From my QTH, Elsinore Peak is my only way onto the mesh, and to be reliable it requires a rocket and a large dish.
On the recommendation of several hams in this area, in invested in the 3 GHz hardware a couple years ago, however the 3GHz node on Elsinore Peak has been off most of this year, rendering my expenditure useless.
Now I have to decide what direction to take, and how to spend my money:
1- throw my 3GHz node in the trash and replace it with a different band
2- offer to cover the costs of getting the 3GHz Elsinore Peak node back on the air
3- forget about AREDN and buy more Kenwood NX series radios
I have offered several times to help get the node back on the air, but have yet to be taken up on my offer.
The fact that it has been down for such an extended period makes me question the future of all the nodes on Elsinore Peak, which in turn makes me reluctant to spend more money in an attempt to link to it. I have one long shot option for an alternate path into the mesh, but will require a multi node buildout and a favor from the local utility company.
At this point, unless someone can give me a reason to continue to spend my money on AREDN, I am leaning toward a new NX5800.
On the recommendation of several hams in this area, in invested in the 3 GHz hardware a couple years ago, however the 3GHz node on Elsinore Peak has been off most of this year, rendering my expenditure useless.
Now I have to decide what direction to take, and how to spend my money:
1- throw my 3GHz node in the trash and replace it with a different band
2- offer to cover the costs of getting the 3GHz Elsinore Peak node back on the air
3- forget about AREDN and buy more Kenwood NX series radios
I have offered several times to help get the node back on the air, but have yet to be taken up on my offer.
The fact that it has been down for such an extended period makes me question the future of all the nodes on Elsinore Peak, which in turn makes me reluctant to spend more money in an attempt to link to it. I have one long shot option for an alternate path into the mesh, but will require a multi node buildout and a favor from the local utility company.
At this point, unless someone can give me a reason to continue to spend my money on AREDN, I am leaning toward a new NX5800.
I sure wish I'd of had a crystal ball back when I recommended the 3GHz dish to you. It made good sense at the time. The fact is the FCC has taken half (and is in the process of taking the other half) of the 3GHz band away from us. It's been difficult to justify more 3GHz devices. Eventually, all these will need to be converted to 5GHz. I'm sorry you have been caught up in this.
Andre, K6AH