Emergency communication planning involves preparing reliable ways to communicate during crises like natural disasters, power outages, or network failures when phones and internet may not work. For the average person, it means having simple, accessible tools and a clear plan to stay connected with family, neighbors, or emergency services. The goal is to ensure safety and coordination without relying on vulnerable centralized infrastructure.
Tactical Operation Center & Planning Tools
In this video, I take a quick walkthrough of XTOC Tactical Operations Center Software Suite, a powerful, offline-capable command and control platform designed for field teams. I’ll show you how XTOC works, highlight its core features, and focus especially on mesh radio integration to include how it interfaces with popular mesh networks to deliver structured reports and situational awareness when the internet isn’t available.
The MAD Gear Contingency Planner is a complete emergency planning system built to help individuals, families, and teams organize their preparedness before a crisis happens. The planner helps capture key information like communication plans, evacuation routes, emergency contacts, medical details, gear lists, and other critical readiness notes in one organized place.
It is designed to turn preparedness from a loose idea into an actionable plan, giving you a practical framework for staying coordinated, informed, and ready when normal systems are disrupted.
A.T.O.C.’s Tactical Map is a real-time command and awareness tool designed to help users track assets, locations, and SITREPs in one centralized map view. It gives teams a cleaner way to visualize what is happening, coordinate operations, and maintain better situational awareness during preparedness, emergency response, or field operations.
ReadyPlan™ by MAD Gear is a preparedness planning app designed to help individuals, families, and teams build, share, and execute emergency plans. The app brings MAD Gear’s Contingency Planner system into a digital format, with tools for scenario planning, evacuation routes, PACE communication plans, go-bag lists, vehicle checklists, inventory tracking, authentication tables, and more.
Preparedness is about more than just having the right gear, it’s about having a plan before an emergency happens. In this video, I take a look at the MAD Gear Contingency Planner and how it can help individuals and families organize evacuation routes, communications, emergency contacts, and other critical information before it’s needed. Whether you’re preparing for wildfires, severe weather, power outages, or communications disruptions, a well-developed contingency plan can make the difference when time and information are limited.
ATAK/TAK-CIV Resources
Useful ATAK resources
LANCE has officially launched, bringing native Meshtastic integration directly into ATAK.
In this video, I take a look at how the LANCE plugin allows ATAK users to exchange critical tactical information over a LoRa mesh network without relying on cellular service, Wi-Fi, or a TAK server.
I’ll cover the basic setup, connecting a Meshtastic radio, Position Location Information (PLI), markers, routes, messaging, emergency functions, and how LANCE compresses ATAK data so it can efficiently travel across the limited bandwidth of LoRa.
After participating in the beta testing of LANCE, I’m excited to finally show what the finished plugin can do and where I think it fits into off-grid communications, disaster response, preparedness, and challenging operating environments.
Topics covered:
• ATAK + Meshtastic integration
• LoRa off-grid communications
• PLI / position sharing
• ATAK markers and routes
• Messaging and CASEVAC
• LANCE Lite protocol
• Real-world use cases