I think I'm going to have to go against the norm here and come out as anti bitchat.
Correct me if I got any points wrong.
A billionaire made a "mesh" chat app marketed as independent of the internet.
The range of the mesh is absolutely fucking useless so they added internet chat so you don't uninstall immediately.
The gimmick mesh with useless range means you must keep precise location enabled at all times. This isn't just coordinates but also the ability to log every bluetooth device nearby you.
The major news media keeps writing articles about how downloads of it spike after the internet is shut off in a country. (Think about this for 30 seconds please)
How am I the first person to say this looks like a honeypot? Uninstalled.
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Replies (131)
My desk is... Not great. If I push some stuff around I can make room to use my mouse.
Just never hear of an obfuscated code contest?
Seriously, most coders can't even figure out what shit they wrote does after not touching it for 6 months. Now I'm supposed to learn a new language and fully understand someone else who may have been trying to mislead me in that language I just learned.
This advice is so BS and I'm sick of seeing it. It is not a valid defense of an open source app or a rebuttal to anything I said.
View quoted note →
But the app still has access to every bluetooth mac around you full time and anyone on any device can pin that to a highly probable gps for a data aggregator.
I was talking about the device permissions it asks for. You are either confused or trying to be misleading.
This
What desk lmfao… it was supposed to be attached to the wall so I took up less space… 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 now it’s in a box somewhere 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
If you wanted to take the bitcoiners most concerned about decentralization out of the conversation how would you do it?
A way of segregating themselves in their own little corner, without having them make a fuss. That way the govt and big finance could more easily control the narrative, and implement things like ETFs and government Bitcoin reserves, while their voices are confined within a little bubble with no reach. All the while they could remain confident how free they were, while still being surveiled, all their communications being in the open, and signed to their identity with a cryptographic key.
🤔
Build your own cage for your captors right..
I'm not advocating for it's use. I just see a lot of paranoia with no facts. It would be nice to see some actual data, that's all.
What I describe there is Nostr.
Yes I know that…
Looks like a movie scene but it is not. I have a problem now with my ZBD wallet and all my sats I earned on free Idle games on my phone. Since EU 2026 new laws ZBD is asking for my digital id. I didn’t do it yet because it against my vision. The issue is my stack of sats there I am probably going to loose. I am upset I didn’t transfer it before 2026. Basically what they did is give you rewards then they hook you up on the system and if you are not strong enough and well informed you give away all your liberty. Thx for the video.
Interesting that a lot of big npubs push Nostr only, getting people to leave other platforms and use Nostr exclusively.
You mean influencers…
I don't have the skills to audit the code. The things I do have the skills to see look bad. I know some who follow me don't even have those skills.
Should I just keep my mouth shut? Without a formal code audit by professionals what I've posted is the best we've got.
I made it a point to state facts before drawing the conclusion I arrived at by those facts. My facts may not be a red handed line of code but they are still facts.
this 40$ camping folding table I have has some serious unfolded miles on it 😂 "it's only temporary structure" 😂
🤣🤣🤣
OK, explain how that impacts the use cases of camping or hiking with others?
You're in the middle of nowhere with, presumably, people you trust, and if you're intelligent, you're armed and observant, so what's the issue in those use cases?
Perhaps it is less useful than I suggested if one is trying to pitch a no-hitter, so to speak, in terms of OpSec. To be fair, you overstate your case when you say "anyone can...". A disturbingly huge percentage of people can't even swipe a credit card through a point of sale credit card machine with the correct orientation on their first try. To your point, however, such incompetent people aren't who you're worried about.
The billionaire that created a social media platform that censored lots of people and cooperated with the feds? The one that created a hardware wallet that prevents any possibility of privacy?
I’m not anti-bitchat but also uninstalled it after the first week. Nothing wrong with experimenting. We need better tools.
"A disturbingly huge percentage of people can't even swipe a credit card through a point of sale credit card machine with the correct orientation on their first try."
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I suppose. My point is that Nostr itself could be a much larger honeypot than a little used Bluetooth chat app.
