All,
A quick update on the RRVARC Meshtastic/EmComm grant proposal.
I had a productive Zoom meeting last Friday with Adam Zimmel (W0ZML) of Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) to go over reviewer feedback on our application. The overall discussion was encouraging.
The principal issue raised by the reviewers involved how Part 97 licensed nodes and Part 15 unlicensed nodes would interact. We have a straightforward way to revise the proposed architecture to address that concern.
ARDC also asked for more detail on our proposed backbone sites, documentation showing progress toward securing those locations, additional information on organizations the network could serve and current equipment pricing. Since the original application was submitted, we have made useful progress in several of those areas, including identifying additional locations and securing a downtown Paris site commitment.
ARDC has given us an opportunity to submit supplemental information and I will be working on that next. The goal will be to answer the reviewers’ questions directly while also providing a better picture of the club’s public-service activities and the practical development already taking place around the proposed network.
I came away from the discussion encouraged. There is still work to do, but the proposal remains very much alive.
73
Phillip Beall (W5EBC)