March 3, 2022 Club Meeting
Thursday, March 3, 2022 at 7:00 PM Jacksonville Branch Library, 340 W. C St., Jacksonville, OR
Program: To Be Announced
The March meeting will be held in-person at the Jacksonville Branch library at 340 W C St. in Jacksonville. Masks are required.
COVID case counts have been very rapidly decreasing in our area, enabling in-person meetings. Oregon state law still requires masks to be worn at indoor events. Jackson County Library Services also requires masks inside.
Announced in the March 2022 issue of The Repeater.
Meeting Notes
From the April 2022 issue of The Repeater.
2022 March 3 RVARC Meeting Minutes
Meeting began 7pm at the Jacksonville Library Meeting Room. 24 attendees total
Business:
Should we restore the dues structure for 2022? Pat, KD7MPA, asks: What about the CARE Club dual membership setup?
Scott, NA7OM, made a motion to table the discussion until the board meeting. Voting: 3-yes, 0-no, 5-no opinion
Treasurer’s Report: $4739.37 bank balance
7:07pm Presentation on AREDN Mesh Network by Arlen, W9PCI, and Kirby, KL7VK
The slide deck is available on W9PCI’s website: http://w9pci.com/digital/Documents/AREDN%20Presentation2.pptx
Other useful info is there at w9pci.com in the “Digital” menu item link.
There is an ongoing buildout of the AREDN mesh infrastructure in the Rogue Valley, connecting into the Grants Pass mesh eventually, via Blackwell and Fielder. (A LoRa mesh is also in the works, but no details were mentioned. ). One purpose of the mesh network is to provide hams with additional comms options through the mesh, such as IP phones, video cameras, web servers, email servers (like WinLink), and chat services. Another is to provide backup emergency comms for when the internet is unavailable due to power outages or damage to infrastructure.
Hams can use licensed frequencies for their mesh radios ( for less interference from public bands ), while non-hams can use Part 15 frequencies, as long as the meshes can be bridged somewhere. Mostly 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz bands are used, although some 3.4GHz and 900MHz nodes are found. In the absence of line-of-sight RF paths, the meshes can be bridged via internet tunnels. The plan is to interconnect the following emergency-oriented groups, for a more robust comms ability: EOC, Police, Fire, Hospitals, Medical transport, ARES, Red Cross, CERT
The nodes are low-cost, easy to setup, and can be fixed or mobile.
For more info see: arednmesh.org and Kirby Wheeler, KL7VK 541-665-2032 Arlen Hatlestad, W9PCI, [email protected], 541-941-4474
7:35pm After the presentation, there were introductions and discussions. Scott, NA7OM, requested that February’s minutes be corrected to clarify that it was no possibility for the Table Mtn site, rather than for Hyatt Lake, for Field Day 2022. Hyatt Lake is a definite possibility for Field Day 2022.
8:30pm Meeting Adjourned.
John, KF7UMK, Secretary.
