◤ Field Build Guide ◥

BUILD A NODE

Everything you need to build a CicadaTAK mesh radio from off-the-shelf parts — some soldering and assembly finesse required.

Flash Firmware
DUAL-RADIO
HaLow + LoRa comms
1+ mi
Node Range
914 MHz
Unlicensed
802.11ah
HaLow Radio

Want to skip the fiddly 90%? The Builder Kit ships this exact build pre-assembled up to the radios — sled mounted, Pi + HAT seated, loom crimped, bulkheads installed, SD flashed. You add the WM6108 and the Heltec with a screwdriver, about 20 minutes.

// Watch the build
BUILD VIDEO
Coming soon

Full step-by-step assembly walkthrough — soldering, the WM6108 / WM1302 stack, PiSugar power, and GPS & LoRa wiring through first boot.

01 // Parts list
ComponentSource
Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB)Any Pi 4 Model B—
microSD Card (64 GB)Class 10 / A1 — the firmware image is flashed to it; the offline-map tile store grows to fill the card—
Seeed WM1302 Pi HATmini-PCIe carrier HAT for the HaLow moduleSeeed ↗
Seeed WM6108 HaLow ModuleWi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) mini-PCIe — the mesh radioSeeed ↗
Heltec V3 LoRa BoardMeshtastic LoRa bridgeAmazon ↗
PiSugar 3 Plus UPSUninterruptible power / battery managementAmazon ↗
3.7 V 10,000 mAh 1160100 LiPo BatteryPouch cell w/ PH 2.0 plug + protection board — powers the node through the PiSugar UPS. Runtime-validated ~7 h at full dual-radio load. Max pack size 60 × 110 × 13 mm (pouch cells only — cylindrical packs don't fit); skip "15000 mAh" no-name packs, they measure ~40% of labelAmazon ↗
u-blox GT-U7 GPS (USB) — optionalOptional: the radio HAT has onboard GPS (the default — just plug the GPS antenna into the HAT). Add a USB u-blox only if you want a second GPS source; when plugged in, the node uses it automaticallyAmazon ↗
FILN 12 mm Momentary Push Button5–24 V momentary switchAmazon ↗
Micro-USB → USB-A cable, 5 cmModel AMUP-V8ST — GPS to PiAliExpress ↗
USB-C → USB-A cable, 10 cmModel AMUP-CMST — Heltec to PiAliExpress ↗
JST 2.0 2-Pin ConnectorsMale & female pair — 2-pin wiringAmazon ↗
USB-C Panel-Mount CouplerUSB 3.1 flush-mount pass-through — the enclosure’s external power/data portAmazon ↗
USB-C 90° Flat Cable (75 mm)Dual right-angle USB 2.0, PD 65 W — internal jumper, coupler → PiAmazon ↗
IPEX U.FL → SMA Female CableAntenna pigtail for the HaLow moduleAmazon ↗
BNC Antenna ConnectorsAntenna connectorsAmazon ↗
900 MHz AntennaYour choice — Rokland Meshtac Gooseneck, ZBM2 Mesh Whip / Gooseneck, or Gotak Mesh Gooseneck all perform well—
GPS AntennaExternal GPS antenna — we run the ZBM2 GPS Stubby for a rugged bulkhead mount (the GT-U7 also ships with a basic active antenna)—
Enclosure3D-printed or off-the-shelf project box—
02 // Assembly
  1. Flash the microSD card with the CicadaTAK firmware image.See the download page for download and instructions.
  2. Seat the WM6108 HaLow module in the WM1302 Pi HAT's mini-PCIe slot, then mount the HAT on the Pi's 40-pin header.Run the IPEX U.FL → SMA pigtail from the module out to your 900 MHz antenna.
  3. Stack the PiSugar 3 Plus UPS and connect the 10,000 mAh battery.The PiSugar powers the Pi and keeps it up during battery swaps.
  4. Connect the Heltec V3 LoRa board to the Pi with the short USB-C → USB-A cable.Flash it with Meshtastic first; the node then bridges LoRa alerts and positions onto the mesh.
  5. Attach the GPS antenna to the radio HAT — the HAT has a built-in GPS receiver; its GPS U.FL feeds the GPS antenna feedthrough.Optional: plug a u-blox USB GPS into the Pi instead — the node auto-detects it and switches over; unplug it and the node falls back to the onboard GPS.
  6. Wire the momentary push button and insert the flashed microSD card.
  7. Mount everything in the enclosure, route the antenna outside, and power on.Keep the antenna as high and clear as possible for best range. The node boots in about 60 seconds.
  8. Check the GPS antenna outdoors before you call the build done.A GPS antenna whose connector is not fully seated still reports "antenna OK" and receives nothing. On firmware 0.23.0 and later the node checks itself: take it outside under open sky, connect over SSH, and run /opt/cicadatak/gps-survey.sh --qa -e outdoors. It takes about five minutes. PASS means satellites are really being received. FAIL — zero satellites in view means reseat the GPS antenna connector and run it again.
03 // Wire the Ethernet port

