meshtastic VS disaster-radio

Yes, but only via a MQTT broker. Meshtastic isn't LoRaWAN so it doesn't include that type of capability by default, but I'm not the expert on that aspect of it. If you check out the docs at meshtastic.org, and the Discourse forum link at the top of that site you might be able to find better answers to that question.

I know a lot of people have the problem of not being able to reliably get in contact with friends, and walkie talkies are basically useless unless you get somewhere quiet. I knew there had to be a way to get texting over walkie talkies or something similar, so I did some googling and came across this project called Meshtastic.

That is the very 1st item that https://meshtastic.org/ does:

Meshtastic.org

Software / app: https://meshtastic.org/ Meshtastic is one of the apps you can run on your devices AND is the firmware provider for the Lora devices. So you flash the device with meshtastic, install the app on the phone, pair the phone with the lora, and start chatting.

There's this really cool project that uses inexpensive radios that can communicate over kilometers to build a "mesh network."

Check out https://meshtastic.org/ or https://meshtastic.letstalkthis.com/ for information on the software side and links to purchase the hardware.

Anyone in San Antonio interested to test Meshtastic range?link

Also, the messages will be extremely slow. On the low end, 300 baud (if you are close enough, 37kbps, but there are laws preventing full usage in some countries.). Not enough to send pictures in a reasonable amount of time. See also https://disaster.radio/

CollapseOS and disaster.radio?

(btw. no affiliation here, just a happy customer)

Think about using fiber optics at least for longer fixed paths: a couple routers with SFP can provide a gigabit connection over several kilometers, and the fiber cable can be easily buried so that it's not easy to notice and doesn't hint the enemy that a transmitter is operating nearby like WiFi would certainly do.

For very slow and long distance communication, namely text messages, LoRa can be an option to which encryption can be added externally. All other considerations about radio transmission remain valid for LoRa too, however. You may find these links interesting:

https://disaster.radio/

This is extremely cool. Reminds me of https://disaster.radio/

Is anyone currently playing with, or is interested in creating a wireless network in the area to facilitate communication in the event of a disaster? There are these cheap, low power devices (about $20 or less) that can be programmed to communicate with others over very long distances, sending small messages, akin to SMS text message size. I was able to connect to people up to 23 miles away at my last house with this technology (via a Helium miner). The two most popular programs are Disaster.radio (https://disaster.radio/) and Meshtastic (https://meshtastic.org/). You basically put the device in an area where it has decent line-of-sight to someone else's device, and can chat to others via an Android/iPhone app that connects to the radio via bluetooth. This could be useful in general outdoor situations as well, where there is no cell phone service.

Check out https://disaster.radio/. I'd consider a lot of the parts they include in their system: