When the phones go quiet, your family still knows the plan.
Fallback Radio helps you agree on a radio channel, check-in times and meeting places now, so everyone knows exactly what to do if cell service and the internet go down.
- Free, no sign-up
- Fill in on screen or by hand
- Made for US Letter paper
Phone networks are built for ordinary days.
In an earthquake, a wildfire or a long outage, networks can jam or go dark right when everyone reaches for their phone. Lots of families keep a few handheld radios in a drawer. Far fewer have agreed on how to use them.
A radio only helps if everyone is on the same channel, at the same time, with the same plan. That part happens at the kitchen table, not in the middle of a crisis.
- Which channel?One channel and privacy code everyone remembers, plus a backup.
- When do we check in?A set time, so nobody has to leave a radio on all day.
- Where do we meet?Three rally points: at home, in the neighborhood and out of the area.
Three printables. One calm plan.
Designed to be filled in together, posted on the fridge and tucked into every go-bag and wallet. Each one is a fillable PDF. Type into it on screen, or print it and use a pen.
Family Comms Card
- Names, cell phones, and meds or medical notes for everyone at home
- An out-of-area contact everyone texts or calls
- Rally points at home, in the neighborhood and out of the area
- Primary, backup and emergency channels, plus check-in times
Radio Inventory & Channel Plan
- Every radio in the house: owner, model, battery and how it charges
- Your family channel plan, with frequencies and privacy codes
- Space for local repeaters you find and test yourself, plus a 20-slot memory map
- Charts of the standard 22 FRS/GMRS channels, 38 privacy-code tones and the 7 NOAA weather frequencies
When Phones Go Down
- What to do in the first 15 minutes and the first hour
- A simple check-in schedule and the rule of three
- How to make a short, clear radio call
- Power-saving tips, and when to move to the rally point
Get all three in one file
6 pages, fillable PDF. Free, with no email required.
How it works
Set it up once, then practice for a few minutes each month. No special skills needed.
Fill it in together
Sit down with everyone who'll carry a radio. Pick your channels, check-in times and rally points.
Set every radio the same
Same channel, same privacy code, same memory slot on every radio, so anyone can grab any radio.
Print and place
One copy on the fridge, one in each go-bag, and a wallet card for every person.
Practice once a month
A quick family radio check keeps batteries charged and the plan fresh in everyone's mind.
A plan built for your address and your radios Coming soon
We're building a personalized plan: tell us where you live, who's in your household and which radios you own, and get a complete plan with cards and programming files, ready to print.
- A plan written for your location, people and scenarios
- Your nearest NOAA weather station
- Radio programming files for your radios
- Fridge card, wallet cards and a printed handout
- Everything in the personal plan
- Roles, a member roster and a check-in script
- A card for every member
- Built for larger groups
Planned features and launch prices. Details may change before launch.
Questions, answered
Are the printables really free?
Yes. All three are free to download, with no email or account needed. Print as many copies as your family or group needs.
Do I need special radios?
No. The printables work with whatever you have, from bubble-pack family radios to GMRS handhelds or ham radios. What matters is that everyone agrees on the same channel and code and practices using them.
Can I fill them in on my computer?
Yes. Each PDF has fillable fields you can type into in most PDF readers, including Adobe Acrobat Reader and Preview on a Mac. Some browser PDF viewers don't save typed text, so download the file first. Or print the pages and fill them in by hand.
What's a privacy code? Does it keep our talk private?
A privacy code (a tone) only filters what you hear, so you're not bothered by other people on the same channel. It doesn't make your conversation private, because anyone on that channel can still hear you. Every radio in your family needs the same channel and code to hear each other.
How do I find my local NOAA weather station?
The National Weather Service lists every NOAA Weather Radio transmitter and the counties it covers at weather.gov/nwr. There's a space for your station on the Radio Inventory & Channel Plan.
Why paper?
Because the plan matters most when screens are dark and batteries are low. A card on the fridge and in your wallet works without power, signal or a password.
Does Fallback Radio see what I write?
No. You download the printables and fill them in on your own device or on paper. Nothing you type is sent to us.
When will the personalized plan be ready?
We don't have a date yet. Join the waitlist and we'll email you once when it launches.
A little planning now beats guessing later.
Download the printables and make your plan this weekend.