McLaren Lapeer Region Linked to Statewide Amateur Radio High-Speed Network

Central Michigan Emergency Network
MI6 network update for Lapeer County:

On Saturday, November 21, 2020 – KB8SWR of the Central Michigan Emergency Network, KB8YGA, and KB8TAR installed another link in the MI6 network at the McLaren Hospital in Lapeer.

The installation involved placing a 24″ dish at the top of the tower for a P2P link to the Burnside site.  In addition, a small (6″ dish) was also placed and pointed in the direction of the Lapeer County EOC.

Two CAT5 cables were ran down the tower, through the roof, and roughly 60′ down a hallway above a drop ceiling into a small room that now contains the router.

Note that you can see the larger dish at the top of the tower as you drive by on M-24 – North Main Street in Lapeer.

According to the Central Michigan Emergency Network website – The Mi6WAN network is their Internet Protocol (IP) Based network. Utilizing microwave, fiber and wireless connections they have built a High-Speed Point to Point and Point to Multipoint network using standards based protocols and RF gear. Covering many sites throughout the State of Michigan, CMEN is providing a growing network to transport audio/video/data for amateur radio operators with access to their network.

Thank you to KB8SWR and KB8YGA for their hard work and expertise.  I wasn’t watching the clock real closely, but it took something around 5-6 hours before the node was on the air.

73,
Kevin KB8TAR