, not for the repeater.
The yow zone crosses the Ottawa River. Gatineau repeaters use yow for their city and qc for their province.

What about can and na?

Every repeater carries can now so that a Canada-wide scope works later without anyone having to reconfigure their repeater again. Many repeaters set up with the current configurator already carry it.

Don't use can on your companion or channels yet. Today it reaches the same repeaters as onqc. Keep using onqc. Once other provinces carry can too, it becomes the way to reach further, and onqc stays as "just the Ontario and Québec mesh".

na (North America) is the same idea one level up. It is there so the mesh can link with the US one day, again without anyone reconfiguring their repeater. Don't use na yet either.

Why airport codes?

Show the explanation
  • They are the same codes MeshMapper already uses, for example yow.meshmapper.net.
  • MeshCore already uses airport codes elsewhere, such as the location code every observer reports. They are not a perfect fit for mesh areas, but that is not going to change, and a second set of names just for regions would only add confusion over time.
  • There are no accents or capital letters to get wrong. montréal, Montreal and montreal would be three different scopes.
  • They are easy to split later. If Renfrew wants its own area one day, it can use its own airport code and still keep on and onqc. Nothing else changes.

Always write the code with its area the first time, for example yow (Ottawa / NCR area), so people learn it.

Reading region def yow|* on|* onqc|* can|* na

This section is for repeater owners who want to understand the command. You can skip it: step 4 of Phase 1 gives you the exact commands to type.

Show how the command works

region def builds a repeater's list in one line. It keeps a cursor that starts at the top, *. Each name is created under the cursor, and |* jumps the cursor back to the top.

region def 1yow 2|* 3on 4|* 5onqc 6|* 7can 8|* 9na
  1. Create yow under the cursor. The cursor moves into yow.
    * └ yow
  2. |* jumps the cursor back to the top.
    * └ yow
  3. Create on under the cursor. The cursor moves into on.
    * ├ yow └ on
  4. |* jumps back to the top again.
    * ├ yow └ on
  5. Create onqc.
    * ├ yow ├ on └ onqc
  6. |* back to the top.
    * ├ yow ├ on └ onqc
  7. Create can.
    * ├ yow ├ on ├ onqc └ can
  8. |* back to the top.
    * ├ yow ├ on ├ onqc └ can
  9. Create na. Done.
    * ├ yow ├ on ├ onqc ├ can └ na
The result is a flat list: every code sits side by side under *. The highlighted name is where the cursor is.

region def only adds or moves names. It never deletes the ones already there. Run region afterwards to see the full list.

Rollout order

Do this in order. Each phase starts only once the one before it is done, and is announced on Discord. Don't change your companion settings yet. Phase 2 is not open.

  1. Repeaters

    Now. Owners clear old regions and add their codes. City repeaters keep * allowed; edge repeaters drop it. Near the end, bots and MeshMapper are scoped to their city. Nothing breaks inside any city.

  2. Companions

    January 2027 at the earliest, once the repeaters around them are set up. Users set their default and Public to onqc, and test channels to their city.

  3. Only if needed

    If messages with no scope are still too noisy inside a city, repeaters can also run set flood.max.unscoped 3. Scoped messages still reach 16 hops.

Phase 1: Repeater setup

Phase 1 has three goals:

  1. Get the new region config on every repeater, so each one carries its city, its province, onqc, can and na.
  2. Limit unscoped traffic between cities. Edge repeaters drop messages with no scope, so local chatter stays in its own city.
  3. Near the end, scope bots and MeshMapper to their city, once the repeaters around them carry the city code. See Bots and MeshMapper.

Companions don't change anything in this phase. If you only use the app, there is nothing for you to do here.

Type these into the repeater's command line one command at a time: in the MeshCore app, open the repeater, log in as admin and use the command box in Repeater Admin, or use the USB console. Each command has its own copy button. Wait for OK before sending the next one.

Contacts list filtered to find a repeater

1 In Contacts, find your repeater (search by name) and tap it.

Repeater Login screen with a password field

2 Enter the admin password and tap Log In.

Repeater Admin screen with Command Line at the bottom

3 Check for You are logged in as an Admin, then tap Command Line at the bottom.

Tip: every command should get a reply, usually OK. If nothing comes back after a few seconds, send it again: tap and hold the command and choose Send Again. Sending a command twice is safe.

