We named something that already existed — and the USPTO agreed it was worth protecting

Why I started Shielded Signals, what PRaaS® actually means, and why it matters for everyday Americans who just want to communicate privately.

I want to tell you something about Shielded Signals that I have not shared before.

Shielded Signals didn't start as a business idea. It started as a dad problem.

I have kids (and grandkids!) spread across Iowa. Like a lot of families, we'd gotten comfortable with the idea that our phones would always work, that cell towers would always be standing, and that the internet would always be on. And then one day I started thinking seriously about what happens when they're not. Not in a dramatic, end-of-the-world way (although it’s always something to consider), but in a way any parent might think about it quietly, in the back of their mind. Plus, it’s something I think about for my job: business continuity and disaster recovery.

What if I can't reach them?

And privacy was important. I wanted to have the ability to talk to them without telling the world what we were talking about. It’s nobody’s business but ours.

So I started looking for a solution.

I tried simple solutions like the Radioddity GD-77. Inexpensive and capable, but its encryption is simple and easily broken. Not truly private. And even setting security aside, what frequencies would I legally use? FRS and GMRS don't allow encryption. Ham radio prohibits it too. Every path led to the same wall: the options that were private weren't legal for this, and the options that were legal weren't private.

I then looked at commercial solutions on the grey market, like Kenwood, Motorola, etc. Hit and miss. Expensive. Built for agencies and corporations, not families in rural Iowa.

And then I looked at those new Push-to-Talk over Cellular (“PoC”) radios everyone seems excited about. Worldwide range, they say. Which is technically true! But you're riding the cell network to get there. The same cell network you're supposedly trying to work around. That's not a backup plan. That's the same plan with a different interface.

So I did the only thing that made sense to me: I went and got my own FCC business license.

Which of course meant I needed a business.

A few people I'd casually mentioned this to said yes, I'd want that too. One of my kid's mother-in-law. A neighbor. A few others. That was enough for me to hear.

Shielded Signals was born.

Giving a name to something that had no name

Here's the thing about what I'd built: it didn't have a category. Or a name.

You may have heard of SaaS — Software as a Service. The idea that instead of buying and maintaining software yourself, you subscribe to it and someone else handles the infrastructure. You may have heard of PaaS — Platform as a Service. Same principle, one layer down.

What I was building was the same concept applied to licensed radio communications. You subscribe. I hold the FCC license, I handle the frequency coordination, I manage the regulatory complexity. You get AES-256 encrypted private radio that works when nothing else does, and you never have to touch a filing, a frequency plan, or a call sign.

I called it PRaaS — Private Radio as a Service.

And earlier this month, the United States Patent and Trademark Office agreed it was novel enough to protect.

PRaaS® is now a registered trademark of Shielded Signals, LLC.

I want to be honest about what that means and what it doesn't. It doesn't mean I invented encrypted radio. It doesn't mean I invented licensed spectrum services. What it means is that this specific framing — private, encrypted radio communications delivered as a subscription service to people who couldn't otherwise afford or access them — didn't have a name before I gave it one.

And now it does.

This isn't about prepping. It isn't about politics.

I want to say this clearly, because I think it matters.

This isn't about giving the finger to the government. This isn't about preparing for the apocalypse, although there is a legitimate conversation to be had about communication resilience. But that's just practical thinking, not paranoia.

This is about something simpler. The right to speak privately is a basic human right. It's one we've taken for granted in an era of smartphones and always-on internet. And it's one that quietly and gradually has become harder to exercise for ordinary people.

Big corporations have encrypted communications. Government agencies do too. They have the money, the lawyers, and the licensed spectrum to make it happen.

Farmers, families, small businesses don't.

I'm trying to change that. Not someday. Now. In Iowa, where I have legal coverage today, you can subscribe to Whisperlinx-V, pick up an encrypted VHF radio, and have a genuinely private channel to the people who matter to you. Communications that don’t depend on a cell tower, a server farm, or anyone else's infrastructure.

Not if the grid stays up. But when it doesn't.

What's next

PRaaS® is chapter one. I have a second trademark, TRaaS® (Trunked Radio as a Service) that was approved alongside it. That's a longer road, and I'll write about it separately when the time is right.

There is also a mesh side of Whisperlinx providing off-grid encrypted data communications that require no license and no infrastructure. Think of text messaging without the cellular network. It’s in beta with family members and friends across several Iowa counties right now. That's its own story, and it's coming.

But today, I just wanted to mark this moment. A guy in Dana, Iowa — population 25, city council member, dad, papa — named a category. And the USPTO put a circle-R on it.

If you're in our coverage area and want to be among the first to use Whisperlinx-V, reach out. I'd love to have you. If you're outside it but want to help change that, our Affiliate Program exists exactly for that reason. And if you're just watching for now — stay tuned. We're building toward you.

— Sean, Founder & CEO, Shielded Signals LLC