Parksville’s Packet Node (VA7QBE) is back!

After a brief hiatus (caused by security upgrades), MIRA’s packet node located in Parksville is back on the air and re-connected to the internet!

VA7QBE (-7, -8 and -10) have been running happily for many years on a very old Windows 7 computer and an even older ICOM 228H radio. As these things happen, recent upgrades to the security protocols on the WiFi network rendered the computer unable to connect to the network and thus, to the internet. We knew this was going to have to be upgraded eventually and this spurred us into action.

Thanks to Emergency Management Oceanside (who provided a new, Windows 11 laptop) and Neil (VE7NVN) we were able to upgrade the station and now have it happily running on the latest and greatest software. The radio seems to be running fine at this point, but we may upgrade it as well in the future. Neil also included capability for the node to automatically restart itself after Windows updates, so it should be able to run virtually hands-free for many more years.

Again, many thanks to the City of Parksville and Neil for making this happen. The node will provide an important link to the outside world in case of a major disaster here in Oceanside.