In setting up an Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) in the Las Vegas Valley, it will become necessary to test node locations, of which some will not have power and are in remote locations. To this end, the LV Mesh group is developing a Deployable Autonomous Mesh Node. The design should allow the unit to operate days without being charged by its solar panels; stay onsite for days, weeks, months or years; allow for up to 3 nodes to be attached to the system; provide a UHF link for system reset, telemetry and power management; Ethernet link through the mesh network; and watchdog timer to prevent software lockup. Preliminary specifications follow:

• Power Source 2 x 20 Watt Solar Panels
• Solar Battery Regulator Charge Controller
• Sealed Lead Acid Battery 12 V @ 26 AH
• DC-DC Power Converters 24 V, 5 V, and 3.3 V
• Supports 1 – 3 nodes
• CPU – Arduino Uno with Ethernet Shield
• Watchdog Timer
• Voltage, Current and Atmospheric Sensors
• Baofeng 888 – Telemetry Xmit & DTMF Receive

The LVMesh server connected to Las Vegas Valley Mesh Network, which is hosting this website is being used for DAMN Project collaboration.

Update: Work continues with sheet metal being formed for the top, sides and back. Also the solar charging and regulation circuit is being installed, along with voltage regulation circuits for 12 and 24 volts.

Members of the LVMesh group, Scott,-K7RSW, Rick-K7FYI and Tom-KB7HTA installed a new mesh node at the Red Mountain repeater site that adds coverage for Boulder City. The installed node, a Ubiquiti Rocket M5 with a 90° - 17 dBi sector antenna points South East directly toward the center of town. In addition to the new node, Ethernet cabling was also replaced on the other mesh nodes with high quality UV resistant covering.

After the installation, a test of the mesh node was made by driving around Boulder City in Rick's truck, which had a TP-Link CPE 510 mesh node attached. The results were very good, with an estimated coverage of 85-90% of the city. We all agree a mesh node, with an Omni antenna mounted on top of the city's water tower, would be necessary to provide 100% coverage. It would be worth looking into down the road.

Friday November 15, 2019, Richard, KO0OOO and Tom, KB7HTA journeyed up to Apex as part of a team to test the feasibility of a link between Apex Peak and Beacon Hill, which is on North end of the Moapa Valley. The other members of the team Wayne, N7HWM  and Steve, KJ6WCS, drove to a spot next to the I-15 near Beacon Hill, Northeast of Glendale, NV.  On site, Wayne and Steve setup a tripod with an Ubiquiti Rocket M2 attached to a 90° sector antenna (16 dBi) and LVMesh power box.  They attached a laptop computer to the LAN port of the POE powering the node and began looking for connections.

Meanwhile, Richard (photo above) and Tom installed an Ubiquiti Rocket M2 attached to a 24 dBi dish onto a tower and pointed it toward Beacon Hill. After running the Ethernet cable into the shack, attaching the POE and connecting the LAN cable to the network switch, the link test between the two nodes began.

Wayne and Steve tested the link from their location to Apex and into Las Vegas Valley, while Richard and Tom completed additional work on Apex Peak.  The link was tested by connecting to various nodes in Las Vegas and downloading camera photos.  Wayne described the link as functional, but slow.  See the node status page below.

Update: Another trip was made to Apex Peak on December 13, 2019. Joe, KG7OFF, Thomas, KI6CCW and Tom, KB7HTA made the trip to address the 70 cm repeater polyphaser water problem, the Apex to Beacon Hill node failure and other miscellaneous node modifications/changes. The photo below shows all of the LVMesh nodes located on Apex Peak and Joe, KG7OFF.