The Trek Radio

PacketChat also focuses on creating emergency communications radio networks, and has distributed and tested these radio networks with the help of local community members. One such test was a large-scale mountain hike and campout, held for 175 youth between the ages of 13 and 18 in July 2025.

22 prototype radios were distributed amongst the trail boss, the campout leader, the medical staff, the nurse's station, the logistics and communications crews, and to the security team. Each company of handcarts, several wooden cart assigned to a groups of youth and which carried each youth’s camping equipment, also received a radio. These radios were carefully hidden inside the handcart to avoid notice, and allowed the youth leaders to communicate with each other through their cell phones, track where each handcart group was, and call for medical help when necessary - all without requiring cell service!

PacketChat even added sensors that detected temperature, barometric pressure and air quality, providing basecamp and mobile trek leaders with a detailed map and solid situational awareness without the distracting noise of traditional radios. a solar charge controller and pannel allowed stationary repeater stations on nearby mountaintops to reinforce reliable network communications.