Optional, but worth it. An M12 8-pin bulkhead gives the node a weatherproof gigabit Ethernet port — plug in a laptop, or a router or Starlink to give the whole mesh internet. Outside the case it takes an off-the-shelf M12-to-RJ45 cable; inside, the bulkhead's eight wires end in an ordinary RJ45 plug that you crimp yourself. This is the order that works:

M12 to RJ45 Ethernet punch-down order RJ45 pins 1 to 8, left to right with the latch tab down: pin 1 pink (from M12 pin 6), pin 2 yellow (from M12 pin 4), pin 3 gray (from M12 pin 5), pin 4 blue (from M12 pin 7), pin 5 white (from M12 pin 1), pin 6 red (from M12 pin 8), pin 7 brown (from M12 pin 2), pin 8 green (from M12 pin 3). Twisted pairs are 1+2, 3+6, 4+5 and 7+8. M12 → RJ45 ETHERNET · PUNCH-DOWN ORDER Wiring the node's weatherproof Ethernet port: eight wires from the round M12 plug into an ordinary RJ45. CICADATAK cicadatak.com/build M12 PLUG looking at the pins 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pictures rotate. The numbers molded into YOUR plug are the truth — match those. RJ45 PLUG seen from above 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Latch tab underneath, gold contacts on top, pin 1 on the LEFT. PUNCH-DOWN ORDER fan the wires into the RJ45 in this order, left to right 1 PINK from M12 pin 6 2 YELLOW from M12 pin 4 3 GRAY from M12 pin 5 4 BLUE from M12 pin 7 5 WHITE from M12 pin 1 6 RED from M12 pin 8 7 BROWN from M12 pin 2 8 GREEN from M12 pin 3 TWISTED PAIRS 1+2 · 3+6 · 4+5 · 7+8 — keep each pair twisted together until the last 5 mm (¼ in) Colors are the DIN 47100 set (CERRXIAN M12→RJ45 cable; pink can look violet). Different colors on yours? Go by the M12 pin numbers.
  1. 1PinkM12 pin 6
  2. 2YellowM12 pin 4
  3. 3GrayM12 pin 5
  4. 4BlueM12 pin 7
  5. 5WhiteM12 pin 1
  6. 6RedM12 pin 8
  7. 7BrownM12 pin 2
  8. 8GreenM12 pin 3
Download PNGPrintable versionSVG
  1. Strip about an inch of jacket off the bulkhead's pigtail. Keep each twisted pair twisted; untwist only the last ¼ inch.The pairs are 1+2, 3+6, 4+5 and 7+8 in the order above.
  2. Fan the eight wires flat, left to right, in the order shown — pink, yellow, gray, blue, white, red, brown, green.Hold the RJ45 with the latch tab down and the gold contacts facing you: pin 1 is on the left.
  3. Slide them into a pass-through RJ45 and crimp. Before you squeeze, check that every color reaches the tip in its own slot.Wire colors differ between brands. If yours don't match the picture, go by the M12 pin numbers — pin 6 to slot 1, pin 4 to slot 2, and so on down the strip.
04 // First boot setup
  1. The node boots and creates a WiFi network named CicadaTak-XXXX
  2. Connect your phone to the CicadaTak WiFi network
  3. Open the CicadaTAK app — it detects the setup network and launches the wizard
  4. Enter your callsign, WiFi password, and team passphrase
  5. The node reboots and joins the mesh. Reconnect to its new WiFi name.
05 // Notes

No SSH, no command line, no web interfaces — the app handles all configuration.

Need internet on the mesh? Plug an ethernet cable from a router, hotspot, or Starlink into any node. The entire mesh gets internet automatically.

The Heltec V3 LoRa board bridges Meshtastic alerts and positions onto the mesh — extending reach beyond HaLow range to the wider Meshtastic ecosystem.

06 // Pi Imager custom repo

Add CicadaTAK directly to the Raspberry Pi Imager OS selection:

$ rpi-imager --repo https://cicadatak.com/images.json

This adds "CicadaTAK" to the OS menu with description and version info.

07 // Need help?

Check the support page for troubleshooting, or email info@cicadatak.com.

Flash Firmware Support & FAQ