The Skunkworks team has been working for several years on developing an AREDN mesh network that will create a RF backbone network connection using repurposed commercial radios operating with amateur radio firmware on ham frequencies. This project, created by the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network team, is intended to provide an alternative high-speed network when internet services aren’t available. Working with the Emergency Management team at Cooper Medical Center in Camden NJ the Skunkworks team was able to temporarily install several different AREDN radios for link testing. We also installed a permanent AREDN collinear unit at about 70 feet on the Clubhouse VHF tower and a similar unit at Rowan University; unfortunately the VHF tower was demolished in a tornado which eliminated the high-elevation option for that node. An AREDN gateway station that had been operational at the Clubhouse allowing access thru the internet to other AREDN networks and nodes was discontinued as was a PBX for the Skunkworks AREDN network at the Clubhouse.

Unfortunately AREDN links in our area appear to be difficult to implement due to the lack of high-elevation structures on which radios can be placed. Even working from the roof of Cooper we were only able to reach several miles into the Cherry Hill area before foliage blocked our signals. The loss of our VHF tower in a tornado probably sealed the fate of our AREDN experimentation, at least unless or until additional sites can be located.