I’ll agree with that
The cyberpunk wannabes on Nostr want you to believe they cool and not useless morons.
FM on 2M hamm, AM on CB. I see newer CB radios with FM (dual band) but I havent messed with it.
But all of those use cases are better suited for my voice and hearing sense. Bluetooth at crowded locations further shortens the range to the point id have to be within speaking range. If I was at a campground a wifi hotspot mode its probably even better suited (or ad-hoc wifi network on android devices).
Most of these cases make no sense unless your scared to speak with other humans.
They don't need to know how to do shit. Their incompetence is the real key. Their phone is probably already constantly uploading gps and every visible Bluetooth mac to half a dozen data brokers because they don't have any opsec. All it takes is walking by something you walked by.
That may be fine in the woods but why keep that app around for that when there are better options that don't have the opsec risk it has?
The switch to FM is what I was referring to.
On CB? I'm sorry. I dont think I understand what you mean.
> You're in the middle of nowhere with, presumably, people you trust, and if you're intelligent, you're armed and observant, so what's the issue in those use cases?
In what case would I pull out my smartphone to speak with people within 100 feet of me though? I've never hiked with people far enough apart that we can't shout to each-other.
Still more private and secure to not have the smartphone on me at all.
Now do Nostr:
- funded by the same billionaire
- anyone who uses it exclusively has their reach to communicate on the Internet cut down by several orders of magnitude, confined to a small echo chamber.
- gets featured in the mass media anytime a social platform has censorship issues.
If you wanted to take the bitcoiners most concerned about decentralization out of the conversation how would you do it?
A way of segregating themselves in their own little corner, without having them make a fuss. That way the govt and big finance could more easily control the narrative, and implement things like ETFs and government Bitcoin reserves, while their voices are confined within a little bubble with no reach. All the while they could remain confident how free they were, while still being surveiled, all their communications being in the open, and signed to their identity with a cryptographic key.
🤔
View quoted note →
TOX!!!
I could see like on a college campus, or like a dense apartment building, but even then you'd probably use other apps, or go knock on your neighbor's door if the network is down. That said, even college campus have close circuit networks with redundancy, and we all have cell service. So a lot would have to go wrong, and again to the part where I go knock on the door of my neighbor.
I think I'm simply calling it a novelty and nothing else.
ohhh, good point, I thought it would bridge to the geo relays but... maybe not eh? I can test it while i still haven't un-installed 😂 the ephemeral event thing is kinda neat, and that's just raw nostr stuff. i have mine set to c2, 600 second expiry
Hunting and bird watching come to mind. Yelling to your buddy that there’s a deer heading in the direction of the blind he’s sitting in is probably gonna spook the deer.
There are use cases.
Yeah I don't use the bitchat app itself, I don't care about the mesh stuff. Nym is much better for the ephemeral chat anyways.
I don't disagree but at least I have the ability to shut off those sketch permissions and attempt my shitty opsec with nostr. Bitchat is almost impossible to use privately which is the opposite of its marketing.
I never really used those other social platforms. This is probably the biggest reach I've ever had on any social under any name and this specifically is probably my biggest post ever for engagement.
Nym posting or not the app has location and network at all times if you follow the install instructions. Thats not really nym once you go home with it installed.
Nym.bar is a totally separate web app, with no mesh or location features at all. It uses the Nostr ephemeral chat system.
agree
Never heard of it or tried it before. Definitely not what I was criticizing because I don't know enough about it to say anything.
#Bitchat needs #Reticulum (#meshtastic or #LoRa). They compliment one another. Bitchat can work on the device already in your hand via Bluetooth, but Bitchat lacks range (silly to text chat with the person 20 feet away). Reticulum requires special hardware & skills (99% of people will not buy specialized hobbyist geek hardware), but Reticulum has range. They complement one another. "MeshCore" just came out to bring them together. See it here:
I theorized on the concept last summer: 

npub1m2mvvpjugwdehtaskrcl7ksvdqnnhnjur9v6g9v266nss504q7mqvlr8p9 on Nostr
Short Text Note by npub1m2…lr8p9
🌐 Bridging Bitchat + MeshCore: Resilient communication when infrastructure fails
Bitchat = Bluetooth mesh on phones you already have (~100m ran...
