05-16-2024, 03:28 AM
A rugged case with a battery could be done. LoRa is already available.
As far as longer range radio, what are you looking for? I don't know where you are, but here we have things like MURS, and good old 11m Citizens Band. FRS isn't terrible, either. If those aren't good enough there's always the Amateur Service. The market is rich with devices for all these bands. Sure it would be nice to have everything in one package. But I presume that you could use ESP-NOW on the Pinephone relatively easily. That and a KX-3 plus a VHF/UHF handheld can do a *lot*.
The trouble is getting everyone you know to use it. If it's too expensive nobody will buy it. If it's too cheap they will lose it and forget about it. No matter what you do most people won't bother. They've got SMS and MMS and Twitter and Facebook.
As far as longer range radio, what are you looking for? I don't know where you are, but here we have things like MURS, and good old 11m Citizens Band. FRS isn't terrible, either. If those aren't good enough there's always the Amateur Service. The market is rich with devices for all these bands. Sure it would be nice to have everything in one package. But I presume that you could use ESP-NOW on the Pinephone relatively easily. That and a KX-3 plus a VHF/UHF handheld can do a *lot*.
The trouble is getting everyone you know to use it. If it's too expensive nobody will buy it. If it's too cheap they will lose it and forget about it. No matter what you do most people won't bother. They've got SMS and MMS and Twitter and Facebook.