In attendance: KD0CGN, W0GSK, KF9MT, N0YWB, K9PYR, NM5PB, KA0IES, KF0FLR and N0ZJT. If I missed anyone I am sorry, please add them/yourself.
KF0FLR won the distance drove to the meeting since QTH is Burlington, IA. Thank you for making the drive up to join us again this month.
WA0PCC has 2 x 10 foot pieces of Rohn 25 for our tower at the Linn County EOC. Still need to locate proper plating and bolts to hold the tower to the rail pipes that are anchored to the side wall of the upper roof on the EOC. We are also waiting for mother nature to tone down the wind in order to get the tower in place.
Mercy nodes are still in progress. Need to get small 8U network rack, updated UPS, and a 16 port gigabit switch with PoE++ to power roof equipment and a VoIP phone left on the desk in the hospitals comms room where we have access to the 2M antenna and go-bag.
N0YWB ran through a quick presentation on his findings for a RF link using the Morse tower that would connect Cedar Rapids to Muscatine. Rob Nall / Heartland Tower, the owner of the Morse tower is an Amateur Radio operator and has given us permission to mount dishes and other antennas on the rails. He / They have old AT&T Towers across the state that we may have access to where we can expand the AREDN network from Davenport to Omaha, NE. N0YWB has already purchased some of the hardware needed to make the link from a site in Cedar Rapids to Morse, and from Morse to Muscatine. Additional costs of around $600 for odds and ends to complete the project.
We continue to advance our PBX that is hosted at the EOC. Those wishing to get a block of extension please contact KD0CGN.
Two Announcements this Month.
We’re moving our monthly meetings to the EOC. The EOC has permanent equipment already on-site and more will be added soon where we can do live demonstrations easier.
Our meeting on May 3rd, 2025 – 9am until 11am will be at the Linn County EOC –
Address is 6301 Kirkwood Blvd SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
First Lutheran Church is packing 50,000 meals for the Local and National Food Banks on April 30th, 2025. KD0CGN proposed we put together a group to assist with this endeavor as not just a “Thank You” to the church for allowing us to use their space each month but as a way to give back to our community and be a way of getting our name out as Amateur Radio Operators and the things we do.
The powerpoint presentation and path analyses can be downloaded from https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1e2iWo0vStNWv2Dxqc1NWhGcbCyJVLUHD
• We will need a midpoint relay.
• Rob Nall, WV0S, owner of Heartland Towers has given us permission to place two dishes on the 221 foot tall former AT&T ling lines tower at Morse. No charge.
• Will initially link to the 230 foot high NW AREDN sector antenna on the Muscatine MCC tower.
This is less desirable than a separate dish for a backbone link, but will still offer up to 40Mbps, and saves considerable cost and a tower climb. We can upgrade later when necessary.
• Calculated path analyses: Morse to MCC, Morse to Mercy (not good), Morse to CVARC rcv site, CVARC rcv site to Mercy, Morse to Mt Vernon Rd water tower, Mt Vernon Rd to Mercy.
• N0YWB has already purchased two 31dBi dishes and backup power supplies for Morse.
• W0GSK has offered to buy the equipment for the CR end, yet to be determined.
Action items:
• Run path analysis from EOC to Morse and Mercy.
• Run path analysis from EMA Warehouse to Morse and Mercy.
• Contact Rob Nall, to learn exact date of planned maintenance on the Morse tower. This would be a good opportunity to install the dishes and backup power supplies.
• Contact KC0ALC, to learn dates of planned antenna maintenance of the CVARC repeaters, and feasibility of installing AREDN sector antennas nearby at that time.
• Update presentation, remove redundant path graphics.
• Move ppt and path analyses from google drive to Mattermost server.