Add a Letsmesh Observer

The Letsmesh map (https://analyzer.letsmesh.net/map) is an excellent resource for real-time mesh monitoring, helping diagnose issues and plan future rollouts. It works by having people run observer nodes, which feed public data into the map.

I'm running an observer in Nampa, which puts most of the Treasure Valley on the letsmesh map, but I'd love to see other areas of the state that are starting to develop meshcore networks run observers so they show up on the map as well. I'd also really love at least one or two more observers in the Boise area, so we get more than just my view of the mesh.

Adding an observer

You can add an observer by visiting the Letsmesh add an observer page. You can add via a repeater, room server, or companion. The only requirement is that the node needs access to Wi-Fi so it can push data to Letsmesh, so it's best for a node with reliable power. My own observer node is a Heltec V3 sitting on a shelf; it doesn't need a great location, as it will hear everything via the repeater on my roof.

Personally, I think the easiest way to run an observer is to flash the Letsmesh repeater firmware. I'll include instructions below. You can also turn off the repeater function if the node doesn't need to be a repeater.

Flashing the Observer Firmware

Start by visiting the letsmesh onboard page, select "repeater" and "Download pre-built firmware." In the Firmware version dropdown, select the "observer-uplink-native-dev" firmware; this is the standard meshcore repeater firmware, but it adds Wi-Fi support and the code required for letsmesh upload.

Once those are selected, pick the device from the dropdown. I'm using a Heltec V3, but several common boards are supported. It will ask you to acknowledge that this firmware is experimental, check the box, and it'll give you download links.

Flash Observer Firmware

The flashing process is the same as usual, except that you will select "custom firmware" in the meshcore web flasher and choose the firmware you just downloaded.

Configure Observer

At this point, you configure the repeater/observer as you usually would. Connect to it, give it a name, and set a password. Once the basic configuration is done, you'll need to go into the console and run a few extra commands to setup the wifi and uplink.

Wifi

Start by configuring the wifi connection

set wifi.ssid your_network_name
set wifi.pwd your_wifi_password

Region

Next, you need to tell letsmesh which region you are in. You do this by setting a valid IATA airport code. If you're anywhere in/near Southwest Idaho, you'll choose BOI; otherwise, look at the list below and choose the most appropriate IATA region.

Region Codes

Code	Coverage Area
BOI	Treasure Valley / Southwest Idaho
GEG	North Idaho / Panhandle
IDA	Eastern Idaho
LWS	Lewis-Clark Valley
SMN	Central Mountains
SUN	Wood River Valley
TWF	Magic Valley

Run the command to set your region

set mqtt.iata BOI

And... that's it. That's all of the required configuration.

Repeater mode?

If you don't need this node to act as a repeater, I'd suggest disabling the repeater functionality by running the following command.

set repeat off

Optional Config

If you want to link your observer to your account on letsmesh, you'll want to give it your email address, the same one you use to log into letsmesh. I do suggest doing this so your observer details and stats show up in your dashboard in letsmesh.

set mqtt.email your_email_address

And finally, you can have your observer on the letsmesh site show who owns it by linking it to your companion node using your companion node's public key. Grab your companion node's public key and set it with this command. This is entirely optional.

set mqtt.owner your_companion_node_public_key

Reboot

You're done! Now you just need to reboot the node, and it should start reporting data to Letsmesh. It will take a few minutes (up to 20 or so) to show up on the letsmesh map. And, if you added your email to the node config, you can see your observer node showing up in "My Nodes" under your account icon in the top right of the page.

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