Introductions Are in Order
Introducing KN0CTJ
When brainstorming ideas for this blog, it seemed fitting to kick things off with an introduction—so here’s mine.
I’m Calvin, and I recently became a part of both the Meshtastic and Amateur Radio communities following our annual sales conference in Las Vegas. During the event, a group of my colleagues and fellow tech enthusiasts came up with an idea: we’d all head to Vegas, use Meshtastic to communicate, and learn how it works while finally meeting in person. Many of us are scattered across the globe, so this was a unique opportunity to connect.
And so, the plan was set. Twenty thousand of my “closest friends” (our sales teams) descended upon Vegas. As soon as we touched down, Meshtastic nodes began popping up everywhere. About 100 of us actively participated, and I’m already looking forward to an even bigger turnout next year.
Here’s the Reddit post my coworker shared about the event: Reddit Meshtastic in Vegas
After those exciting four days in Vegas, the general recommendation was to find a local Amateur Radio club and see how I could contribute. Unfortunately, my experience with my local radio group wasn’t ideal, but it eventually led me to the Iowa Radio Operators Discord group. From there, I started building IowaMesh.net.
The inspiration for IowaMesh.net came from seeing folks traveling from the Chicago area, joining ChiMesh, and sharing their experiences. I thought it was time to get Iowa involved and see how far we could connect. Since Iowa is pretty spread out, I began with an MQTT server and hosted a meshmap to visualize communication. While implementing RF/Lora remains a goal, MQTT has proven to be a great starting point for linking people together. We’ve expanded coverage to Altoona and Des Moines and are now reaching Jefferson, Greene County, and Cedar Rapids—and we continue growing every day.
Before diving into radio and Meshtastic, I was a Systems & Network Engineer for various companies. Eventually, I traded my 2 AM troubleshooting sessions for a pre-sales engineer role. Although networking remains close to my heart, venturing into Radio, Wireless, and Meshtastic has allowed me to apply my skills in fresh, exciting ways outside of work. It’s been a fantastic change of pace from the “same old, same old.” I’m always happy to chat about networking, radio, or other nerdy projects!
Calvin (KN0CTJ)