Skip to content

docs: clarify first byte key collision behavior in FAQ #1478

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Closed
lpiob wants to merge 3 commits into from
Closed

docs: clarify first byte key collision behavior in FAQ #1478

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
3 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
93ee601
docs: clarify first byte key collision behavior in FAQ
lpiob Jan 25, 2026
63db895
docs: more clarification on colliding bytes best practice
lpiob Feb 9, 2026
a9ba82f
Update faq.md
lpiob Mar 5, 2026
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
5 changes: 4 additions & 1 deletion docs/faq.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -279,8 +279,11 @@ Reboot the repeater after `set prv.key <hex>` command for the new private key to

### 3.6. Q: The first byte of my repeater's public key collides with an exisitng repeater on the mesh. How do I get a new private key with a matching public key that has its first byte of my choosing?

**A:** You can generate a new private key and specific the first byte of its public key here: https://gessaman.com/mc-keygen/
**A:** You can generate a new private key and specify the first byte of its public key here: <https://gessaman.com/mc-keygen/>.

Having multiple repeaters with the same first byte ID does not negatively affect the mesh or its functionality. Flood and pathed packets will still reach their destinations. First byte ID collision makes traceroute and path analysis harder because these tools don't know exactly which of the two (or more) colliding repeaters is the one in the path.

Best practice is when you set up a new repeater, choose a public key that is not in use. If it is not possible to find a unique first byte for your repeater's public key, choose one that is unique within about 10 miles (16 km) to minimize collision with nearby repeaters.

### 3.7. Q: My repeater maybe suffering from deafness due to high power interference near my mesh's frequency, it is not hearing other in-range MeshCore radios. what can I do?

Expand Down