Welcome to the Arizona Mesh Organization Home Page.
Here you will find information about our club, meetings, weekly net and how to join via Ham Club Online...
Here you will find information about our club, meetings, weekly net and how to join via Ham Club Online...
The Arizona Mesh Organization was established in September of 2019 and by December of that same year we had been granted our 501 (c) (3) non-profit status and became incorporated.
Our history goes back to around 2016, when Steve Estes KB7KWK and Larry Fort AB7C started talking about Broadband Ham-net (BBHN). They started with a few Linksys routers and some waterproof boxes and established a connection at about four miles. Later on John Groseclose WX4LTG who lives in Scottsdale and was about fifteen miles away was able to connect to Steve. Not long after this they heard about the group in Austin Texas and Ubiquiti WIFI equipment and the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN).
Arizona Mesh Organization is a group of Arizona Amateur Radio Operators. Our mission is to build an effective Off-Grid Mesh Network, using it to benefit our communities through public service. Our goals for the network are to be able to assist as needed with public service events and emergency communications; Furthering the community's education in the areas of amateur radio and mesh networking and assisting with the advancement of technology, and of course socialization. 2020 has proven that being able to stay socially connected, while still remaining socially distant has become increasingly important and brings us up to December of 2020. Arizona Mesh has grown to 51 club members, 141 nodes with 310 links and rapidly growing.
We would love to have you join us and it's a lot of fun! Please see the contact and meeting sections below for more information on Joining the Arizona Mesh Organization and Best Wishes in 2021.
Board Meetings: Are held on the First Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM via "Zoom Meeting". They run approximately two hours. If you would like to attend one of our board meetings please contact the AMO Club President at least 24 hours prior to the meeting for the Zoom information: president@arizonamesh.org
Club meetings: Are held on the Second Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM. Due to Covid-19 and restrictions here in Arizona, our club meetings are being held via "Zoom Meeting". If Your not a member please contact AMO Club President at least 24 hours prior to the meeting for the Zoom information: president@arizonamesh.org
AMO Mesh Weekly Nets: Are held on the Third, Fourth and sometimes Fifth Thursday's at 7:00 PM on Zoom. If Your not a member please contact AMO Club President at least 24 hours prior to the meeting for the Zoom information: president@arizonamesh.org
Join us for "Radios At Home" during the hotter months when we can enjoy operating in the comfort of our own AC-cooled homes!
The rules are simple, and the goal is clear... to encourage all licensed hams to get on the radio and be radioactive when it is often too hot to go outside. If you are familiar with RUSS/RITP (Radios Under Sun Shade or Radios in the Park,) it will operate in very much the same way except for the fact that we will not deploy to parks or other outdoor locations (unless you really want to.) It will occur every third Saturday from May until September from about 10:00 to 12:00. We will be using the simplex frequency of 146.460 (encoded with a PL tone of 77.0,) but anyone is free to use any frequency and any mode to make contacts. The whole point is to get on the air in order to have fun and to practice our skills in emergency communications. We also strongly encourage that everyone use alternative means of power to operate their stations, (not plugged into wall outlets,) but if you cannot, do not let that stop you from joining the on-air party.
Below are all the "Radios At Home" dates:
Just a quick Tech Committee Report: On Saturday February 13th and 20th, part of the AMO / SuperARC Tech committees went out to the Superstition ARC Usery and Stone Castle Repeater sites to check out multiple nodes. In attendance were, Bill N9EIV, Brent W7FK, Brian W7JET, Gary AC7R, Jeff N7CCW, Michael KI7LXY and Steve KB7KWK.
On Usery, some minor changes were done including the addition of a Mikrotik QRT5 pointed to the southwest as a test node to see if it would help the people down in Maricopa. They also checked what turned out to be a very dead 2.4 gig bullet titanium. It should be returning to the land of the living soon after the new unit arrives and can be installed up on Usery. The AC7R nodes to White Tanks were checked out and readjusted. They still are fading in and out, so it looks like another trip to White Tanks may be needed. So, look for those connections to come back as strong as they had been in the near future.
Down at the Stone Castle Repeater site on February 13th, they installed three Mikrotik Nodes pointing them southeast, southwest and south. Then on February 20th, the three recently installed nodes were moved higher on the tower. The two 2.4 gig 120-degree sectors were realigned to the southeast and southwest. The 5.8 gig dish was realigned to the south and the distance settings on all three were reduced This should help out the connections. The details can be seen by clicking on those nodes on the map.
A big thanks goes out to the members from the AMO and SuperARC Tech committees for working together on this project. They would also like to thank Bill N9EIV for bringing his boom truck out to the Stone Castle which made all of the work a whole lot easier.
(Last updated 03-01-2021)
Are you interested in learning more about the AMO / SuperARC Mesh Information Network and what we are doing? Then Check out the information below:
The Arizona Mesh Organization has moved our mail list over to Google Groups. We also combined our effort with the Superstition ARC. This allows you to control how you receive your email. Not a member? The process to Subscribe or Unsubscribe is very easy for you to control.
Your Pay Pal Receipt is your record for your Donations...
Download and Check out the AMO Club Flyer. Lots of input from the Officers and Board Members went into writing this document. Revised December 6th, 2020
Download Arizona Mesh Organization Flyer
This is partly why we should all be getting our FEMA CERTS. It will certainly help in the future: Former FEMA Administrator Advocates Using Mesh Networks for Disasters
Former Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, encouraged the use of mesh networking to help empower volunteers during natural disasters, such as hurricanes and wildfires. During a keynote at the International Wireless Communications Expo's (IWCE) Virtual Event, Fugate noted "By building these types of networks, you can put people back into communication and put people to work where they're needed." He encouraged public safety agencies to work with local amateur radio groups and commercial providers to create solutions that can build these mesh networks when the main network goes down. [See the August 2020 issue of the ARES Letter for a story on how mesh networking is gaining traction in Ohio - Ed.] .-- FEMA Disaster Emergency Communications News Clippings and Topics of Interest Vol. 9 Issue 16, August 16-31, 2020.
For those of you that are interested in participating in the various public service events or in emergency situations, most groups like the MCECG (Maricopa Emergency Communications Group) & the Red Cross, require you to have certain FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) certifications. Everyone who is interested in taking these classes will need to first establish their own FEMASID number, which you can get from the link below:
