EMCOMM preparation and field use¶

This page is the plan: what to do before a deployment, what you will have with no internet, and what has and has not been measured. It links the guides that own each procedure and does not repeat them. Examples use the placeholders N0CALL and FN31pr.

Hammunition is a software station, not a certified emergency system. It is for an operator who holds a licence and is part of a served-agency plan.

Three kinds of "offline"¶

Keep these apart; most field surprises come from mixing them.

	What it is	Examples here	Lost when
Internet	The wider network	Downloading maps, books, the Winlink gateway list; PSK Reporter; Pat telnet	The uplink is gone
Local network	This machine, or a LAN you run	`hammunition reference serve` on 127.0.0.1:8480; the GPS tether on 127.0.0.1; a Bunker on a NAS	The machine or the router is off
Radio	A link you make with a radio	Winlink by packet or HF, APRS, Meshtastic, Reticulum	No radio, interface, gateway or path

"Works offline" on a page means: works with no internet once installed and prepared. It does not mean without its radio, GPS or local service. The position comes from a GPS receiver, not the internet, but only if it is attached, not parked, and has a fix.

Status words¶

Word	Means
Implemented	The code and manifest exist and tests pass. Not a claim that it ran on hardware
Measured	A bench or VM campaign page records it running
Built, not yet measured	Written, never run where it matters
Planned	Not written
Unverified	Fetched from a source that publishes no checksum

1. Before the deployment¶

Online, weeks ahead¶

Commands, in order, are in Before a deployment. In short:

[ ] hammunition doctor, then set your station values (station set).
[ ] Install the profiles you will use, plan first (--dry-run), then hardware apply.
[ ] Choose map regions covering the whole route, then install navigation.
[ ] Choose reference books; install kiwix-library ics-forms.
[ ] Build the infrastructure and repeater layers (after the regions): maps infra import --from-osm writes one set per region you loaded, so maps activate can draw only the area you are in.
[ ] Fetch every state and region on the possible roster, here, at home: you will not have the network where you are sent. A state or region is loaded once and drawn only when it is the active one (Load every area ahead, which walks it step by step). hammunition maps areas lists what is loaded.
[ ] Register Pat over the internet and fetch the gateway list.
[ ] Download these documents (section 7) and keep a copy on a second device and on paper.
[ ] If you run a Bunker, point the laptop at it and keep a verified copy: LAN mirror.

A few days ahead¶

[ ] hammunition update (works offline): anything behind the catalog's pins?
[ ] Update, then re-run the layer imports if the regions changed.
[ ] Charge everything; test cables and the sound interface.
[ ] Write down the preparation date on the paper plan, the gateway list, frequencies and your agency's contacts.

The rehearsal, with networking off¶

Do this once at home. It proves what you have, not what a site will have.

nmcli networking off              # NetworkManager machines; other systems differ
hammunition doctor
hammunition status
hammunition reference serve       # open http://127.0.0.1:8480/ ; Ctrl-C to stop
hammunition maps navit            # or open QMapShack: maps and the position
nmcli networking on

Check: the books, forms and map open; the GPS has a fix in cgps; the clock holds (GPS time); a rig answers; a test Winlink message works by whatever path you will use. Not measured: this whole sequence as one rehearsal. The pieces are in the guides linked below.

On arrival¶

[ ] Make where you are the active area: hammunition maps activate OH (how). The next day, hammunition maps activate MI. Nothing is deleted; maps activate --all brings everything back.
[ ] hammunition hardware list shows what is attached; hammunition hardware wake NAME for a parked device (Tray controls).
[ ] The GPS has a fix; the clock is right (FT8 stops decoding at about a second off).
[ ] Rig control up (Rig control); audio levels set (Radio audio).

2. The data, and its limits¶

Every layer states a source and, in its name, a date. Using it needs no internet; refreshing it does.

Dataset	Source	Coverage	Update	Per area?	Guide
Street maps (`osm-regions`, `osm-navit`)	OpenStreetMap through Geofabrik	Only the regions you chose	`hammunition update`, then reinstall	Navit and the browser map: yes, by region	Offline navigation
Trail and terrain maps, routing, browser map	Built here from the same extracts; Copernicus elevation	Your regions	Reinstall	Browser map: yes. QMapShack's trail and terrain maps stay listed	same
US topo sheets	USGS, Forest Service	Within `topo_radius_km` of your grid square	Reinstall	No; radius of your grid square	same
Medical, responders, supply, shelter candidates, transport, power, telecom, water	OpenStreetMap, from the installed extracts	Your regions, one layer per region	`maps infra import --from-osm`	Yes, by region	same
Airports, power plants	FAA NASR, EIA, WRI	US airports; US plants from EIA, plants outside the US from WRI	Reinstall after the pin moves	Yes, clipped per region	same
Towers, Weather Radio	FCC, NOAA, fetched on request	Your regions, one layer per region	Run again; unverified	Yes, clipped per region	same
Repeaters	Your own export, Open Repeater, hearham, ETCC, Brandmeister, OSM	Varies	Import again	Yes: RepeaterBook by state; your own and open layers always drawn	same
Books, dictionaries, ICS forms	Kiwix, FEMA	What you chose	`update --upstream` online	No	Offline reference

Dates, counts and licences are printed in each plan and are not repeated here. hammunition update shows installed versus the catalog's pins and never fetches.

