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Connecting to MQTT sources… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Configure a MeshCore observer node to publish packet data to the Chicago Mesh MQTT broker. Your node's data will appear in the matrix above and feed into CoreScope, Live Map, and Health Check.
What's an observer? An observer is a MeshCore node running firmware that captures packets heard over LoRa radio and publishes them to an MQTT broker over WiFi. It's like a packet sniffer for the mesh — you don't need to be a repeater or route traffic, just listen and report.
Flash the Chicagoland firmware — all MQTT brokers, radio settings, and IATA region are baked in. Just add WiFi and identity.
*-merged.bin for your board from the latest release# Set identity
set name MyObserver
# Configure WiFi
set wifi.ssid YourNetworkName
set wifi.pwd YourPassword
# Set location (find yours at latlong.net)
set lat 41.8781
set lon -87.6298
# Apply and reboot
rebootNote: mqtt.iata is pre-set to ORD (Chicago) in the Chicagoland firmware — you do not need to set it manually. MQTT brokers and radio parameters are also baked in.
If you're running stock MeshCore firmware (not chioff-flex), you can point it at our plain TCP broker manually:
set mqtt.server mqtt.chicagooffline.com
set mqtt.port 1883
set mqtt.iata ORD
rebootmqtt.chicagooffline.com:1883mqtt.iata ORD manually with stock firmware — it's only auto-set in the Chicagoland buildIf you're running meshcore-packet-capture (mctomqtt) on a Raspberry Pi or similar, it can bridge packets from a USB-connected node to the MQTT broker — no observer firmware needed.
# TCP (production)
mctomqtt --broker mqtt://mqtt.chicagooffline.com:1883 --topic meshcore/ORD
# WSS (dev — requires WS support in mctomqtt)
mctomqtt --broker wss://wsmqtt.chicagooffline.com/mqtt --topic meshcore/ORDAfter configuring and rebooting, confirm your node is connected:
[MQTT] Connectedget wifi.status, check DNS, confirm port 1883 isn't blockedmeshcore/ORD/<pubkey>/packets), check your public key with get public.keyver