🎉 Kicking Off the New Year
Our first meetup of 2026 brought 11 attendees — enough that we officially outgrew the library’s small room and moved into a larger space with a projector to facilitate digital presentations. The extra room made a noticeable difference, giving us space to spread out, collaborate, and dive into more technical material.
We opened with a brief recap of December’s discussions, including the working groups formed to prototype our custom bridge node enclosure and the consensus to begin with a Meshtastic‑based prototype while exploring long‑term protocol options.
🧩 Two Presentations, One Shared Goal
This month featured two community‑led presentations, each aligned with the broader mission of building a resilient, region‑wide mesh.
1. Peer‑to‑Peer VPNs
Our first presenter Adam walked the group through the fundamentals of peer‑to‑peer VPNs with WireGuard — how they work, why they matter, and how they can support decentralized communication. The discussion sparked plenty of questions about topology, trust models, and how P2P VPNs might complement or simplify parts of our regional architecture.
2. Introduction to MeshCore
Next, we shifted into Noel’s guided overview of MeshCore, a protocol we discussed as a possible future direction during the December meetup. This presentation helped clarify several concerns raised last month:
- The smaller community is less of a barrier than expected
- Reconfiguration costs are minimal — both in time and money
- MeshCore’s architecture directly addresses many of the issues we planned to solve through custom Meshtastic modifications
The result was a noticeable shift in the room: curiosity turned into genuine excitement about what MeshCore could bring to the Capital Region.
🔄 Connecting Back to December’s Work
In December, we explored three possible paths — reforming Meshtastic, moving to MeshCore, or building custom firmware — and agreed to begin with a Meshtastic‑based prototype while keeping our long‑term options open.
January’s presentations helped refine that picture. MeshCore now appears far more viable than initially assumed, and several attendees expressed interest in experimenting with it alongside the ongoing bridge node enclosure work.
The working groups formed last month will continue developing early prototypes as time allows, but will need to take into account the shift to Meshcore and what it means for interoperability with the wider mesh.
🌱 Growing Community, Growing Momentum
As always, the meetup wrapped with open discussion, project updates, and collaboration plans. The energy in the room reflected a community that’s not just growing in numbers, but in capability and shared vision.
We’re grateful to both presenters for sharing their time and expertise, and to everyone who contributed questions, ideas, and enthusiasm.
We’ll reconvene in February to review node deployment options for Spring and begin developing a multi-layered communication plan for the community. Full details are available on the February 2026 Meetup page.