A mapped shelter, hospital, repeater, substation or transmitter does not establish that it exists, is open, has power, has capacity or is the one your agency uses. The shelter layer says candidate, not a designated shelter. OpenStreetMap is volunteer-mapped and as old as the extract. Repeater positions are approximate and machines go off the air. Confirm by radio, telephone or the emergency manager.

3. Communications¶

Workflow	Needs, radio	Needs, internet or LAN	Guide	Exercised
Rig control	CAT radio or PTT interface	None	Rig control	Built, not yet measured on a bench
Radio audio	Sound interface	None	Radio audio	Guide only
Winlink by packet (Direwolf, Pat)	Radio, interface, a gateway in range	Internet only to register and fetch the gateway list	Packet and Winlink	Installed in VMs; no over-the-air message from the field laptop
Winlink over telnet	None	Internet	same	Pat's documented first test
Winlink HF (ardopcf, Mercury)	HF radio	as above	same	Two Mercury instances passed a message with no radio (2026-09-30); not over the air
Packet BBS, LinBPQ	Radio, TNC or Direwolf	None	same	Packaged only
APRS	VHF radio	Internet only for an igate	APRS	Guide
FT8, JS8	Radio, interface, correct clock	Spots need internet	Digital modes	Guide
Mesh: Meshtastic, Reticulum	LoRa nodes or RNode	None	Mesh and Reticulum	Two containers exchanged an LXMF message; no LoRa link run
Time from GPS	A receiver with a fix	None	GPS time	Built; bench owed

Notes: Pat's first connection must be over the internet. The packet core does not need the kernel's AX.25 (kernel AX.25). Nothing transmits by itself; transmitting is your decision under your licence. FEMA's 39 ICS PDFs are installed by ics-forms and listed on the hammunition reference serve page; the ICS 309 log is not among them, so keep a paper one.

Offline navigation owns this. The path is: a GPS receiver, gpsd, then the GPS Tether, then QMapShack, Navit, CoMaps or the browser map at hammunition reference serve. No fix means no position, whatever the maps hold. Parking the GPS from the tray (Tray controls) switches it off. Not measured: the tether across a suspend and resume, and QMapShack drawing the infrastructure layers.

5. Saving and recovering your configuration¶

Hammunition has no backup or restore command, and this procedure has not been run end to end. Software and downloaded data come back by reinstalling; what you back up is yours.

Save	Where	Sensitive
Station values	`~/.config/hammunition/station.yml` (0600)	Yes: callsign and location
Repeater and infrastructure layers	`~/.local/share/hammunition/overlays/`	Yes; personal-use terms, keep to your machines
Pat's configuration	`~/.config/pat/config.json`; its mailbox is wherever Pat's own documentation says for your version	Yes: the password
Configuration the engine wrote	`/etc/direwolf.conf`, `/etc/bpq32.cfg`, `/etc/hammunition-hill/config.toml`	Contains your callsign
Mesh identities	`~/.reticulum`, `~/.nomadnetwork`, `~/.lxmd`, `~/.rnsh` (an identity cannot be recreated)	Yes; archive command in Mesh and Reticulum
Your logs	wherever your logging program keeps them	Yes

Not worth saving: ~/.cache/hammunition/ and /usr/local/share/hammunition/.

To recover on a fresh machine: install the engine (Installation), restore the files above into the same paths, chmod 600 the station file, hammunition station show, re-run the installs (plan first), then hammunition hardware apply, and re-fetch the data (from a Bunker if you have one). An existing configuration file is copied to a .hammunition-backup before an install rewrites it. Encrypt an archive that leaves your hands.

6. Troubleshooting without the internet¶

Symptom	Likely cause	What to try
`install` says it could not check for newer data	No network	Expected: regions already installed are kept as they are. A region never installed cannot be fetched; the plan refuses and names it
A pinned book or map will not download	The publisher moved or expired it	Needs the internet, or a mirror that has it; not fixable in the field
No position	GPS parked, no fix, gpsd stopped, or tether not running	`hammunition hardware state`, `cgps`, `systemctl --user status hammunition-gps-tether.service`
FT8 decodes nothing	Clock off	GPS time
A page will not open	Local server not running	Start `hammunition reference serve`; it listens on 127.0.0.1 only
Something changed and you do not know what		`hammunition logs --last`; `hammunition transactions --last 10`
Hardware not found	Permissions or a parked device	`hammunition hardware list`, `hammunition hardware apply`

More: Troubleshooting.

7. Quick reference¶

hammunition doctor                    hammunition status
hammunition update                    hammunition hardware list
hammunition hardware state            hammunition hardware wake NAME
hammunition reference serve           hammunition maps navit
hammunition maps activate OH          hammunition maps areas
hammunition maps gps-tether           pat-winlink http
hammunition logs --last               hammunition transactions --last 10

8. What is not measured¶

Stated here so no one reads it as a promise.

The full rehearsal sequence above, as one run, and a restore from a backup.
Rig control on a bench (D-073: proposed).
Packet or Winlink over the air from the field laptop; HF Winlink over the air.
Any LoRa mesh link; only two containers over a LAN.
The GPS tether across a suspend and resume (a reboot is measured); GPS time on the bench (D-058).
The Tray on the Qt desktops; the Bunker on a NAS; the Console through a real install.
QMapShack and Navit drawing the infrastructure layers, and real fetch-fcc-asr and fetch-nwr.
The accuracy and currency of any mapped place.