What hardware do I need?
A Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB), the Seeed WM1302 Pi HAT + WM6108 HaLow module (the mesh radio — with onboard GPS built in), a Heltec V3 LoRa board, a PiSugar UPS + battery, a 900 MHz antenna, a GPS antenna, and a microSD card. (A USB u-blox GPS is optional — the node uses it automatically if plugged in.) The full parts list with buy links is on the
build page.
Does it need internet to work?
No. CicadaTAK operates entirely on its own mesh network with no internet connection required. Mapping, messaging, voice, and position sharing all work offline. If a node has internet access, it can optionally share that connection with other nodes on the mesh.
What phones are supported?
How far can the mesh reach?
Individual node-to-node range is 1+ mile line-of-sight and 500+ feet through walls at 914 MHz. The mesh extends with every node you add — each node relays traffic automatically, so adding a node between two distant points bridges the gap.
Do I need a ham radio license?
No. CicadaTAK operates in the licence-exempt sub-GHz band — 902–928 MHz on the US plan (also licence-exempt in Canada and Mexico), or 915–928 MHz on the Australian one. No licence is required in any of them. See the next answer for which countries the node supports.
Can I use CicadaTAK outside the United States?
The app, yes, wherever it is listed in your country's App Store or Google Play. It pairs over Bluetooth with a standard Meshtastic LoRa radio set to your own region — team map, encrypted chat, positions and waypoints, with no node at all — and the app uses whatever region the radio is set to; it never overrides it. A node, in four countries: the setup wizard picks the region, and the United States plan (also licence-exempt in Canada and Mexico) or the Australian 915–928 MHz plan are the two it supports. Anywhere else is a hardware limit — the radio module is filtered to North American and Australian spectrum. Australian operators need firmware 0.15.0 or newer and app 1.2.24 or newer; older builds accepted an AU choice and silently came up US, and an update does not repair it (fix it in Settings → Radios → Region). One other thing to know: the in-app aerial map downloader covers the United States only, so elsewhere import your own .mbtiles map pack.
Is the mesh traffic encrypted?
Yes. The HaLow radio link uses WPA3-SAE encryption. On top of that, application-layer messages are encrypted end-to-end using a team passphrase you set during setup. The encryption keys never leave your mesh.
My node won't connect to the mesh.
Check that all nodes are on the same mesh channel (914 MHz / 4 MHz default), using the same mesh password, and that the HaLow radio is detected (SSH in and run
morse_cli -i wlan0 channel). If the radio isn't showing, try a reboot. For persistent issues,
email us with the output of
batctl n and
dmesg | grep morse.
Can I use CicadaTAK with ATAK?
Yes. CicadaTAK nodes broadcast Cursor on Target (CoT) messages compatible with ATAK — enable CoT forwarding in the app settings and join a node's WiFi with your ATAK device. No TAK server is involved on either side: like OpenMANET itself, situational awareness rides serverless multicast. Deeper ATAK integration, including voice bridging, is on the roadmap.
How do I update the firmware?
A running node updates in place from the app: Settings → This Node →
Node Firmware → Check Latest → Pull Update → Apply. The node reboots (~3 min) and keeps its identity, team key, and downloaded maps. The current version is shown on the
download page — the app compares it to your node automatically. Nodes on images older than 2026-07-24 (or for a full reset): flash the latest full image to a card and swap it in; the node re-runs setup on first boot.