Step 1: Check your firmware and describe your repeater

  1. ver

Command line with the ver command sent

1 Type ver and tap send. The firmware version appears underneath, for example v1.15.0.

Then tell us about your repeater. Steps 3 and 4 show the right commands for it. Your area is your MeshMapper zone: open MeshMapper and find the zone your repeater sits in. These zones follow the MeshMapper boundaries that already exist. They are not perfect, but they are how most people already see the map today, so there is nothing new to learn.

City or edge? An edge repeater regularly talks to repeaters in two MeshMapper zones, for example both yow and yul. Every other repeater is a city repeater, including one on the outer edge of its zone: if nothing on the other side connects to it, it is a city repeater. If it starts linking to another zone regularly, switch it to edge.

Not sure? Check the map. Open this MeshMapper view. It shows zone boundaries and repeater neighbours on a dark map, so the borders are easy to see. Click your repeater to see its neighbours. For each one, the map shows how many packets have been seen on that link and when it was last seen. If several neighbours are outside your MeshMapper zone and those links are used often and recently, make it an edge repeater. A single link seen a few times, or not for weeks, doesn't count.

Step 2: Clear any old regions

The new commands don't delete regions that are already on the repeater. To avoid conflicts, remove any old ones first. Start by listing what is there:

  1. region

Then check the reply:

  • Only *^ F: the repeater has no old regions. Nothing to clear, go to step 3.
  • Other names as well, such as can, on-alg or ott: remove them as shown below.

Remove each name except * with region remove <name>, one at a time, starting with the most indented line. Then run region save, and region again to check. For example, the old Ottawa layout:

Example: the old Ottawa layout

  1. region remove ott
  2. region remove on-alg
  3. region remove on
  4. region remove can
  5. region save
  6. region

If a region remove answers with an error:

  • Err - not empty: another name is still indented under it. Remove that one first, then try again.
  • Err - not found: that name is already gone. That is fine, carry on.

Removing on and can is fine too. Step 4 adds them back. When you are done, region should show only *^ F.

Command line removing the old Ottawa regions

1 The old Ottawa layout, removed from the bottom up. Removing something twice just answers Err - not found. That is fine.

Step 3: Standard MeshCore Canada settings

Ottawa and surrounding areas · 1.16 or newer · City repeater

  1. set path.hash.mode 2
  2. set advert.interval 240
  3. set flood.advert.interval 47
  4. set flood.max 16

These commands are for an Ottawa-area city repeater on firmware 1.16 or newer. Turn on JavaScript to match them to your repeater.

What do these commands do?
path.hash.mode 2
Uses 3-byte repeater IDs in message paths, so fewer repeaters share an ID. Needs firmware 1.14 or newer.
advert.interval 240
Announces this repeater to direct neighbours every 4 hours.
flood.advert.interval 47
Announces this repeater across the network every 47 hours.
flood.max 16
No flood message travels more than 16 hops, scoped or not.

These save by themselves. No region save is needed for them. If a command answers Err - ??, your firmware does not have that setting, so skip it.

Command line with the four standard settings each answering OK

1 Each setting answers OK.

Step 4: Region settings

These follow your answers in step 1. Run them in order.

Ottawa and surrounding areas · 1.16 or newer · City repeater

  1. region def yow|* on|* onqc|* can|* na
  2. region allowf *
  3. region default yow
  4. region save

These commands are for an Ottawa-area city repeater on firmware 1.16 or newer. Turn on JavaScript to match them to your repeater.

What do these commands do?
region def / region put
Carry your city, your province, onqc, can and na.
region allowf * / region denyf *
City repeaters forward messages with no scope (on by default, set so you can see it). Edge repeaters drop them.
region default <city>
This repeater's own adverts use your city's scope, so they stay local. Not available before 1.15.
region save
Keeps the region settings after a reboot.

Command line showing region def and its reply on firmware 1.16

1 Firmware 1.16 or newer: region def answers with the finished list.

Command line showing region put commands on firmware 1.15

2 Firmware 1.15: each region put answers OK - (flood allowed).

Step 5: Check the result

  1. region

For Ottawa, you should see:

*^ F
 yow F
 on F
 onqc F
 can F
 na F

F means "flood allowed": the repeater forwards that name. The ^ next to * marks the repeater's home region; with none set, it sits on *. You can ignore it.

