Build yourself a radio ‘Go-Bag’ of software and hardware using the tools listed here
Well, let’s build several kits. One small one for phones is mainly what I want to focus on for this particular radio go-bag page, a kit that will be small and extremely useful for complete offline use. However, it would be wise to have a second extended kit with as many other essentials as you can stuff in there, including laptops, HF radios and more. We’ll address those in much more detail on another page, but here we are using handheld VHF/UHF radio, an Android phone and Meshtastic. If you have something like Beartooth mesh devices, those would be highly useful as well to add to this kit.
Additionally, my goal is to have at least four complete kits, that way in an emergency, I can hand out a kit to someone I wish to communicate with offline. Your needs and budget will vary of course, but the more kits you develop, the more robust network you will have.
With this kit, we can send voice, text or any type of document over the radio as well as track aircraft and many other cool and useful things, even real time location sharing.
Hardware to build your Radio Go-Bag:
Pixel phone running GrapheneOS
Meshtastic device of choice
Baofeng or similar handheld radio (UV-5R, UV-82HP and AR-152 models are very popular)
Radio Antennas, Power Cables, Batteries, Programming Cables, etc
SDR Dongle and adapter, various antennas as desired (RTL2832U/R820T2 is a perfect beginner)
OTG Adapters for transferring data
USB Drive (Kingston or SanDisk are my preferred brands)
Earbuds and/or Headphone cable with audio to USB-C adapter
20,000MAh USB Battery Pack or similar
USB Charging Cables and 110v/12v adapters
Software for the GrapheneOS phone:
(keep copies of all of these on the USB stick)
Airguard (detects AirTags and other Find My Devices)
AndFLmsg (Also download the User Manuals)
Auxio (Music/Audio Player)
Briar (messenger app but works peer to peer offline short distance)
Clinometer (use Aurora Store to download)
Collabora (edit Office Docs) (Desktop version) (Android Version)
Cryptomator (File Encryption)
EDS Lite (File Encryption for VeraCrypt)
Fossify Voice Recorder, Calendar
KeePassDX (Password Manager software)
Kiwix (Viewing .ZIM files)
Note taking application (Fossify Notes, Standard Notes, etc)
Open Video Editor for Android
PDF Converter (Image to PDF)
RadioDroid (FM Radio using Headphones)
Sayboard (Voice to Text)
SDRangel (ADS-B Aircraft tracking) (Android and Desktop versions)
Software for computer (or at least keep on USB stick):
Any other software required for your particular radio (EZ-Scan, RT Systems, TYT CPS, Icom CS-800D, Yaesu ADMS, Kenwood ARCP, PseudoWire, DMR Programming Tools, Ham Radio Delux, FreeScan, ScanCat Lite, etc)
Documentation can be lifesaving:
Have appropriate documentation and user manuals for your kit-for your radio, meshtastic, and any other software or hardware in your kit. Also build yourself cheat sheets for things like frequency/channel lists, or guides on adjusting settings on your radio, etc. Store copies of this on your USB stick for easy quick access.
Baofeng UV-82HP Handheld VHF/UHF Radio
Meshtastic
