“If you build it, they will come” is an iconic cultural mantra. While often used to mean that a great product inherently attracts a crowd, reality usually requires much more work to reach or complete a large task, goal, or undertaking.
AREDN (Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network) utilizes commercially available wireless networking equipment running a customized version of OpenWRT firmware to create a wide-area mesh network that operates independently of the public internet. This network supports a variety of services, including file sharing, video distribution, Voice over IP (VoIP) communications, and self-hosted websites that remain accessible even when internet connectivity is unavailable.
The AREDN network is built on a self-healing mesh architecture, allowing nodes to automatically discover one another and dynamically route traffic through the most efficient path. If a node becomes unavailable or experiences degraded performance, the network automatically reroutes traffic around the affected equipment, maintaining communications while repairs are made.
Because AREDN equipment is lightweight, energy-efficient, and requires minimal power to operate, communications can often be restored within approximately 20 minutes of a power outage using battery and solar-powered backup systems. This capability allows the network to operate independently of the electrical grid and supports the rapid deployment of portable nodes to extend communications into disaster-affected areas. The combination of rapid deployment, low power requirements, and resilient network architecture makes AREDN a valuable communications resource in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters, severe weather events, and other emergencies when traditional communications infrastructure may be degraded, damaged, or unavailable.
The Eastern Iowa Emergency Data Network (EIEDN), is a group of CVARC members who have taken on the learning curve and devotion to implement AREDN in Linn County. We have been building partnerships with other AREDN groups in Iowa, such as the one in Muscatine, who has built out AREDN along the Mississippi river. May 6th, 2026 was a major milestone which saw a major increase to the Linn County AREDN footprint. On that day Viking Tower Maintenance installed seven AREDN nodes between 230 and 250 feet up the Collins tower just south of 30 Hop on Rockwell Drive NE. The Collins tower node cluster forms a backbone of connectivity merging the nodes at Mercy Hospital and Linn County Emergency Management.
This infrastructure install didn’t happen overnight. This project has taken the better part of 6 months of planning, financing, purchasing and preparing all the necessary hardware. Once we had everything on hand, we spent several weeks testing everything out to make sure we were 100% solid before the big day.
RF simulations using software from Ubiquiti shows that the radios from the Collins tower get roughly 50% signal strength all the way out to the Eastern Iowa Airport. Real-world testing has begun to confirm the simulations.
The bright Red section right around the immediate area of the tower is getting full signal strength, Orange is 70 – 90% signal strength, Yellow is 40 – 60%. There are some “uncolored” areas, those are spots we’re missing. Either the terrain is hilly or populated with dense trees. You can’t really see it in this image but we also have tower fade where those that are within the first 2 or 3 blocks of the tower are too close so you would be under the RF beam from the nodes. We plan to fix that by adding an Omni antenna to the water tower near Boyson Road and Robins Road in late Fall 2026 or early Spring 2027.
Above is the Full Production Map of the coverage area our whole network is able to cover. The Northern tip is the Collins Tower, center is Mercy Medical Center downtown, and the Emergency Operations Center at the far South. This is a very large footprint. AREDN is a line of sight network, so your connectivity is as far as you can see or one tree leaf.
This expansion of EIEDN’s local coverage will allow improving the internet connectivity for the DMR and D-Star repeaters located at the Collins Tower as well.
Collins Aerospace has a lot of internal activity going on at this time, so finalizing the AREDN link between the repeater shack and Building 112 may be delayed until October. We are working to influence the powers-that-be to establish the connection sooner.
Interested in joining the network? Well there are several ways to do so. We have this RF “380 Corridor Backbone” now that you can point antennas at or you can also connect using Internet based Tunnels. Either way you go about connecting, you’ll need some hardware and flash said hardware with the customized OpenWRT firmware.
There are 4 pieces of hardware to use as “nodes”. For your base of operations you’ll want either the Mikrotik hAP AC2 or AC3. These are somewhat close in size to a typical home wifi router but with a little extra horsepower in them since they’re made more for small businesses and small industrial applications.
When starting to look at connecting via RF, there are a few options. Two of the “lighter” options would be the Mikrotik SXTsq 5AC aka “the Square” or a TP-Link CPE510. These are both directional antennas that have different gains and fields of view but both work wonderfully connecting at range, some people say they can get the Square to connect over 10 miles away. Please visit http://www.eiedn.org/Getting-Started for more information and for links to assist with purchasing brand new hardware. The links are mainly from Amazon but feel free to shop around. Plenty of gently used, sometimes brand new hardware available on eBay as well. But it’s eBay, so caveat emptor.
AREDN is line of sight but it also likes to defy that statement as well. Radio signals can bounce. So just because you can’t directly see a tower location doesn’t mean that the steel shed behind your house can see it if you “bounce” your signal off of it and make a connection to the tower. Amateur Radio is the hobby of making things work when they probably shouldn’t, so don’t count yourself out right away.
Words are escaping me on how to fully express my appreciation for those that helped get EIEDN to where it is today. To all of those that have taken time to learn the software, procure the hardware, and navigate the learning curve on getting started, this is my personal heartfelt Thank You! To those that saw what we were doing, took an interest, didn’t know where to begin but still wanted to invest, this is my personal heartfelt Thank You! To those reading this, the hamster running on the wheel still trying to understand what AREDN is, this is my personal heartfelt invitation to come to a meeting. We usually meet the first Saturday of the month at 9-11AM at the Linn County Emergency Management Agency office. For more information, email me at kraigawilford@gmail.com or call or text me at 319-361-8306.
I can’t speak for everyone in EIEDN but personally I’ll walk you through it all. I’ll help you get hardware, help you get it flashed, and I’ll climb on your roof with you looking for the nearest tower to point at. You are not alone in these shark infested waters but this is where a slight arm twist comes into play. EIEDN is a system of not what it provides to you, it is what you want to give it. EIEDN will be the communications backbone for the logging software at Field Day again this year. We’ll be doing system tests Saturday June 6th, 2026 at 9 am at the Field Day site on C Ave. We will also have communication between the Collins and EOC Field Day sites. We are planning camera views from both sites to screens at both sites to see what is going on.
A final Thank You for allowing us to continue our efforts at providing an additional line of communication across town. Now, what will you add to the Mesh?