RNode firmware: turn a LoRa board into a Reticulum radio that works without the internet

RNode is open firmware by Mark Qvist that turns supported LoRa boards into general-purpose digital radios. Its README puts it simply: where there is no internet, RNodes will still communicate. An RNode can bootstrap a whole network independently of existing infrastructure, or where that infrastructure has become unreliable or broken. Our note: an RNode only talks to other Reticulum devices. It can't call 911 or any emergency service. You use it as a radio interface for Reticulum, with apps such as Sideband (messaging) and Nomad Network, or as a KISS TNC, a LoRa sniffer (LoRaMon) or a LoRa development platform. The README covers 433, 868 and 915 MHz and 2.4 GHz, with speeds from a few hundred bits per second to a couple of megabits, ranges of several kilometres in a city and over 100 km with line of sight. To flash it, install Reticulum (pip install rns --upgrade) and run rnodeconf --autoinstall, or use Liam Cottle's web flasher. Firmware 1.86 needs rnodeconf 2.4.1 / rns 1.1.9 or newer. Newcomer warning, from the README itself: support honest builders, and buy only from honest, accountable makers. It warns about LLM-generated fake devices, tools, guides and docs that are sold at outrageous prices or used to promote crypto tokens, most of which break the GPLv3 and CC licences, and says not to use them. It points to the community resources in the Reticulum repository instead, and to two community vendors: Liberated Embedded Systems and Simply Equipped. The README is a public mirror; development happens elsewhere, and the getting-started guide it links is the RNS Moscow manual (docs.rns.moscow/rnode-manual).