📡 Chicago Offline — Reticulum Node

Services ONLINE

• Reticulum Transport — routes traffic, relays announces, serves path requests
• LXMF Propagation — stores and forwards encrypted messages for offline users
• NomadNet Node — serves pages and info over the Reticulum network
• Relay Chat (rrcd) — live chat rooms over Reticulum NEW
• RetiBBS — bulletin board system for async discussion NEW
• Retipedia — offline Wikipedia over Reticulum NEW

Quick Start — Connect to This Node

Add this to your ~/.reticulum/config under [interfaces]:

  [[Chicago Offline]]
    type = TCPClientInterface
    enabled = yes
    target_host = rns.chicagooffline.com
    target_port = 4242

Works with Sideband, NomadNet, or any Reticulum-based application.

Relay Chat (rrcd)

Live, real-time IRC-style chat rooms over Reticulum. No logs, no history — if you're here, you're in the conversation.

How to Connect

Use any rrcd-compatible client:

• rrc-gui — Python GUI client for Relay Chat
• rrc-web — web-based Relay Chat frontend

Once connected to this node's transport, the "Chicago Offline" hub will appear in your client.

RetiBBS — Bulletin Board System

Async community discussion boards over Reticulum. Post messages, read announcements, and have threaded conversations — even when users are on different schedules.

How to Connect

• RetiBBS Textual client — terminal-based BBS client

Install: pip install textual, clone the RetiBBS repo, and run the client. The BBS server announces itself on the network — your client will discover it automatically once connected to our transport.

Retipedia — Offline Wikipedia

Search and read Wikipedia articles entirely over Reticulum. Served from a local Simple English Wikipedia archive (~300 MB). No internet required.

How to Access

Browse to the Retipedia page in NomadNet after connecting to this node:

  nomadnet
  → Navigate to this node's pages
  → Encyclopedia (or /page/retipedia/index.mu)

Retipedia serves Simple English Wikipedia — optimized for low-bandwidth Reticulum links.

LoRa Radio Parameters

Join the Chicago Offline Reticulum radio network with an RNode:

  Frequency:        914.875 MHz
  Bandwidth:        125.0 KHz
  Spreading Factor: 8
  Coding Rate:      5
  TX Power:         22 dBm (check your hardware)

RNode interface config:

  [[RNode LoRa]]
    type = RNodeInterface
    enabled = yes
    port = /dev/ttyACM0
    frequency = 914875000
    bandwidth = 125000
    txpower = 22
    spreadingfactor = 8
    codingrate = 5

Compatible hardware: Heltec V3/V4/T114, LilyGO T-Beam/T-LoRa, RAK4631, or any SX1262/SX1276 board with RNode firmware. Flash with rnodeconf --autoinstall.

NomadNet Pages

This node serves pages over the Reticulum network via NomadNet. Connect via the transport above, then browse to this node to find:

• Home — node overview and navigation
• Connect — setup instructions for TCP, LoRa, and apps
• Services — full list of what we run
• Encyclopedia — Retipedia Wikipedia search
• Mesh Network — MeshCore radio info and observer network
• About — the project and how to get involved

  pip install nomadnet    # installs NomadNet + Reticulum + LXMF
  nomadnet               # launch and add our transport interface

What is Reticulum?

Reticulum is a cryptography-based networking stack for building resilient, encrypted communications over any medium — LoRa, packet radio, WiFi, serial, TCP/IP, or anything in between. No accounts, no servers required, no metadata leaks.

Chicago Offline

We build resilient, off-grid communication infrastructure for Chicagoland. LoRa mesh nodes, MQTT observers, and Reticulum transport — keeping Chicago connected when the grid goes dark.

chicagooffline.com · CoreScope · Health Check · Live Map