Stacker News
Bitchatr \ stacker news
Quick background Bitchat popped up when Jack Dorsey put out this: https://x.com/jack/status/1941989435962212728 It's a chat client that connects pe...
🌐 Bridging Bitchat + MeshCore: Resilient communication when infrastructure fails
Bitchat = Bluetooth mesh on phones you already have (~100m range)
MeshCore = LoRa long-range mesh (km+ with cheap hardware)
The bridge connects them. Your phone talks to the city-wide mesh network.
Perfect for disasters, protests, internet shutdowns.
Code: https://github.com/jooray/MeshCore/tree/feature/bitchat-bridge
Releases: https://github.com/jooray/MeshCore/releases
Read more: https://juraj.bednar.io/en/blog-en/2026/01/18/bridging-bitchat-and-meshcore-resilient-communication-when-you-need-it-most/

View quoted note →

the real elephant in the room is does it even work? 😂
where are the boots on the ground, download counts does not equal success.
The note I replied to claims the rules for CB have not changed, but they have.
Sure, you don't need to grovel for permission; but there are plenty of other complications due to the addition of, and possible migration to, FM.
Buying a CB radio is no longer a straight-forward process (if you plan on communicating with other CB users in your region).
@calle is it possible to make these permissions toggleable? Is there a technical reason for them to be absolutely necessary?
I think I see. Can you elaborate on the complications and process?
I am under the impression that something nearing 0-2 enforcement actions have been taken on CB operators in the last 30+ years.
And these were for prolonged, amplified interference on popular channels (like 19) and only after several complaints were made and FCC warnings were ignored.
Specialized hardware for Reticulum?
Any ethernet device
Almost all WiFi-based hardware
LoRa using RNode
Packet Radio TNCs
KISS-compatible hardware and software modems
Any device with a serial port
TCP over IP networks
UDP over IP networks
External programs via stdio or pipes
Custom hardware via stdio or pipes
Reticulum Network
Please answer these questions, as I may be over complicating the issue.
Which type of CB should they buy?
What type of antenna?
Should they have two antennas, one for FM and one for AM?
If some of these questions lead to other questions, it's already more complicated than buying a CB rig before the FCC added FM.
Just throwing hambook.org out there as well. I bought a hard copy to have around, but the online version is free.
Hamstudy.org, hambook.org, exam.tools, and signalstuff.com are all the same folks. All excellent.
To be fair they greatly increased the privacy of the wallet recently……
Android requires location permission for Bluetooth low energy because it could be used to detect your location via nearby devices. Android requirement.
Same antennae, FM vs AM. You dont have to use FM, so buying a dual band radio is up to you.
FM may be clearer, but won't go as far.
Cobra LTD 29 has always been the most popular radio. Now you can buy them with dual band.
Wilson 2000 is a popular antenna.
Amethyst also has some basic support for ephemeral chats. It would be cool to have that built into more clients, plus a way to easily run your own relay focusing on them over Tor. IRC style communications over Nostr.
Now, if I was a newbie the "... is up to you ..." yields more questions. There are physical differences, which you mentioned, and practical ones (what are other in his region using). Again, my point was that the rules have changed, and as a result, there is more to consider.
The decentralisation is the mesh nodes. Be it Meshtastic (closed) or MeshCore(open). It’s just a matter of time for you not to use Netscape.
“Never give up, Never give in”
Thankbyou for sharing your experience with us.
Because you're already aware of what is happening in the world, you have distance yourself just in time,
unfortunately there are too many people who think:
(*) "Why not?" or using the excuse
(*) "they can have my information, because I have nothing to hide"
In reality, they don't know or understand what people can do when they have enough personal information, bad actors can do many things with personal information +new tech.
