Link all 12 served-agency facilities (shelters, hospital, fire, PODs…) back to the EOC by voice AND by AREDN mesh. Press [G] any time to see the live scoreboard — both meters full = FULL GRID, the county wins (+500 ★ to everyone active). Milestones along the way: every facility T2 (+100), every facility T4 (+250).

PC: WASD move · E interact · B build · J county board · G grid status · M county map · Enter talk · H this guide. Phone: d-pad + the ACT / BLD / EOC / TALK / MAP buttons. Talking is local (12 tiles) unless radios carry it further. The corner minimap is your APRS picture — you see stations the county RF can actually hear. Sounds (radio squelch, sirens, the fox box when you're nearly on it) toggle with the 🔊 button by your callsign; the 🎵 slider under it sets the background-music volume (0 = off). Your 📮 mailbox sits by your callsign too — tap it anywhere to read or leave notes for other operators.

1) Search junk piles and sheds (E) for parts. 2) B → assemble an HT (radio + battery) and hand it to a facility desk (E at the building) — that's their first link to the world. 3) Carry paper messages from the board for foot pay; once two desks have radios, work traffic by voice from either desk for more. 4) Check the County Board (J) for welfare checks, traffic, and jobs. Merit (★) is your score AND your license progress.

T1 runner route → T2 desk radio reaches the EOC → T3 base station (desk + antenna upgrades, then mast + coax) → T4 linked through a repeater → T5 AREDN mesh node with a dish path to the EOC. Higher tiers pay more per message — mesh traffic delivers itself and pays the node owners royalties.

Every station has a radius; two stations talk when the distance ≤ the SUM of their radii. HT 12 · mobile 20 · base 28. Repeaters and digipeaters take their radius from the GROUND under them: flat 30, slope 60, summit 85 — hills are the county's treasure. A repeater carries anyone whose radius touches its footprint. Digipeaters extend the APRS map picture the same way.

Towers need a mast (3 poles) within 5 tiles. Repeaters take a General license; HF takes Extra. Powered gear drains its battery — keep it alive with a solar charger, a battery box, or build near a facility (their generators feed everything close). Open the build menu and the colored placement zones stay on the ground for 8 seconds: green solar · slate battery box · amber generator · white mast reach. Anyone can finish anyone's construction site, swap a dead battery (+10), or repair storm damage (+20).

Mesh nodes = dish + battery near a mast — or assemble an AREDN node unit and mount it in one move onto a facility roof or any finished tower (E at it, General+, one per tower). Roof nodes run off the building generator; tower nodes drain like field gear — keep a solar charger or battery box close. Dishes are point-to-point BEAMS: pure line of sight, max 80 tiles, 3 links per node — trees and ridges block them, roof mounts clear single-story buildings, and towers do NOT lift the beam (only real hills see far). Stand at a node, E → survey, and aim at green CLEAR shots. Chain node-to-node back to the EOC; connected facilities' traffic then flows by itself and pays royalties. Mesh-linking two repeater sites merges their footprints into one machine (+150 each).

Parts come from scavenging, storm debris, Silent Key estates, and supply convoys at the PODs. Donate spares at the EOC locker (★ by rarity) — but the county stops finding what everyone donates. Need something specific? The order book at the EOC sources any part at a steep premium (8× its donate value); it rides the next convoy. 10 slots county-wide, first come first served. Careful: spending below a license threshold LAPSES the license — retest at the EOC once you earn back over the line.

Storms wreck homes and damage towers along their track — repairs pay. Welfare checks: knock on marked homes, then report in by radio or walk the report to the EOC (+15/+25). Fox hunts: a hidden transmitter is always on the air — follow the signal-bar meter (+50, +25 first). Nets are player-run: open one from the County Board (J) — anyone, anywhere, and YOU are net control. Talk with Enter; your words ride the radio rules, so run it inside a repeater footprint and the whole county hears you. Stations in your reach check in with E (+5); close the net for +25 once somebody checked in. One net at a time, 2-hour cooldown between yours. Supply trucks, patrols, and breakdowns roll the county roads — turn in trackers at the EOC to watch the fleet on APRS, and check on a stopped vehicle (+20). SKYWARN: get within sight of a funnel (≤22 tiles of the track) and report it (+15, once per storm). Sporadic connection challenges put a +100 bounty on a named link — listen for the EOC call. A balloon drifts over now and then: chase it on APRS — the payload keeps beaconing on the ground — first to it scores (+50 and rare gear). And if a jammer parks near a repeater, that machine is OFF the air until somebody DFs the carrier down by the JAM meter (+75).

Everyone starts Technician (HT reach, 2 cargo slots). General at 1,000 ★ unlocks repeaters, mobiles, mesh work, 3 slots. Extra at 4,000 ★ unlocks the HF positions at the EOC (each one lifts every message's pay county-wide). Upgrade at a VE session — walk into the EOC and take the exam when you have the merit.