this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
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I'll say what I just said on a similar thread: if the internet goes down tomorrow, mesh will mean very little compared to ham radio.
Any quality transceiver built in the last 100 years will be more useful. It is purely about how many exist, how long they last, and their requirements for use (which are effectively, power and antenna).
Yes, there is a license that you need in non-emergency situations. It doesn't change much anything in emergency situations, and it certainly doesn't affect the fact that there are already millions of radios out there.
I certainly wouldn't throw away a mesh if the world was ending -- I'd set it on the desk while finding contacts on HF (=world band) using a ham radio. My chances of contact there are at least an order of magnitude better.
Here meshtastic has become part of the emergency information network initiative. If there is a coms blackout, intercity/town civillian communications are to be handled by amateur radio enthusiast with licence and communications whitin the city/town will be handled by licence free systems. Meshtastic has been spreading well among the general public, so it has become most viable system to use at lowest level in the chain.
But it just isn't. Why not put those resources towards ham, where there are considerably more handsets already there?
This seems like a solution in search of a problem thay was already solved, hidden by people who don't want a $10 license.
You get shitloads more people to buy a cheap gadget that's easy carry with you.
If you start talking about ham radios and licences, most people loose interest before you finish the sentence.