I failed to take attendance due to myself needing to leave the meeting early due to other obligations so we got right to it. I do graciously appreciate everyone that came to the meeting. Working on adding Zoom so we can make it easier for those that have been driving the distance to meet in person can join us via Zoom during the winter months. Don’t want anyone risking the drive in the wonder Iowa Winter Weather we’re about to see.
There was no October meeting since we used that Saturday as our dress rehearsal for the Especially For You event the following Sunday. Rough numbers are saying there were roughly 18,000 to 19,000 people in downtown Cedar Rapids for the event. We did have some technical difficulties that we’re working on sorting out but the event we smooth minus AREDN. We will live, learn, and carry on as we prepare for the next event.
Small recap.
Equipment is permanently installed on Mercy and EOC. Both sites are fully operational. If you are within a 3-5 mile radius from either location, you have potential to get on the mesh by pointing a sector antenna in their direction. Line of sight is key though, so you’ll need to fight off the trees and tall buildings to get there.
Rickie, KF0MT, has gotten a grant from his employer for all of his volunteer hours. He has asked them to mail that to CVARC denoting the funds be used for brand new AREDN equipment on the Collins tower.
Al, KA0IES, reports that the Collins tower project hit another milestone on 11/6/2025, where the climber and Collins safety are getting all the documentation between the two settled getting us closer to a climb date.
Since we only meet once a month and spend a lot of time recapping things month to month we’ve decided to add a Zoom Call on the Second Monday of the month at 7PM. We’re working out logistics on how long the meeting we be due to licensing issues but as of this post we’ll probably meet for 40 minutes but will expand that when we can.
I, KD0CGN, presented AREDN at the ARES meeting on 11/6/2025. I am a very technical person. I speak fluent geek and the presentation was a lot more technical than what it should have been. I went over the firmware – how it came to be, some history. Also went over some of the supported hardware. I did miss a few of the newer 802.11ah devices that are supported by the Babel only firmware. OSLR and Babel are currently supported with the current firmware but we’re expecting to move to Babel only towards the end of January 2026. I did go over a few select services / things the Mesh could be used for but I forgot to mention real world scenarios but didn’t get into details of events like the Flood of 2008 or the Derecho back in 2020 where the AREDN mesh could’ve assisted with certain levels of communication. I’m correcting that for the CVARC meeting on 11/13/2025.
I ducked out at 9:30am but the meeting went for another hour. If I am missing anything super important, I’ll be sure to update this post.
Kraig A. Wilford
KD0CGN – Linn County, IA Assistant Emergency Coordinator, AREDN “Leader”