In short, people like you and me world wide we are not the masses🔎,
the masses give all their "personal" information to many companies without thinking or trying to learn about the hidden dangers 😮💨 😓😓😓
OK. I guess I thought we were talking about fcc/government rules. Which haven't changed.
If anyone was truly curious, they should probably buy dual band and use them both to see whats what. AM is by far more popular still, but may change.
I am honest I have 34k sats on it and even if for my vision of the future they are a lot ( I am saving for my kids) I decided to delete all the apps were I was earning free sats. More time to shitpost here on #nostr were I feel you get rewarded fairly for the value you bring to the community 🔥💪🚀
That's the first book recommended by the ap on hamstudy, so went with it. Online version free, yes, and I think they charge 10 bucks for an "offline" version. Kinda want a physical version for some reason, but gonna see how long I stick with it before doing that.
Ummm you're not the first, but that's ok that my initial posts have been forgotten. That shit raised my alarms straight away.
I'm not a Bitchat user or fanboy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it open source? Is it actually logging Bluetooth devices or just scanning and connecting to form a mesh? Is it uploading logs? Is it uploading GPS data?
Accidentally posted this under another comment:
I'm not a Bitchat user or fanboy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it open source? Is it actually logging Bluetooth devices or just scanning and connecting to form a mesh? Is it uploading logs? Is it uploading GPS data?
I was slacking looking at it at all. Good eye to spot the sketch. I saw another wave of hype and finally looked, it didn't stay on my phone long.
Open source and audited are not the same thing. Even audits miss things. Obfuscated code is an issue also.
Someone interested should do a packet capture to start. For me, it isn't worth the risk chat apps that look less sketchy are easy to find.
It's all available to be audited. An audit will most likely notice obfuscated code.
Packet capture doesn't help if the data is encrypted, even with just SSL/TLS.
I like Briar, but it's not really useful for public communication in a grid down event like Bitchat or Meshtastic are. What else is there for that?
@GHOST what are your thoughts on the privacy aspects of BitChat?
Reticulum.
Anything remotely location based + Bitcoin related = 🚩
And Bluetooth.
I only rarely use Bluetooth and those events are only when I'm physically remote enough to guarantee security.
No signer support, paste nsec only. Fuck that, I'm out.
I've never run bitchat at home because of this screen. Why force me to turn accurate location services on? 🚩
I have bitchat installed on the offchance that it may be entertaining if not useful in the future. Location services are disabled for it, so I'd have to manually enable them beforehand.
The Bluetooth dream was initially sold to me at university as enabling a decentralised mesh network. Devices just talked to each other & we laughed at any privacy concerns as being insignificant.
I have bitchat installed on the offchance that it may be entertaining if not useful in the future. Location services are disabled for it, so I'd have to manually enable them beforehand.
The Bluetooth dream was initially sold to me at university as enabling a decentralised mesh network. Devices just talked to each other & we laughed at any privacy concerns as being insignificant.It is suspicious indeed. Probably a honeybot. Being open source does not mean much for complex new apps that have not stood the test of time.
Requiring location is an immediate red flag for most apps.
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BEEN CALLING JACK A BAD ACTOR (AND POTENTIAL PEDO) FOR YEARS. TWITTER BECAME FBISTR, FUCK THAT GUY
It is partially because android treats Bluetooth as a location service in permissions. One toggle gps and Bluetooth access for this app yes or no.
It makes sense in the sense that gps and Bluetooth can both be used to determine your physical location. It makes no sense in the sense that I don't want to have to allow gps access to an app to configure my noise cancelling headphones.
It is not freedom tech. It is obedience tech.
Reticulum is awesome. 👍
I will absolutely coach you through the material if you want some practical application stuff. Maybe we need a @Corny Chat ham radio study room. 🤔
It's been a while since I ran Google Android. That sounds like a feature that benefits Google more than users. Fuck Google but I'll keep bitchat installed & locked.
