Author: Mike Adams
Greens Peak Meshtastic Antenna
Randy Beecroft, W7RJB, and Matt Lunati, N7OEI, installed a new commercial grade antenna on Greens Peak to support a new Meshtastic node on the mountain top. Here are a few pictures.
Greens Peak Maintenance Trip
Randy Beecroft, W7RJB, and Dennis Mills, WA7ZZT, made a trip up to Greens Peak on Oct. 19, 2024 to repair the W7EH repeater that has been down for a few days. They ran into an early winter storm with about 4″ of snow on the mountain. Here are a few pictures.
28th Tour of the White Mountains Bike Race
Here are a few photos from the bike race held Oct. 5, 2024, with 1091 cyclists registered. Eleven local radio operators helped with the event.
White Mtn Tango Endurance Ride
On Sept. 13-14, 2024, Kachina ARC member provided communications support for the White Mountain Tango Endurance Ride. This two-day event was held in the nearby Los Burros trail area. KARC provided communications at six communications checkpoints, checking on status and recording times for the passing riders. Here are a few pictures.
Meshtastic
Meshtastic is an open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on affordable, low-power devices using LoRa technology. At the July 2024 KARC meeting, we had a presentation by David Waller, KG7NCV. David is deploying the Meshtastic network in the Mesa, AZ area. Information on this project is described here:
Catalog of Meshtastic equipment
At the August 2024 KARC meeting, Matt Lunati, N7OEI, described his recent activity with the Meshtastic network and demonstrated a small (2.0″ width) Heltec network transceiver. It connects via bluetooth to a phone or tablet, and provides access to the mesh network.
Antenna Day
A team from the Kachina club had an antenna party on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at the QTH of Glenn, KK7GB. Randy, W7RJB and his two sons assisted with the tower work, and also Dennis WA7ZZT and Kevin KG5Q, along with Randy’s two granddaughters. Installation included a Rohn 25G tower and a Bushcraft MA5B beam antenna. Here are a few pictures.
Field Day 2024
The Kachina ARC participated in the 2024 ARRL Field Day on June 22, 2024. The club’s operation was held in Taylor, at a nice visible location in front of the Walmart parking lot. We had lots of visitors with interest and questions about ham radio. Here are a few pictures.
White Mountain Hamfest
Emergency Preparedness
The presentations at the monthly meeting held on June 11, 2024 provided interesting and useful information on emergency preparedness. The presentation material is provided here:
Ready – Set – Go presented by Deputy Kirby Coppedge of NCSO
Emergency Communications presented by Kevin Parmenter, KG5Q
Frequency List compiled by Earl, AD7EO