Text Messages After the Towers Die
Meshtastic can carry short messages without mobile service or internet. Learn how to build and test a local Canadian network, check equipment compliance, protect private channels and plan for failed connections.
-
-
What Information Can You Still Trust?
A road report, water warning, or supply tip can be honest and dangerously outdated. Learn how to record, verify, expire, and correct information during a prolonged outage.
-
Keeping Your Radio Station Powered
Keep your portable amateur radio station running off grid. Size batteries and solar charging for the transceiver, amplifier, antenna tuner, digital interface and laptop, with realistic power budgets and cold-weather planning.
-
The Last Mile
The final kilometres to a retreat can be the most dangerous. Build a communications plan covering checkpoints, radio windows, authentication, duress codes and controlled arrival procedures before an emergency forces you to improvise.
-
How to Get Your Amateur Radio Certificate in Canada in 2026
From first lesson to your first call sign Buying an amateur radio is easy. Building a legal and dependable communications capability is harder. A handheld radio ordered online does not make someone an amateur-radio operator. It does not teach them how to choose a frequency, reach a repeater, control interference, connect an antenna or pass…
-
The Human Courier Still Matters
When Radio Is Not Enough Modern communications have trained us to expect instant contact. We send a message, watch for the reply and assume that silence means something has gone wrong. That expectation disappears quickly in a long-term collapse. Cellular networks may be gone. Internet service may exist only in memory. Radio equipment can fail,…
-
HF Where Antennas Are Forbidden
Building a discreet, transmit-capable HF station when apartment walls, limited space and ridiculous property rules work against you The conventional HF station has a tower, a beam and enough property for long wire antennas. That is a fine arrangement—if you own the land, have the space and are permitted to use it. Many Canadian operators…
-
Build a Low-Power Message Network
How short transmissions, relay points, couriers, drop boxes, and disciplined schedules can keep a group connected when normal communications are gone Most prepper communication plans are too fragile because they depend on one thing working. A cell phone. A repeater. A handheld radio. A group chat. A Starlink terminal. A single person with a ham…
-
Your Group Is Too Small To See The Whole Threat
A regional prepper net gives isolated groups a wider field of view after the grid, supply chain, and public order have failed A stocked retreat can still be blind. That is one of the hardest truths in long-term preparedness. A group can have food, water, tools, seed, livestock, medical supplies, trained people, backup power, and…
-
The Ham Radio Licence Question
Why serious preppers should understand both the power and the tradeoffs of getting on the air Most preppers approach emergency communications backwards. They buy the radio first. They watch a few videos. They load a handful of frequencies into a handheld, toss it into a Faraday bag or emergency bin, and tell themselves they now…