Yeah man. I just need a pretense to hang, the thinnest will do
Besides “made by a billionaire” which I find totally irrelevant, the other points are worth discussing. I too fail to see how it’s useful. But, I don’t see why we need to make a big deal out of it if everyone who tries it just uninstalls it anyway 🤷♂️
Interesting points. Will have to reconsider my location settings.
OK. I concede that by allowing FM, this technically a change in the rules by the governing body.
For clarification, the rule affects the manufacturers of radios, not users, as any user with the capability of switching to FM on their custom CB rig before the rule change, would not have beeen persued or charged with any enforcement action.
The CB band (outside of rules for manufacturers of radios) remains largely unregulated.
Its a free-for-all. With enforcement reserved for the less than once-per-decade extreme situation, like interrupting stations for long periods, causing complaints, ignoring warnings and using high-powered amplification devices to do so.
Umm, Don't worry little bro, they don't need a honeypot to get you.
They're already tracking you 24/7 without bitchat even if it was a honeypot.
If you have Google Chrome, Facebook, Tiktok, or anything from the app store installed you're already being tracked.
At best you can minimize tracking with a faraday bag, graphene os with sideloaded apps, and that's being generous.
If you have a vehicle with modern safety, and GPS features you can be tracked.
And Most of all if you're using Bitcoin, they know EVERYTHING you're spending on the public ledger.
But if you were important/an actual threat you'd already be dead.
So no need to worry honestly.
But if you were important/an actual threat you'd already be dead.
So no need to worry honestly.The Surveillance State/Deep State/Military Industrial Complex is capable of tracking your every move at any time through satellites, your phone, your car, street cameras, locate you inside your house using wi-fi signals bouncing off your body but somehow they can't catch people who molest children 🤔?
They have backdoors to practically every device assembled in The United States.
They have the ability to generate AI videos, and photos, they can alter, and manipulate the truth, and sow disinformation, and misinformation with a powerful propaganda machine.
They also run servers that distribute CSAM.
They are capable of altering people's mindsets, and they potentially exploit mentally ill individuals to carry out attacks for their goals.
And have access to as much money as they need, or want.
Really makes you think what they're prioritizing, keeping Americans safe, or protecting the elite 🤔?
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#FuktheMan ^_^ @micahcmiracle
My concern had nothing to do with getting in trouble, and everything to do with properly onboarding someone into radio.
Giving a newbie partial, or inaccurate, information easily leads to confusion and frustration. That's the last thing you want for someone's first radio experience.
As an aside, the FCC has proven to not be a practical enforcer of their rules. That's been left to old men that want to fox hunt for a real "kill".
I like that last bit.
Still, not to beat a dead horse, but new users dont really need to understand this rule change that was enacted for manufacturers.
But they might want some basic info on the advantages of FM vs AM... which was probably your point.
I dont even know what I'm arguing at this point. You're just the only one responding to any of my notes today. 🤣
They're retired and lonely, so it makes sense. It still seems like an odd desire.
I've been tempted to cheer them up by keying down with my UV-5R, telling them how my spurious emissions are better than theirs, and finishing with roger-beeps.
Maybe I'll do that if I ever retire.
I've got a little VHF/UHF handset. What's a good CB radio? Something that won't break the bank?
Its called craigslist I think.. 😂
From what I understand, the new cool kid im CB radio is President. They have all kinds of models.
Group President Electronics
No Craigslist here unfortunately 😂
I looked on our equivalent but CB radios don't exist apparently. I'll probably buy new.
IMHO, the Cobra 29 LTD is the gold standard. I dunno. A couple hundred bucks new maybe. Then you gotta get an antenna.
And some coax
Buy the best antenna you can afford. It makes a HUGE difference.
I'll 2nd this. Likely the antenna is more important than the radio.
I was going to say that, but sometimes people want to debate that FACT. 😜
Yes, this I know. Thankfully I used to deal with wireless Internet stuff so I have a little bit of knowledge.
My little ham handheld works a lot better thanks to a bigger whip antennae. The difference from the pack in was night and day.
