Builder Kit

~20 min

Your Build Time

ZERO

Soldering Joints

×2

Boards You Add

FLASHED

SD Card Included

01 // How this works

The kit contains no radio transmitters — that's what lets us ship it to you today. The two radio boards reach you directly from their own makers, under their own FCC authorizations, and the finished build is yours: your parts, your node, your mesh.

Fully-assembled CicadaTAK units require FCC certification of the complete device. That certification has not started yet — no finished units are sold or delivered until it's done. Get notified when they're ready.

02 // In the box

Item	State
Enclosure systemAluminum extrusion, end caps, printed radio sled — handheld-radio envelope	ASSEMBLED
Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB)Unmodified retail board, FCC ID intact — mounted on the sled	SEATED
Seeed WM1302 Pi HATmini-PCIe carrier with onboard GPS — installed on the Pi, radio slot left open for you	SEATED
Wiring loom & power buttonJST leads crimped, USB-C coupler and internal jumpers routed	WIRED
Bulkheads & pigtailsBNC + SMA antenna bulkheads installed, U.FL pigtails staged for the radio module	INSTALLED
Antenna set900 MHz HaLow whip (BNC), LoRa gooseneck (SMA), GPS patch	INCLUDED
PiSugar 3 PlusBattery management / UPS board	SEATED
64 GB microSD, pre-flashedLatest CicadaTAK firmware, inserted and ready for first boot	FLASHED
Printed assembly manualIllustrated radio install + first-boot walkthrough, plus the Field Guide	INCLUDED

03 // You add — three parts, three orders

The radios and battery ship to you from their own vendors — the same parts as the scratch build. When the kit ships, order them alongside it and everything arrives about the same time.

Component	Source
Seeed WM6108 HaLow ModuleWi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) mini-PCIe — the mesh radio. Slots into the open socket on the sled	Seeed ↗
Heltec V3 LoRa BoardMeshtastic LoRa bridge — plugs into the staged USB lead	Amazon ↗
3.7 V Li-Ion pouch batteryConnects to the crimped JST lead — see the manual for the supported sizes	Amazon ↗

Optional 2.4 GHz mesh tier: the Field Guide includes instructions for adding a USB Wi-Fi dongle, including the external-antenna modification for those who want it. Modifying a dongle voids its FCC authorization — personal use only, not for resale. We don't sell the dongle.

04 // Your build — about 20 minutes

Slot the WM6108 into the open mini-PCIe socket — the sled leaves it fully exposed. Two screws.
Attach the U.FL pigtails to the module — they're staged and labeled.Firm press until they click. The manual shows the connector orientation.
Plug in the Heltec — one USB connection to the staged lead.
Connect the battery to the crimped JST lead and seat it in the battery bay.
Close the case and power on. The node boots to the setup wizard — join its Wi-Fi from your phone and follow the Field Guide.No SSH, no command line, no flashing — the SD card ships ready.

05 // The fine print

Where it can be operated: US and Australia. Every node picks its region in the setup wizard. The default is the United States plan (US S1G, 902–928 MHz), which is also licence-exempt in Canada and Mexico; an Australian setting covers the 915–928 MHz class licence. Operating the image anywhere else is not supported — the radio module is filtered to North American and Australian spectrum, so Europe and the UK are a hardware limit, not a setting. Australia needs firmware 0.15.0 or newer — on older builds the wizard accepted the choice and silently produced a US node.

Your completed build is a self-built device operating under the component vendors' authorizations and FCC rules for personal construction. It is not an FCC-certified end product and may not be resold as one.