On August 12, BARC members Lem, W1LEM, Bruce, WA3SWJ and Rob, K1UI climbed the fire tower at the Cape Cod, MA W1MA repeater site and deployed several mesh network antennas and transceivers. The recently constructed BARC tower trailer was also towed to Al, WW1RF’s QTH and another transceiver attached at the top of the trailer tower, raised to nearly its full height. Another transceiver had previously been deployed at the QTH of Barry, KB1TLR in Brewster, more than 5 miles from the fire tower. Bandwidths in excess of more than 100 MB/sec were achieved using a high gain antenna on the fire tower and an omnidirectional antenna in Brewster.
The goal of the exercise was to evaluate the signal strength and bandwidth achievable from the fire tower to various sites on Cape Cod. The exercise was part of an effort to design a Cape-wide ARDEN network to back up connectivity for digital repeaters and also to create an ARES network of fixed and mobile sites for emergency deployment.
Additional downlinks will also create opportunities for repeater control, remote site monitoring and on-site video during emergencies.