On the weekend of August 22-23, 2025, our group worked with the Iron Mountain Jubilee Endurance Horse Ride. This multi-day event has horse riders navigate trails across mountainous terrain across the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area.
We established six communication stations around the course for safety and to keep track of rider location.
On August 9th 2025, SW VA AUXCOMM helped out at the annual Crystal Springs Trail Run event. This is the second year for this event where participants run one of several courses laid out in the Crystal Springs recreation area. Our group managed to setup two communications stations in order to provide reporting on participant location and safety.
Southwest Virginia AUXCOMM Association will be helping out again this year at the Iron Mountain Jubilee endurance horse ride. This event will take place on August 22-23. If you would like more information or would like to volunteer to help out, contact Randy Lilly (KE4RL).
We will be having out monthly meeting on July 24th at the Carroll County Fire and Rescue Building, 499 Floyd Pike, Hillsville, VA. The meeting will be held at 6:30PM and will be followed by the Briarpatch Amateur Radio Club Meeting. All interested are welcome to attend either or both meetings!
Due to the Field Day event on the weekend of June 28-29, we will not be having our regular monthly meeting.
In our last meeting we discussed the use of Meshtastic devices that implement LoRa radios. These are small, inexpensive devices that allow for simple communication, resource tracking, and telemetry. Using the 900Mhz ISM band, these can also be used by non-ham radio operators. Using LoRa radios and Chirp modulation, these low power devices can reach impressive ranges. And the big advantage is the ability for the devices to form a robust mesh network to extend the range.
If you prefer videos, The Comms Channel on YouTube has a good video series on Meshtastic.
One common question is what devices are available for use with Meshtastic and the answer is lots. Below are examples of some of the more common ones, some which require a phone for interfacing and some that have most functionality built in.
The SenseCap Tracker is a pre-built, pre-configured, weather proof device that's similar in size to a credit card. It requires the use of a phone, tablet, or PC in order to configure and use messaging. It's best use case would be for simple resource tracking.
The RAK Wireless Wisbloc are modular and very small. These are ideal for building repeater/relay projects as they include solar charging circuitry built in.
If you are looking for a device that's easy to carry and doesn't require another device for messaging capabilities, the LILLYGO T-Deck is one of the better Meshtastic devices.
ROKLAND is a distributor of devices, antennas, and accessories in the United States. Click here to see their store page.
We are planning on experimenting with this technology in some of our up-coming public service events. If you would like more information or have questions please email me.
We have been asked to provide communications for a new horse ride event. The MATRC Va. Highlands CTR is a three day event that takes place from June 20-23. Each day the ride begins at 06:30 and ends around 14:30. This event will use trails similar to the Iron Mountain Jubilee that occurs in August. Anyone wishing to be a volunteer communicator please contact Randy Lilly.
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