Thank you to anyone who takes the time to help me with this. I am in a bit of an unusual situation and I would appreciate any links or information that might help me towards my end goal of building a powerful node to help connect other networks.
First I need to explain what kind of help I might need. I originally got my ham license for flying quadcopters, so I had little to no experience with radios, but as I started to research the stuff I could do with my license I discovered Hamnet and eventually AREDN, and really wanted to help this project in any way I can. While I have no experience with setting up a proper radio shack, I am familiar with linux, flashing firmware for various hardware, advanced networking, etc., which seems to be the backbone of this network.
I am situated in NorthEast Arkansas where there are no active nodes (at least not already populated on maps that I can find) and the nearest ham clubs I can find are in Memphis, TN. It's possible that if I set up a node here it will be the first in the area. This is obviously frustrating because I won't know what direction to aim my dishes initially.
While there is a lot of information about how to set up mobile nodes, which I intend to do in the coming months as a companion to my portable pi, there doesn't seem to be a lot of readily available information on setting up large multiple antenna nodes, which I would like to do. Hopefully this will encourage more hams in the area to join AREDN, and potentially bridge the gaps between some of the larger cities that are all around 1 hr away from me. I also work for a company with a very tall tower with easy roof access that I might be able to convince to let me use for a node with a huge LOS.
Any help is appreciated.
Also, there isn't an Arkansas subforum down below for me to put this in.
First I need to explain what kind of help I might need. I originally got my ham license for flying quadcopters, so I had little to no experience with radios, but as I started to research the stuff I could do with my license I discovered Hamnet and eventually AREDN, and really wanted to help this project in any way I can. While I have no experience with setting up a proper radio shack, I am familiar with linux, flashing firmware for various hardware, advanced networking, etc., which seems to be the backbone of this network.
I am situated in NorthEast Arkansas where there are no active nodes (at least not already populated on maps that I can find) and the nearest ham clubs I can find are in Memphis, TN. It's possible that if I set up a node here it will be the first in the area. This is obviously frustrating because I won't know what direction to aim my dishes initially.
While there is a lot of information about how to set up mobile nodes, which I intend to do in the coming months as a companion to my portable pi, there doesn't seem to be a lot of readily available information on setting up large multiple antenna nodes, which I would like to do. Hopefully this will encourage more hams in the area to join AREDN, and potentially bridge the gaps between some of the larger cities that are all around 1 hr away from me. I also work for a company with a very tall tower with easy roof access that I might be able to convince to let me use for a node with a huge LOS.
Any help is appreciated.
Also, there isn't an Arkansas subforum down below for me to put this in.
You might try reaching out to other local hams near you to see if any of them would be interested in experimenting with you.
Depending on distance and terrain you may be able to link by radio with one or two others to start a local mesh network.
Here is the section in the online documentation that talks about network planning: