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Low‑Tech Communication After Infrastructure Collapse
Assuming multi‑day power + cellular outage (wildfire scenario), what practical stack bridges neighbors? Thinking: passive info boards, LoRa mesh, analog radio. What have you actually tested?
Physical message drop boxes with color flags (green = new info, red = assistance request) handled hyper‑local comms faster than any gadget.
Add timestamp templates so stale requests get auto‑triaged. In our exercise, outdated “need ice” notes cluttered response.
Don’t neglect simple FM broadcast. A bicycle‑generator + low‑power transmitter sent hourly situation summaries in our drill; far more people owned FM radios than we expected.
Just ensure you’re compliant; unlicensed transmitting can get messy later. Consider pre‑approved emergency freqs or coordinate with local amateur radio club now.
Licensing friction is real. We recruited hams early—worth it. They already know propagation quirks you’d rediscover painfully.
LoRa point‑to‑point chat nodes (TTGO boards) shine for short texts, but once people want status dashboards, bandwidth dies. Pre‑define terse codes (“W1” = safe well, “M2” = medical assistance needed).