A radio for your phone: Heltec V3 and T-Beam

By the end of this page you have a cheap LoRa board running the RNode firmware, paired to your phone over Bluetooth or USB, and Ratspeak or Sideband on the phone sends messages without internet.

Tier 0: no internet · Works without internet.

Draft: this page has not been checked on a real device yet, and its Farsi has not been reviewed. Use with care.

Before anything else, read Before you switch on a radio. This board is physical evidence and its transmissions can be located. Never transmit without an antenna attached.

The cheapest way into Tier 0: the phone you already have, plus a board costing a few dollars. The RNode firmware turns the board into a Reticulum radio; the phone does the thinking and the board only sends and receives.

1. Buy

Board	Why
Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3	small, cheap, with a tiny display; needs a separate battery (or USB power)
LilyGO T-Beam	an 18650 battery holder and GPS; for a phone, or as the radio of a gateway

Frequency: 868 or 433 MHz, whichever your group has. Every device in a group must use the same frequency and radio settings.
An antenna for that frequency, with an SMA connector. The spring antenna in the box is enough to start.

2. Install the RNode firmware

On a computer (Windows, macOS or Linux) with Python 3:

Install the Reticulum tools: pipx install rns (or pip install rns in a virtual environment). The package brings rnodeconf. It is in the offline pack too.
Connect the board by USB and run the automatic install:
```
rnodeconf --autoinstall
```
Choose the board from the list; the firmware is downloaded, installed and provisioned. The last message should say the board is ready.
Read any other switch from rnodeconf --help of the version you installed, not from memory and not from an AI.

3. Bluetooth

Switch the board's Bluetooth on with rnodeconf and put it in pairing mode (the switches are in --help). On the Heltec the pairing code appears on the display.
In the phone's Bluetooth settings, pair the board.
If Bluetooth will not work, a USB OTG cable does the same job.

4. In the messenger

Sideband: Connectivity, "Connect via RNode", choose the paired board. Set the frequency, bandwidth, power, spreading factor and coding rate to what your group uses; every radio in a group must match. Guide: Sideband.
Ratspeak: in Settings, a new connection of type RNode, over Bluetooth or USB, with the same radio settings. Guide: Ratspeak.

5. First message

Announce.
Add another person with a radio in range from their announce.
Write and send. If nothing arrives: are the frequency and radio settings the same on both sides? Is the antenna attached? Too far? Put the antenna higher; height gives more range than power.

With internet, the same phone and the same app also connect to our node, and messages sent on the mesh can leave through the Offline Inbox. Two worlds, one app.