Down another rabbit hole I go 😂
Shopping list: CB radio, 27 MHz antenna ✅
Keep an eye out for cornychat.com/hamitup
So you're just too lazy to read the code and rather shit purely based on vibes? Ok retard. Bitchat is not obfuscated code, it's completely readable swift/kotlin so not understanding it is purely a product of your own incompetence.
💯
This narrative reminds me of past dreams of "living long-term self-sovereign life with only Victorian era technologies". If I was smarter back then, I would quickly figure out why this isn't sustainable way of living for modern world (if ur not lucky gigachad with very healthy initial conditions ofc).
I believe it's been audited
not sustainable as a thing for long-term self-sovereign living
Ooof twisted
grants holders make a huge honeypot. has anyone considered this?
Every single box you mentioned I've already checked. But go ahead, keep trying if you wish.
Oh yeah it’s totally plausible they are
Don't worry, you aren't the first person with infinite time and every skill but still doesn't know what obfuscated code is to post here. Use some of your infinite time and every possible skill to learn about the world view of non developers who have time obligations.
Every single update by every Dev for all eternity is a risk vector in every app. I'm sure you read and fully comprehend every line of code you run including every diff for every update plus rereading old code that may have surprising interactions only when paired with this new commit.
Or you could just say this app is a huge risk with minimal benefit and move on.
Most people I know are really bad about uninstalling unused apps. I know I'm not perfect.
Reminds me of some quote that I'll put in quotes though I'm going off memory, "if you want to bake an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe"
I understand it's versatile, that's great. My point is that most people already have a phone in their hand. I don't think many will go out and get a LoRa device and definitely aren't going to read and follow through technical details for how to get it to work.
🤔😂
The tax accountants for grant holders bitcoiners also have all their kyc data , thats a massive honeypot
Hey we're glad someone's talking about this. We recommended it to some freedom degens in a country in LATAM and they immediately shot it down for the reasons you cited + no faith in the developers for not being degen themselves.
My technical question for all of us on this is, if there is 0 internet and not everyone has a meshtastic/equivalent/radio device, isn't the only other option for one device to relay with another good old fashioned Bluetooth?
This is the only thing that's kept us on the fence with Bitchat, but we're still only cautiously recommending it to frens stuck in dictatorial regimes.
Can you think of other ways than Bluetooth coz the cell towers in the area can't be pinged anymore. Drawing a blank here.
#FreedomTech #PrivacyRefuge
Wifi and reticulum would be my first choice. Reticulum can run on near any hardware link.
Ham is even better, especially for reaching NGOs or other help outside your country but device access and knowledge are barriers.
Planning ahead I would build up reticulum locally with ham for long distances. Message relayers like is already done for things like ARES. Difficult inside once it is too late.
Yes, this is all fine if you're prepping in advance.
1) The problem is most govt ensure pulling the internet is a sudden jolt.
Which is where, should you download Bitchat and switch off all Location and Bluetooth perms, and only switch them on if and when an internet-takedoen happens, it might work well.
2) The problem is IP and location might not be the only trackers. Bluetooth is also a tracker in itself since it emits signals. How does any #FreedomTech app overcome that problem, is that we want to know?
*bitcrap fed app
ip mixRz
F/\/ warpspeed capt kidwarp @kidwarp lFgO BrO*****
What is this? Can you give some more info or is this a typo from your keyboard?
You’ll have to excuse the Rand speaks lol it’s not normal lmfao
Even if you practice ideal opsec possible given the permissions, the range of bitchat is maybe the length of a city block in ideal conditions. I think that is more of a false sense of security than a useful tool. LoRA blows that range out of the water and there is elevated repeater infrastructure in a lot of places, but still most people hear no one on their meshtastic node and ultimately it just goes in a drawer to be forgotten.
You can't fully. If you transmit wirelessly a motivated attacker can foxhunt you. Listeners are all safe from being triangulated which helps.
There are scales of trackable though. Precise location uploaded to the internet to data brokers r us is easier for the state than being forced to come out and foxhunt you personally. Also pay attention to the difference between broadcast type transmissions and handshake type transmissions. A ham radio can be on and never transmit. Many can have transmit disabled to prevent accidents. A Bluetooth, cell, or wifi device always transmits looking for peers the moment you turn it on.
