[nutcracker46]

Digital is robust too - you can run mesh networks of phones and wifi equipment.

Hams have a rep for mostly holding on to ancient technology, but they have demonstrated wideband microwave mesh networking with off the shelf hardware and lower bandwidth HF networking. Those goodies are more effective than the CW and SSB depictions in movies.

[dylan604]

Digital requires being able to decode the transmission once received. That takes a bit of work on the receiving side that an analog signal would not. Digital has a lot of advantages, but in my opinion the single greatest advantage to analog is its simplicity. Just like an analog vinyl record. Put a pencil in the center hole to spin it, a sewing needle taped perpendicular to a piece of paper rolled into a cone and you have a decoder/player. This is the reason the Library of Congress archives audio to vinyl over any other format.

There are times when "best" isn't the best option.

[johnr2]

> they have demonstrated wideband microwave mesh networking with off the shelf hardware.

That's academic if you don't happen to be close to a suitably stocked shelf in an emergency situation. As has been pointed out in other posts, simple analog gear can be improvised using basic and easily obtained components.

The current fashion for getting rid of low-tech backups for important infrastructure reminds me of the Titanic: the ship is "unsinkable" so why not get rid of most of the lifeboats?

[FlyMoreRockets]

Somehow, I expect a crystal radio will survive an EMP that fries every P-N junction in a digital device... That's robust. Crystal radios don't even need batteries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_radio

[TheLuddite]

While at it - make the mesh a blockchain one...