Command line showing the final region list

1 The finished list on an Ottawa repeater.

Allow or drop, quick reference

Show the quick reference
Command What it does
region allowf <name> Forward messages with that name
region denyf <name> Drop messages with that name. The repeater still receives them itself.
<name> Can be * for messages with no scope, or a code such as yow
set flood.max.unscoped <hops> A separate hop limit for messages with no scope. It only matters when it is lower than flood.max. 0 has the same effect as region denyf *.
region save Always run it after allowf or denyf

Bots and MeshMapper

This comes at the end of Phase 1, once the repeaters around you carry your city code. Scoping bots and MeshMapper to your city keeps their traffic out of other cities.

  • Bots: on the companion the bot uses, set Default Region Scope to your city code, for example yow. The steps are the same as Phase 2, step 1, with your city code instead of onqc. Set any channel the bot posts in to your city as well.
  • MeshMapper: use your city code as the scope for its messages.

Phase 2: Companion setup

Not yet. The earliest this should be considered is January 2027. Phase 1 has to be finished first. A repeater with no regions set drops every scoped message. If you set your default to onqc before the repeaters on your routes carry it, your channel messages and first DMs will only reach nearby. Until Phase 2 is announced, leave Default Region Scope empty and your channels unscoped. You will still receive everything.

When Phase 2 opens, this is all you need to do: set a default scope, then set a scope on a few channels. It takes about five minutes in the MeshCore app.

Step 1: Set your default scope

In the MeshCore app, open Settings. Under Network Settings, tap Default Region Scope, add onqc and select it.

MeshCore app contacts list with the settings cog at the top right

1 Connect your companion to the MeshCore app and tap the settings cog in the top right.

Settings screen with Network Settings and Default Region Scope

2 Scroll down to Network Settings and tap Default Region Scope.

Select Region screen with no regions and an Add Region button

3 If onqc is not listed, tap Add Region, or the + at the top right.

Add Region screen with onqc typed in

4 Type onqc, all lowercase, and tap the checkmark in the top right.

Select Region screen with onqc listed

5 Tap onqc to select it.

Settings showing onqc as the default region scope and a Settings Saved message

6 Default Region Scope now shows onqc. Tap the checkmark in the top right. It spins while saving, then Settings Saved! pops up.

Step 2: Set a scope on each channel

Open the channel, tap ⋮ in the top right, choose Set Region Scope, and pick the scope from this table:

Channel Scope Why
Public onqc Everyone in Ontario and Québec can talk
Test channels, such as #testing Your city, for example yow Tests stay local
Bot channels, such as #bots Your city, for example yow Bot replies stay local
Your own channels Your city, on/qc, or onqc Pick how far it should reach

If you run a bot, it should already be on your city from Phase 1.

Example: Public to onqc

Channels list with Public at the top

1 Tap Channels in the bottom menu bar and open Public.

Public channel menu with Set Region Scope

2 Tap ⋮ in the top right and choose Set Region Scope.

Select Region list with onqc

3 Tap onqc.

Public channel header showing Region: onqc

4 The header now shows Region: onqc, and a banner says only repeaters allowing that region will forward. The limit drops to 127 characters.

Scoped messages are a little shorter. Once a channel has a scope, the app allows fewer characters per message. In our testing, the limit on Public dropped from 137 to 127 characters after setting it to onqc. The app sets the exact limit, and it can vary with your node name and app version.

Example: #testing to your city

#testing channel menu with Set Region Scope

1 Open the channel, tap ⋮ and choose Set Region Scope.

Add Region screen with yow typed in

2 If your city code is not listed, tap +, type it (for example yow) and tap the checkmark.

Select Region list with onqc and yow and a Region has been added message

3 Region has been added! Tap your city code to select it.

#testing channel header showing Region: yow

4 The header now shows Region: yow.

Why the companion default is onqc

Show the explanation

You cannot pick a scope for a single direct message. When a DM has no known path yet, it floods using your default scope. The reply that tells your companion the path comes back using your contact's default scope.

Companion default yowNever arrives
  1. You, Ottawasends yow
  2. Ottawa repeateryow on onqc can na
  3. Montréal repeateryul qc onqc can na
  4. Québec repeateryqb qc onqc can na
  5. Friend, Québec Citydefault yqb

The Montréal repeater does not carry yow, so the message stops there. Even if it got through, your friend's reply would use yqb and stop on the way back.

