Build Your Own Network
11-page field tutorial · Oct 2026
★ Free Download ★
A plain-language tutorial based on Data Slayer’s video “How to Become Your Own ISP”: build an encrypted, off-grid text-messaging network with Reticulum (free software) and LoRa radios, from a two-radio starter kit to a Raspberry Pi home gateway and an optional cloud relay. Includes a dated parts list, FCC and drone rules, honest limits, troubleshooting, and 31 sources.
Credit: built from Data Slayer’s video “How to Become Your Own ISP” (YouTube, Aug 9, 2026), and checked against the official Reticulum manual and other official sources.
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Exhibit AInside the File
- 01At a Glancep. 2
Six things to know before you buy a single radio.
- 02What the Video Teachesp. 2
“How to Become Your Own ISP,” Data Slayer (@DataSlayerMedia), published Aug 9, 2026. Runs 21 min 59 s, with about 1.24 million views on Oct 24, 2026.
- 03How It Works, in Plain Wordsp. 3
You don’t need to be an engineer. Learn these eight words and you can follow every step that comes later.
- 04What You Needp. 4
Prices were checked on Oct 24, 2026. They change often, and shipping and tax are extra. Items marked “not checked” come from our research tool and were not confirmed by hand.
- 05Step-by-Step Buildp. 5
Do the stages in order. Each one works on its own, so you can stop after any stage and still have something useful.
- 06Testing and Expandingp. 8
Run the same kind of field test the video did, but safely and on the ground first.
- 07Legal and Safety Notesp. 8
You don’t need a license for this build if you stay inside these lines. This is general information, not legal advice.
- 08Honest Limitsp. 9
Set expectations before you depend on it.
- 09Troubleshootingp. 10
Most problems come down to a cable, a permission or a mismatched setting.
- 10What We Could Not Verifyp. 10
These items are stated plainly so you can weigh them yourself.
- 11Sourcesp. 11
All pages were accessed Oct 22–24, 2026.
Exhibit B · Read the opening
Section 01At a Glance
Six things to know before you buy a single radio.
- “Your own internet” here means your own text-message network. The video does not replace your home internet. It builds a small, encrypted messaging network using free software called Reticulum and cheap long-range radios called LoRa boards. Messages can travel by cell data, Wi-Fi, satellite internet or radio, whichever is available.
- It works without cell towers or Wi-Fi. In the video, a phone with no internet received a message over radio after it was relayed through a drone-mounted radio and a Starlink-connected base station.
- The starter kit is cheap. Two Heltec V4 radio boards cost about $18–$28 each on Heltec’s store (checked Oct 24, 2026). Add two Android phones you already own and the free Columba or Sideband app.
- Build it in three stages. A: two radios, two phones, no internet. B: a small home “gateway” computer that links your radio to the wider network. C (optional): a public node in the cloud, like the one in the video.
- It is legal when you stay in your lane. Use only the 902–928 MHz license-free band at modest power. Do not use ham-radio frequencies for encrypted traffic, which the FCC forbids. If you fly a drone, follow FAA rules.
- Know the limits. It moves short text messages and small files slowly. It cannot stream video, browse websites over radio, or call 911. Range depends on height and line of sight. In the video, a ground-level link died at about 2.3–2.5 miles in trees.
A word of caution from the software’s own author
Reticulum’s official page warns that “entirely LLM-generated fakes of Reticulum implementations, ‘documentation’, ‘guides’ and user-facing applications” are circulating. This guide teaches only from the official manual and from apps listed in the manual’s “Programs Using Reticulum” chapter. Those apps are Sideband, Columba, Nomad Network and MeshChat. When in doubt, trust reticulum.network over any guide, including this one.
— Continued in the full PDF: Section 02, What the Video Teaches —