I am in Powell County, and figured I’d start a thread for all of us in Eastern KY.
I was playing with the heywhatsthat.com mapping tool, and was able to cover around 90% of the county with 106 points. The western portion of the county is compromised of hills and river bottom, while the eastern part of the county is mountainous, and is part of the Red River Gorge. The flat and wide river valley around Stanton probably has areas that are covered by 8-10 different nodes (most up on mountain peaks), while some roads are lucky to have 2 overlapping. I was able to cover all of the major roadways, and every point is interconnected in some way back to the county’s EOC…it may take 4-5 relays, but it’ll get there! The remaining uncovered areas are in spots that would require multiple nodes in close proximity, to ensure the holler are fully covered. I would estimate that 300 nodes would likely completely cover the county. Looking at the price of the 8 packs, that would cost about $22,000…add in the price for a solar panel set up (we’ll just say $150, which puts that at $45,000), and for about $70,000 you could cover the entire county with goTennas.
Will that ever happen? No…but it is fun to think about! Especially given that 1 repeater for dispatch, plus the tower for it, likely costs more than that, and only covers a portion of the county. My thoughts were along the lines of there being a channel people could “subscribe” to, that Emergency Management/Police/Fire could push out information on. Make it so that only certain GIDs can post to the channel, but anyone can monitor it?
That’s a lot of red! Nice! Have you set up any relay nodes that you’ve mapped coverage for? That image could help out some other local Meshers! Also, if you endeavor into making a full country coverage map, please share! That would be a very beautiful/inspiring view.
A blast from my past. I miss going up to the gorge. Coming out of the Nada tunnel was like stepping through the back of the wardrobe and into Narnia.
Nice mapping.
Unfortunately, I have not set up any antennas yet. The only place I “legally” have access to right now is the top of our ridge, which I plan on eventually hiking up there and setting one out just to see how well it works. My biggest worry is someone walking off with the unit and solar panel! Once I get it up there, I’m hoping to be able to get coverage for at least a small chunk of the river bottom, back to the house (I live in a narrow holler).
Dennilee: It is still here! There’s a few more houses now on 715 leading to Nada, I’d imagine, but definitely has that feel to it still! I help out at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo on occasion, and love getting to see all the various people from around the world who stop in to see the Gorge!
Good to hear from someone who lives up the holler. We live on Kanaka Crick. I tell people out here that we call them “hollers” 'cause one had better holler, “I’m coming up” just to be on the safe side.
Two methods of concealment I’ve used are the “low profile” and the “out of reach.”
I paint my boxes (Harbor Freight “Apache” watertight cases) white. This is for heat control, but also because it helps them blend in sitting on the roof.
Sitting on the roof or any place else that is well out of reach without a ladder is usually sufficient to secure the node. The curious and felonious are usually not so ambitious to bother, even if they can be seen from the ground.
One note about the “Apache” cases. They are lockable and you can pass a locking cable through the handle, so if you do need to secure them, it’s easy to do.