If you need a level of opsec for a threat model where being personally hunted is an issue... Scheduled short checkins from random locations at random times. This is a broadcast not a conversation because of the safety of listeners. A ham foxhunt on 2m takes 2 hours or so depending, pros with better resources will be faster. You need to be able to complete transmission, tear down, and be gone before they can locate and get to you. You also need to be truly random. Keep in mind that from first key-down they have a rough idea of your location that gets more precise over time. Also they have travel time to get to the location they triangulated. This means that not getting caught doesn't mean they didn't know where you were. The implication here is that your random locations can't add up to drawing a 5 mile circle around your base. They also can't repeat because the hunters can stage teams close to known previous transmission sites.
This is awesome, thanks!
Any chance you can go on a similar rant sometime about what this could look like for masses/groups of people? 😅
Example scenario: group of activists or degens + their frens + family = small community of people, with some normies and some degens sprinkled in
Objective: Just comms? 💬
How do they merely communicate with each other without being tracked by the govt/state/insurgent entities?
Buying everyone ham radios 📻 is seeming like quite the uphill task just yet, but agree it will make life easy.
HF is expensive and high skill. Probably best reserved for long range needs. City to city or to get out of the country. This will have to be handled by a dedicated comms guy with skills and knowledge. It isn't like becoming a nuclear physicist but don't expect someone to pick it up and go like a blister pack walkie talkie.
Even for HT style Ham radios are usually expensive and always more complicated. Unless you have ham repeaters they are probably an unnecessary barrier to entry.
Blister pack radios in FRS, GMRS, or MURS are much easier because they are channelized and cheaper than all but baofengs or other Chinese ham radios. FRS and GMRS share frequencies which makes them interoperable. A carefully chosen ham HT can talk and listen on all 3 of those.
Most radios for FRS, GMRS, and MURS will say they offer thousands of "privacy" channels using DCS or CTCSS. That is a lie, disable those tones completely. Those settings deafen you to people who aren't running the same code but by turning it off you can hear everyone no matter what code they use.
All of those are broadcast style services that never transmit unless you key the transmitter. You can listen forever and never have your location triangulated.
Even with those you lose the convenience of phones. Carefully planned transmissions of information coded using manual encryption techniques, think numbers stations, is going to offer the best privacy.
At a certain level of insurgent type situation you have to break the modern always connected bidirectionally mindset. People in the know will broadcast limited critical information to many silent listeners after careful planning only.
Threats are everywhere. The question is what is the oppositions skill and dedication to finding you personally. No amount of care will make you invincible. Remember the Israeli icom supply chain attack?
cut outz*\*ya
Totally. Thanks for this man, will dig in, look up a bunch of terms, take some notes, then look up some of the more easier to buy devices and see if we can buy around 5 devices for a certain radius of frens and fam to start with.
The Israeli pager attack was so simple it was cruelly genius, typical Mossad - effective with gross disregard for life. Then they also let in smartphones into Gaza while they were starving people, so they could replicate the same with all the phones sent in.
Reading your comment I was reminded of the Episode Metalhead from Black Mirror S4E5. That robo dog that is a smaller, sleeker, more lethal and efficient version of Boston Dynamics 'Spot' dog gave me the shudders then, as it does now. Though the efficiency of that device, with the denoting into trackers and such - insane and genius.
Tough times a-coming. We should all be prepping.
When you get some time, you could write the same info you've added in all the comments here, throw em into an editor LLM and publish a #Nostr note on " #FreedomTech for n00bs - what to do when your Nation State takes down your internet" kinda thing. Would be very helpful!
#TheMoreYouKnow #PrivacyRefuge #TechnofeudalRefuge
i need to do sum research to see & know B-4 i care to share here/sry, but IT /\/ a bIT tY* @Pana - Network State of Refuge
cut outs have been used for lots of applications @kidwarp
think sub panel/electricity, like @ home friend