When the usual networks fail
Cell towers go down, power goes out, and much of the backcountry never had service. A mesh of battery and solar powered radios keeps working through all of it.
The radios in this mesh need no tower, no internet and no mains power. Short text messages hop from radio to radio, so a message can get from the edge of town, or from a ridge, to someone who can act on it. That makes it a useful layer of preparedness alongside the things you already rely on.
Search and rescue
Volunteers are interested in how a mesh could support search and rescue. This is a potential use that is being explored, not an established service.
The idea is simple. In an operation, teams in canyons and on ridges are often out of reach of cell service and sometimes out of radio range of each other. Low-power LoRa radios with a few repeaters in good places could carry short status messages and positions back to a base, with no infrastructure to set up first.
Tracking people in the Bighorn National Forest
MeshCore radios can share their position over the mesh. Someone heading into the Bighorn National Forest who carries a radio with GPS, or pairs a radio with a phone, could let a trusted person see where they last were and send a short message when they are within reach of the mesh.
- It is opt-in. Nobody is tracked without choosing to be. You decide whether your radio shares its position, and with whom.
- Coverage is the limit. LoRa needs a path to other radios. In the mountains that means repeaters on high ground, and there will be gaps. Do not assume you are covered anywhere in the forest.
- More repeaters mean more coverage. The best way to make this useful is to put repeaters in good spots. Here is how to help.
Be prepared
- Charge your radio, and carry a battery pack or a small solar panel on longer trips.
- Test your radio and the app at home before you rely on them in the field.
- Check that your radio settings match the rest of the mesh.
- Tell someone your plan and when to expect you back. A radio does not replace that.
- Carry what you would carry anyway: a personal locator beacon or satellite messenger, a map, water, warm layers.
Want to be part of it? Join the mesh