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Weekly net procedures

Some Wednesdays at 21:00, we have try to hold a weekly "net" on the Public channel. We also touch base on our chat channel.

Note

A "net" is a concept borrowed from amateur radio where multiple callers join on the same frequency and time to communicate and collaborate. It's like a meeting, with a moderator taking speaking turns.

The point of hosting "nets" on the mesh is to give a known time window when people can be sure someone is listening on the network to see if they can be heard. We also use it to "stress-test" the mesh, to make sure contacts can still be made reliably, and welcome new people.

Finally, it's a useful metric to keep track of the growth of the mesh.

Net Control Guide

On each Wednesday at 21:00 local, send those two messages:

Bienvenue au Réseau Libre! Vous pouvez vous signaler avec: "Allo, ici NOM à ENDROIT" Je réponds à tous les messages reçus!

Welcome to Réseau Libre net! Every Wednesday, you can check-in with: "Hello, this is NAME at LOCATION" I will acknowledge all checkins

You can resend those messages a couple of times at, say, one to five minute intervals, as sometimes messages don't reach out immediately.

Respond to every check-in that you receive and include their name and location:

Net Control in LOCATION received check-in by NAME.

It may feel redundant to include names in the messages, but this ensures all parties have the node name available. Node lists typically only remember the 100 most recent node names and this is easy to exceed in high mesh-density areas.

At the end of the net, check out with:

Net Control checking out after N contacts.

And then send your results to the chat channel (list of who was heard, their location, your location), ideally updating the log below.

If no one else is doing it and you're there, you're it, you can call the net.

While you're there, review the node count in the How many nodes in the network? FAQ.

Net control log

We keep track of past nets here.

2026-06-17

time call sign location hops
21:00 Oots Villeray 3
21:02 Cédric La Prairie 6
21:02 Erik Vieux Longueuil 2
21:03 Mad Jap Marieville 3
21:05 SbMo Mile End 3-4
21:07 Johnputer 4
21:10 VE2XJS Delson 5
21:11 VariaLFliP Saint-Laurent 5
21:13 Carlitos Sainte-Julie 4
21:13 Daniel Saint-Jean 3
21:15 Normand Saint-Hubert 3
21:15 VE2IES Verdun 3
21:22 Stef Longueuil 2-3
21:41 Massimo Greenfield Park 5

Longueuil repeater VE2RSM came online and drastically improved hop counts and coverage on the south shore.

Observed:

2026-06-10

Largest net so far, again:

time call sign location
21:00 oots Villeray
21:00 uconsole -VE2CKK Longueuil
21:00 K836 Petite-Patrie
21:01 anarcat Petite-Italie
21:02 VA2SM Candiac
21:02 Carlitos Sainte-Julie
21:03 MadJap Marieville
21:04 MeshCourte Villeray
21:07 VE2CL La Prairie
21:20 DIR Hochelaga Hochelaga
21:36 FoxRook Laval

Usual host was late, SbMo took the above check-ins, then anarcat tried to pick up again, only to rehash mostly the same people needlessly. :)

The Marieville record still holds, but we beat the number of participants record (11, previously 7).

Observed:

2026-05-27

Largest net so far:

time call sign location
21:01 K386 Petite-Patrie
21:01 Arthur Villeray
21:03 LobbyCycliste Centre-Sud
21:05 1D19F8FD Mercier
21:05 Mad Jap Marieville
21:12 Guillaume Rosemont
21:13 SbMo Mile-end

Operated from anarcat3, a WisMesh pocket companion operated from the Meshy app, and anarcat1, a T-Echo companion operated from the Meshcore Open app, connected to YUL-Little-Italy, a SenseCAP P1. The original hop counts published here were from the Meshcore open app which has a bug displaying multi-byte messages, and have been removed.

Observed:

This net broke essentially all previous records:

  • distance (Marieville, 58.14km)
  • participants (7)
  • number of repeaters (54!), etc

2026-05-20

  • 4 contacts:
  • Rivière-des-Prairies
  • Villeray
  • Petite-Patrie
  • Brossard

2026-05-13

21:26, one contact (K386, Petite Patrie).

2026-04-15

Last Meshtastic net.

First Meshcore net.

No contact on either.

2026-03-25

Meshtastic. 22:52. One contact: "DIR Rooftop", unclear (just the string "2️⃣"), no location.