WN4RC members gathered this week for a hands-on build session with a clear goal: assemble one-watt MESHCORE radios that will be sold at Huntsville Hamfest 2026, with every dollar raised going toward expanding MESHCORE infrastructure across Tennessee.
Who Showed Up
A solid crew of builders turned out for the session:
- Randy, KU9TRY
- Evans, N9ELM
- Carl, NC4RL
- Bryan, K2BSG
- Wayne, AI4QM
Five operators, several soldering irons, and a shared interest in seeing mesh networking take root across the state.
What We Built
The focus of the day was assembling one-watt MESHCORE radios from start to finish. These low-power, high-utility units are a great entry point into mesh networking — compact, efficient, and well suited to the kind of node placement that will help fill in coverage gaps around Tennessee. Working through the builds as a group meant more hands to troubleshoot, more eyes to catch mistakes, and a lot of shared knowledge changing hands over the course of the session.
Why MESHCORE, and Why Now
MESHCORE networks give operators a resilient, low-infrastructure way to pass data and messages without relying on the internet or traditional repeater systems. The more nodes in the field, the stronger and more useful the network becomes. That’s the whole idea behind this project: build radios, sell them, and reinvest the proceeds directly into new MESHCORE infrastructure across the state.
Next Stop: Huntsville Hamfest 2026
The radios assembled during this build day are headed to the club’s table at Huntsville Hamfest 2026, where they’ll be sold to fellow hams looking to get in on MESHCORE. Every sale goes straight back into the club’s infrastructure fund — more nodes, more coverage, more resilience for the Tennessee mesh network.
Get Involved
Interested in the next build session, or want to grab one of these radios before Hamfest? Reach out to any of the members above or stop by a club meeting. The more hands on deck, the more radios we get on the air — and the stronger our mesh network becomes.
73, and thanks to everyone who came out to build!
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