PikaWave, a radio that skips the network

Why it surfaced

The project replaces towers and phone networks with direct radio-to-radio communication, using MELPe voice compression, X25519 and AES-256 encryption, contact controls, and optional GNSS position sharing. Its roadmap names the actual work still ahead—from PCB design and firmware to enclosure testing—and invites contributors to help build a second radio for field trials.

PikaWave is an open-source handheld communicator for push-to-talk and recorded voice messages over direct LoRa radio links.