Companion default onqcDelivered
  1. You, Ottawasends onqc
  2. Ottawa repeateryow on onqc can na
  3. Montréal repeateryul qc onqc can na
  4. Québec repeateryqb qc onqc can na
  5. Friend, Québec Citydefault onqc

Every repeater carries onqc, in both directions. Once the path is found, later DMs go direct and scopes no longer matter.

Logins to a repeater or room server work the same way when no path is known.

The catch: a channel with no scope of its own also uses your default, onqc, so it reaches all of Ontario and Québec. That is what we want for Public, but not for test channels and bots. That is why step 2 of the companion setup sets those to your city.

Phase 3: Only if needed

If messages with no scope are still too noisy inside a city after Phase 2, repeaters can also run set flood.max.unscoped 3, then region save. Messages with no scope then stop after 3 hops. Scoped messages still reach 16 hops. Only do this once it is announced for your city.

Who hears what

Show the examples

With edge repeaters dropping messages with no scope, a new user who hasn't set a scope yet still reaches everyone in their own city. Their messages just don't cross into the next city. Here is the Ottawa to Montréal link through Rigaud, an edge repeater that also carries Montréal's code, yul.

New user in Ottawa, no scope noneWhole Ottawa area
  1. New user, Ottawano scope
  2. Ottawa repeaterallows *
  3. Rigaud edge repeaterdrops *
  4. Montréal repeaterallows *
  5. Montréal usernever sees it

Every Ottawa-zone repeater passes it on, so the new user reaches the whole Ottawa area. Rigaud hears it but does not pass it on, so Montréal is never flooded.

Ottawa bot or MeshMapper, scoped yowOttawa zone only
  1. Bot, Ottawasends yow
  2. Ottawa repeateryow on onqc can na
  3. Rigaud edge repeateryow yul qc onqc can na
  4. Montréal repeateryul qc onqc can na
  5. Montréal usernever sees it

Rigaud carries yow, so it passes the message on. Montréal repeaters do not carry yow, so it stops at the edge of the zone.

DM with the companion default onqcWhole mesh
  1. You, Ottawasends onqc
  2. Ottawa repeateryow on onqc can na
  3. Rigaud edge repeateryow yul qc onqc can na
  4. Montréal repeateryul qc onqc can na
  5. Friend, Montréaldefault onqc

Every repeater carries onqc, including the edge repeater, so DMs still cross the whole mesh.

The same thing happens at every edge between two cities.

More examples on the same link:

Message Ottawa repeaters
* yow on onqc can na		 Rigaud edge repeater
yow yul qc onqc can na		 Montréal repeaters
* yul qc onqc can na		 Who gets it
New user in Ottawa, no scope ✅ Forward ❌ Drop Never reached Whole Ottawa area
New user in Montréal, no scope Never reached ❌ Drop ✅ Forward Whole Montréal area
Ottawa channel or bot, yow ✅ Forward ✅ Forward ❌ Drop Ottawa zone only
Montréal channel or bot, yul ❌ Drop ✅ Forward ✅ Forward Montréal zone only
Québec-wide channel, qc ❌ Drop ✅ Forward ✅ Forward Québec side, including Gatineau
DM with the companion default, onqc ✅ Forward ✅ Forward ✅ Forward Whole ON/QC mesh

This is why bots and MeshMapper should be scoped to their city: they stay contained no matter what, and new users who haven't set a scope yet still work locally.

Things to know

  • Scoped messages are about 10 characters shorter. The app lowers the message length limit on scoped channels (137 to 127 in our testing).
  • Repeater adverts stay in their city. Montréal users will not see Ottawa repeaters through flood adverts.
  • 16 hops has to be enough. flood.max applies to onqc too. If the longest real path across the mesh is longer than 16 hops, cross-mesh messages will stop part way.
  • Versions: region def needs repeater firmware 1.16 or newer. Default scope in the app needs MeshCore 1.43 or newer.

Next steps

  • Agree on the list of city codes for Ontario and Québec.
  • Add a "find your town" lookup to meshcore.ca that shows your code.
  • Publish clean-up and setup commands for each city.
  • Add a simple Ontario and Québec mode to the repeater configurator.
  • Other provinces keep the current setup until the pilot has proven itself.

Have thoughts? Share them on the MeshCore Canada Discord or the forum.