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Off-grid and LAN

This page runs an instance with no internet: the gateway, the ingest and the web app on one box, reached over your LAN. It is for the sysop; at the end the map and your own radio work with no connection out.

flowchart LR
  radio["Radio and TNC"] --> ingest["Ingest box"]
  ingest -- "INGEST_URL on the same box" --> gw["Gateway"]
  gw --> lan["Phones and PCs on the LAN, plain http"]

The ingest box always runs on the operator's own equipment, and INGEST_URL can point at a gateway on the same machine, on the LAN or in the cloud. That is what makes off-grid work: with the ingest and the gateway on one machine, the whole stack runs with no internet. A cloud VM may add an APRS-IS-only feed when a connection exists (Run a cloud APRS-IS feed). It is never the only way to get RF in.

Before you start

  • A Linux box (a Pi, a mini-PC or a laptop) with Docker, and a checkout of the repository (Self-host with Docker).
  • The box's LAN address, for example 192.168.1.10. Give it a fixed address on your router.
  • Your radio link, set up as in Connect a radio: quick starts.

Off-grid with Docker

  1. In deploy/, run the setup and choose the local network only:

    ./setup.sh

    For scripts: ./setup.sh --non-interactive --call OE8APR --lan-host 192.168.1.10. It writes DOMAIN=:80 and APP_URL=http://192.168.1.10, and starts the instance with federation off. The ingest keeps the stack's default INGEST_URL=http://gateway:8080/ingest, the gateway inside the same stack.

  2. Start it. In deploy/:

    SOURCE_COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD) docker compose up -d --build

  3. Sign in. Without https there are no passkeys, so members sign in with the sysop's one-time link.

Without Docker, run the ingest and a Node gateway on the same machine with INGEST_URL=http://localhost:8787/ingest (Self-host without Docker).

What works without the internet

The app, your own radio, the map's caches and verification over RF work. Services on the internet stop: the online base map, the APRS-IS feed, email sign-in links and web push, among others. HAMNET only lists each one with its workaround; the same table holds for a LAN. For the map, give hunters an offline map to make offline packs from.

Check that it worked

  • curl -fsS http://192.168.1.10/health answers {"ok":true,…} from another machine on the LAN.
  • deploy/aprscaching doctor reports APRS-IS as not reachable, which is expected off-grid, and passes the ingest's credential.
  • Stations your radio hears appear on the map under Search & filter → Live layers → Live stations.

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