LOCAL CONNECTIONS. SHARED RESILIENCE.
A second way to reach each other when everyday networks struggle. Built with the places, people and skills already around us.
Starting in Ayrshire. Designed to grow with its communities.
01 Open to compatible devices
02 Useful in everyday life
03 Tested, then expanded
THE IDEA
A short message can coordinate a check-in, flag an empty trough or tell neighbours where help is available.
CommonSignal is our proposed communications layer for Local Resilience Hubs: places bringing people, communications and, through separate projects, emergency power and water together.
Host a node. Fund a useful relay. Bring your own compatible equipment. Or commission a bespoke farm or estate system that helps keep the wider project moving.
See what that means in practiceWHEN IT MATTERS
Everyday value builds the habits
that help during an outage.
A prepared resident sends a short message to a local coordinator. The coordinator acknowledges it and shares the hub's opening information.
Charged user devices, powered local access or a personal radio, a reachable radio route and an available coordinator.
THE NETWORK, IN PLAIN ENGLISH
A node connects places.
A radio carries messages.
People make it useful.
A prepared app with local access, or a personal RNode radio.
A small computer, radio, power and someone responsible for it.
Internet initially. Surveyed independent links as the network grows.
Two Internet-connected boxes do not create an offline link between Ayr and Muirkirk. We will survey and test each proposed route before describing its coverage.
Reticulum connects different kinds of links; RNode provides the radio interface; Sideband / LXMF provides a possible messaging experience. Pilot client support starts with tested Android and desktop combinations.
FIND YOUR REASON
FOR RESIDENTS & FAMILIES
Prepare a simple way to reach local contacts, find community updates and ask for a check-in when normal services are disrupted.
A phone app alone does not provide an off-grid radio link. It needs a working local connection or a compatible radio.
THE PROPOSED KIT
Indicative review prices in GBP,
including an assumed 20% VAT.
Availability and site suitability to be confirmed.
TAKE PART
A small radio for a compatible Android phone or computer. Your existing host does the thinking.
£119 proposed kit price
HOST A CONNECTION
An indoor node linking your local network and radio. A practical first step for a willing host.
£299 or £499 with backup allowance
REACH A USEFUL PLACE
A maintained forwarding node for a surveyed site. Choose external power or a solar design.
£449 or £995 with solar hardware
Hardware silhouettes are conceptual. Final enclosures and components may differ. The supported relay includes a small Linux computer; an ESP32 radio alone is not automatically a complete Reticulum relay.
An operator terminal, local access, two loan radios and communications backup. Public charging and water facilities are separate projects.
Water, environmental, stock, asset and security sensing, designed around your site. Illustrative gateway + three simple sensors project from £3,000.
SENSATIONAL BY EVERWISHED
Bespoke monitoring for the places and things you look after. Choose useful readings, private destinations and sensible alerts.
Read the sensing specification ↗Tank and trough level, leaks, pump status and flow.
Temperature, humidity, frost and storage conditions.
Location, movement and gate-status exceptions.
Contacts, tamper and equipment-status alerts.
Proposed bespoke variants. Probe selection, calibration, permissions, power and response arrangements are agreed per site. No water-safety, animal-safety or monitored-security guarantee is implied.
BUILD IT WITH US
One host. Several sponsors.
A community that benefits.
Bring compatible equipment, offer a useful location or help others get set up. A survey establishes what your site could contribute.
Open participationNo proposed per-message charge on the community network.
Pool a contribution from £50, help fund a backed home node around £500, or support an independent solar relay site.
£1,500 illustrative site targetKit, sitework allowance, handover and a first-year care contribution.
Ask for a farm or estate system with private information and defined support. Hosting community access can be part of the design.
Private-only design availableProposed £500 isolation surcharge; community contribution policy in the brief.
Each funded site should have a named owner, a maintenance plan, a published budget and measured coverage. Sponsors support the network; they do not gain access to private messages. Funding targets and terms will be agreed before any campaign opens.
A STARTING BUDGET
Explore the proposed kit prices. This is a planning aid; a site survey and a written scope come before a quote.
The two-site pilot has an estimated internal delivery cost of £1,361.60, reusing two Pi boards and including local backup, labour and a 15% reserve. It does not establish an offline route between the towns.
START LOCAL. PROVE IT.
Planned locations,
not a live coverage map.
A partner host for the first pilot node and local operator practice.
A second location for commissioning, local coverage tests and recovery exercises.
Inspect the base image and equipment. Agree the sites.
Configure unique identities, radios and backup power.
Remove the WAN. Measure runtime and delivery.
Publish results. Fund the next useful location.
BEFORE YOU RELY ON IT
Local messages can work over a tested radio path when the users, radios, nodes and any local access points remain powered and reachable. Internet-only links stop working when their connection fails. The first two pilot nodes do not by themselves provide an offline Ayr–Muirkirk route.
A supported phone needs a prepared app and either local network access to a powered gateway or a compatible personal radio. It cannot transmit LoRa by itself. The proposed pilot starts with tested Android and desktop combinations; iPhone use and browser messaging remain to be validated. Loan devices and assisted access are part of the hub proposal.
No. This is supplementary community communications, not a 999/112 service, monitored personal alarm or guarantee of delivery. Use official emergency channels whenever available. Community operators need an agreed escalation plan, and a pending message must never be mistaken for help being on its way.
Terrain, buildings, antennas, interference and mounting matter more than a single advertised distance. We will publish measured results for commissioned sites. A dot on a map or an extra relay does not prove coverage.
Yes, that is a proposed design goal: separate identities, network zones, recipient permissions and service administration. Public participation does not mean public message contents. Farm telemetry and tracking information stay with authorised recipients. A private-only deployment is a separately scoped option.
It depends on the protocol and firmware. RNode, MeshCore and LoRaWAN are different systems. Compatible frequency alone is insufficient. We will maintain tested combinations and assess third-party devices; any cross-system gateway needs explicit engineering.
It depends on the complete load, battery, temperature and age. The initial home target is at least 12 hours at the declared essential load; the solar relay target is 72 hours without generation at no more than 2W. These are acceptance targets, not measured product claims. Extended outages require an energy replenishment plan.
THE FIRST CONVERSATION
Explore the proposal, the people it could serve and the part you could play.