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nunobrito06/16/20253 repliesview on HN

My suggestion as someone preparing for this kind of stuff since quite a while:

+ Quangsheng UV-K5 + Android phone with 3.5 mm audio jack + APRSdroid installed

Forget about LoRa, that is basically a toy. It is far more useful to have a functioning walkie talkie capable of talking with satellites and other stations at 50 kilometers of range.


Replies

ChrisMarshallNY06/16/2025

The issue with satellite stuff, is that it’s pretty sensitive to active attack. It will be available for things like natural disasters, but not necessarily for war.

In either case, jamming is a possibility.

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bigfatkitten06/16/2025

> Forget about LoRa, that is basically a toy. It is far more useful to have a functioning walkie talkie capable of talking with satellites and other stations at 50 kilometers of range.

You’re not going to reliably get that without terrestrial infrastructure, unless both you and your correspondent are conveniently standing on mountaintops.

5km in the suburbs, maybe. Closer to 500m at street level in an urban environment.

MaKey06/16/2025

You need a ham radio license to send data on APRS frequencies.

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