Playbooks

8

Operational guides — specific enough to follow, flexible enough to adapt. Grouped by scale and context.

Which playbook is right for you?

I want to prepare my household or street

A few neighbors, basic radios, a simple plan.

Neighborhood Network

I run a volunteer team or community group

Search and rescue, CERT, mutual aid, or similar.

Volunteer Organization

I want to cover a whole town

Existing clubs, institutions, and local government to build on.

Small Town Network

I'm working at city scale

Multi-stakeholder, phased rollout, serious infrastructure.

Mid-Size City Network

A disaster has already happened

Infrastructure is down. I need to activate now.

Emergency Activation

A disaster happened and I didn't prepare

No radio, no plan. What can I do right now?

No-Prep Disaster Comms

We have a network — I want to test it

Run a realistic drill and find gaps before an emergency does.

Annual Drill

NeighborhoodSmall TownCityVolunteer OrgEmergency ResponseAny Scale

Neighborhood— 50–500 households

  1. Neighborhood Communication Network

    Build a two-way radio and mesh text network for 50–500 households in 4–12 weeks. Start with GMRS licensing, add Meshtastic nodes, and create a communication plan your neighbors can actually follow.

    50–500 households4–12 weeks

Small Town— 500–5,000 residents

  1. Small Town Communication Network

    Build a town-wide radio and mesh network for 500–5,000 residents in 3–6 months. Build on existing amateur radio clubs, install repeater infrastructure, and establish anchor points at key community facilities.

    500–5,000 residents3–6 months

City— 5,000–100,000 residents

  1. Mid-Size City Communication Network

    Build a city-wide resilient communication network for 5,000–100,000 residents. A phased approach through stakeholder mapping, AREDN backbone deployment, and community distribution.

    5,000–100,000 residents6–24 months

Volunteer Org— 20–200 members

  1. Volunteer Organization Communication Network

    Build a resilient communication system for 20–200 member volunteer organizations — search and rescue teams, CERT groups, mutual aid networks, and disaster relief organizations.

    20–200 members2–8 weeks

Emergency Response— Active disaster response

  1. Communication When You Didn't Prepare

    A disaster has happened. You have no radio, no mesh node, no plan. Here is what you can still do — right now — with a phone, a car, and common sense.

    Individual or householdFirst hours of a disaster

  2. Emergency Response Group Activation

    Your community has experienced a disaster. Infrastructure is degraded. This playbook walks you through activating your communication network hour by hour: from personal safety to sustained multi-day operations.

    Any — assumes pre-positioned equipment and trained peopleActive response

Any Scale— Universal guides

  1. Annual Communication Drill

    Test your communication network under realistic conditions, find failures before an emergency does, and train new members. A structured guide for running a drill that produces real improvements.

    Any1 day

Want to see these in practice? Read the case studies →