Who it was for: Vernon residents who want to be able to communicate in a crisis, local techies looking to put their experience toward something good, and anyone curious about off-grid technology.
Why: Meshtastic is a simple, low-cost way for neighbors to stay connected without relying on cell service or Wi-Fi. It uses small radios to create a local network that works even during power outages or emergencies. This kind of off-grid communication can help us check in, share updates, or call for help when traditional systems fail — a community-powered safety net that runs for months on a single charge.
What is Meshtastic?
Meshtastic is a decentralized wireless off-grid mesh networking LoRa protocol. The main goal of the project is enabling low-power, long-range communication over unlicensed radio bands. It is designed around exchanging text messages and data in off-grid environments, with potential applications in IoT projects where a decentralized communication system is needed without existing infrastructure.
— Wikipedia
I was introduced to it by Liz of The Multiverse School on TikTok, who goes into more depth in this Instagram video.
Why Vernon
The case for neighbors is straightforward: when the cell network goes down, the tools we normally use to check on each other stop working. A mesh network does not depend on it. It keeps working when the infrastructure underneath it does not.
The Vernon Neighborhood Association was one of the groups that seemed relevant to the effort. The Multnomah County outage tracker was one of the references we collected while scoping it.
What already exists in Portland
Existing nodes reach roughly a 20-mile radius. As of April 2025, Portland may already have been saturated with coverage — that remained unconfirmed; we were waiting to hear back. Either way, the group still needed to learn the technology together: how to communicate on it, how to test it, how to maintain nodes, and how to keep people engaged.
The coverage screenshot that prompted the question was taken April 15, 2025, from this Instagram reel. The MeshSense global map is a live view of current coverage.
Meeting notes
April 17, 2025 — kickoff
Four of us met and talked through our personal interests, our communication interests, the problems we would actually be solving, the status quo, how information gets dispersed, and what belongs under the Vernon umbrella versus outside it. We decided the next step was to meet with someone who has a device and go from there.
Resources
- MeshtasticThe project itself — docs, hardware, firmware.
- pdxmesh.comPortland Meshtastic Discord.
- Vernon Neighborhood Association
- MeshSense global mapSee what coverage already exists near you.
- Meshtastic web flasherFlash firmware onto a node from the browser.
- ESP32 LoRa V3 SX1262 Development Board (Amazon)The hardware referenced in the original April 2025 notes — not a current recommendation.
- Multnomah County power outages
- Liz / The Multiverse SchoolWhere I first heard about any of this.
- Tech Worker Coalition, PortlandLocal chapter organizing space.